One of the device choices for schools undertaking a 1-to-1 program is an iPad, using a variety of apps and the potential of bulk purchasing iBooks for students.

One of the challenges for educators has been to connect the content and the learning.

Courses developed through the Apple Course Manager are one way to do this.

Some examples of Courses created include:

Antarctica – Years 5/6 – Croydon Hills PS

Year 8 Science – Energy- Ringwood SC

Year 7 English – Albert Park College

Globally, schools are presenting and sharing their courses on iTunes U K-12 (part of the iTunes Store)

Here are some great Australian examples iTunes U Australian Curriculum collection

There are many teachers who have created courses who are not making them public and are sharing them directly via a link with their students.

This is possible but there are limitations around course numbers (max 12) or the amount of people you can share your courses with (50 people).

These limitations can be removed if teachers become affiliated with an iTunes U Campus. They can still keep their content behind the scenes but they will be able to share the link more broadly.

There are two ways that teachers can be affiliated.

A school can set up and manage their own iTunes U Campus on the iTunes U public site as these schools have done

John Monash Science School

Keilor Views PS

Wonga Park PS

Victorian Government schools can affiliate themselves through the

Department’s iTunes U Campus 

To affiliate your account, send your Apple ID to your institution’s (DET’s)  iTunes U Public Site Manager administrator and request that the administrator add you as a contributor to the site at  digital.learning@edumail.vic.gov.au

Teachers must:

• use their school email address eg Edumail to create their Apple ID for the courses that they develop for their students. This will allow us to identify you as teachers for the campus and It also keeps a teacher’s professional content separate from their personal content. (Always a good idea)

• ensure that they respect the copyright of others when creating their course. See: http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/information-sheets/schools

For further help go to https://help.apple.com/itunesu/instructor/#/

Whether you are new to blogging, or want a refresher on all of the features that blogging can offer, there is a great opportunity to join Edublogs for a four week crash-course as they guide you through the process of blogging with students.

This course covers:

• Setting up class and student blogs
• Teaching quality comments and posts
• Working with widgets
• Images, copyright, and creative commons
• Connecting with other classes
• Tons more!

Initially, part of the Teacher Blogging Challenge of 2015, which has now closed, this four week course is still open to educators to participate at their own pace. Go to go to: http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/blogging-with-students/.

Edublogs affirms that the main reasons why educators use blogs include:

• Share information and class news with parents, family and caregivers.
• Provide students with a way to access assignments, homework, resources and information about their class online.
• For global collaboration and authentic audience.
• To inspire and motivate students.
• The benefits of class blogging include:

• Blogging opens up the possibilities of audience in new ways. When students are writing or publishing for an audience other the teacher, it impacts how they view what they are doing and the intrinsic motivation they have.
• Students love seeing their work on the Internet and adore getting comments from people. It motivates them to write as it gives them an audience that is real.  The blog opens up a whole new world of people who can offer encouragement and feedback.
• The blogging experience forces the students to do more reflection on their learning and allows them to showcase products they have produced with online tools.
• Blogging provides an authentic educational experience, where what they write is not only seen and commented on by their teacher, but by their peers and the “public.” For most students, it’s a bit of extra motivation knowing their peers will see their work.
• There is an authentic audience – a global audience – one that is willing to connect, share, challenge, discuss and communicate with classes. This audience can provide further information, opinions, suggest resources, seek answers to questions and so on which pushes blogging further.
• Blogging develops a learning network. Exercise books etc need not be pushed and crumpled in school lockers only to be placed in the rubbish bins at the end of the school year, but student work is out there for their school lives.

For more information on blogging with students, visit edublogs.

To create your first blog, visit Global2.

In the Year 5/6 area of Benalla P-12 College, we are developing and sharing a state-wide leadership program to build the skills of young leaders. Each week the leaders meet with four other schools from across Victoria. Schools have just completed two weeks of orientation and warm-up activities to prepare them for a weekly debating program over the DET high definition Polycom Videoconferencing network. Each Thursday Year 5/6 leaders meet in a ‘virtual debating room’ and research and debate real world issues. The schools are: Benalla P-12 College, Mildura West Primary School, Edi Upper Primary School, Eskdale Primary School and Grovedale Primary School (Geelong).

