TAFE Queensland SkillsTech PathwaysDesigning technology to support a conversation, not replace it
TAFE Queensland SkillsTech Pathways

Facilitated exploration

Designing technology to support a conversation, not replace it

Pathways was designed for facilitated Years 8–9 school sessions. Students and a TAFE careers adviser could move non-linearly through industry data, job profiles, workplace imagery, maps and summaries rather than following a prescribed module sequence. The technology gave the adviser a shared environment to explore with the group rather than attempting to automate the adviser’s role.

Why examine thisDigital careers products often assume the goal is self-service. This project had a human expert already in the experience. The consequential design decision was to make the software expand what that person could show, compare and discuss instead of treating the conversation as friction to remove.

Facilitated exploration

Give the conversation several doors.

Persistent modes let the facilitator respond to the question emerging in the room rather than requiring every group to follow the same sequence.

  1. 01
    Industry Data

    Compare shared facts across industries.

  2. 02
    Job Profiles

    Move through careers spatially rather than as a long list.

  3. 03
    Slideshow

    Use workplace imagery to make environments discussable.

  4. 04
    Summary

    Bring explored material back together without forcing a linear path.

Inspect the exploration environment

The tension

A careers tool can answer questions and still make the conversation worse.

A self-directed careers flow can answer a sequence of predefined questions efficiently, but it also decides the sequence before the room has spoken. In a facilitated school session, that risks turning the adviser into someone who advances slides rather than someone who follows curiosity.

The move

Make the interface a shared object of inquiry.

Build an explorable information environment with persistent navigation and several parallel modes. Keep industry data, career profiles, workplace context and summaries close enough that the facilitator can change direction when a question emerges without losing the shared frame.

  • Five persistent modes — Home, Industry Data, Job Profiles, Slideshow and Summary — supported movement without forcing a single sequence.
  • Industry-level navigation and approximately twenty careers created breadth without flattening every career into one long list.
  • Job profiles were placed into an interactive map/environment so careers could be discussed spatially and visually.
  • Comparable industry data created stable reference points; JavaScript dynamically counted the statistics in response to a SkillsTech team request.
  • Extensive Storyline variables maintained state across the experience, helping the piece behave more like an application than a slide-based module.
  • Glenn led the project and engaged former colleague Elisha Gillett to work with him.

Design principle

The technology should give the adviser more ways to talk, not fewer reasons to be there.

Data, maps, job profiles and workplace imagery become prompts that can be explored together. The interface is valuable because it supports movement through the conversation rather than attempting to own the conversation.

Evidence boundary

What this Record can support

This Record supports the facilitator-led purpose, the non-linear information architecture, the recovered interface evidence and the implementation characteristics documented in the editorial inventory. It does not claim enrolment, career-choice or session-effectiveness outcomes.

  1. Implemented

    Pathways was designed for facilitator-led Years 8–9 school sessions, deliberately supporting conversation with a TAFE careers adviser rather than replacing that person with self-directed software.

    GH.COM editorial inventory completed August 2026 from Glenn’s project recollection and surviving artefacts. An older portfolio case-study draft described the tool as self-directed; the later inventory is the corrected professional record used here.
  2. Implemented

    The interface used persistent, non-linear exploration modes including Industry Data, Job Profiles, Slideshow and Summary rather than a required linear lesson sequence.

    Recovered Pathways interface screens and wireframe.
  3. Implemented

    Career exploration included a category-filtered interactive map/environment alongside industry data and job profiles.

    Recovered TAFE map and industry-data artefacts. The artefacts demonstrate the interaction design; no usage analytics are claimed.
  4. Implemented

    The Pathways build used extensive Storyline variables and JavaScript for dynamically counting industry statistics, contributing to application-like behaviour beyond conventional slide progression.

    August 2026 editorial inventory and Glenn’s implementation recollection. The surviving screenshots do not expose the original variable or JavaScript source code directly.