Trevor Galbraith and Noburo Hagiwara (Teachers at Kolbe Catholic College, 2010) have been both recognised nationally for their innovative work in integrating ICT into the WA teaching curriculum, including Mr Hagiwara’s hagiPOD concept, where he has implemented the use of the iPod touch in the languages classroom at Kolbe Catholic College, Rockingham. The teaching duo are generating keen interest from a range of schools throughout the entire country.
national and international level. ICT and leadership skills are not only crucial to the enhancement of education in Australia, but are fundamental to living successfully and contributing to a rapidly changing and complex society. School communities need to have a vision for learning in the Knowledge Era and to plan strategically to achieve this. School leaders need professional learning to enable them to develop teacher capacity in implementing new pedagogies, which maximise the opportunities offered by developments in ICT. Leaders guide 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. Leaders are the key to creating and sustaining change in our schools. They are required to plan in a coordinated way for the provision of hardware, infrastructure, professional development and other ICT resources. Without a successful process to efficiently make the best use of people in the educational setting, ICT resources are unlikely to be fully used to maximise outcomes for students.’
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The Government recently announced its investment of $16 million in funding is for four projects only: Teaching Teachers for the Future Teachers who are expert in the use of ICT will assist universities to update teaching courses so that new teachers have the necessary skills to incorporate the use of ICT in learning. ICT in Everyday Learning: Teacher Online Toolkit - Drawing on the expertise of teacher professional associations, this project will involve the development and trialling of seven online teaching packages which will show teachers how they can incorporate the use of ICT in everyday learning, with a focus on elements of the Australian Curriculum. Anywhere, Anytime Teacher Professional Learning - This project will provide teachers and school leaders with access to a safe virtual environment where they can evaluate, and build on, their ICT skills. Leading ICT in Learning - This project will provide a single online portal through which Principals can access expert ICT advice and tools as well as network with other Principals. The reality is that these projects should already be happening. With computers already placed in schools, only now, after the fact, is the realisation of the urgent need to train teachers, give
staff resources and instil expertise to our Principals becoming apparent. Heaven help us! By the time all is up and running and the staff and leadership teams get on board, our students will not be coming to school with laptops, they will be holding their own portable devices! It’s inevitable that this will happen and as for the Rudd computers? Your guess is as good as mine. All this is a move in the right direction for ICT, however, the plan was flawed as training and staff resources should have been provided prior to computers being distributed to our schools. School administrations do not reflect 21st Century learning models and therefore are not qualified to implement such changes. This coupled with a lack of skilled support staff and you have your current Australia-wide problem.
The Roles Classroom Teachers Need to Take to Make ICT Initiatives Worthwhile The technology arrives, what do we do with it? Teachers are still the most important link in the education process. No amount of technology will make a person a ‘good teacher’, it amplifies good teachers - it amplifies bad teachers.