News

Technology Is Vital To 21st Century Learning

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:08:40 +1000

Technology Is Vital To 21st Century Learning

http://thegovmonitor.com/education_and_skills/technology-is-vital-to-21st-century-learning-11845.html

The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, today released new research showing students’ perceptions and expectations of learning with information and communications technologies (ICT).

The research was undertaken to improve teachers’ understanding of how ICT may be used to improve learning outcomes. More than 1000 students from primary and secondary schools, vocational education and training institutions and universities were surveyed.

Listening to Students’ and Educators’ Voices: Research Findings found that students believe technology is a vital learning aid as it can provide access to detailed information, opportunities to practice for tests, help with maths and development of problem solving skills.

The research also found ICT offers more opportunities to tailor education to meet students’ needs and increase their motivation to learn.

Increasing the ICT capabilities of educators is a key element of the Rudd Government’s $2.2 billion Digital Education Revolution (DER).

The DER provides for online curriculum resources, high speed broadband to schools, professional development and computers for schools under the National Secondary School Computer Fund.

Through the DER, the Government is funding and leading an Information and Communications Technologies Workshop Program to teachers and school leaders with professional development in ICT, especially in rural and remote areas.

More than 15 workshops have already been held in regional, rural and remote locations in Newcastle (NSW), Warrnambool (Vic), Mt Isa (Qld), Kalgoorlie (WA), Port Pirie (SA), Alice Springs (NT) and Launceston (Tas).

The aim of the DER is to put in place sustainable and meaningful changes to teaching and learning practices in Australian schools that ensure students are prepared for further education and training, living and working in a digital world.

The Listening to Students’ and Educators’ Voices project, produced by the University of Canberra, will also contribute to a better understanding of the best ways to incorporate ICT into learning.

The Listening to Students’ and Educators’ Voices: Research Findings is available on the Digital Education Revolution website.

Year 10 Game Design students impress BigPond GameArena host

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:17:47 +1000

VITTA President Adrian Janson was visited at his Melbourne secondary school last week by Games Guru Andy Wells, from BigPond GameArena.

Year 10 students in Adrian's Game Design class impressed Andy with their advanced programming skills using industry tools to create games for consoles - a real thrill for the avid gamer.

The Year 10 elective subject has created a buzz in the school, with students flocking to enrol. Students say the appeal of the course is related to the ability to create multi-player games with original story-lines - and for a console, not just a PC.

View the interviews online: http://www.gamearena.com.au/videos/latest.php/bigpond-gamearena-weekly-update-18-september-2009.

Welcome Grace!

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:48:06 +1000

VITTA welcomes Grace to the office for an industry placement in early 2009. Grace comes to us from Korea as a homestay international work experience student. She is studying literature at Chung Ahang University in Seoul and will be working with VITTA on business administrative tasks.

Grace will be attending professional learning events in February so come and say hello.

Smashing time

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:39:16 +1000

Blanche Clark
December 02, 2008 12:00am

Should students be using Nintendogs and Guitar Hero in class? Blanche Clark meets a teacher who is convincing schools it's the way to go.

T HE story in August of US teenager Blake Peebles dropping out of high school with his parents' consent to become a professional Guitar Hero player stunned many people.

"Seriously, does North Carolina have some sort of state board that takes kids away from parents?" asked one blogger.

It's not surprising, therefore, that parents and teachers are sceptical when educationalist Derek Robertson talks about the benefits of video and hand-held games in the classroom.

But he has proof, from his studies in Scotland, that technology offers the millennial generation a fast track to academic success.

Dr Kawashima's Brain Training, in particular, has transformed low-achieving boys into confident mentors for other children.

"It made me smarter," one boy says on a video Robertson uses in his seminars for teachers, most recently in Melbourne as a guest of the Victorian Information Technology Teachers' Association.

"Teachers are using these devices very cleverly. They're not allowing children to spend hours and hours playing games," Robertson says.

VITTA vice-president Phil Callil says Robertson's evidence is compelling.

"His Brain Training study was based on a sample of more than 600 students with clear evidence of an improvement in maths scores. This is not about death and destruction games and promoting unmoderated playing. In fact, it is an opportunity to promote exactly the opposite," he says.

"Other games such as Nintendogs, Endless Ocean and Guitar Hero could be used meaningfully to draw together work in art, music, maths, English and geography."

Robertson says Nintendo Wii's Endless Ocean had a profound effect on motivating children to write in a grade-5 class in Scotland.

In this game, students discover new fish through the eyes of two marine biologists exploring a lagoon.

"If you ask kids, particularly boys, to do a piece of writing you might get three lines and you have to jolly them along to do more," Robertson says.

"But when they saw that their fish character only said three things (using a program called CrazyTalk), it was like, 'I want my character to say more'.

"The teacher didn't do the motivating, they wanted their character to say more, so they wrote more."

The teacher went on to announce that a tourist development was planned for the island and a fishing village would be destroyed.

The students debated the consequences as villagers and developers.

"It was used to create a meaningful context for children to talk about global and environmental issues."

Robertson says that on the surface Guitar Hero appears to have little educational value.

But a grade-6 teacher was able to show that the game engaged fatigued students at the end of term.

"The children only played Guitar Hero for 10 minutes a day, but it got them in the zone for learning," Robertson says.

Students wrote biographies for the rock stars they created and advertisements for their rock tours and studied persuasive language.

F OR art they designed tour posters, CD covers and T-shirts, studied sound for science and made 3D models of guitars.

