The Digital Education Revolution: Realising the possibilities, Managing the Realities. ACER and supported by DEEWR. 26 May, Sydney.
What is the digital education revolution? The context of the symposium was presented by Daniel Owen from DEEWAR – aiming for sustainable change in schools. Commonwealth Government objectives are: long term productivity growth; economic growth; and social inclusion. Teachers are at the absolute centre of making this work. Australian Council of Governments is behind this initiative and it is more than just bringing computers to schools, and is intended to be a constructive process. Teachers Advisory group has just been formed, and will be active in broad consultation.
Five key policy elements:
- National Secondary School Computer Fund -this is being rolled out now.
- currently targetting schools in need, and supporting schools to make the decisios.
- Fibre Connections to Schools Initiative
- getting broadband capability into schools to create rich learning environments
- Online Curriculum content
- investing 32 million over two years to access digital content
- Portals for Parents
- better ICT “Better Practice Guide” –
- Professional Development
You can monitor the implementation of the Digital Education Revolution at:
judyoconnell.com 
Hey Jude,
I heard this symposium was quite positive, but I’m still very concerned about the whole project’s overall ability to succeed. Everything seems to hinge around the ICT in this project, but unfortunately, the ICT doesn’t hinge around the curriculum. I’ve written about it here:
http://paralleldivergence.com/2008/06/01/australias-digital-education-revolution/