CCP in Action Compendium Fnooulxkim

connected classrooms program
Connected Classrooms Program in Action

usage of the CCP technologies delivers new ways of
teaching and learning
ISBN
9780731386956
SCIS
1490344
NSW Department of Education and Training 2010

This work was produced and published by the Connected Classrooms Program 2010
Par t A - Connected Classrooms Program in Action:

An Analysis and Evaluation of the Qualitative Evidence
Page
Introduction
The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians
21 st Century Learning What Is It and How Might It Be Managed?
Using Digital Technologies for Learning an Historical Perspective
12
Recent Educational Innovation Employing Web 2.0 and Mobile Technologies
16
The Connected Classrooms Program
17
Methodology Employed For Qualitative Evaluation of the Program:

Using Qualitative Evidence, Issues of Validity and Reliability
23
Exploring the Compendium of Practice and DVD Resource in Relation to the Nominated
Benefits
26
Discussion
47
Recommendations
50
Par t B - Appendix
Connected Classrooms Program Compendium of Practice
55
Authors Acknowledgment
This study was written by Susan Groundwater-Smith, Honorary Professor Faculty of Education and Social Work University of
Sydney. It has been made possible through the funding and cooperation of the Director of the Connected Classrooms Program
Dimi Papadakis and the Educational Outcomes Business Change Managers, Sue Beveridge and Tim Hand. As the report has been
prepared each has contributed to its accuracy. The writer thanks them for the time and attention that they have paid to the study.
The Connected Classrooms Program in Action:

An Analysis and Evaluation of the Qualitative Evidence
Introduction
This study sets out to examine and evaluate the qualitative evidence captured during the
Connected Classrooms Program (2008-2010). It draws upon a range of narratives contained
in the Programs Compendium of Practice, an Appendix to this report, and exemplified in the
related DVD resource. It places the evaluation in the context of a number of policy and practice
settings, including, among others, The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young
Australians and matters in relation to 21st Century Learning. The study acknowledges past work
in researching the use of digital technologies as a means of locating some of the continuing
challenges offered by the field of practice. It proposes that more recent educational innovations
employing collaborative technologies including Web 2.0 may be the circuit breaker that will
encourage substantial change in teaching and learning.
While it is recognised that there may be a number of research methodologies that might be
employed to illustrate the effectiveness of the Program the case is made for the adoption of a
qualitative methodology that is appropriate to the investigation being undertaken. Having
established a justification for the use of narratives of practice as evidence the study then turns to
the accounts captured in the Compendium of Practice and DVD resource and aligns these with the
nominated benefits. As well it addresses a number of additional emergent themes, some of which
may count as unanticipated outcomes. Finally the study develops a series of recommendations
that could inform further policy and practice development.
The Connected Classrooms Program in Action
The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians

In December 2008, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment and Youth Affairs
(MCEETYA) composed of Ministers of Education from all of the six states and two territories
that make up Australia made a declaration on the educational goals for young Australians.
Essentially, the Council nominated two goals: that Australian schooling promotes equity and
excellence; and, that all young Australians become successful learners, confident and creative
individuals and active and informed citizens. It situated the evolution of these goals in, among
other things, the context of the burgeoning of globalisation and technological change that
places ever-increasing demands on education and skill development; and with regard to the
changing nature of the employment market. In particular, and in reference to the discussion
which follows in this report, it argued:
Rapid and continuing advances in information and communication technologies (ICT)
are changing the ways people share, use and process information and technology. In this
digital age, young people need to be highly skilled in the use of ICT. While schools already
employ these technologies in learning, there is a need to increase their effectiveness
significantly over the next decade. (p.5)
Realising the achievement of these fundamental goals rests with both the governments of the
States and Territories and the Commonwealth. Thus the Federal Government has set out its own
Digital Strategy for Teachers and School Leaders (2010). Its vision is to enable school teachers
and school leaders to integrate ICT in their educational practices to improve school effectiveness
and provide students with the skills that are required for the 21st Century:
21st century schools require 21st century programs and educators capable of using 21st
century resources and strategies for learning (p.4)
It is seen that the strategy will be achieved by teachers and school leaders gaining access to rich
online resources, world class technology, curriculum and ICT professional development (p.2).
As well, it is understood that there is a commitment for the Australian Government to work with
State and Territory Governments in furthering its vision.
Interestingly this emphasis upon the integration of ICT into teaching and learning was also
manifest in the Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-first Century
(MCEETYA, 1999). On the cusp of the new millennium it was specified that students should
be confident, creative and productive users of new technologies, particularly information and
communication technologies, and that they should understand the impact of those technologies
on society (Goal 1.6). Later in this discussion it will be argued that in spite of these aspirations the
capacities of teachers and schools to change are often hampered by their own dispositions to
learning and to teaching.
Before turning to the specific Program that has been enacted by the NSW Government, The
Connected Classrooms Program, which in many ways anticipated Commonwealth and MCEETYA
policy, it is important to further discuss what is meant by the term 21st century learning, one that
is often employed but difficult to define. As well, we need to examine, with some care, learning
using ICT towards the end of the last century and the lessons that we may take from the range of
practices that have been employed in schools.
21 st Centur y Learning What Is It and How Might It Be Managed?

