L&D Online

The 2016 Signs of Safety Gathering was held in Perth from the 25th to 27th October 2016 at Technology Park.  It provided an opportunity for participants to learn from each other on the application of Signs of Safety in Western Australia and across other jurisdictions. This year the theme is "Reflect, Reboot, Renew".

• More about the event (Event Page)
• Resources for Department Staff and Partner Agencies

Other events run by The Department

Department for Child Protection and Family Support is the Western Australian State Government agency charged with delivering outcomes in three key service areas:

1. Supporting children and young people in the CEO's care
2. Protecting children and young people from abuse and harm
3. Supporting families and individuals at risk or harm

A Faculty is a major user group within LDC Online and can be either:

• DEPT - all staff members of the Department
• CARER - Foster or Family Carers
• SECTOR - Staff from our partner agencies, other government departments and individuals working in the Department's sector

Your Faculty is defined in your Learner Profile and is used throughout LDC Online in customising and recommending various learning opportunities.

Guest Access is the default level of access given to any visitor to the site who is not logged in to a valid Moodle account.

Some courses do allow "guest access" but your progress, feedback and quiz responses cannot be attributed to you as a "guest".

Please log in to access your courses and to ensure that your progress, score and grades are recorded.

Don't have an account?... Foster Carers, Employees of any Australian State/Federal government department, NGO or education institution can create an account using their work email address.

We recommend that CPFS staff purchase their webinar headsets (headphones with a microphone) with two plugs (one for the mike and one for the headphone speakers) rather than those with a USB connection. USB connections can sometimes be tricky on our department computers, needing extra software or special settings. Whereas when you plug in those two plugs to the front of your computer you know it will work immediately.

A government, not-for-profit or funded organisation that either works alongside The Department or shares its vision for the protection of children.

Minimum Browser Versions

• Google Chrome 11
• Internet Explorer 8 (note that IE 10 is required for drag and drop of files from your desktop into Moodle)
• Firefox 4
• Safari 5
• Opera 9

IOS devices (iPhones and iPads)

We are in the process of updating all our online learning material to be html5 compliant, Departmental staff can be assured that our preferred browser (chrome) will work with html 5 other users may wish to check their browser's capability here. 

Required browser settings

To ensure you are able to access various types of content and features within Moodle, select the following browser settings:

• Enable Cookies
• Enable Javascript
• Do not block pop-up windows

Check out the procedure for enabling these browser settings from the following links:

• Chrome help: http://www.google.com/support/chrome/?hl=en
• Internet Explorer help: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/help
• Firefox help: http//support.mozilla.com/en-US/home?as=u
• Safari: go to Safari > Preferences. All three settings are easily located on the Security tab.

Note: If you would like these settings to apply only to Moodle, you can choose to add cpfs.moodle.com.au as an exception in the relevant browser settings page.

Recommended browser add-ons
For some specific content-type, add-ons may need to be installed if your browser is not already configured:

A PDF Reader
PDF reader should be installed on your computer, and a PDF browser plugin will let you view PDFs in a browser window without opening a separate program. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader at http://get.adobe.com/reader/. The download includes the browser plugin. To install this plugin, just follow the prompts.

Apple Quicktime
Apple Quicktime provides easy access to multiple audio and video formats. Macintosh computers come with Quicktime already installed. Windows users should also install Quicktime. You can download Quicktime at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/.

Java
Java is generally not required in Moodle. However, if some content added into a Moodle unit do use them, you will see a warning if you need to install or upgrade Java. You can download Java at http://www.java.com/.

Adobe Flash Player
The Adobe Flash Player plugin for your browser will allow you to access Flash video and rich interactive media. You can download Adobe Flash Player http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Webinars are similar to Video Conferences but are more suited to larger audiences and where access might otherwise be a problem, such as remote locations or external to the department.

See also the Webinars Page for a listing of coming webinars and recordings of any past webinars available.

• Webinars Quick Setup Guide
• Participating in a Webinar
• BigBlueButton Video Guides