Digital Technologies represent an ever changing force in our world – change the way that we engage socially, how we do business, and how we innovate. The Digital Technologies learning area represents a fantastic opportunity for our next generation of students to move past capabilities in using technology, to developing literacy in creating technology. This represents a shift were students gain awareness of the problem solving processes that underpin the creation of technology, and are able to harness that power to drive innovation in new technologies that can change the world around us.So how can we teach this problem solving process in our classrooms? What key pedagogy underpins this? What are some of the key learning and teaching issues we should really be aware of? In our work with the CSER Digital Technologies MOOC, we are starting to explore such ideas, working with a community of teachers to help understand how we can think about Digital Technologies education in the primary and junior secondary spaces.
Learning Analytics (LA) is a relatively new teaching tool in educational technology. The session presents results from real-time LA software trials in secondary schools in NSW and Singapore. SchoolViewer (SV) software recently developed in Sydney is providing teachers with unprecedented live and summative pedagogical views of students learning on laptops. The software captures a range of data including on/off task data, length of engagement and details the flow of learning resources.
FIC Technology developed SV in consultation with primary and high school teachers, parents, students, school leaders and education academics in universities. Findings from school trials suggest teachers and school leaders find ‘live feedback’ valuable for understanding how students are using their laptops, the resources they access, what students find helpful and how interventions for all students might be more effective in learning design.
Recent national and international reports on technology uptake and success in all levels of schooling suggest more objective analysis of laptop usage is urgently needed. Ongoing development of SV in conjunction with other education research findings in NSW secondary schools (Hunter 2014; Hunter 2015; ICT-NAP 2015 report) may address problems areas for students such as “what it means to effectively search for information” and “how to find good information”.
Participants will consider what the school trials and summative reports reveal about students computer use, how the data can be used in faculty/school PD discussions; it is a provocative session and one not to be missed in the context of Do IT, Got IT, Go for IT.
The Australian Curriculum: Technologies will shape the future of Technologies learning in schools, ensuring that all students benefit from learning about and working with the traditional, contemporary and emerging technologies that shape the world in which we live. The Technologies learning area draws together the distinct but related subjects of Digital Technologies and Design and Technologies. Digital Technologies empowers students to shape change by influencing how contemporary and emerging information systems and practices are applied to meet current and future needs.
This presentation will focus on providing an update on the current status of the Digital Technologies curriculum, the key ideas of the curriculum, implementation plans and an overview of industry engagement and support.
The Australian Curriculum: Technologies will shape the future of Technologies learning in schools, ensuring that all students benefit from learning about and working with the traditional, contemporary and emerging technologies that shape the world in which we live. The Technologies learning area draws together the distinct but related subjects of Digital Technologies and Design and Technologies. Digital Technologies empowers students to shape change by influencing how contemporary and emerging information systems and practices are applied to meet current and future needs.
This presentation will focus on providing an update on the current status of the Digital Technologies curriculum, the key ideas of the curriculum, implementation plans and an overview of industry engagement and support.
Some of the areas, questions and discussion topics that will be addressed:
1. What is a processor and how does it impact upon device performance?
2. What are the key technology requirements for learning devices and why?
3. What is on the technology horizon and what opportunities does it provide for the classroom?
To takeaway, participants will also be given access to an extensive resource database to assist post session. This session will have a hands-on component
Linking industry needs with schools and tertiary institutions, the ME Program has increased STEM participation in the Hunter Region to above the NSW average level in a number of subjects for students completing a Higher School Certificate (HSC).
Hunter Schools who have been actively engaged in the program for a number of years have experienced increased participation in STEM subjects well in excess of 50%. ME Program schools are now three times more likely to complete HSC Engineering Studies compared to the NSW average and 14% of ME Program students will select Metals and Engineering for their HSC compared with the state average of 3%.
The innovative curriculum known as Integrated STEM which was developed by the ME Program embeds engineering, avionics, robotics, systems integration, electronics, 3D printing, statistics, surveying, coding and CAM into the curriculum. Schools endorsed to run the iSTEM initiative will exceed 60 schools in 2016.
In this this presentation participants will learn about the benefits of an integrated approach to STEM education and models which can be used to introduce it in your school. Links to resources and how to gain endorsement for the iSTEM curriculum will also be discussed.
