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	Post Trip Follow-Up COSN VIP Delegation to Australia, 2004: ICT in Education The CoSN VIP Delegation to Australia Understanding the Australian Education System: An Overview Addressing the Challenges Establishing a Supportive Public Policy Framework Innovative Examples, Models and Leaders A Vision for the Future Trip Background and Reports Agenda Trip Blog Delegation Members Background Materials Sponsor Background Information

November 12, 2004

Posted by: Jim Bosco

Blogging is not an easy task when one is traveling as we have been over the past week. My first effort to enter my "contribution" to our blog was to write one out which I did on Wednesday. However, it is now Friday and my Wednesday blog is woefully our of date. Wednesday seems to be a long long time ago.

This blog is being sent from a 7-11 type convenience store near our hotel just before the delegation is going out to dinner on our last night together.

I believe that the members of the delegation feel as do I that the visit was very very successful. Certainly one aspect of the success was the compatiblity of the group. Traveling as we have done and in close quarters from the early morning to the night could be really a hardship were the group not as congenial as this one has been.

One week in Australia hardly qualifies any of us as experts on Australian education but we have learned a lot about how Australia is making use of ed tech to make schools better places of learning for kids. We have talked with federal and state leaders and local leaders. We have seen very innovative schools.

That has been a free exchange of information. There has been little inclination to posture or gloss over the tough issues we are facing. Time and again, each of us on the delegation has commented on the similarity of the problems we face. Some of the solutions which we have seen and I heard about are similar to ours back home. But many are different from our approches and have expanded our thinking about what is possible. There is something about becoming immersed in another educaitonal environment which enables one to look back on their own environment with fresh eyes.

Our last task together was to begin to gel the observations which we want to take back with us to the U.S. I am very optimistic that we will be able to share some useful information back home. And it is clear that a number of the linkages we have made will result in the continuation of the communication and cooperative begun on the trip.

November 11, 2004

Posted by: Irene Spero

This morning the CoSN delegation headed to Adelaide, South Australia. The delegation was treated to an 'Aussie' breakfast of toast and vegemite, 'tim tams' and pavlova (not your usual breakfast!!)

education.au is an ICT agency owned by the Ministers of education and training in Australia. It was established in 1997 to support the work of the Ministers in responding to the Internet. The agency develops and manages online services which are of benefit to the education and training community. These services are free to all Australians. The agency works across all sectors of education and training including early childhood, school education, vocational education and training, adult and community and higher education. The agency responds to national agendas and requests by stakeholders by working closely with peak advisory bodies such as AICTEC (www.aictec.edu.au), The Flexible Learning Advisory Group (www.flexiblelearning.net.au) and MCEETYA ICT in Schools Taskforce (www.icttaskforce.edu.au).

The agency is required to develop services in collaboration with states and territories and the sectors of education. This means that the online services are built upon consensus. This is extremely important as it ensures that the agency maximises the use of funds, reduces duplication of effort, and leverages infrastructure, expertise and innovative ideas across Australia. The agency recognises the importance of interoperability as a key platform for achieving the goals of collaboration. The agency through its close association with IMS Australia, advocates for interoperability standards in areas such as content development, metadata, resource discovery, repository management and portal services.

The agency manages five national projects and the URL is provided so people can locate further information:

EdNA Online (www.edna.edu.au)
myfuture (www.myfuture.edu.au)
The Learning Federation (www.thelearningfederation.edu.au)
The Government Education Portal (www.education.gov.au)
.edu.au domain name (www.domainname.edu.au)

The agency develops strategic alliances both nationally and internationally including alliances with the US - Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching- MERLOT and Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM). The alliances brings like agencies across the world together to share experience, expertise and bring mutual benefit to each agencies community of practice. Other alliances include eduSource (Canada), Te Kete Ipurangi (NZ), European Schoolnet (EUN) and ARIADNE (Europe).

The agency develops services using innovative technologies and has used open source software as part of its development suite. The agency disseminates what it has learned from its experience in using open standards and open source software. Stakeholders expect the agency to disseminate knowledge so that information is shared extensively and it is easy to know 'who, how, what, where and when'.

