The revolution is being televised:

http://www.digitaleducationrevolution.gov.au/computer_fund/round_one/nsw.htm

and it will be wonderful. We have an opportunity now to really start to innovate and re-position schools as relevant 21st century educational institutions. The challenges are extant but it is going to be exciting; the glass is half-full.

View some laptop lessons.

Share

Comments(2)

    • darcymoore

    • 16 years ago

    The tension, as always, is with what needs to be done, how much the government will spend and who makes up the shortfall. I am always enthusiastic about a challenge but am conscious of the workload implications – what is ‘wonderful’ to some is a nightmare to others. The thing about teachers is that money has always been a secondary consideration and the vocational important. A press release yesterday from NSWTF:

    “The Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced a computer rollout for secondary schools today as part of the Federal Government’s so-called Digital Revolution. However, what she failed to say was that no NSW public high school will see any of the computers until next year. This contrasts with eligible private schools, where students are likely to start using the new computers within a matter of weeks.

    “Teachers in public schools in NSW spent many hours earlier this year preparing their school’s application under the Federal Government’s National Secondary Schools Computer Fund program. They believed their schools would receive computers this term but their efforts have been wasted.

    “The NSW Department of Education and Training has announced that the rollout to NSW public schools will be centrally managed in line with centrally determined criteria, with no school to receive any computers until 2009. It has, however, determined that schools must take their allocation as laptops only, even if it doesn’t suit the particular school. Unfortunately, the Department is still trying to grapple with the problems around infrastructure, technical support and professional development the Federal computer rollout will create.

    “The rollout of computer technology into NSW public schools has for too long been characterised by poor decisions; a lack of regard for the views of the profession and an emphasis on providing hardware to schools with little regard for the professional development, infrastructure and technological support necessary to effectively utilise it. The so-called Digital Revolution is just the latest example and once again it appears that teachers will be expected to make up the shortfall by increasing their own workload.”

Leave a Reply to darcymoore Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *