Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Digital Strategy for Teachers

The then Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, released a "Digital Strategy for Teachers and School Leaders"on 18 February 2010. This provided $40m for training teachers in digital pedagogy. This is only 2% of the $2.2b to be spent on the Digital Education Revolution. There are about 250,000 teachers in Australia, so that works out to $160 per teacher, which is not sufficient to have them trained in the use of computers for education.

My experience of untrained people trying to use computers for education suggests that this will result in 90% of the funding ($2b), being wasted on inefficient ICT and ineffective digital pedagogy. A more realistic figure for training the teachers would be $2,500 each, or in total $500m.

Digital Strategy for Teachers and School Leaders

Vision

To empower teachers and school leaders to integrate information and communication technology (ICT) in education to improve school effectiveness and provide students with the skills required for the 21st century.

21st century schools require 21st century programs and educators capable of using

21st century resources and strategies for learning.

Through this Strategy, the Australian Government will commit $40 million over the next two years for the professional development (PD) of teachers and school leaders in the use of ICT. Through this commitment the Strategy will further support the implementation of the Digital Education Revolution (DER) and help meet the Australian Government’s commitment to support national initiatives that contribute to sustainable and meaningful change in teaching and learning.

Objectives

The Strategy aims to:

  • support the implementation of the DER National Partnership (DER NP) by contributing to sustainable and meaningful change in teaching and learning in Australian schools. This in turn will adequately prepare students for further education, training, jobs of the future, and living and working in a digital world;

  • support the implementation of the Improving Teacher Quality National Partnership (TQNP) and its key objectives of delivering system-wide, sustainable and meaningful teaching and learning reform;

  • support the implementation of the Australian Curriculum by ensuring that ICT is embedded within its structure and by promoting the use of digital technologies as an integral part of curriculum delivery so that they are not seen as optional tools; and

  • support the implementation of the National Professional Standards for Teachers by ensuring that the ICT skills and capabilities of teachers and school leaders align with the knowledge, and skills required.

Targets

The Strategy proposes that by the beginning of 2012, significant opportunities for all schools are created through the Strategy:

  • Embed the use of ICT as a key component in teaching and learning in pre-service teacher education courses;

  • Support pre-service teachers to achieve competence in the effective and creative/innovative inclusion of technologies in teaching and learning and they are familiar with and can utilise emerging technologies;

  • Develop digital pedagogy skills in teachers through the completion of a self assessment tool that directs them to a pathway for further ICT learning and development;

  • Engage teachers with professional development to enhance and strengthen their ability to integrate the use of ICT into the classroom and support the rollout of the Australian Curriculum; and

  • Build leadership capacity in school leaders to model and implement digital pedagogy and ICT literacy in schools, to support transformational practice.

Overview of Digital Strategy

The Australian Government plans to invest in a national approach to increase the level of ICT proficiency for all teachers and school leaders across Australia. 21st century teachers and school leaders will need to have an increased understanding and proficiency in the use of ICT in the teaching and learning process.

The Digital Strategy is a national approach to implement systemic change to increase the level of ICT proficiency for teachers and school leaders across Australia. To achieve this, teachers and school leaders require access to rich online learning resources, world class technology curriculum and ICT professional development.

The impact of the Strategy will be maximised when ICT is an integral part of quality teaching. Strong engagement and leadership from school principals is essential for this to occur as they are the drivers of educational change within school communities.

The Strategy has two elements: Improving the ICT proficiency of teachers and school leaders and the establishment of an ICT Innovation Fund (ICTIF).

1 Improving the ICT proficiency of teachers and school leaders

The Australian Government will engage with a wide range of stakeholders including state and territory education authorities, the non government sector, higher education providers and professional associations to determine how ICT proficiency can best be instilled in all schools as a matter of urgency.

Outcomes

  • Develop digital pedagogy skills in teachers through the guidance of a self assessment tool;

  • Encourage teachers to engage with professional development to enhance and strengthen their ability to integrate the use of ICT into the classroom and support the rollout of the National Curriculum; and

  • Build leadership capacity in school leaders to model and implement digital pedagogy and ICT literacy in schools, to support transformational practice.

The project will focus on providing access to national self assessment tools (SAT) for teachers and school leaders. The proposed program would be rolled out in several phases, however the latter phases of the project will be driven by the results and recommendations drawn from initial scoping and research.

As such, the first phase of the project is a thorough scoping study, to be managed by a consultant. The purpose of the study will be to compare the self assessment tools currently in use in the different jurisdictions, including commonalities, and best practice. Based on the outcomes of the scoping study, the consultant will conduct further research to determine the best steps towards achieving ICT proficiency on a national level.

2 ICT Innovation fund

The ICT Innovation fund (ICTIF) is a key element of the Strategy. It offers organisations, including universities, higher education providers and businesses with an opportunity to bid for funding to undertake activities that will promote the three key result areas outlined below.