"We have to remember that children are children. If we program into them that everything at school is hard work and it all comes out of a textbook, then that may work for some children, but it doesn't work for everybody."

An eight-week program using Nintendogs with grade-1 students proved "incredibly engaging, challenging and complex".

"The children felt an affinity for these characters and it drove everything that happened in the class," Robertson says.

The six-year-olds wrote dog diaries, made kennels, learnt about waterproof material for roofs, made stop-motion animations and managed a budget to take care of their dogs.

"It was packed full of rich learning experiences," Robertson says.

He receives government funding to run the programs in schools, but in Victoria it's up to individual schools to buy the devices.

Callil says Xavier College, where he teaches, is introducing iPod nanos for podcasting, a class set of Nintendo for Brain Training for maths and may consider Nintendogs and possibly Guitar Hero.

Robertson encourages teachers to be as creative as they can.

"They can be inspired by our projects or take their own informed risks to make school a place that children want to go to, where they are excited by learning and they achieve," Robertson says.

This article can be found at the Sun Herald website:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,24734415-5011680,00.html

Victorian Cisco students win

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 18:43:26 +1000

CCNA ( Cisco Certified Network Associate ) is an international qualification available to students in secondary schools ( as VET Cisco ) , TAFEs , Universities as part of undergraduate or Masters courses.
Cisco academies deliver the course once minimum requirements in terms of staff expertise, equipment, facilities and teaching material are satisfied. During the course opportunities arise for students to compete against academies and in 2008 a unique situation was presented where the Victorian winners Forest Hill College competed against tertiary and TAFE interstate teams.

Come and hear the story of the Forest Hill success as they were crowned national Cisco champions for 2008 beating the interstate universities, TAFEs and New Zealand team.

Kevork Krokian will be presenting during the VITTA Conference and celebrating at the VITTA Conference dinner, The Ballroom, Rydges on Bell, 205 Bell Street, Preston starts at 6.30pm

Join in the fun of 3in6

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:02:17 +1000

3in6 Video - 3 minutes of video
3in 6 Animation - 1 minute of video
1in1 Video on a mobile device - 1 minute

3in6 is a video and animations competition for teams of school students. They are told two secrets and must include them in a video that they make - one will be an object or idea, and the other will be words that must be spoken. So: "3 minutes of video in 6 hours" ! Get it?

1in1 is a video competition for teams of schools students. Students may use a mobile device such as a mobile phone for video capable portable device.

2009 ICT Achievers Program Opening Soon!

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:43:49 +1000

VITTA is pleased to announce that the ICT Achievers program will be running again in 2009. Once again, 20 successful, high achieving students will be placed with individually appropriate industry professionals in a mentoring relationship.

If you are a student who is interested in ICT as a career pathway, or if you are a teacher who has some outstanding students in this field, make sure you watch the ICT Achievers website for more information. Student applications will be opening at the end of October.

Visit http://www.ictachievers.vitta.org.au for more information

ICT & Careers Expo 2008: Getting girls to go for IT

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:08:46 +1000

The Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association is pleased to announce that the ICT & Careers Expo is running again in 2008 as part of the National ICT Week. Supported by the Australian Computer Society and the Victorian Government, the ICT & Careers Expo aims to dispel the myths about Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) being ‘boring’ and ‘just for boys’ and will instead open up exciting opportunities for students to explore career pathways and ICT industry possibilities.

With ICT being one of the fastest growing career markets in Australia, this year the focus of the ICT & Careers Expo is on girls and encouraging them to get involved with technology. As Michelle Beveridge, Chairman of the Victorian ICT for Women’s Network points out “with a global ICT skills shortage and less than 16% of jobs held by women, opportunities for girls are excellent. Corporations want the cultural benefits that diversity brings in terms of productivity and innovation. Technology builds profits, saves lives, enables alternative energy sources, spreads knowledge and entertains. All this, and its fun as well!”

The ICT & Careers Expo will see a host of inspiring female speakers talking about such diverse fields as the automotive industry, multimedia, and programming as well as a special forum put on by the Victorian ICT for Women’s Network “From study to workplace: an ICT pathway for girls.” The panel will show girls that if they choose a future in ICT their options are numerous. Not only do they have a broad range of choice in terms of tertiary courses, from business to very technical degrees, their newfound skill set will also open them up to an incredible range of careers from fashion to finance to pharmaceuticals.

Tertiary and industry exhibitors will also be on hand at the Expo to chat to students about course opportunities and graduate positions.

There is an increasing need in the community provide insight into ICT career opportunities. ICT literacy is a key entry point into the competitive career marketplace and it is important for students to be aware of this. The ICT & Careers Expo provides students with the tools they need to make educated choices about their futures.

The VITTA ICT & Careers Expo will be held at Melbourne High School on Saturday 2nd August. For more information about the Expo and to download free tickets visit www.ictweek.vitta.org.au

VITTA Website Launch

Fri, 30 May 2008 14:11:10 +1000

VITTA is excited to announce the launch of our new website. As of Tuesday June the 2nd 2008 our new and improved website will take the place of the old with a vibrant and serviceable new design.

Your new log in details will be sent to you on Monday June 1st. Members will still need to retain their old details to access online resources and all users will need their old details to submit papers for the VITTA Annual Conference 2008. We apologise for any inconvenience and assure you that this is only a temporary arrangement in this time of transition.

We hope that you enjoy the new look website and look forward to hearing your feedback.