Learners Taking Part
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At Listen2Learners students showed the inventive ways they access and enhance their learning through technology, solve real world problems and use technology to overcome their challenges to access the best possible education. They demonstrated what it is to be digital and participants conversed with the students, to gain a deeper insight into how they think and learn. |
Country Education Project – eKids Science
How do you access the best science education when you live in a small country town? This group of eight rural primary schools showed how to do it in an exciting digital learning program called eKids Science. Using video conferencing, online classroom activities and class discussions in a secure social network environment, the students collaborate with each other, link to guest presenters from Scienceworks and other experts, and generally benefit from the sum total of the expertise of their ten great teachers.
Completing studies in static electricity, food, machines, forensic science, bugs, wind and windmills, and the human body; Loch Sport, Seaspray, Elphinstone, Beeac, Boort, Wycheproof, Alexandra and Ultima schools are developing tomorrow’s scientists.
Hawkesdale P-12 College – The Flat Classroom
These impressive students showed a new definition of the classroom – one that is truly a classroom beyond the school walls. Students work with the latest cutting edge technology to interact and learn on a global basis. Their Flat Classroom projects take them (virtually) to work as one with students from Kuala Lumpur, Qatar, Oman, China, Korea, Germany, Romania, Canada, USA, NZ, India, Pakistan and Australia.
The students work at school and at home in virtual teams each assigned a topic related to new trends identified from latest technology research and mashed with the characteristics of Gen Y. Students research online, add findings to their wiki pages, socialise and network on a ning with their global classmates and reflect on their learning in their blogs. The final outcome is a video made in collaboration with a global student partner. The videos are judged by a global team of judges, with the awards being announced online.
The future is in the hands of these global citizens.
St Elizabeth’s Parish School – StEPS Radio
St. Elizabeth's Parish School learners manage and operate an online radio station known as StEPS Radio. StEPS Radio enhances and celebrates student learning and communicates information to the wider school community.
The StEPS Team is made up of learners from years 5 & 6. They collaborate with an Executive Producer (teacher) who provides advice, training and feedback as appropriate. In order to become part of the StEPs Radio team, students are invited to apply for an advertised position as they would for any job. Positions include Reporters, News Readers, DJs, Content Manager and Producers. Following careful consideration of formal interviews with shortlisted learners, the team is formed.
As part of the StEPS Team, members strive to provide an enjoyable listening experience. They try out new ideas, experiment with program creation and carry out research to inform decisions made about programming and content. In the process they develop a deep understanding of what makes a successful radio program, learn about the media, become better communicators and develop transferable technical skills.
Australia’s next media moguls might be emerging from St Elizabeth’s Parish School. Take a peek here.
Sacred Heart School, Tasmania and Pularumpi School, Northern Territory – Linking Latitudes
Australia is a big country but these students from our southern extremes and our northern islands are dissolving distance in a project called Linking Latitudes. Students from the indigenous community of Pularumpi on Melville Island and students from Sacred Heart School in Tasmania have been meeting online to learn about each other’s cultures and enhance their literacy and communication skills.
This project sees students sharing stories, making videos and podcasts, and creating images and text using Google Docs. Using an online social networking environment, the two schools interact with more than 40 other schools from both jurisdictions.
Participants were inspired by the joyous enthusiasm these students have for learning with each other.
Sylvania High School NSW – Virtual Hospitality
Year 7 technology students from Sylvania High School are designing a Multi-user Virtual Environment (MUVE) café learning space, to complement the Trade Training Centre kitchens being built in their school. The Trade Training Centre kitchens will be used by senior Hospitality students to practise skills for the catering industry. The virtual world will supplement their learning.
Throughout this virtual world design activity, the students are working towards the achievement of learning outcomes from the technology syllabus. They are researching sustainable cafés and learning spaces, training for virtual world construction, reflecting on design processes and designing and constructing a sustainable café learning space.
Hospitality combines with technology to take skills based learning into a new dimension for these amazing students.
Western Heights College – app happy
Inventive and resourceful students from Western Heights Secondary College have created an application which helps users develop numeracy skills. The app can even be customised to ensure the learning matches individual learners’ skill levels. The project involved learning a programming language, creating the graphic interface and solving a range of problems related to achieving formal approval of the app by Apple. It is now available to anyone with an iPhone or iPod touch to download freely through the iTunes App Store. This success has spurred the students on and now they are developing their programming and teaching each other and their teacher the skills needed to produce more apps for skill building in other learning areas.