When one lives in the midst of a revolution it is not always clear what the nature of such massive
and pervasive change might be. But by all accounts it is clear that the new millennium has brought
with it technological change of such scope, pace and magnitude that it is impossible to ignore
in terms of the kind of learning that is required Kellner, D.(nd:2010). Educational practices that
evolved over the last century and before that may look quaint to us now, but in many classrooms
they linger in one form or another. Groundwater-Smith, Ewing & Le Cornu (2011) drawing on
Cunningham (1972) listed the beliefs and assumptions that were most dominant in the early
years of federation in Australia and continue to persist in the minds of some today, among them
were:
That the main if not the only road to learning is through memorization and that the main tool of
learning is repetition.
That the teacher must first provide facts before the pupil can begin to think. Pupil activity, it was
held, should take the form of application of what has been passively received.
That the value of knowledge depends on its exactness. Matters on which there is room for
differences of opinion have little place in school studies.
(Cunningham, 1972, pp. 103 104)
In contrast to these beliefs it is now argued by Wagner (2008) among many others, that the skills
that are required concern themselves with: critical thinking and problem solving; collaboration
across networks and leading by influence; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurship;
effective oral and written communication; accessing and analysing information; and, curiosity
and imagination.
Anytime, anywhere learning is now a ubiquitous term in reference to 21st Century learning as
is the concept of the teachable moment that engages learners by investigating phenomena as
they are currently being acted out in our society. Such moments are not confined to actions
of the teacher, but are also inclusive of the initiatives of the students. As Prensky (2007:46) has
concluded, We are all learners. We are all teachers. However, as he observes, teachers and
students may have real difficulty in communicating with each other in a digital age, quoting one
young person You really have to slow down when you talk to teachers (p.40). Kellner, D. (nd:8)
advises that computer culture is:
A discursive and political location in which students, teachers and citizens can all intervene,
engaging in discussion groups and collaborative research projects, creating their websites,
producing innovative multi-media for cultural dissemination and engaging in novel modes
of social interaction and learning.
These forms of interaction will increasingly impact upon practices both within and beyond the
school. School leaders will need to become increasingly savvy about what is required within
their schools both in terms of the technology and the changing pedagogy as they go about
reinventing themselves (Degenhardt & Duignan:2010). In turn, schools will need to adapt to
becoming more accessible to the community in general and parents and caregivers in particular
as the division between school and home as sites for learning become more and more intertwined
(Ward & Parr, 2010).
Prensky lists the new technologies that have valid potential use in education, among them: email,
search, texting and instant messaging, blogs, wikis, the Wikipedia, podcasting, polling devices,
peer to peer (P2P), complex computer and video games, networking, augmented reality, social
and community building tools, digital cameras/videocams, phone-based cameras/videocams,
GPS, speed enhancers, interactive whiteboards, DVDs, wireless technologies and many others
(p.40). Doubtless, another decade from now we shall have new terms and devices that have not
yet even been imagined.
10
So how are schools and teachers coping? How may such a change be managed? This report
concerns itself with one significant transformational initiative undertaken by the NSW Department
of Education and Training (DET) the Connected Classrooms Program that has introduced to
schools not only powerful technologies, but also strategies that potentially interrupt the kinds of
assumptions and beliefs cited by Cunningham and discussed above.
However, before turning to this specific Program we need to ask ourselves are there lessons
that we can learn from the last twenty-five years? After all computers did not just appear in our
classrooms yesterday.
11
Using Digital Technologies for Learning an Historical Perspective

Quoting the Commonwealth Schools Commission, 1983, p. 1, that computer education in
Australian Schools is of fundamental importance to Australias future, Lloyd (2005:11) asks us
to recognise that the employment of ICT in education may uncannily resemble the past and
the present. Indeed, a quick scan of articles and conference presentations made during the
nineteen eighties bear just such a resemblance to current concerns and discourses. For example,
in the opening to her paper on the implementation of micro-computers in schools Fleer (1989:1)
commences with the statement:
There is a strong commitment by education authorities for computer technology to

become part of the curriculum in most Australian schools, however, little research has
been focussed on how this will happen.
While the focus of her study was specifically in relation to access for Aboriginal students, during
the second half of that decade, many of her observations could also be taken as relevant for most
school contexts and implementation plans at that time in that it raised questions regarding access
and equity. Oliver (1993) sought to replicate a 1985 study in 1991 that assessed the development
of information technology skills in upper primary and lower secondary school students in a
school district in Western Australia. He concluded that despite a significant increase in usage
among primary school students the secondary school computing agenda had changed little. He
suggested that if measures were not taken to overcome the problems that he had identified
such results would be the outcome of a similar study should it be undertaken in 1998. One might
further speculate that should a study be undertaken in 2010 it might produce similar results.
12
Schiller (2000:2) similarly argued that although computers had been in use in Australian schools
for over 15 years (at that time) visits to classrooms and principals offices indicate that information
technology has not yet been integrated into the daily learning activities of the school. Computers
and other forms of information technology remain isolated from the mainstream of learning
experience because of teacher apprehension and even phobia about using computers in the
classroom. A number of studies from around the time of the beginning of the new millennium
confirm this perspective. Perhaps a more subtle issue is not so much to do with teachers taking
up computers in terms of teaching and learning, but how they actually employ them. Hayes,
Schuck, Segal, Dwyer and McEwan (2001:12) observed in their study of ICT use in NSW schools,
that teachers generally integrate computer-based technology into their existing teaching
strategies. Thus for example, should they adhere to the Cunningham cited assumption quoted
above, That the teacher must first provide facts before the pupil can begin to think. Pupil activity,
it was held, should take the form of application of what has been passively received then he or
she will employ technology as a means of enabling that belief.
More recently attention is being paid to the take up of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in
classrooms and the impacts that these have on pedagogy and student learning outcomes; so has
pedagogical change occurred? In United Kingkom for example it would seem that in a number
of settings, principally secondary schools, IWBs are being integrated as a learning tool for whole
class teaching, with them acting as a data projector that can navigate multiple screens and
generate a dynamic form of display. Teacher centred adoption of the IWB in this context has met
with some criticism with Moss et al (2007: 7) concluding multi-modal resources had most impact
when their potential to enhance understanding, rather than marshal attention, had been clearly
understood and their use was treated as an integral part of subject learning.
13
This insight is echoed by Schuck & Kearney (2007) in their reflections on the use of IWBs in
classrooms 2005 2007, in a study where they noted that IWBs fit well with most teachers,
administrators and students views of classroom learning as whole-class, teacher directed and
resource filled.(p. 5). Similarly, Zevenbergen & Lerman (2007) argued that teachers were able
to increase the pace of their lessons using IWBs and provide greater opportunities for student
participation, albeit within a traditional teaching paradigm. In the field of mathematics education
the representation of mathematical ideas may have been enhanced, but the overall pedagogy
remained similar to that employed in traditional lessons.
Another recent concern has been in relation to the adoption of video conferencing (VC) where
it has been suggested that a feature of the technology would be an increased possibility of
peer interaction and peer tutoring. Martin (2008) has noted that successful student-to-student
learning first needs careful preparation and that the additional interactivity offered by VC does
not necessarily translate into increased interactivity between students.
Other recent studies have turned to researching the actual experiences of young people,
investigating their images of technology and its impact upon their lives and the uses to which
it might be put. Sheehy & Bucknall (2008) have encouraged such enquiries but once again
cautioned that researchers should carefully prepare students in order that they can provide
authentic feedback. Groundwater-Smith (2008) was mindful of this reservation and sought to
pose the following questions:
1. How is learning understood and constructed by young people?