Thursday 26th February marks the first debating session with Benalla Vs Mildura West (‘That we spend too much time on the Internet’) and Eskdale Vs Edi Upper (‘That School uniform should be compulsory’). The debating series culminates in a Grand Final with the two top schools facing each other and adjudicators Sandy Phillips and Peter Maggs from the Digital Learning Branch on Thursday 19th  March. Interested schools can visit the blog/website at debating.global2.vic.edu.au  for more information.

There is already a waiting list of six other schools who want to join our program in term 2. Schools can express an interest in participating in Term 2 – Series 2 at http://debating.global2.vic.edu.au/the-schools/

Professional learning offers a great opportunity for educators to collaborate and share expertise with others with similar goals or interests, as well as build their skills and knowledge to benefit their teaching practice.  As well as an increasing selection of professional learning programs on offer, options for delivery of professional learning have increased in the past few years with the use of social media and web resources. For the school that is seeking a fresh approach or has limited resources or access to professional learning programs, there are many options to connect with educators with the school and from across the globe and access quality professional learning opportunities. Great online tools are continually emerging to support teachers in their professional learning and teaching needs, but knowing where to start can sometimes be the hardest part.

Twitter – Twitter provides great opportunity to connect with educators from across the globe, and to tap into chats that are “trending”.  Used effectively, it can be a great tool for the time-poor educator to keep up to date with the professional conversations or chats.

Once you have set up an account, search for thought leaders, fellow educators and educational publications, and ‘follow’ them. This will ensure you will see what these people are tweeting on a daily basis when you login to your twitter account. Some suggestions to get you started include Alec Couros, Will Richardson, Stephen Heppell, Jackie Gerstein.

Twitter can be confusing at first. Familiarise yourself with the abbreviations, and you should be ok.

• @name = the username or “handle” of a particular person or group. Often an abbreviation such as this will appear within the twitter message. This simply means that the person mentioned is being “copied” into the message.
• #hashtag = this displays the topic of the chat. Using the search function in twitter, you can search for topics as well as people or groups.
• RT = retweet. This shows that the tweet has been forwarded on.

Once you have joined Twitter, it’s worth having a look around. Do a hashtag search. Victorian educator Bec Spink runs a great blog and twitter account, and mentions a few key hashtags in her blog:

• Victorian Professional Learning Network- #VicPLN
• #edchat
• #edtech
• #education
• #CBLearn 

Kahn academy – The Kahn academy offers free resources and tutorials. Explore this site to access curriculum materials, videos, and discussion boards on a range of topics. The Kahn academy is a great support for educators adopting a blended learning model, but regardless, many educators will find something of interest here.

Pinterest – Pinterest is a great tool for the visual learner. With Pinterest, you can get a snapshot of your topic of interest and choose to drill down further, if a particular “pin” interests you. You can also create your own pages on topics of interest, as well as follow others that have started up their own pages. The best way to get started is to create an account and try searching for different terms – digital learning, ICT education or digital technologies.

Join a chat, or start up your own. Craig Kemp @mrkempnz, NZ educator based in Singapore runs a great weekly chat on topics that are close to inspiring educators’ hearts, titled #whatisschool

Blogging – Global2 is a blogging community for Victorian schools. It allows teachers to manage an individual blog or manage their students to manage their own blogs. Each blog can have a defined audience:

• just the blog owner
• members allocated to see the blog, people who have been sent the link and  a password to the blog or all other Victorian schools who have a Global2 blog
• The whole internet world
• The DEECD has a licence for all Victorian Schools to use the service. This includes Government and Non-Government schools. Schools are able to set up student, class, teacher and school blogs. If you haven’t already tried your hand at blogging

Virtual Conferencing – Virtual conferencing is a great means to establish contact with other schools and share resources. Virtual conferencing opens doors to new learning and teaching opportunities beyond the classroom.. There is a range of virtual learning tools available that enable educators to connect, interact, share and learn with others outside of their classroom and school.

DET offers information on how to get started, video conferencing tools, and case studies on what’s happening in Victorian schools. DET also provides Virtual Conference Centre (VCC) coaches are available to assist teachers and students to prepare for a virtual conference.