The Australian School of Mathematics and Science (ASMS) is an excellent example of trying to 'reconceptualise' the concept of schooling. This public school is the result of latest thinking in the use of flexible physical space, latest technologies, flexible timetabling and a negotiated curriculum. The ASMS is sited on the campus of Flinders University and students are able to access university teachers and researchers, industry scientists and technologists.

It is designed to prepare students to shape our world, our future, our global community and our environment through changes in science and technology. Students chosen to attend must demonstrate an aptitude and attitude for science and mathematics in a complex and diverse world.

Students have access to the latest technology which enables then to learn anytime, anywhere and teachers use the technology to amplify and extend students skills and experience that they bring into the school. Teachers in fact are 'de-privatised' - their workspace is incorporated into the physical design of the teaching and learning space rather than being separate.

Associate Professor Jim Davies explained that the school was based on a student centred approach to learning and without information and communication technologies it would not be possible to provide such a flexible approach to teaching and learning.

The South Australian Government has funded activities to encourage science and innovation. For example, the Robotic Peer Mentoring project has been funded over a three year period during which the ASMS and universities in South Australia will have a key role in developing curriculum materials to support learning in electronics. The program is designed to expand into 40 schools and reach over 1000 students in that period.

The 'Thinkers in Residence' program brings prominent scientists to South Australia to promote the awareness of science in society, but also to stimulate thinking, challenge beliefs and bring new ideas. For example, Baroness Susan Greenfield brings her insights into the human brain. She has brought particular attention to neuroscience research and bio-science innovation.

Today has brought together the way in which schooling can be reconceptualised through the use of technologies. I am mindful of a delegate's comment that we have '19th century buildings, 20th century teachers, and 21st century students. Schooling needs to be relevant, motivating and engaging.

Posted by: Heath Cooper and Carl Thompson

The Australian Education Sector is embracing Open Source Software (OS) in a way that is historically unprecedented. Backed by its social mandate, OS is viewed as a means to assess and support the creation of "education and learning friendly" solutions. Specifically, education systems are using OS to experiment in the creation of new tools, thus reducing the cost, risk and dependence on commercial solutions.

Traditionally risk associated with the development of bespoke applications has been viewed by educationalists and school administrators as unacceptably high, particularly in light of thin school budgets. However, OS has been embraced with a high degree of enthusiasm in South Australia, among other states, providing educators with greater choice and the freedom to create specific resources designed to meet their local needs.

Interestingly, a tension exists between the various education systems in the approach to both Open Source code and commercially available products. A key question occupying the minds of ICT Professionals is the long term sustainability of OS solutions both technically and in the day-to-day support of the software. Some have opted for the reliability of a completely supported system/application and funded the project accordingly. In contrast, other education systems have opted for a cheaper solution and build in their own support.

Only time will provide the clear answer as to which is the most prudent path to follow for education systems in the 21st Century. In the meantime, it is imperative to take the time to scope the requirements of your organisation and undertake thorough market research before being committed to either approach, or a mix of both. What remains to be true is the current push for open, interoperable standards is paramount to the success of any ICT project in the education sector.

November 10, 2004

Posted by: John Cherniavsky

Debriefing of previous day:

1. Political change occuring in ANZ, GB, and US - why didn't US election have an education and in particular ICT emphasis
   
   
2. Similarity with US in problems - maybe can look for solutions?
   
   
3. We do know what to do regarding teacher drop out etc. but don't do it
   
   
4. Australia can learn from US in TPD
   
   
5. The new initiatives in ICT in Aus should be looked upon for lessons
   
   
6. There is a difference between US and Aus since US relies on private sector - again look at what can be done
   
   
7. Combination of government as enabler, facilitator, and partner is a good model and should be interpreted within the constraints of the US education system
   
   
8. One area not addressed is that of school administrators - much more important than ICT persons
   
   
9. Re: 8, depends upon who you talk with - commonwealth would say no but the states would say the opposite
   
   
10. US concentrates on disadvantaged and Australia on Aborigines - how does Australia deal with children with disablities?
    