2. What assists and gets in the way of learning (in digital environments)?
3. How do young people learn using digital technologies in and out of schools?
4. What would young people desire in terms of supporting and sustaining their learning using
digital technologies.
14
The study conducted on behalf of the NSW DET made it clear that young people well understand
learning as a dynamic process that happens when they are substantively engaged. They saw
that their learning environment needs to be well organised; that the ICT resources are adequate;
that they employ a large range of digital technologies in their homes, but that they have fewer
opportunities to employ these in schools; and, finally, that they would welcome tools that would
enable them to engage in everyday communication and be creative producers. They were
looking for what might be termed a young persons space where they could conduct forums
and employ those multi-media tools which they were accustomed to using outside school (p.3).
Clearly, the last of these relates closely to the intentions of the Connected Classrooms Program.
So what might the circuit breaker be? Is it that Web 2.0 will bring technologies into the classroom
that will be so inimical to past practice that teachers will have to change and accommodate to the
revolution? As Vass (2008:16) notes:
It is obvious that young generations are breaking away from the traditional transition model
and are instead habituated to a more democratic collective approach towards knowledge
building. This mindset is in sharp contrast with traditional school practices, with the
implication that new media participatory cultures will essentially reshape and reconstruct
our understanding of and beliefs about school, culture, community and employment.
15
Recent Educational
Technologies
Innovation
Employing Web
2.0
and
Mobile
Web 2.0 is a term that connotes the concept of interactivity and collaboration. It is less to do with
the acquisition of knowledge and more to do with the participation of users in the development
of knowledge. The classroom community employs a range of social practices to construct and
interrogate knowledge. Knowledge creation is seen as a complex and dynamic activity that is
widely distributed beyond the local and immediate. Learners themselves are seen as having a
capacity to generate and communicate new ideas, theories, artefacts and insights and share them
both within and beyond the school room. The digital tools that are to be found in the Web 2.0
environment allow young people (among others) to be active creators and contributors. Indeed,
Groundwater-Smith & Mockler (2009) suggest that we can now see the emergence of Mode 3
knowledge that moves beyond the kind of knowledge that hitherto has been constructed in
places of privilege. Web 2.0 technologies afford networking on a scale previously inconceivable
(Van Weert, 2006).
Web 2.0 websites go well beyond retrieving information; they provide the opportunity to search,
link, author, tag, extend and signal. They are social as well as cognitive. Manifestations such as
blogs and wikis extend engagement and involvement. When we combine concepts in relation to
Web 2.0 technologies with those associated with what has become known as Mobile Learning
we can see the power of convergences that relate very closely to the innovation associated with
the Connected Classroom Program with which this report is concerned. Traxler (2007) contrasts
mobile learning with tethered learning where he argues that it is not only a matter of devices
such as smart-phones or wireless laptop computers but also the ways in which they are employed:
so mobile learning is not about mobile as previously understood, or about learning as
previously understood, but part of a new mobile conception of society (this may contrast
with technology enhanced learning or technology supported, both of which give the
impression that technology does something to the learning)
This view is echoed by Price, Roussos, Falcao & Sheridan (2009:2) when they argue that technology
for learning is no longer only about the computer screen, but about physical action, physical
objects, school spaces and real world environments.
16
The Connected Classrooms Program

The Commitment to the Connected Classrooms Program was made by the NSW State
Government on 16 March 2007, when the Premier announced a $158 million investment over 4
years to enhance the Departments ICT capacity for teaching and learning.
The Connected Classrooms Program is made up of three key projects:

Interactive Classrooms
Learning Tools
Next Generation Education Network
The need for Connected Classrooms comes from the demands of todays students: it will
facilitate wherever/whenever learning as students consume, remix and create knowledge.
The project will:
t
equip every NSW public school with one Interactive Classroom (interactive whiteboard,
video conferencing facilities, PC with internet connection, preloaded lesson creation
software and data collaboration software)
enable online field trips and access to experts via video conferencing
enhance opportunities for collaboration between students, teachers and schools across DET
provide necessary infrastructure to facilitate collegial support networks for teachers.
17
Learning Tools
The project will provide tools that support the ability to create, store, edit, reuse, manage,
view and deliver digital learning content from collections and repositories to staff and students
across NSW. It will deliver an adaptable and scalable system to provide the latest Web 2.0
technologies to staff and students for teaching and learning.
Specifically it will provide:
t
a secure individual online working space for all students and teachers
upgraded email services to appproximately 1.2 million school and TAFE students
online access to student reports for parents/caregivers
collaborative environments such as blogED for the discovery and sharing of digital learning
content.
Network Enhancement Project

