Anne Mirtschin
Hawkesdale P12 College, Hawkesdale, Victoria

“Students love blogging. It’s very visual and immediate and when they get a hit on their blog they feel the world is listening.”

Who has the most gadgets - America, Palestine or Australia? To find out, Anne Mirtschin’s class collaborated with students around the world, graphing the results using Microsoft® Office Excel® and publishing them on their blogs. Technology is enabling Anne’s students to connect with and learn about communities beyond their own, which they visit by videoconference, interactive whiteboards, podcasts, online forums and multimedia. They store all their experiences, ideas and assignments in their personal blogs.
“Students love blogging,” Anne says. “It’s very visual and immediate and when they get a hit on their blog they feel the world is listening.”
With all their work online, it’s easy for students to showcase their achievements to their parents. The blogs also give Anne multiple entry points into the curriculum, especially literacy skills, and enable her to give students immediate feedback and gauge their progress. “In their blogs, I can see instantly what students don’t understand, their interests and things they’re going through. This helps me direct learning activities more effectively.”

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Colleen Spence
Merici College, Braddon, ACT

“Students often go beyond what I’ve shown them, so I learn from them too.”

In Colleen Spence’s classroom it’s 2225 and students are debating the future of the human race. In their roles as world leaders, scientists, astronauts, lobbyists and journalists, they brainstorm and research the topic, then argue their perspective through speeches, podcasts and Microsoft® Photo Story.
Colleen says the results can be surprising. “Students often go beyond what I’ve shown them, so I learn from them too. I try not to box them in by setting limits that are too narrow for the way they think about ICT.”
Colleen’s classrooms are noisy places. Stepping up to a digital whiteboard, students discover scientific and mathematical concepts. Others work at their own pace using flexible digital resources created by Colleen. These include Web sites, learning objects and animations that can be matched to different abilities to provide support or further extension. Students can also pick up classwork, resources, and check notices and schedules online.
“Technology is an important tool for me,” Colleen says. “I use it to spark students’ imagination and interest in learning. Importantly, it’s fun! It’s fun for me and it’s fun for my students.”

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Gordon Forsyth
Claremont Primary School, Claremont, Tasmania

“Technology helps me defuse behavioural problems by giving me lots of new options to build quality relationships with students.”

When Gordon Forsyth sees students drifting away from school, he tries to lead them back to learning. Often, technology helps him capture their interest, triggering opportunities for them to participate and achieve.
To stop older girls skipping school carnivals, Gordon threw them a camera and invited them to act as photojournalists. “They went from not showing up to producing something powerful,” Gordon says. Other students flocked to view their slideshows and posters, encouraging them to keep participating.
Gordon says: “Technology helps me defuse behavioural problems by giving me lots of new options to build quality relationships with students.”
Through a program of LAN gaming, Gordon is also helping older boys gain kudos in peer-valued activities instead of disrupting classes. Good behaviour earns students a pass entitling them to play computer games with each other at lunch time, with evening championships a further incentive. This program has successfully engaged disaffected students in the curriculum, with one boy so motivated by the need to understand error messages on screen he accepted Gordon’s help and learned to read.

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Jason Evert
Yarrabah State School, Yarrabah, Queensland

“Students are at the heart of this software - it’s their artwork, narration and music. Every day I see them engaging with it by choice, and the genuine pleasure it brings to so many faces is overwhelming.”

The Gungandji and Yindinji people of Yarrabah have many stories about their land, the sea and their people. Now their children are telling these stories using traditional and cutting edge animations developed with the help of Jason Evert.
Working with a team of teachers, Jason sourced state and federal funding to create the animations and embed them into an interactive learning resource called Digital Dreaming. Shared on the school network, this software enables teachers to use traditional stories to engage students in the curriculum.
Students brought the stories to life. They filmed community elders telling the stories at sacred locations and developed storyboards to animate the stories. Then, with a little professional help from a talented artist, they created artwork and recorded narration. The most recent production is a stop motion animation developed by students. Teachers, community elders and linguists assisted with the soundtrack, script development and onscreen text.
Jason says, “Students are at the heart of this software - it’s their artwork, narration and music. Every day I see them engaging with it by choice, and the genuine pleasure it brings to so many faces is overwhelming.”