Download the app to your own device at http://itunes.com/app/SkillBuilderNumeracy and try it out for yourself.
Gisborne Secondary College – cybersafety action team
Who better to promote student cybersafety than students? Gisborne Secondary College students are passionate about being responsible digital learners and they’ve taken action that’s making a difference for themselves and their community.
Spurred on by their involvement in the Department’s Learning On Line Cybersafety Program, Gisborne Secondary College formed a student action team to develop a variety of initiatives to promote safe and responsible online behaviour. They designed strategies like information nights, information show bags and competitions to educate and support other students, teachers, parents and even the local community.
Here’s a group of students who are not only learning online but leading online.
Lyndale Greens Primary School – LG Live crew
It’s ‘Lights, camera, action!’ at Lyndale Greens Primary School. LG Live (TV and CCTV) is broadcast live into all classrooms, and students run the show.
The LG Live crew are responsible for daily broadcasts, creating and presenting content about all the different things happening at school and in the local community. LG Live provides an authentic publishing forum for student projects so the crew is never short of material. The crew described to participants how LG Live improves their teamwork and technical skills, and makes them more confident and capable learners.
Eltham Primary School – gamers
Who wouldn’t want to play computer games at school? Students at Eltham Primary School spend plenty of time playing games because they’re learning all the while.
The students design and create their own video games with a visual programming tool called Kodu Game Lab. Using visual elements rather than programming language, the students apply logic to create games and develop skills and attitudes that can be applied to a variety of learning situations. Furthermore, by practising Art Costa’s Habits of Mind students are discovering specific language they can use to articulate the knowledge they are gaining from their game making experiences.
Trafalgar Primary School – online music students
With over 200 students learning an instrument and the whole school population immersed in music, drama, and dance, you’d expect Trafalgar Primary School to be a very noisy place. Not so, says the Listen2Learners Team. When you combine the ICT/Multimedia curriculum with the Performing Arts, students can participate in all these things and more in virtual and real spaces. As part of this whole school approach the team is participating in the Musical Futures pilot to trial a student focused and contemporary way to learn music using online technologies.
At Listen2Learners these students used the latest technology to play in a band - it’s just that the instruments are electronic and their band is online!
Lara Primary School – environmental learners
Nestled beneath the You Yangs, Serendip Sanctuary and neighbouring Lara Primary School are natural partners to team technology with learning about the environment and sustainability. Students spend extended periods on site at Serendip interacting with Parks Victoria rangers and local community environmentalists. They study wetland and grassland flora and fauna using technology to undertake authentic learning activities related to local, national and world environmental issues. One example of this is Museum Victoria’s Biodiversity Snapshots quest where students use new technologies to contribute to statewide research.
This genuine learning environment has served to stimulate the students’ interests in both technology and the environment, with each learner developing their own personal interests and skills.
At Listen2Leaners, the team showed how they use technologies to support environmental learning whilst extending their sphere of experience and influence beyond that of a normal classroom. Using everyday equipment such as netbooks, flip cameras, microscopes, microphones and robots they demonstrated how technology is innate to their learning, plus heaps of fun!
Croydon West Primary School – eLearners
The eLearners are a self directed group of year 5 and 6 students who do 70% of their work online. They use Web 2.0 tools like wikis and Google Docs to be self sufficient, online learners. Their traditional classroom has been replaced with a learning studio, allowing them flexibility, space for collaborative interaction and access to technology integrated seamlessly into their learning. Their learning spaces are filled with natural light and there is strong rapport between teachers and students.
These students are personalising their own curriculum and achieving results they are proud to share.
Prospect Primary School – adult educators
Can kids teach teachers? You bet they can and students from Prospect Primary School in South Australia proved it when taught more than 70 teachers and school leaders to produce a movie.
Using their experience in making films about animals for ‘zoo-tube’, these students set a challenge for adult learners – to learn movie making from scratch in order to make a one minute movie in one day on location at the Adelaide Zoo. The work had all the hallmarks of good teaching and learning; planning and storyboarding, brainstorming an authentic enquiry question, setting assessment criteria, modelling and coaching. The only difference was that students were teachers and teachers were students.
“Kids are much cleverer than we give them credit for. Giving them the opportunity to teach others and have real voice in this way makes me realise how much we under-estimate what they are capable of”, reflected Patti, one of the adult participants.
These year six and seven students helped participants find out what it really feels like to be a student who is empowered to impart knowledge, to have your skills valued and to be an equal partner in the education process.