The project will:
18
enhance bandwidth capacity and reliability
enable interactive environments at all 2,500 DET sites by providing:

t
enhanced authenticated and filtered internet browsing services;
increased bandwidth and speed;
network upgrades to support the delivery of Interactive Classrooms and Learning Tools.
The Connected Classrooms Program, is a multi-million dollar initiative, seen to have a number of
benefits. Principal of these is its capacity to enable all stakeholders to connect one with the other.
In its Business Case (DET NSW 2008) the Department of Education and Training argued that the
Program would provide among other things increased access:
for students to use tools for authoring, manipulation and self expression allowing them to
become creative producers
to contemporary learning technologies which are synonymous with 21st Century skills; and,
to curriculum choice and specialised teachers and subject experts.
Importantly the Program was seen as one that could enhance student engagement through
teachers integrating technology in new ways into quality teaching and learning.
There was a recognition in the Business Case that:

This new capacity will support DETs goal of building a collaborative community where
intellectual property is retained within the organization, where the cultural diversity of all
stakeholders is leveraged and where children can work in a protected environment (p.4)
The case acknowledges that students and many of their teachers are already using a myriad
of Web 2.0 technologies as a means of connecting to the world and students varied learning
experiences.
19
A key component of the Program is the provision of video-conferencing for each school in this
large and varied system. It was seen that video conferencing facilities would enable online field
trips through direct video links with national parks, museums, universities, industry experts
and others (p.5). Such video-conferencing would be enabled by the establishment of a single
interactive classroom to each school1. Thus the Program, over its four year life, was committed to
providing these classrooms, in over 2200 schools.
Among the reasons for proceeding with the initiative the Business Case (p.9), argued that the
use of the technology would enhance student engagement, access for students to online tools
when and where they require, parental peace of mind in relation to the appropriateness of the
electronic content their children are exposed to. Consequentially, in relation to all of the above,
it was argued that the business community would benefit from school leavers with 21st Century
skills.
It has been noted that the Connected Classroom Program consists, itself, of three main projects,
the Network Enhancement Project enabling the second two which are of interest to this report.
The principal of these is the Interactive Classroom Project with its capacity to: connect schools
and students, access experts outside the classroom; support teacher professional learning and
enhance and amplify the curriculum in the context of the Quality Teaching Framework.
1 In its statistical bulletin Fast facts derived from 2009 figures the DET indicated the number of
Government schools in the Primary Sector was 1629; in Central Schools 67; in High School sector,
398; in SSP Schools 113; and Environmental Education Centres 23, totalling 2230 public schools
across NSW.
20
The second project of interest is the provision of Learning Tools that will enable a secure
online working space, upgraded student email services; online access to student reports; and a
collaborative environment for the discovery and sharing of digital learning content(p.17) with
the provision of Web 2.0 tools such as blogED.
Note: At the time of writing, December 2010:

a. 90% of schools have had an interactive classroom installed with the remaining 10% scheduled for installation in
early 2011.
b. 98.5% of DET sites, schools and TAFEs have had their network services reviewed and/or upgraded.
c. All 1.3 million students have been provided with an enhanced email service through Googles G-mail and
approximately 17,000 blogs have been created using the DET blogED online collaborative learning tool.
d. Parental online access to student reports and a secure online personal file storage and shared workspaces (known
as eBackpack) are due to be delivered in Semester 1, 2011.
21
Among the reasons for proceeding with the initiative the Business Case (p.9), argued that the
use of the technology would enhance student engagement, access for students to online tools
when and where they require, parental peace of mind in relation to the appropriateness of the
electronic content their children are exposed to. Consequentially, in relation to all of the above,
it was argued that the business community would benefit from school leavers with 21st Century
skills.
The benefits identified in the Business Case have been incorporated into the CCP Benefits
Management Plan (p23). Many of these benefits are perceived as non-financial, that is those that
do not yield readily to a direct financial measurement regime; hence this study will use qualitative
evidence to explore and evaluate those Program outcomes that impact on learning, these being
that Connected Classrooms Program technologies:
B1 Increase opportunities for collaboration between students;

B2 Increase opportunities for collaboration between teachers and students;
B3 Increase opportunities for collaboration between teachers;
B4 Increase access to virtual excursions and events;
B5 Increase access to specialist teachers and external experts;
B6 Increased access to broader subject choice including Physics, extension Maths and
language courses;
B7 Increase opportunities for gifted and talented students;
B8 Provide additional transition strategies from Primary to High School;
B9 Provide students with access to contemporary learning technologies synonymous
with 21st century learning; and
B10 Enable the creation, sharing and delivery of curriculum content.
Before turning to the evidence that has been made available it is important to make the case for
employing testimony in the form of the many accounts of practice collated over three calendar
years (2008 - 2010) in the Programs Compendium of Practice and through the real-life accounts
recorded in the DVD resource. The DVD resource consists of 11 videos, an introductory video
and 10 videos of recorded footage of teachers and students using CCP technologies which are
mapped to the non-financial benefits.
22
Methodology Employed For Qualitative Evaluation of The Program:

