Mardi Dwyer is on a 12 month secondment to Pilbara TAFE as the Innovative Learning Services manager. Located in Karratha, Mardi intends to work closely with lecturers to enhance their training techniques by using more blended learning approaches. Pilbara TAFE will be conducting a Flexible Learning and Networking (FLAN) professional development week in September to bring new training techniques and practices to more than 300 teachers and lecturers in the region.

In this article Mardi Dwyer reports on interviews with 80 14-15 year olds, about their technology usage. She identifies seven themes from her research and lists seven strategies that vocational practitioners can use to better meet the needs of this client group.