In this hands-on workshop, participants will be introduced to prototyping using breadboards. These activities can be incorporated into science, physics and STEM classrooms or maker spaces. Participants will create a wearable LED bracelet created out of copper tape and conductive thread. Participants will learn how to connect simple breadboard circuits comprising LEDs.
The ACCE is the national professional body for those involved in the use of information and communications technology in education. This includes educators who teach computing / information technology subjects as well as all educators who strive to improve student learning outcomes through the powerful use of ICT.
ACCE strives to encourage and maintain a level of excellence in this field of endeavour throughout Australia. Each state and territory has an independent association (or Computers in Education Group - CEG) which advances the professional development of its members in the use of learning technologies in education.
The ACCE Board consists of representatives from the state and territory CEGs and the Australian Computer Society. It publishes the journal Australian Educational Computing and authorises the Australian Council for Computers in Education Conferences (ACCE). It is affiliated with the International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) and the Technology Education Federation of Australia (TEFA).
Casula High School is on a journey, transforming the way we teach to better fit the way our students learn.
Imagine walking into a classroom, but it isn’t a classroom. Students are working in pods, collaborating, problem solving and tinkering. In the corner a group of students celebrate as they light up their first LED with code they scripted themselves.
Casula Code Factory is a 21st century collaborative STEM learning space tailored for our student’s future success. This space will transform existing programs at our school, deepening their reach within the curriculum and increasing the engagement of our students.
The factory will bring together three elements. Professional computer hardware with a proven lifecycle, expert external training to facilitate lasting knowledge transfer and class sets of integrated development boards that will allow the embedding of the pedagogy into the existing curriculum and timetable.
In the workshop/presentation will look at how to teach the HSC SDD course by paralleling the course theory with project work to develop a mobile application and hence gain a deeper understanding by applying the theory to their project.
Topics we will cover are:
We don’t know exactly what the future holds for our students, but we can equip them with the tools and skills to tackle these eventualities. Working from a problem/design based approach to learning, this session will focus on giving participants an introduction to the world of physical computing using an Arduino compatible board, and then collaboratively designing lesson experiences that engage, equip and inspire. Participants will also complete a simple project empowering them with the confidence to implement in their classroom. To takeaway, participants will gain a window in to online resources to assist the integration of Physical Computing Technologies as well as a problem/design based approach to learning across their school. This session will have a significant hands-on component, with participants walking away digitally and pedagogically empowered.
NB Participants will be required to have a computer to participate fully. Please make sure you have donwloaded the Arduino 1.6.7 IDE from here www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software and then installing both the 'Curie' and 'i586' boards by going to Boards >> Boards Manager within Arduino 1.6.7.
Last year, Grok Learning piloted a competition designed to teach students web development. 1000 students from Year 4 to Year 12 participated, learning HTML and CSS from scratch.
In this talk, we will introduce Web.Comp, and explain how we combined formative assessment and interactive notes to teach 1000 students across Australia how to build beautiful websites.
We will also cover:
- Aligning web development with the NSW curriculum and Digital Technologies curriculum
- Using Web.Comp for differentiated learning in the classroom
- Showcase of websites created in our Tournament at the end of Web.Comp 2015.
In this hands-on workshop, participants will be introduced to prototyping using breadboards. These activities can be incorporated into science, physics and STEM classrooms or maker spaces. Participants will learn how to connect simple breadboard circuits comprising LEDs, resistors, and switches. They will explore more complex projects involving sensors for detecting and seeking obstacles, and controlling motors. There will be a discussion on how these skills can be further evolved into embedded and robotics projects incorporating Arduino and Raspberry Pi, ThinkerSheld and lots of other equipment. An interactive showcase of projects will be available, including a simple motor, steady-hand game, dimmer switch, a lie-detector, a weather station, and various robots.
This is the annual meeting of the general membership of ICT Educators NSW. It gives its members and the committee a broad overview of the organisation's current directions, financial health and confirms its purpose. The AGM will also conduct the investiture of the 2016 committee.
All 2016 conference goers are invited to attend; however, voting is restricted to ICTENSW financial members. Concluding the (short) formal proceedings, conference goers and friends of ICTENSW are invited to a conference wind-down with drinks and light refreshments.