Using Qualitative Evidence, Issues of Validity and Reliability
The principal purpose of this qualitative evaluation of the Connected Classrooms Program is
to identify evidence that the non-financial benefits (B1 - B10) that were sought for are being
achieved. This is not to claim the extent of that achievement, but rather that there are indications,
from a number of narratives in the Compendium of Practice and in the DVD resource, that they are
being experienced by teachers and their students as the interactive classrooms and associated
learning tools are being deployed to NSW Government Schools. A second purpose is to identify
issues and concerns that may require ongoing attention.
In his discussion with respect to evaluating mobile technology Traxter (2007: 5 - 6) argues
that there are no a priori attributes of what constitutes a good evaluation of the outcomes of
technologies that are so recent in their constitution and application such as the program with
which this study is concerned. He suggests that among the attributes that should be considered
are that the evaluation be:
Rigorous, trustworthy and transferable;
Efficient;
Proportionate;
Appropriate;
Consistent with the philosophy of the given program or project;
Authentic;
Aligned to the medium; and consistent.
Ethical;
Further to this list the concept of triangulation could also be added, this requires that more than
one data source is employed in order to derive multiple perspectives on a given phenomenon
(Barbour, 1998).
23
In relation to the first of Traxters attributes, that the evaluation be rigorous, trustworthy and
transferable, these concepts find their parallels in quantitive inquiry where the emphasis is upon
facts and causes of behaviour (Bogdan & Biklen, 1998) and where the information takes the form
of numbers that can be quantified and summarised and is perceived as objective. The inquiry
meets tenets of reliability where results are seen to be consistent over time and can be replicated
under a variety of circumstances. Validity is seen to refer to whether the inquiry measures that
which it was intended to measure and that the constructs that have been employed will actually
define the problem. These criteria are based upon a number of assumptions regarding the
research tradition that has been adhered to (often labelled positivist) and may not apply to the
kind of messy and dynamic world of change such as bringing complex technology into a myriad
of settings with all of the variables associated with schools, teachers, students and contexts.
These are real-world settings where the phenomena being explored are unfolding in variable
ways at a variable pace. Golafshani (2003:601) draws upon notions of consistency, dependability
and trustworthiness to make the case for sound, reliable qualitative research.
When considering efficiency and proportionality it is important to take into account that the
cost, effort and time are commensurable with the scale of the evaluation. An appropriate and
authentic evaluation is one that draws upon forms of data that are in tune with the phenomena
being examined. Within these concepts rests the notion of confirmability where member checks
are conducted such that they are satisfied that the data represents their work, thoughts and
activities2. This is of particular relevance where the accounts of these are maintained, rather than
disaggregated (Morse, Barrett, Mayan, Olson & Spiers 2002). A second order of verification can
come about as a result of the evaluation being systematically monitored for its appropriateness
and authenticity by key stakeholders.
2 All stories in the Compendium of Practice were checked with those whose work was represented in order
to ensure that the accounts were authentic. This procedure is very important in contexts where qualitative
information is being collected in that it can be counted as both a validation and ethical exercise so that
those people whose work is depicted are honoured and respected.
24
Ethicality is always a key concern whether employing qualitative or quantitative methods.

Furlong & Oancea (2008:15) make the case that to meet standards of excellence in applied and
practice based research it is essential that propriety and trustworthiness are basic to the value
and legitimacy of the work. This view is reflected in the same volume by Groundwater-Smith &
Mockler (2008) who also draw attention to an ethical consideration that the investigation should
inform participatory social action and embody a critical dimension. Perhaps too often there is the
temptation to engage in celebratory accounts rather than ones that may unsettle and disturb.
They conclude:
Quality is always troublesome and never easily resolved. It requires of researchers not
only an understanding of the technicalities of research and reflective practice, but an
unwavering commitment to ethics and the improvement of the human condition (p.89)
Evidence, then, is a challenging matter when we are considering how effective the introduction
of interactive classrooms and associated learning tools have been in NSW public schools. As
Holkner, Romeo, Henderson, Auld, Russell, Seah & Fernando (2008:86) have observed:
The extent to which research constitutes evidence for the introduction of ICTs into the
classroom depends on your point of view. Our point of view is that educational research
does not supply rules for action, but hypotheses for intelligent problem solving. It can
help us understand what works in a particular situation, but not what will work in future
situations. The role of the educator is to use research findings to make ones problem
solving more intelligent.
25
Exploring the Compendium of Practice and DVD Resource in Relation to

the Nominated Benefits
From its inception the Connected Classrooms Program has published Bulletins fortnightly,
issues 1 29 (2008 2009) and monthly, issues 30 39 (2010). These have formed the basis for
the Compendium of Practice as eighty-three stories from the field that provide the narratives
of practice. Ewing (2010) sees a narrative approach as one that enables the identification of
important enduring themes in practice. She sees professional stories as coalescing into songlines
in the form of tracks across the landscape. Importantly, she indicates that songlines suggest
a continuing, ever-changing movement (p.5) which, in turn, signals an incompleteness in or
around the actions and events. This is particularly pertinent to this study in that an innovation
as substantial and far reaching as the Connected Classrooms Program is one that is bound to
continue to grow and flourish well beyond the programs statutory life.
As a way forward each of the nominated benefits of the program will be examined in relation
to the relevant stories identified in the Compendium of Practice and captured by the DVD
resource. The stories will be discussed in terms of the evidence that they provide. Simultaneously
this account will nominate key themes as they demonstrate specific benefits or sets of benefits.
This is of particular importance with reference to the clusters of benefits that address matters of
collaboration (B1 B3) and access (B4 - B6).
26
Collaboration Cluster: Benefit 1 Benefit 3