1. Anne Mirtschin –  mirtschin.anne.a@edumail.vic.gov.au Twitter @murcha
2. Sally Walsh – walsh.sally.j@edumail.vic.gov.au Twitter @salwal55
3. Ben Gallagher – Gallagher.Ben.J@edumail.vic.gov.au Twitter @Ben_Mr_G

Jo Tate (tate.joanne.e@edumail.vic.gov.au) and Butch (Gary) Schultz (schultz.gary.r@edumail.vic.gov.au) also support the development of Virtual Conferencing across Victoria.

As with the delivery of any professional learning program, the usual principles of professional learning apply.

•  Find a way of working- how do we ensure that capacity building is linked to classroom practice, is iterative and ongoing.
• Create professional learning teams and establish shared communication and collaboration formats. To create critical mass, identify early adopters, and establish a mentoring program. To affect change, build a critical mass from your most enthusiastic staff members.
• Establish a way of measuring, sharing and reflecting upon the impact of the implementation of the professional learning that has occurred. Start small – build in sandpit time to allow for review and reflection – before moving onto the next focus. Sustainability is more important than offering a wide smorgasboard.
• Use the resources! There are some great documents outlining professional learning principles. Familiarise yourself and use these as a guide. http://www.curriculum.edu.au/leader/professional_learning_in_effective_schools,12689.html?issueID=10183

Resources

http://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/linking_effective_professional_learning_with_effective_teaching_practice_-_cole

https://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/teachlearn/teacher/proflearningineffectiveschools.pdf

If you haven’t already registered for Safer Internet Day, it’s not too late!

Safer Internet Day is an annual global event where children and young people are encouraged to be safer and more responsible when using digital technologies. This year, Safer Internet Day will be held on Tuesday 10 February, and the theme is ‘let’s create a better internet’. There will be two important events on the day to support the work of schools, including an online cyber safety session via FUSE for students from Year 4 to 6. The Department has also partnered with the Herald Sun to run a live blog where parents and students can chat live with expert Andrew Fuller.

9:30 – 10:30 Being a Good Bystander web conference

This web conference is co-presented by The Department and the Cybersmart Team at ACMA. The session will explore the concept of ‘Being a Good Bystander’ and is aimed at students in years 4, 5 and 6.

Schools can register their interest at SID2015

11:30 – 1:30 Live blog with Andrew Fuller

The Herald Sun has partnered with the Department and clinical psychologist Andrew Fuller to give parents and kids some practical advice on how to deal with cyberbullies, and how to stay safe online. Cyberbullying is an increasing issue for young people, with up to one in 10 students involved in cyberbullying every year.

Schools are also encouraged to organise local events and activities.

Learning and Teaching Resources

There are numerous resources available for all year levels that promote safe internet use.  These can be found at https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/saferinternetday2015.aspx.

There are also Cybersmart resources available that align to the bystander theme, including

• Newsletter article – Cybersmart has a series of ready-made articles that can be used to focus on cybersafety issues in your weekly newsletter. Download the Bystander newsletter article (Word, 155KB) or read it online (HTML).
• #GameOn – This video series follows the online experiences of a group of upper primary/ lower secondary students. Over five short episodes, the students find themselves in situations that catch them off-guard and teach them the consequences of making poor decisions online. http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/gameon.aspx.

Further Information

More Information on Safer Internet Day can be found at:

Safer Internet Day 2014 – FUSE: https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/Pages/saferinternetday2014.aspx

DEECD Bully Stoppers: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/default.aspx

ACMA: www.cybersmart.gov.au

Deanne Joosten, Head of Performing Arts – Phoenix P-12 Community College, and Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert 2015 shares her experience in teaching VCE through video conferencing

The initial idea

A little over twelve months ago I was asked whether it would be possible to teach VCE Drama through video conferencing.  It took me all of three seconds to realise that this was an opportunity to combine two areas I am passionate about as a teacher, Drama and Technology.  So with great enthusiasm and my mind racing with possibilities and ideas, my answer was a resounding “YES”!