The ICTIF will also be available for projects that contribute towards achieving the outcomes below. For example, the ICTIF could be used to support development of teacher education courses in the use of ICT, provision of ICT based professional learning workshops, development of online professional learning resources, development of self evaluation tools for teachers and school leaders, and research projects into effective use of ICT in the classroom.

Three key result areas, based on the TDAAG work plan, have been identified to provide longer term educational and pedagogical change. These are outlined below:

  1. Pre-service teacher capability – teachers achieve competence in the effective and creative/ innovative inclusion of technologies in teaching and learning;

  2. Teacher capability – teachers develop the pedagogical understanding, confidence and tools to design and deliver programs that effectively enhance student learning outcomes and harness the benefits and resources of the digital revolution;

  3. Leadership capability – leaders lead and inspire staff and students to share a strong vision for the integration of ICT in the school community. This is achieved through a coordinated plan for the provision of infrastructure, learning resources and development of teacher capability to address the educational challenges of the 21st century.

Context

Digital Education Revolution National Partnership

The Australian Government has committed a total of $2.2 billion to the implementation of the DER. Through the National Secondary School Computer Fund, the Australian Government is providing funding for the necessary infrastructure to ensure all secondary schools in Australia have the opportunity to reach a computer to student ratio of 1:1 by the end of 2011.

To have a world class education system, students, teachers and school leaders need to be able to access, discover, manage, create and use online resources and training. The second stage of the DER is to support teachers and school leaders to embrace technology and encourage them to creatively and effectively integrate the use of ICT into the classroom. Teachers need the skills to teach ICT competency and support students in ICT-rich learning environments.

The Digital Education Revolution National Partnership aims to deliver system-wide reforms in education to ensure that students are equipped for learning in a digital environment and enable teachers to better access the benefits of technology for their students.

The NP commits all jurisdictions to the implementation of the DER Strategic Plan which was endorsed by the COAG Productivity Agenda Working Group in September 2008. The Strategic Plan identified four strands of change for joint national action:

  1. Leadership – that ensures schools have a coordinated plan for the provision of infrastructure, learning resources and teacher capability to address the educational challenges of the 21st century;

  2. Infrastructure – access to digital teaching and learning resources and tools for processing information, building knowledge and for communication and collaboration;

  3. Learning Resources – that stimulate, challenge and assist students in achieving desired learning outcomes. These include collaborative and interactive activities as well as instructional and reference materials; and

  4. Teacher Capability – that teachers have the skills and tools to design and deliver programs that meet students’ needs and harness the benefits and resources of the digital education revolution.

This Strategy is aimed at the strands of Leadership and Teacher Capability noting that while enhanced teacher capability is paramount to the improvement of teaching and learning in the classroom, commitment to change and meeting the new challenges of preparing young people for the 21st century needs to be driven and supported by school leaders.

The DER Strategic Plan states that coherent and coordinated action is required, not only with regard to ICT, but also in respect of approaches to learning and teaching, staff development, administrative processes, resource management and relationships to the boarder community.

Australian Information and Communications Technology in Education Committee

Australian Information and Communications Technology in Education Committee (AICTEC) provides strategic policy advice on the implementation of the DER and in this context, facilitates national consultation, collaboration and coordination.

In order to provide a coordinated national approach for professional learning and the inclusion of ICT in teaching, AICTEC established the Teaching for the Digital Age Advisory Group (TDAAG). This Advisory Group is cross-sectoral in representation. It has developed the Teaching for the Digital Age Work Plan which aims to identify nationally the areas of work to be undertaken by education authorities and the Australian Government as well as the resources required to support the implementation of the DER Strategic Plan. In particular, the plan identifies the professional learning requirements of teachers and education leaders to implement the DER.

Australian Curriculum

Information and communication technology (ICT) is one of eight broad learning areas identified in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians and is one of the general capabilities to be addressed by the Australian Curriculum. This recognises that ICT skills and understanding are now required across all learning areas.

Teachers’ ability to impart the ICT skills required by students under the Australian Curriculum, or to harness the potential of online tools to engage students and conduct assessments, is dependent not only on embedding ICT within the structure of the Australian Curriculum (so digital technologies are not seen as optional tools) but also on ensuring all teachers have the skills and confidence to use those tools effectively.

While many teachers make use of online curriculum resources, there are a number who resist the use of digital technologies or view them as ‘add-ons’ rather than as an integral part of curriculum delivery. There are thousands of online resources currently available to teachers, however teachers need the ability and confidence to navigate these materials and select the most effective resources.

Introduction of the Australian Curriculum in an online environment presents an opportunity to develop the ICT skill base of the teacher workforce and better integrate ICT into teaching and learning in schools. The power and accessibility of digital technologies has the potential to improve student engagement in learning ICT can support teachers to assess students against the year-by-year achievement standards being developed for the Australian Curriculum. Online assessment and/or diagnostic tools have the potential to assist teachers to diagnose learning difficulties, design remedial activities for individual students, make adjustments to their instruction and/or generate feedback to enable students to adjust their learning.

Digital Strategy for Teachers and School Leaders, Factsheet, DEEWR, 18 February 2010

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