Collaboration in environments mediated by video conferencing facilities brings with it a range
of issues. To work collaboratively, whether students working together; teachers and students
working together; or teachers working with students; requires a number of assumptions to be met
and skills to be exercised such as the building of trust, the capacity for clear communication and
the ability to manage a range of opinions and positions. The principal challenge of collaboration
is that individual creators bring with them different theories, mind maps, models and precepts
of the matter being discussed and/or investigated. Each will have evolved these out of diverse
experiences and opportunities. If individuals are to collaborate in order to learn it is more than
them merely working side by side. It involves them in participatory knowledge construction that
has the capacity to be transformative. It is important to be aware that additional interactivity
offered by such procedures as video conferencing does not necessarily translate into increased
interactivity between students or their teachers (Higgins, Beauchamp and Miller 2007).
Collaboration is, first and foremost, a social activity both enhanced and made difficult by the
complexity of encounters in Web 2.0 environments. Collaboration is not to be mistaken with a
striving to achieve consensus, but rather is an opportunity for distributed problem solving based
upon the collective reasoning and critique of those participating. It is not sufficient to imagine
that using the capabilities and capacities of the Connected Classrooms Program technologies will
lead inevitably to collaboration or that such a provision may be seen as the nominal raison dtre
for collaboration.
Importantly it should be understood that, just as there are stages in a ladder of participation, so
too is the practice of collaboration developmental. The Connected Classrooms Program could
be seen to cohere with the first three levels of participation that have been put forward by Shier
(2001:110) where participants are listened to, supported in expressing their views and seeing
these taken into account. Shiers model is particularly useful in considering the Program because
it embodies the nature of commitment required for it to be successful, namely that there is an
opening created, that an opportunity occurs and that there is an obligation to provide conditions
that are built into the system. The opening creates conditions where collaboration can occur,
such as sharing and discussing; the opportunity enables a range of views to be expressed; and
the obligations are that due weight would be given to the concerns that the participants express.
27
B1 CCP technologies increase oppor tunities for collaboration between students

Altogether sixteen narratives from the field have been collected in relation to this first benefit.
Collaboration is variously understood as providing:
a capacity for schools to share, directly with one another, for example, rural schools and city
schools;
an opportunity for schools to engage in competitive games with one another;
a means for developing interaction between urban and rural schools to understand and
appreciate their varying contexts;
an ability for a number of schools to participate in a virtual conference in relation to an event

such as an agricultural field day;
an occasion for connecting to international students;
a means for schools to engage with each other, local communities and businesses in developing
shared concerns; and
an opportunity for students to work together to discuss and solve their concerns through the
Really Active Motivated Students (RAMS).
While there is ample evidence in the accounts that these events occurred it is not always clear that
the agency for collaboration rests upon the students. The opening account derived from Bulletin
24, 11th September 2009 (over one year later from the time of the first Bulletin published in June
2008) reports upon a global school project managed through the Macquarie ICT Innovations
Centre. It reports that since February 2009, over 35 video conferences with 200 schools engaging
with 17 Aboriginal community presenters and involving 5000 students have been conducted. It is
clear from the narrative that students have had a unique opportunity to hear more about Aboriginal
dance, art, artefacts and language and that students created their own responses using a variety
of media. Furthermore, the Bulletin reports that students were able to witness creativity in action,
they were able to see, listen and then construct. Clearly, an opening and opportunity was created
for them in that they were engaged in sharing and sophisticated forms of communication if not
actively collaborating with each other to produce some form of knowledge or artefact.
28
Similarly the stories include a number of showcases and wide ranging forums in which students
participated and demonstrated their achievements. In a sense we might think of the majority
of the accounts in this section as mediated collaboration in that the opportunities that were
provided to the students were orchestrated, albeit most skilfully, by their teachers or by project
officers.
However, there are several narratives that demonstrate work of a more advanced collaborative
nature that enhances the learning of students in different sites and locations and where there is a
peer learning model as espoused by Martin (2008). For example, the technology has enabled in one
case the development of a sophisticated assessment task that requires students to communicated
their understandings of scientific phenomena to a live audience who may interrogate them and
stretch their understanding beyond mere reportage. Bulletin 27, 6th November 2009 reports on
the interaction between an extension class in science and maths in a city high school presenting
their experiments in nanotechnology to students in a remote central school and rural high school.
In another case, Bulletin 28, 20th November 2009 we learn of a peer tutoring program in the
performing arts whereby students collaborate through actual visits and exchanges and via
interactive classroom links as they strive to create mutually satisfying products.
29
B2 CCP technologies increase oppor tunities for collaboration between teachers

and students
Five accounts have been selected as exemplifiers of this benefit. Several of the projects were based
upon the employment of the blogED collaborative learning tool. In March 2010 the Connected
Classrooms Program published the following information regarding blogED, specifically for
parents and caregivers:
As part of its ongoing commitment to enhanced student learning outcomes through the
use of technology the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) has developed a
blogging tool known as blogED. BlogED was developed in accordance with DET policies and
guidelines and has incorporated feedback from students, teachers and parents. Students
access blogED through their DET student portal. When using the DET blog students are
able to:
use the same login they use for email and internet browsing
experience the same filters that are currently applied to the use of email and internet
browsing
be guided by current permission forms regarding confidentiality and privacy