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Margo Whittle
St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls, Mosman Park, Western Australia

“PDAs are a great way for students to practice. I’m just one person and they help me spread myself across the classroom.”

Making strokes straight onto PDA screens with their fingers or a stylus, Whittle sensei’s students are learning to write Japanese. An animation shows them the correct stroke order and they hear clear audio instructions. If they make a mistake, they’re prompted to try again.
This is one of the many ways Margo Whittle is mobilising her students’ Japanese language learning using technology. Margo says, “PDAs are a great way for students to practice. I’m just one person and they help me spread myself across the classroom.” Loaded with a Japanese dictionary and character recognition, the PDAs are also used for vocabulary drills, audio flash cards and viewing mediascapes.
Students create their own mediascapes featuring maps overlaid with spoken and written Japanese, images, sounds and video. “With mediascapes, students can experience each other’s learning,” Margo says. For example, after a zoo visit, students used Microsoft® Photo Story to create a virtual Zoo Trail that can be taken by walking around the school grounds with a PDA.
Through her own mediascapes Margo is helping students experience Japan without leaving Australia. “I’m always asking: how can I make Japan alive for them and share my passion? Technology is helping me do it.”

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Mark Sparvell
Victor Harbor R-7 School, Victor Harbor, South Australia

“Great learning is about thinking out loud together. With technology we can harness the wisdom of many voices and express it.”

Spread across three Australian states, Mark Sparvell’s students are discovering common ground. While Mark facilitates via a live video feed, they brainstorm on a virtual whiteboard, ask questions by webcam and debate topics such as the meaning of a fair go.
Working in a district capacity, Mark invited students across different age groups and school systems to explore values and environmental projects in a virtual community of up to 30 sites. “Great learning is about thinking out loud together,” Mark says. “With technology we can harness the wisdom of many voices and express it.”
In his quest to explore the possibilities of technology in education, Mark is willing to “fail early and fail often”. And he’s risen to some tricky technical challenges, like leading a lesson that connected students and teachers on boats near Kangaroo Island via a video link-up to experts on the mainland. Students at more than 20 remote locations joined in, asking questions about dolphins and whales that were answered on the spot.
Mark says. “Whether it’s on the back of a boat or in a remote community, my classroom is wherever my laptop is.”

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Mark Tattersall
Murray Bridge High School, Murray Bridge, South Australia

“By taking out the messy, boring bits, such as number crunching and writing up practical work, technology lets science students spend more time on inquiry and developing analytical skills.”

Using data logging technologies, an interactive whiteboard and video simulations, Mark Tattersall is igniting interest in senior Physics. This year, enrolments tripled, with girls making up almost half of each class.
Mark’s students use data loggers to capture data about phenomena as diverse as the weather, water cooling and their own heart rates, then graph it using software. They write up their results using online templates.
“Data logging helps students understand complex scientific principles. They can see how concepts they’ve studied in Mathematics relate to real life,” Mark says. “It also helps me engage students with lower literacy and numeracy because it provides an alternative route to understanding.”
Using a whiteboard in his wireless-connected classroom, Mark can bring up a student’s data log and annotate it to help understanding. He also uses video simulations overlaid with velocity vectors and mathematical formulas to help students learn about phenomena, such as wave action or projectile motion.
Mark says, “By taking out the messy, boring bits, such as number crunching and writing up practical work, technology lets science students spend more time on inquiry and developing analytical skills.”

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Michael Wilson
Drummond Memorial Public School, Armidale, NSW

“Our aim is to give these kids an advantage. We want to help them express themselves and prepare them for the changing world of the future.”