The immediate challenge was how to take a very practical VCE subject and teach my own class and three other schools at the same time, without disadvantaging anyone.  I worried about the lack of face to face contact and how this would affect my relationship with my ‘virtual’ students.  The success of a senior Drama class will often be influenced by the dynamics of the group.  What would combining four schools together do to the dynamics? It would also mean that ALL of my resources and teaching methods would need to be electronic.   What about the technophobe student who prefers to use paper and pen?  What about the student that doesn’t have access to the internet at home?  I couldn’t disadvantage those students either.  Taking all of these aspects into consideration, and with plans to manage some of the potential issues, Virtual VCE Drama was born.

Connecting the schools

I was put in touch with three interested schools covering a distance of 700kms between them.  The three rural schools involved were unable to deliver VCE Drama due to low numbers or lack of qualified staff.  The remote students joined my classroom in Ballarat ‘virtually’ for each lesson.   Each of the three schools had Polycom units and a dedicated classroom for the students to go to each lesson.  I did not have a Polycom unit so I used MS Lync to provide the video conferencing component from my end.

A graphic representation of the distance covered using video conferencing.  (An example of how technology can make the world a smaller place)

Blending and flipping

Each week I conducted my VCE Drama classes LIVE and I flipped one of my lessons to cater for timetable clashes (I had several virtual students who couldn’t attend Thursday class so I ran it on Wednesday).  Many hours were spent scheduling, planning and organising my lessons.  However I soon started to realise that the time spent making electronic teaching resources would not go to waste as I would have an incredible amount of resources to use for future classes.  I also found that the students were much more engaged in the ‘new and improved’ approach compared to previous classes. 

One of the biggest challenges with teaching VCE Drama (units 3&4) in this way was the Unit 3 task, the Ensemble Performance.  This required the students to work in groups for an extended period of time and write and perform an Ensemble Performance.  Establishing an environment to create meaningful group work when your students are 800kms apart was one of the biggest obstacles I struck initially.  To overcome this I created several MS Lync meeting rooms and had students sign in to a room with their group.  I would then ‘jump’ in and out of each room and observe the students collaborating, rehearsing and answer questions when required.   It was quite amazing at how quickly the students adapted to this unorthodox approach and it took very little time for relationships to develop between the students.  Also watching the ways in which the students interacted with the screen/computer as they rehearsed and performed was incredible.  They didn’t see it as a barrier, but rather used it as a component of their performance work. 

Video created by DEECD Senior Project Manager Gary Schultz showing Virtual VCE Drama in action.

My toolbox

Throughout the year I used a variety of technologies and ICT resources to teach my Virtual VCE Drama class.  I created a website which became the main point of reference for my students to check every week and where I uploaded links and resources on a weekly basis.  I also used Google Drive, Facebook, Gmail, YouTube, Powtoon, Padlet, Quizlet, forums, surveys, polls and many other ICT tools to communicate, teach, engage and inspire my students.

Occasionally technology failed us and we had to resort to plan b, plan c and even plan d.  The first time we experienced technical issues it was the students who were quick to problem solve and came up with a variety of ways to keep the lines of communication open so I could continue teaching the class.  When our video conferencing links weren’t working we opened a Google doc and used the chat feature to keep the conversations and brainstorming happening.  We always had Skype and Google hangouts on standby.  In the worst case scenario, we resorted to the ‘old school’ approach of phoning and teaching via speaker phone.  We worked as a team all year reflecting and evaluation our journey constantly as we went.

The journey continues

Teaching Virtual VCE Drama has been an enormous challenge for me as a professional and one which I have thoroughly enjoyed.  To my knowledge, I am the first teacher to attempt to teach VCE Drama ‘virtually’ which is an incredibly exciting experience and a great learning curve.  This year has also lead me to several other wonderful opportunities.  Due to my Virtual VCE Drama work, I was selected as a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert.  This means for the next 12 months I will be part of a global network of educators who are recognised for being innovative in the way they use Microsoft technologies.  Already being part of this network I have learnt SO many things.  I can’t wait to try out all the new resources I have discovered through my MIE expert role in my Virtual VCE Theatre Studies class in 2015. 