be protected by DET standards of acceptable use of online communications.
As well as these assurances the information continues:
A blog (an abbreviation of weblog) is a personal website, organised like a diary or journal,
which shows the authors most recent additions first. It enables the author to write regular
entries expressing their view of events. Depending on the permission levels set for a blog,
the readers (audience) of the blog are able to post to a blog or comment on a post.
For some blogED types moderation is mandatory. [So] What is an educational blog? An
educational blog is an online journal where a student writes (makes posts) about their
learning, which may be commented on by other students, the teacher or a wider audience
as approved by the teacher. Students can add, link to or embed copyright compliant media
such as photographs and videos to their blogs. DET blogs can only be set up by teachers.
Teachers are able to moderate posts and comments on the blog.
30
The intimation is that by using this powerful tool, teachers and their students may collaborate in
learning. In one instance (Bulletin 25, 9th October 2009) a teacher of English for Speakers of Other
Languages created a class blog that allowed students to enter posts on a range of experiences
and events, for example, news, TV and film, sport, travel, celebrities and so on. Her role was as
moderator as she corrected and commented on the contents of the various postings. In another
case (Bulletin 33, 18th June 2009) a class blog was created that captures the development of a
study of Balinese culture. In both of these instances it could be argued that the application is one
that suggests sharing as the first step to collaboration as discussed earlier in this study. In a third
instance, students engaging in science research (Bulletin 33, 18th June 2009) there is testimony
that demonstrates students contributing to each others learning through talk and discussion.
The fourth example offered as evidence of this benefit and published in the same Bulletin, is
the conduct of a video conference festival in which 6000 students and 400 teachers took part
through 25 video conferences engaging with, among others, the Curriculum Directorate K 12,
National Parks and Wildlife Service.
The DVD resource makes specific mention of the uses of blogED in all stages of learning: primary,
secondary and TAFE. It is seen to be a tool that gives students a wider audience and provides a
safe space for them to collaborate. It is a confidence building application in that students can
nominate the extent to which their individual blogs will be made available to others. Students
can survey earlier blogs to trace their own growth and development by looking at earlier posts.
TAFE students use the tool to communicate with supervisors when on work placements and are
enabled to reflect on professional practice.
Extracts from the DVD resource also demonstrate that collaboration between teachers and
students mediated through the interactive technologies has a capacity to break down perceived
traditional barriers and allow a greater demonstration of thinking that lies behind the creation of
products.
Altogether, these examples give insight into the ways in which interactive technologies can be
used to enhance the mutual engagement of teachers and learners.
31
B3 CCP technologies increase oppor tunities for collaboration between teachers

Altogether thirteen cases are cited in relation to this third benefit within the set associated with
matters related to collaboration. They provide a spectrum of interactions ranging from what
might best be characterised as video seminars with academic colleagues and world leaders, to a
demonstration of ways in which professional practices can be jointly constructed and employed
in a context where teachers work with each other as mutual problem solvers.
In the case of the former the facility enabled:

the DET senior executive, school and regional leaders to interact with an acknowledged world
expert with respect to the impact of digital technologies on schools and their management
(Bulletin 12, 13th March 2009);
teachers to engage in professional dialogue regarding practices, research and innovation in the
areas of Open and free education, Aboriginal education and Building communities of schools
(Bulletin 14, 21st April 2009);
the training of teachers to meet the needs of students with disability (Bulletin 20, 17th July 2009)
in the uses of blogED (Bulletin 32, 21st May 2010 and Bulletin 34, 23rd July 2010); and applying
lesson study as a means of improving planning and delivery (Bulletin 18, 15th June 2009)
early career teachers to both share their experiences and discover more about specific teaching
strategies (Bulletin 16, 18th May 2009)
participants to share ways in which they were employing the Effective Lifelong Learning
Inventory (ELLI)3 as an Australian Government Quality Teaching Program strategy (Bulletin, 29,
4th December 2009); and
the virtual supervision of students during practicum placement (Bulletin 31, 23rd April 2010).
3 The inventory is used to assess an individual or classs learning power that then feeds into teachers
planning for relevant and engaging learning experiences building on strengths and fostering the weaker
dimensions. It has been used very successfully with Indigenous learners (Deakin-Crick, 2006).
32
The cases also included further evidence of extended collaboration where the problematics of
professional practice were discussed. But the interactions transcended discussion and sharing, for
ideas were developed and refined, and strategies moderated - whether in relation to assessment
(Bulletin 29, 4th December 2009) or teaching difficult concepts such as place value as it underpins
mathematical operations (Bulletin 29, 4th December 2009) or expanding skills and knowledge
(Bulletin 34, 23rd July 2010). In the latter instance the development provided evidence of teachers
themselves initiating and maintaining the project within what was described as an organic
process, teachers managing the whole thing. Most recently a project has been evolving using
the DET Yammer network, which provides a social networking tool for teachers who hold regular
video conferences in order to discuss enhancing student motivation (Bulletin 38, 12th November
2010).
Clearly, all thirteen accounts provided opportunities for teachers to engage in professional
learning in supportive and challenging environments. They were able to experience both visually
and orally a range of innovative practices and ask questions of their colleagues. Much of this was
made possible by the accessibility afforded by the technology.
33
Access Cluster: Benefit 4 Benefit 6