Broadcasters, bloggers and documentary film makers... Michael Wilson’s indigenous students are all this and more.
Many don’t have access to the latest technology at home, but at school they’re telling their stories with wikis, podcasts and online galleries.
Michael wanted to give students an authentic learning experience, as well as opportunities to socialise outside their community. So he teamed up with teachers from other schools in the region to make it happen. Students met online, then each school hosted an excursion to a local place of interest. Destinations included an Aboriginal site, a gold mine, a shearing shed and a wool mill. Students reported enthusiastically on their visits by podcast and video, which they then shared with each other online.
In other projects, students filmed members of the Stolen Generation telling their stories and visited the local film and television school to produce videos for an online TV station called OurTube, screened on the school Web site.
Michael says: “Our aim is to give these kids an advantage. We want to help them express themselves and prepare them for the changing world of the future. I’ve seen learning transformed when students use film, Microsoft® Photo Story and podcasts to get their message across.”

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Rod White
Melbourne Grammar School, Caulfield, Victoria

“There are so many uses for technology as an educational tool at the primary level.”

Every year, students and teachers from 15 primary schools jump on board eTrain, a two-day conference led by Rod White. In a farm setting, they collaborate on projects by participating in activities such as robotics, broadcasting, movie making, game making, Web development and claymation.
eTrain gives students an authentic experience where they can use technology in a purposeful way. By focusing on one discipline, they acquire specific skills. Rod says, “There are so many uses for technology as an educational tool at the primary level. I find eTrain encourages students to think outside the square and really get excited about learning.”
eTrain also provides a professional development pathway for teachers, who attend their first eTrain as supervisors, rotating around the event. The following year, they’re asked to lead a session and take responsibility for inspiring and challenging students. “It’s a way for them to build confidence and become an eLearning mentor,” Rod says.
At school, Rod helps other teachers integrate technology by supporting them in planning and delivering lessons. “My desire is to work with teachers to build on their knowledge and skills. In turn, students’ knowledge and skills also develop, resulting in improved learning outcomes for everyone.”

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Serge Komadina
Centralian Senior Secondary College, Alice Springs, Northern Territory

“Students can view course materials anytime, anywhere. For students from non-English speaking backgrounds, this is vital - it lets them review instructions and participate in classroom discussions at their own pace.”

On the road with their band, Serge Komadina’s Design and Technology students completed his course in a virtual classroom, accessing course content and activities on the school portal.
All Serge’s courses are now online. Students visit the portal to pick up instructions and resources, including interactive media, sound files, bookmarks and RSS feeds. Using animations and videos on TeacherTube, Serge demonstrates new skills to students, who can then work on them during class or in their own time. At the end of lessons, students are able to let Serge know how they’re doing with survey functionality built into the portal.
“The portal helps me cater to different learning styles and get accurate feedback on student comprehension,” says Serge. “Students can view course materials anytime, anywhere. For students from non-English speaking backgrounds, this is vital - it lets them review instructions and participate in classroom discussions at their own pace.”
Serge supports other teachers in using the portal for teaching and learning, helping them put their courses online too. Once that’s done, they plan to share their virtual classrooms with students and teachers from other schools.

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Toby Trewin
Hale School, Wembley Downs, Western Australia

“With a Tablet PC and a stylus I can make detailed comments on student work and email them back immediately, giving students a chance to revise their work before handing it in,” Toby says. “It’s opened up new dimensions in learning that didn’t exist before.”

How do you keep a captive meerkat engaged? Toby Trewin’s Design and Technology students used interactive software tools to design a feeding device that stimulates normal foraging behaviour. “When I delivered the student projects it was like Christmas - the zoo was very appreciative,” says Toby. “And it was very rewarding for the students when they saw their designs used for the first time.”
Toby’s students start by brainstorming online and sketching their ideas, often straight onto the screens of their Tablet PCs. They use CAD software to model their projects in 3-D. As they work, they access resources from the school portal and document the design process with notes, drawings, audio, video and graphics. They save this information in personal e-folios built in Microsoft® Office PowerPoint®.
Toby uses a range of technologies to support learning, including video safety and technical demonstrations, an online markbook and online assessment. “With a Tablet PC and a stylus I can make detailed comments on student work and email them back immediately, giving students a chance to revise their work before handing it in,” Toby says. “It’s opened up new dimensions in learning that didn’t exist before.”

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