Contact

Deanne is available to present at conferences on Virtual VCE Drama and a variety of Microsoft technologies.  To contact Deanne directly email joosten.deanne.l@edumail.vic.gov.au

Webinar Virtual VCE Drama

Providing VCE subjects using virtual tools is happening across Victoria.  Innovative teachers are synchronously connecting with students from other schools to provide access to VCE subjects.  Educators often doubt that practical classes can be provided in this virtual fashion.   Join Deanne Joosten and hear how she adapted her delivery of VCE Drama to include students from three other schools.

HOW TO CONNECT: MS Lync only

WHEN: Tuesday 9^th December 2014 3.45-4.30

COST: No charge (limited to 120 participants)

Click HERE to Register

For more information about Virtual learning refer to  http://grampiansvirtualschool.wikispaces.com

This week’s blog post is written by Bec Spink, teacher at Aitken Creek Primary School and co-creator of ‘Code the Future’.

Today’s students live in a technology saturated world. Technology is transforming education as we know it. But while many students often know how to use technology, they rarely understand how it works.

‘Code the Future’ aims to move students from mere consumers of technology to creators and producers, and to equip the next generation with the skills to not only use technology but to make it work for them. Our goal is to connect core stakeholders, and get developers into schools collaborating and working side by side with students and educators.

It is these through these industry partnerships that ‘Code the Future’ believes students will be provided with authentic, real world opportunities and have the chance to take computer science to the next level in schools and be given opportunities to move beyond just visual representations of coding into exposing and teaching students real programming languages in order to design, create and produce real products. For teachers, connecting and collaborating with developers is invaluable for real world application to student learning in the classroom.

It is a crucial time for education in Victoria with implementation of the new Digital Technologies curriculum coming soon to AusVELS. Now is the time for the technology industry and educators to connect, collaborate and work together to bring the best opportunities to our students.

What’s great is that ‘Code the Future’ is developing a community of both educators and developers, a place where educators can post ‘coding’ projects and activities and be matched with developers in their area, willing and eager to volunteer some time to work with students. The support and positive feedback we have had for this venture has been great, recently being featured in The Age newspaper.

We are currently seeking pilot project submissions from passionate teachers who would like the opportunity to be connected with industry professionals to develop computer science and coding in their classrooms. At this stage, the idea for a project is completely up to the educator. The important idea behind the pilot projects and bringing about this connection is to get developers and teachers working together for the benefit of students.

Interested teachers can submit projects here.

You can read more and sign up at codefuture.org, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. 

This week’s blog post was written by Chrisi Tambakakis, teacher at Doveton College.

‘Leaving The Earth’ is a cross curriculum program by SoundGarage that was developed for the students in Year 7 at Doveton College. The program focuses on learning in Humanities with major links to Science, Art, Music, Robotics, English, Food Technology and Drama.

The premise is simple: the world is no longer inhabitable. As a result humans must migrate to Mars where individual tribes must form a new society.  Using Design Thinking as a basis for learning and creativity, students were asked to plot their own journey into a new world. 

Our experience at Doveton College suggested that using a “gaming” approach to learning would usually ensure high student engagement. The use of Imprudence Virtual World offered an opportunity to tap into the interest base of the students by using the medium of a “gaming” experience to deliver curriculum, and have students apply their ICT knowledge and skills.

Leaving the Earth  –  Mars

In 2014 we embarked on a new journey “Leaving the Earth – Mars” (LTEM). We used the virtual world as a tool to enhance the learning experience of students, and give them the chance to apply their learning to “virtual” real life situations.

The LTEM program focused on the domain, Civics and Citizenship. The project was designed to develop cooperative learning strategies and teaching techniques. It challenged students to solve problems in a group to achieve a desired outcome.

The project posed this problem: ‘Unfortunately the tribes face a huge issue, the Earth has been decimated by man, and Earth is no longer livable. The only chance for survival is to leave the Earth and build new human colonies on Mars’. The goal of the project was survival of the tribe and successful resettlement on Mars.  All students were part of the earth tribe, and were required to develop a tribal identity and culture. As a group they were required to design, build and supply a space transport pod that would transport the tribe and all their needs to Mars.

Once the tribes arrived on Mars, the development of a new society began. Tribes had to rely on their own members and members of other tribes for survival.