    
11. One solution for Aus would get ministers together for goals etc. - US doesn't really do this - how could something like this be accomplished?
    
    
12. Joint ministerial statements from Australia at lowest common denominator - Chief State School Officers diverse and not likely to come to consensus.
    
    
13. Notion of values and citizenship taught at the state level
    
    
14. Two museum presentations were interesting but supplemental not integrated into the schools
    
    
15. Yet Questecon had a very interesting reengagement of museums to schools
    
    
16. What does Questecon do for the kids outside of school? Discuss role of Questecon vis-à-vis other museums
    
    
17. See overlap of issues and the difference in solution
    
    

We started the day with a visit to Education.au. Education.au is part of the Learning Federation which consists of Education.au and Curriculum Corporation which are both state owned corporations which predate LF. LF is a 5 yr project currently in year 2.5 that is developing a set of learning objects to be used in K-10 education. It is funded by NA, Aus, and the Australian states at $73 million. It has a second purpose which is to develop a multimedia education industry. So far there have been objects developed for mathematics and literacy - more to come. There is some difficulty in getting these objects used in the curriculum due to lack of teacher preparation and some infrastructure issues (primarily bandwidth). There is some indication that a community of content developers is forming and that quality objects are being produced. The content areas are Science, Mathematics and Numerach, Languages other than English (Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian), Australian studies, and Innovation, enterprise, and creativity, and literacy for students at risk. A major problem is IP rights management.

My general impression is that this project may produce some interesting learning objects, but that the technology is not ambitious enough. There should be the possibility for individualization and the ability to track student progress with feedback to both the student and the instructor. My experience with similar repositories is that they are underutilized and eventually discarded. A hookup with the NSDL project in the US might be useful because of the large exposure that NSDL gets and thus more usage may be made of the LF repository.

ICT in Victoria

Next was a visit to the state education department of Victoria. There we met with the minister and a number of deputy ministers. Victoria has an ambitious plan for ICT. There is good internet access, a program to provide teachers with computers, good technical support, a little light on bandwidth, good student to computer ratio (about the same as the states), and a good plan for wireless introduction to the classroom. Victoria views ICT as a catalyst for change in the classroom. The demonstrations we saw of classroom use were quite compelling in that ICT was being used throughout the curriculum as a tool for learning (eg. in english, maths, history using multimedia, digital presentations, etc). The secondary school usage plan was to develop a set of best practices for ICT use - the use in secondary school was less integrative into the classroom and less innovative.

In the discussion that followed, a need for new materials was expressed. The need for reuse emphasized, the need for transformation of education stated, and the issue of IP and copyright needs addressing. It was expressed that revolutionary change was likely and that emphasis needs to be placed not on the technology but on the problems that technology can solve though the interaction between technology and problems was noted.

The need for flexibility, and for collaborative & reflective practice, and letting teachers play and the use of interactive whiteboards were mentioned. "We have 19th century buildings, 20th century teachers, and 21st century students". It was noted that if the mission critical nature of ICT was expressed then resourcing will occur.

NZ used Victoria model for ICT for ICT in classroom at task level, but not at pedagogy or learning many large scale conferences are being held on ICT in support of teaching and learning. Problems exist in infrastructure, access in a distributed environment, and sustainable funding.

Emerging technologies identified by CoSN included RFIDs for attendance taking, Data Driven technologies, and online assessments.

Australia has an innovation fund for proposals for use of technology in schools with the comment that the results have not been great. Learning outside of schools with ICT is viewed as important as learning within schools using ICT.

MyInternet Hosted Meeting

We next visited Myinternet which hosted presentations by the Victoria Catholic schools system. The system consists of 4 dioceses with in excess of 100,000 students.

