DHS needs to plan creatively and carefully in order to position the school effectively to reap the benefits of the Federal Governments funding of the ‘digital revolution’ for 2009 and beyond. The challenges are many but the opportunities afforded our school community are great.

 

The following outlines a course of action designed to:

 

  • introduce laptops in a structured and sustainable manner
  • develop support materials and more importantly structures that allow faculties to access and create resources that can be shared
  • professionally develop staff in the use of technology in their classroom
  • establish systems for managing laptops and learning at DHS
  • facilitate the development of published positions and policies

 

The detail of the proposal is as follows. DHS should plan to:

 

  1. introduce laptops into Year 9 in 2009 or as soon as possible
  2. develop the online content management system Moodle to support T&L in Year 9 classes
  3. purchase a subscription to Clickview
  4. create a timeline for TPL that extends from semester 2 2008 into 2010
  5. establish a team of ‘Pioneer’ teachers to facilitate professional learning
  6. publish policies in the diary for laptop and internet use for 2009; especially for Year 9 students

 

A Brief Overview and Rationale

 

1. introduce laptops into Year 9 in 2009

Years 10, 11 and 12 are cohorts that have the pressure of external exams. Year 9 has NAPLAN but there is more flexibility in the delivery of courses. Year 9 is more likely to be disengaged from school and learning than 10-12; this would reinvigorate T&L for this cohort. It is suggested that Year 9 are not required to purchase exercise books but use their laptops.

 

2. develop the online content management system Moodle to support T&L in Year 9 classes

Reading about Moodle will make it obvious why this system would be a sound base from which to develop resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet/page4814.cfm

http://moodle.org/

 

Training is available in Sydney in mid-August.

 

3. purchase a subscription to Clickview

Teachers have responded positively to the recent presentation and this resource can integrate into the Moodle management system: http://www.clickview.com.au/home.php

 

DHS needs to invest in supporting staff with quality resources.

 

4. create a timeline for TPL that extends from semester 2 2008 into 2010

Systematic planning for TPL can take place as whole school systems are developed strategically eg focus on Year 9, using laptops, Moodle and the philosophy of constructivist pedagogy using ICT (see http://docs.moodle.org/en/Philosophy)

 

5. establish a team of ‘Pioneer’ teachers to facilitate professional learning

A cross-faculty team that can be used to pioneer best practice in the classroom and facilitate PD with colleagues.

 

 

6. publish policies in the diary for laptop and internet use for 2009

It will be fundamental that we articulate – in diaries – to the school community our expectations and goals. The Technology committee may wish to consider (co)drafting a range of policies with the T&L committee

 

 

Conclusion

 

It is not clear how DET intends to support state schools implement the ‘revolution’ and this is, obviously, of great concern. It is clear that many other issues exist for the T&L, TPL, Technology Committees, faculties as well as the executive to address but this proposal charts a clear course of action that will enable the school to build on solid foundations. It is an ambitious yet achievable plan. It is about TPL, pedagogy and school planning not infrastructure. The plan is flexible and can be started now but full implementation delayed ie. If we do not have the laptops as soon as expected.

 

 

 

 

 

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Comments(15)

  1. […] Joanna Stern . Excerpt: Systematic planning for TPL can take place as whole school systems are developed strategically eg focus on Year 9, using laptops, Moodle and the philosophy of constructivist pedagogy using ICT (see http://docs.moodle.org/en/Philosophy) … […]

    • Paul Hendriks

    • 16 years ago

    Hi Darcy. Just read your school’s proposal, it sounds terrific. We are well underway with Moodle and it’s an excellent option but it does takes some time for staff to get their heads around…the kids could set it up for us in about 10 minutes!
    Would love to be one of your school’s ‘pioneers’.

    • darcymoore

    • 16 years ago

    Hi Paul,

    And we’d love to have you. We do have some very keen staff and a few others who are understandably apprehensive. We are happy to share Moodle resources etc.. Maybe we could swap some ‘guest’ passwords via email?

  2. No worries, will organise guest info later.

  3. Hi Darcy
    Fantastic, thanks for posting this.

    I’m finding your blog to be a very powerful learning tool at my school. We have a way to go but changes are starting.

    Hope its Ok to share it with other teachers?

  4. […] fantastic learning from and sharing knowledge with another NSW DET High School. It feels good. Darcy’s blog should be compulsory reading for all NSW DET learners facing the same challenges in implementing […]

    • darcymoore

    • 16 years ago

    Happy to share with all as we feel or way forward, Tony.

  5. […] The closed antiquated and monolithic web1.0 nature of the NSW DET portal, especially compared to open, engaging and user friendly sites I’ve learned from over the last 60 days European portal, iclass, Tasmanian Mindtools, edna and a variety of bloggers. […]

  6. Hi Darcy

    Keep up the passion, doing great !

    As far as Moodle goes, I’d introduce it to staff as a ‘Swiss Army knife’ of strategies and tools – sturdy, reliable, lots of features but you don’t have to use or even know them all to do a good job with some of them.

    It is easy to bamboozle people with Moodle, then you’ll lose them (I know what we teachers are like …. ). For my 20c worth – go easy, go grassroots, over the shoulder ‘what are you doing, that looks good style’.

    Your ‘Pioneers’ sounds great but I tell you the best cred you will get is when the LEAST techie teachers starts telling others how good this stuff is, even though (s)he talks about one single feature.

    I am actually creating something along those lines for our staff and I’d be happy to share the knowledge, maybe even get our staff to cooperate with your lot on Moodle.

    Keep in touch!

    Tomaz
    http://human.edublogs.org

    • darcymoore

    • 16 years ago

    Tomaz,

    Sage advice – thanks to you for that. We’d love to share and I will contact you with info about passwords etc. some time late next week.

    Darcy

  7. […] resources. Thanks for your insights into how schools in NSW can connect at the point of need on shared programs. Your school development day post should also be compulsory reading for all DET staff who want to […]

  8. […] you know we have been concentrating on professional development and introducing systems to support digital learning. We really need leadership at the moment and expectations are not being […]

  9. […] Digital Revolution at DHS    […]

  10. […] there will be hundreds of laptops flooding into our school and wireless connectivity. We have been preparing for quite a while now and will continue to do so. The pace quickens though and we, each individual, […]

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