St Mark’s Anglican Community School

ST MARK’S ANGLICAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL

WINNING WITH TECHNOLOGY

St Mark’s Anglican Community School students are imagining the future and keeping up with cutting-edge technology thanks their strong digital technologies program.

The entire Year 7 cohort of students participated in the Microsoft Imagine Cup Junior program this year, where they were challenged to be the change they would like to see in the world, using Digital Technologies - and more specifically Artificial Intelligence - to enact that change.

Head of Digital Technologies Rob Blair was one of only five teachers nationwide recognised in the National Imagine Cup Junior Awards for his outstanding contribution to education.

Mr Blair was recognised as a Teacher of Distinction by the Microsoft K-12 Education Lead Travis Smith and Director of Education at Microsoft Australia, Tiffany Wright.

Mr Blair said students worked in groups to imagine amazing solutions using Artificial Intelligence to solve real-world problems. oceans, homelessness, air pollution, people living with disabilities and bushfires. Each group then researched their problem and proposed solutions using existing AI technologies,” he said.

Mr Blair said both the teachers and students had embraced the project-based learning initiatives in digital technologies, with St Mark’s conducting the largest hackathon in Australia this year.