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Education.au was commissioned by the Australian Capital Territory Department of Education (ACT DET) to produce a report on emerging technologies pertinent to education and training in the pre-school, school and vocational education and training sectors in the ACT. This report reviews emerging educational technologies, looks at the impacts of educational policy developments, and points to the likely associated high level business requirements. Show less

This report focuses on the information and communications technologies (ICTs) that enable collaborative learning to happen online and includes school education, vocational education and training (VET) and higher education. The report: briefly describes the theories that underpin collaborative learning, the skills that are necessary for its success, the implications of collaborative learning on teaching practice, on students, and the spaces in which learning occurs; recognises the challenges in enabling collaborative learning including providing professional learning for teachers, knowledge, information and identity management, and managing continual change in tools and technologies; found that effective collaborative learning using ICTs is dependent on services and skills that are not specific to collaborative learning, but are essential for the provision of ICTs in education more generally; and makes four recommendations that complement existing initiatives and priorities of the Australian Government. [The recommendations are]: (1) provide access to post-secondary education options for remote and regional users, leveraging the investments being made through existing broadband initiatives; (2) extend the digital education revolution to the VET and university sectors; (3) task a national body to work through national partnerships to reduce fragmentation of effort, and make best use of the investments made in ICTs in education at a broad level, and collaborative learning in particular; and (4) embed new media literacy skills into Australia’s national curriculum in a consistent way independent of specific technologies. This project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).

Excerpt from education.au website. Show less

This annual report draws on the investigations undertaken for the Strategic ICT Advisory Service (SICTAS) that Education.au is providing to the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). The SICTAS reports into collaborative learning, workforce capability, and national software infrastructure to provide evidence to support a role for Australian Government to ensure the best return on investments in [information and communications technology] ICT for education and training. The role recommended is one of cross-jurisdictional and cross-sectoral coordination, collaboration and cooperation between and amongst education and training stakeholders led by the Australian Government. Technology innovations will continue to occur. This report focuses on providing advice on creating an education and training sector that is a ‘change maker’, i.e. it has the people, policies and processes in place to normalise change and to take advantage of emerging ICT. This will enable the timely introduction of new and emerging ICT and enable the education and training sector to respond to the need for new skills, knowledge and abilities, to adjustments to assessment, pedagogy and curricula as research and practice, and our teachers, leaders and learners, show the way. This report provides recommendations where the Australian Government can provide a national focus and strategic direction for ICT in education while acknowledging and encouraging the contributions of jurisdictions and sectors.

Excerpt from published foreword. Show less

This paper is one of a series of investigative reports commissioned by the Australian Government's Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) as part of the Strategic Information and Communications Technology Advisory Service (SICTAS). It focuses on the development of Australia's school teachers to enable them to make best use of the infrastructure currently being rolled out in the Digital Education Revolution (DER). The capacity of Australia's teachers to engage in the DER is critical to its success in bringing 21st century learning to Australia's classrooms. This report assembles and analyses information from relevant international and Australian sources, and from education administrators and educators at the chalkface regarding the way forward for ICT-related professional learning. On the basis of that analysis it makes three key recommendations for possible further examination and implementation by DEEWR. The recommendations are around the critical importance of student outcomes as the key to ICT-related professional learning, the role of the Australian Government in providing a national framework to guide state and territory education jurisdictions in managing professional learning, and the role of the Australian Government in providing access to resources to support it.

Excerpt from published foreword. Show less

This investigation compiles the evidence currently in existence to build a case for implementation of an Australian e-portfolio or e-portfolios. E-portfolio applications have been around for a number of years and are widely adopted in Australian education institutions. However, once learners are no longer involved in formal education, their access to e-portfolio services can be severely limited, even though they are by no means at the end of their education and are just beginning the work phase of their career. Several e-portfolio implementations around the world demonstrate the potential of e-portfolios for users post-education, including: supporting workers facing redundancy; career development; workforce development and planning; continuing professional development; lifelong learning; and articulation of skills and experience. E-portfolios have the potential to contribute to the policy response to an economic environment that includes complexities such as skills shortages, ongoing adjustment of the Australian labour market, the life-long learning agenda, and the impact of the global financial crisis. Worldwide, e-portfolios are at an interesting stage. Many implementations are considered highly successful by their stakeholders, in terms of benefits for individual users and labour market outcomes. However, the implementations are too recent for a solid base of evidence to have emerged, which means that several successful e-portfolios have been developed and implemented simply on the basis of an understanding that this is the way of the future. This report is part of the series of investigations commissioned by the Australian Government's Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) as part of the Strategic ICT Advisory Service (SICTAS) project.

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Several significant current trends are providing strong imperatives for Australian policy makers to seriously consider Australia's national software infrastructure for education, including the 21st century learning agenda, issues of equity and social inclusion, Australia's innovation, collaboration and productivity agendas, and the constant emergence of new technologies. This investigation develops the case for acceleration of Australia's progress towards a 21st century education software infrastructure. The report presents analyses of the policy drivers outlined above and of the current state of Australia's national education software infrastructure. On the basis of those analyses, recommendations are made for actions that will accelerate the development of Australia's education software infrastructure towards a situation in which the policy drivers identified are addressed, and emerging issues and agendas can be more efficiently tackled in future. Australia's federation is a key consideration for policy makers in education, and recommendations from this investigation are appropriately framed to build on work already carried out in the states and territories. This report is part of the series of investigations commissioned by the Australian Government's Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) as part of the Strategic ICT Advisory Service (SICTAS) project.

Published foreword. Show less

This report is part of the series of investigations commissioned by the Australian Government’s Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) as part of the Strategic ICT Advisory Service (SICTAS) project. The report looks at the current experience of student teachers in applying [information and communications technology] ICT in pedagogy, the barriers to using technology during teacher training, challenges in the practicum and ways to improve their experience of using ICT in their pre-service. In addition the report attempts to analyse recent national and international research, including the Demand and Value Assessment Method (DVAM) research recently undertaken for edna, Partnerships in Information Communication Technology Learning (PICTL), and research from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). Key questions addressed in the investigation included the following: (1) to what extent do teacher education courses develop pre-service teachers’ ICT skills and confidence, particularly in relation to using ICT technologies in their own teaching practice?; (2) are pre-service teachers required to apply ICT skills during their practicum? In this respect, are there any barriers? How might we improve student teachers’ experience in using ICT in the classroom?; (3) are there any particular barriers to student teachers accessing ICT facilities either in their coursework at university or during their practicum at school? To what extent do pre-service teachers have access to appropriate facilities at home?; and (4) are there any requirements in respect of ICT skills and experience for teacher registration? If not, what is the case for such requirements?

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