Cross curricular learning

Using an inquiry through line of Leaving the Earth – Mars, most curriculum subject areas could access the topic and use the project as a point of reference for teaching topic related concepts.

For further information on this project, please contact gene@osundgarage.com.au

This weeks blog post is written by Thomas Hilder, Year 9 student at Warragul Regional College.

On Friday 31 October, 25 students from 4 Victorian schools participated in the Schools Hackathon, presented by NICTA and Digital Careers as part of Melbourne Knowledge Week 2014, and hosted by the University of Melbourne. The schools involved included Lowanna College, Warragul Regional College, Kew High School, and Charles La Trobe P-12 College.

The Schools’ Hackathon is a unique workshop for high school students who want to turn their creative ideas into software and apps that can make a difference to the world. The Hackathon challenges students to create an app that solves a real problem facing the City of Melbourne.

Schools Hackathon provided a chance to try coding for a day in a relaxed environment supported by researchers/mentors from NICTA and the University of Melbourne.

At 6.30am, students from Warragul RC and Lowanna College headed off for Melbourne. On arrival we were introduced to the staff and mentors and presented with our goal to create a tour of Melbourne on a selected theme, and assigned groups with a mix of different skills. Each group was required to brainstorm ideas, and select one to bring to life, create a demo and then pitch it to the full group and a panel of experts. To encourage competition between the groups, prizes were offered for the best pitch and best hack, and judged on the following:

1.  Impact – Would the application have real social impact? Can it change the world, or at least help someone in Melbourne? Does it solve a stated goal of the hackathon?

2.  Innovation – Is the solution novel? Did it solve the problem in a creative or never-seen-before way?

3.  Technical Achievement – Did it solve a hard technical problem? Did the group get a working demo completed within the allotted time?

At 9.30am we commenced our first activity by exploring data sets finding relevant information. Data sets include maps/tables displaying different types of information like public toilet locations and tourism numbers. We decided on a target audience and a theme for our tour. The group I was involved in chose art and environment, and targeted young adults.

We approached our task by first locating tram routes and maps of other relevant data like sculptures and gardens. We started to form a list of data to use in our tour, and from there formed ideas around the basic parts of the tour and the way it would work as an app. Next we designed ideas for pages of the app and how it could be navigated, and started to mark out key locations on a physical map.

After morning break, we broke our group in two. Tom and I started to work on the app design, whilst Hayden and Brad worked on the tour design. This helped us in starting to make an app prototype in ‘pop’, a very cool app that lets you take photos of drawings to place hyperlinks on them and simulate an app. This is actually the coolest app ever.

Before lunch we took a break from creating our app creation to watch a robotics demo. Two 1.5 feet tall robots danced with some success, although they fell over a few times. They also tracked sound and movement, and followed Hayden around for a while. Interestingly, since they looked sort of human you could feel sympathy for them when they fell. I want one!

After lunch we were treated to a tour of the University of Melbourne campus. We walked around the campus and looked at some of the amazing architecture, and were told that it is very similar to Oxford.

We then returned to finish designing our app prototype. It had a lot of pages and was getting complex at this point. This app could be a real thing ….I think, anyway. After this, we finished the main parts of the app and started finalising and debugging the app. At this stage we were all feeling pretty accomplished and excited. This was fun!

Our group finished early, and had the opportunity to look at some of the other teams’ work. Actual apps were being built, routes were being planned, and every group did something different. This was a very cool experience.

At the end of the day, we presented our app to the group and watched everyone else’s presentations. All the presentations were really interesting, and we all got so much out of the day. Kew High School will be returning to school to code their app and possibly use it for school projects next year. Warragul and Lowanna teachers will be sharing the experience within their network and looking at possibilities for extending the program.

When the ‘people’s choice winners were announced, we were excited to hear that our app won the award. Overall, it was a great day!

NICTA is Australia’s largest information and communications technology (ICT) R&D centre. It pursues high-impact, original research that is inspired by real-world challenges. NICTA is also the national coordinating body for the Digital Careers program and a critical training ground for future ICT researchers. This event is presented by NICTA as part of Melbourne Knowledge Week 2014