MyInternet is a global enterprise for providing internet services for the K-12 market across the world. Commonality, standards, partnership and collaboration are the sorts of goals that myinternet supports. Myinternet uses open source for its base, is cost effective, and looks like it will do well in the US market for the services it provides.

CASTNET

This was a confusing presentation. It was not clear what this network provided for services. Apparently it is a fully managened environment that supports anywhere and anytime learning in a real environment - being a part of the world as opposed to apart from the world. The attempt is to reframe school in the digital age - the schools are redefined solely as an institution for working with individuals to aid their learning. Schools aren't defined by buildings or historical organizations. The means for this include building online learning communities, seamless integration with the web, and professional growth for teachers and learners. The attempt is to redefine learning as more of a partnership activity mediated by ICT.

ICT in the classroom

The next presentation was given by a teacher who is responsible for incorporating ICT in the Catholic schools. The requirements for effectively incorporating ICT in the classroom include an ICT manager, multimedia capabilities, and especially professional development of teachers. Technology has been put into the schools but not effectively and the missing link has been professional development. The use of ICT in many projects is minor compared to the planning and learning that takes place before the ICT implementation though the ICT is a great motivator.

Integration of Systems

The final presenation from the catholic school system was a description of the integration of data services for school administration. This was interesting especially since it deals with a topic of interest to CoSN. Unfortunately, it was not possible to get a demonstration of the system.

Posted by: Bob Moore

As I have listened to my Australian colleagues the past few days it continues to strike me how similar the education challenges and issues and issues are betweenAustralia and the U.S. One striking difference though is the fact that while we in the U.S. are typically fractured when tackling some of these tough issues, the Australians seem to be attempting nationwide, systemic solutions. Of course, that is my view after only a couple of days here.

In thinking about why Australia is able to implement more nation-wide reforms you have to look at some of the differences in systems and culture between the two countries. In the U.S. we tend to be more driven by the private sector in terms of ICT solutions for schools. Rarely if every have we come to consensus around a vision and then gone to the private sector to charge them with providing a solution for that vision. That is precisely what Australia has done with education.au. I am certainly not suggesting that we have a national agenda whereby the U.S. federal government wholly funds these initiatives, rather I am suggesting that we create a national vision for how ICT can be a transformative agent for education and that further, the federal government act as a coalescing agent for funding of the solutions.

Another thing that strikes me is that while we all seem to have common problems, we seem to be struggling equally with how to implement the solutions. For instance, all of the countries represented in these meetings (U.S., Australia, United Kingdom and New Zealand) all struggle with the five year attrition rate of new teachers. At the same time, we don't seem to be able or willing to address the problem systemically even though we know what the solutions are. While it is heartening to know that this particular issue is not isolated culturally to the U.S., it is equally disheartening to know that other countries have been no more successful in addressing the problem than the U.S.

In closing, perhaps my biggest "take-away" from the past few days has been to get some glimpse of what is possible when stakeholders come together to create a vision for systemic change in education. It is invigorating to see the fresh approach that our Australia colleagues are taking and encouraging that we in the U.S. can learn from them, as well as from the U.K. and New Zealand , about how we might address some of the challenges faced by us all.

"G'Day" from Oz.

November 9, 2004

Posted by: Keith Krueger

Canberra, Australia

One of the most interesting similarities between the political situation of Australia, Britain, New Zealand and the U.S. (the four countries participating in this delegation) is that all four countries have had the same governments in place for a number of years and all are thinking about their vision for the future of ICT in schools (or education technology, as we say in the U.S.). The U.S. and AU just completed national elections and both reelected conservative governments. Britain and NZ, which both have Labor governments, will likely have national elections over the coming year. All four countries are in what might be called "the Third Phase" of ICT in schools, and are all creating new national frameworks and visions on this issue.

Today we received a comprehensive briefing from the national Australian government, primarily from the DEST. It would be impossible to briefly capture all the interesting activities we learned about, but here are a few of my perceptions:

One interesting contrast between the recent U.S. and Australia national elections would be the issue of education and ICT/ed tech. In the U.S. election, education was not a top tier concern, and education technology was never publicly addressed by either President Bush or Senator Kerry. Conversely in Australia, education and its relation to economic viability was a centerpiece of the campaign, including how ICT could enable that agenda.

