Welcome to the RFCS online learning platform!

The program of learning will support you to build the knowledge and skills required by rural financial counsellors.

There are 3 levels of learning.

  1. Foundation – an induction program for new rural financial counsellors, administrative staff and directors. To be completed within 3 months of commencement.
  2. Intermediate – for rural financial counsellors in their first year.
  3. Advanced – for senior financial counsellors.

Each level consists of 4 pillars of learning. These pillars are core to the work of rural financial counsellors.

  1. Tools of the trade
  2. Communication
  3. Finance
  4. Wellbeing
Each pillar consists of 3–4 Lessons at all 3 levels.

Navigation

There are two ways to navigate the levels of learning.

1. Vertical navigation bar

To the left of the screen, you will see a vertical navigation bar. This is arranged by pillar. Each pillar contains the lessons, which in turn, contain topics and a quiz (if required).

This navigation bar is useful for monitoring your overall progress and for dipping in and out of the course at your leisure. However, when engaging with the content, it is important to use the horizontal progression bars.

 

2. Horizontal progression bar

At the bottom of each topic page, you will find the horizontal progression bar. This bar contains ‘previous’ and ‘next’ buttons, allowing you to move through the content easily.

Clicking on the ‘Next Topic’ button not only directs you to the next topic, it also acts as confirmation that you have completed the topic. If you return to the topic at a later stage, you will notice the ‘complete’ button now appears.  

When you arrive at a Lesson Summary page you will be required to click the ‘Mark Complete’ button.

Red tick icons will also appear in the vertical progression bar to indicate completion.

Lastly, you will also notice percentage progression bars appearing at the top of your page, on each level of learning homepage, and also your Dashboard. These give you an indication of how far you have progressed.

All lessons, topics and quizzes, must be completed in sequential order. If you try to access an area where you have not completed the previous exercise, you will receive this notification.

Interactive activities

Throughout each lesson you will have an opportunity to engage with interactive learning activities that will help you build your knowledge and skills. These typically come in the form of:

  • non-assessed quizzes to check your knowledge and understanding of the topic
  • hotspot graphics to highlight important topics or learnings
  • interactive videos and audio
  • interactive scenarios and case studies
  • drag and drop activities.

Whilst these learning activities are not assessed, they are designed to consolidate your learning and to provide timely knowledge checks. These activities are easy to navigate and provide you with unrestricted attempts and, in most instances, automated feedback.

Hint: Navigate the activities using the guided arrows such as these:

Look for icons such as these to reveal further information by clicking on the icon:

Check your answers by clicking on this button:

Expand the activity to full screen if needed:

Reflections

Reflective practice is a key skill for rural financial counsellors, and throughout the lessons there are prompts and questions for you to reflect upon. We encourage you to keep a reflective journal, using the Notes function.

The notes feature allows you to take notes as you browse the course content. The ‘Take notes’ banner will appear at the bottom of every page.

When selected a new window appears for note-taking. Notes can quickly be printed, or you can choose to export to Microsoft Word for additional editing. If you click ‘Save’ your notes will be stored within the learning platform. You can view all your notes at any time by navigating to the course homepage and selecting ‘My notes’ from the Quick Links menu or alternatively navigating to your Dashboard.

There are also opportunities for you to discuss and share your ideas with your colleagues and mentors. Learning is a social activity and we recommend you take every opportunity to learn from others, and create knowledge together.

Some reflective activities will require you to discuss with your manager or supervisor, and will require you to indicate completion.

Course materials

You will also find useful resources throughout each lesson, all of which can be found in the Materials tab on the LearnDash dashboard. When commencing a course look for the Materials tab.

This will provide you with access to download files relevant to the course.

Quizzes

At the end of every lesson is a final quiz, each with between 5 to 10 questions. The activities and quizzes are designed so you can demonstrate achievement of the key learning outcomes of each lesson. A heads up! You will need to allow more time to complete the final quizzes for lessons 1.2 (Policies and procedures) and 1.3 (Work health and safety) where there are between 20 and 30 questions.

To complete a quiz you must achieve a score of 100%. You will be allowed one opportunity to retake a quiz if you are not successful the first time. If you do not successfully complete the quiz after two attempts you will see this message:

For permission to allow further attempts, please contact your manager.

External training

Some lessons will require you to participate in external training to successfully achieve the learning outcomes. In these instances, you will be required to provide proof of completion by uploading a certificate and/or a screenshot.

Further training and information

If at the end of each lesson you feel you would benefit from further training in the subject area, you can lodge a request via the button on the lesson summary page.

 

You can also use this button to request further information or to provide feedback.

Accessibility

Your screen resolution/size can be altered to improve the readability for you.

If you experience any difficulties with accessing or engaging with the materials please contact your team leader.

Acknowledgement

Everyone learns differently (pace, etc). Each topic includes an estimate of time to complete. This is just a guideline and there are no time restrictions for completion. Work at your own pace to ensure your learning experience is right for you.

At the end of each level of learning you will be presented with a Certificate of Completion. Don’t forget to share these with your team leader or manager and celebrate your success.

Good luck and enjoy!