Some of the key challenges facing AU, according to key government officials:

• What is the proper role of the national government in education? There is increasing pressure by the conservative national government to play a larger role, although education is primarily a state/territory responsibility.
  
  
• Teacher shortages, particularly in technical areas like math and science.
  
  
• Equity, particularly for indigenous populations.
  
  
• How to enable life-long learning
  
  
• Creating engaging learning environments
  
  

Generally AU is no longer referring to "distance learning" or even "e-learning". Rather, the new term is "flexible learning".

Unlike the U.S. which has the E-rate, AU national government does not subsidize Internet connectivity for schools. The AU national government does underwrite a high speed national research network (similar to Internet2 in U.S.), but that network is not available for K-12 schools. The cost of Internet connectivity in AU is generally not provided on a flat rate and that is a serious challenge for all A.U. schools since the cost if based on usage and size of data transported.

As in the U.S., cultural factors (some might say human factors) are the greatest barrier to effective use of ICT/ed tech.

Australia does not have the American concept of "Fair Use" in copyright law, but instead uses a concept called "Fair Dealing" whereby education pays >$50 million each year for copyright usage by schools.

G'day from Down Under.

November 8, 2004

Posted by: Sheila Talamo

During the first 1 ½ days of our learning journey, I have been struck by a number of the shared comments, concerns, and beliefs of my colleagues. I have found that each "aha" moment leads to more questions, rather than definitive answers.

• Our children learn both inside and outside of our schools ... How can we build educational communities that capitalize on the potential of these extended and external learning opportunities, particularly in light of the emerging technologies that are available to students.
  
  
• As educational leaders - and as technology leaders - we continue to ask (and attempt to answer) the wrong questions ... How can we begin to ask the right questions? What are the right questions?
  
  
• Our collective passion and collective knowledge for and about educational technology sometimes separates us or isolates us from our fellow educators ... How can we better position education technology as a key factor in curriculum, school improvement, and learning outcomes?
  
  

I am hoping that over the next few days that we will begin to better identify the key questions to be asked -- and the beginning of the answers and actions that will lead to stronger and more effective practice and policy.

Posted by: Kurt Steinhaus

The CoSN Delegation to Australia began on Sunday evening 7 November 2004. Most members of the delegation were present for the opening session which included introductions and a brief summary of a significant ICT activity or project we are currently working. At the end of the introductions, it became clear that ICT and education issues in the UK, Australia and US have significant overlap and there is much to be gained by sharing and interacting. The challenges as well as the potential were clear to everyone present. Three main themes that emerged from the evening included:

• The need to engage a broader education audience - going beyond the people devoted to ICT
  
  
• Recurring references to concepts presented by Malcolm Gladwell in his book titled The Tipping Point - is ICT at the tipping point or is it going to cause a tipping point for education throughout the world
  
  
• Education reform that is systematic, systemic and sustainable
  
  

My major interests during the Sunday evening session were to learn more about how Australia uses technology in rural and remote communities and their work in meeting the needs of their indigenous population, both issues are important in New Mexico. I left the Sunday evening session very hopeful that the people assembled for this delegation can and will contribute to a useful set of ideas and actions and that the time and energy devoted to this activity will be time well spent.

The Monday morning session began by meeting in the hotel lobby at 5:15 AM. for travel to Canberra. My favorite quote from the day was:

"What makes ICT important is what kids do with the technology."

Since New Mexico has a significant Native American population, I was particularly interested to learn from Margot Neale about the National Museum's approach to moving beyond saying I am sorry to fully recognizing the historic importance of traditional people. At almost every official occasion in Australia, local elders are asked to welcome the forum and to acknowledge the first peoples. In 1778, when the invasion began, there were 300 to 500 countries in the land we call Australia.

I end today's BLOG with another quote from the day:

"The land does not belong to us, we belong to the land."