The State of New South Wales is one that includes not only a large metropolitan conurbation
stretching from Wollongong in the South to Newcastle to the North, but also a string of coastal
towns covering over one thousand kilometres. It encompasses a rural world West of the Great
Dividing Range (sometimes referred to as the sandstone curtain) that stretches out to the
most remote of communities. The Department of Education and Training is composed of ten
regions that embody these wide geographical, topographical and variously populated spaces.
Providing access for schools students to cultural institutions (such as galleries, museums and
environmental centres) is difficult to say the least. Equally, there are considerable difficulties in
the name of equity, that all schools in the system have access to specialist teachers and external
experts. Finally there are significant challenges for students to be enabled to enrol in subjects
beyond the experience and expertise of the staff of their school.
Access is an important social outcome in a system that is so widely distributed and diverse in
its nature. David Suzuki (2003) understands and explains the impact of place. Autobiographies
and biographies invariably draw upon place as a significant, but not exclusive set of conditions,
influencing later behaviours and practices, ideologies and values. Clearly, schools are located in
a range and variety of social and geographic spaces, however much of the literature on learning
whether mediated by technology or otherwise, does not take account of its situated nature.
Patton (2000) drawing upon the work of Deleuze argues that understanding social geography
is essential to the formation of policies and practices. This is both in terms of the apparatus of
government (in effect those who decide upon staffing, the syllabi, high stakes assessment and
state-wide testing, buildings and the like) and of the collective wills and desires of those who
occupy the space, these being variegated and significantly determined by class, race, ethnicity
and gender. This is found to be demonstrable in the work of McConaghy (2002, 2004) who outlines
the many challenges experienced by NSW teachers in rural and remote communities.
34
B4 CCP technologies increase access to vir tual excursions and events e.g.
Galleries, Libraries and Museum
The Compendium of Practice provides fifteen stories from the field. These may be classified as:
access and participation in events;
access to performances;
access to external agencies; and
access to virtual excursions.
Events are an important and significant part of students lives. While they may be one-off
occasions they are usually memorable and can even be life changing. Often, though, it is difficult
for them to participate because the venue may be hard to reach, expensive, or too small to
accommodate the number of people wishing to participate. The National Film and Archive Event
(Bulletin 32, 21st May, 2010) was just such an occasion. As part of a school screen program the
event provided students with access to those working in the Australian Creative Arts industry and
hear accounts of experience from actors and directors. Schools who participated came from as far
afield as Armidale to the North, Dubbo to the West and Wollongong to the South.
The DVD resource, recording samples from this event, demonstrated the ways in which students
felt enabled to put their questions directly to actors and directors; they were able to experience the
notion of a rehearsal space and discover how new insights about the characters being portrayed
accumulate as the performance becomes richer and deeper. These insights were made possible
by the quality of the questions that students asked in a context where they felt relatively relaxed
and where immediate feedback was put into practice.
In a different vein, 23 primary schools engaged in an event arranged by Questacon on Canberra

(Bulletin 29, 4th December). As a result 1200 students from both NSW schools and ones from
South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory participated. They were able to hear from
and interact with five polar region scientists and a whaling captain and hear about how polar
regions are being affected by climate change.
35
Some events took students beyond Australia, for example students from Penrith High School
engaged with students in South Korea to conduct an Asia-Pacific Mock trial (Bulletin 16, 18th May
2009). As well, students from Gordon Public School were able to take a virtual journey to Kigluait
in Alaska (Bulletin 25, 9th October 2009). Others were local such as the Sydney Region Debating
Gala Day (Bulletin 29, 4th December 2009) and the Weather Observation Activity conducted on
the North Coast (Bulletin 17, 29th May 2009).
A specific event format is the performance. Students from more distant schools, studying the
same text as their contemporaries in metropolitan schools with greater access to theatres and
the like may feel at something of a disadvantage. The Connected Classroom Program enabled
schools from the Western, Riverina and New England regions to watch a live theatre performance
of Ruby Moon (Bulletin 17, 29th May 2009).
Access to external agencies is no easy matter. Connecting to NASA may be seen as an exceptional
privilege, but one that was made available through video conferencing to a Sydney boys school
(Bulletin 21, 31st July 2009). Not only was the occasion seen as one that was stimulating for the
students, but also connected closely to the NSW Quality Teaching Framework and was seen as
ongoing as a stimulus to student learning. It was reported on the DVD resource that students
were astonished and amazed to find out, not only how astronauts lived and slept but even how
they could go to the toilet always something fascinating to young people!
36
School excursions offer real challenges to teachers. They require careful organisation and
management and can also raise issues of equity and social justice not all families can afford
them and even with school assistance they can be costly. Using the facilities of video conferencing
schools were able to connect to the Australian Museum (Bulletin 6, September 19th, 2008; Bulletin
19, 29thJune 2009) and to visit the Australian Cricket Ground (Bulletin 31, 23rd April 2010). In the
latter case the provision was tailored to the needs of students attending remote and regional
schools such as Cudgegong Valley, Jerilderie and Gilgandra.
Regional Directors themselves were also treated to an excursion; in this case to the Great Barrier
Reef (Bulletin 17, 29th May 2009). This was designed to enable them to experience first hand the
power of the interactive classroom.
One event that sits somewhat outside these other access occasions was a multi-media project
where students created a successful entry to a competition based upon the TV series Getaway
(Bulletin 28, 20th November 2009). The work drew upon concepts in science and interactive
communication.
37
B5 CCP technologies increase access to specialist teachers and external exper ts

Fourteen stories are reported in this section of the Compendium of Practice. In some senses it
might be better to characterise the section as access to external experts who function as specialist
teachers as each case demonstrates how successfully those who are in command of their field of
practice can communicate and interact with young people in schools.
Students had opportunities to participate in discussions with:
people in creative industries;
sportspeople;
scientists; and
significant community members.
It is not often that so many school students can meet with and question the authors of the books
that they so cherish. One school hosted such an event with Morris Gleitzman (Bulletin 9, November
14th, 2008) while 12 other primary schools participated via a video conference. They heard of how
his stories arose and even were able to talk with him about the possibilities of writing themselves.
The Australian picture book author, Graeme Base (Bulletin 10, 2nd December 2008) revealed how
long it takes to create a book and the immense amount of effort that is required. While Pat Flynn
(Bulletin 23, 28th August 2009) revealed that many of his ideas grew out of being a teacher and
coming to understand the interests of young people. Another creative person who inspired
students was novelist and cartoonist David Hackett (Bulletin 14, 21st April 2009). They were able
to experience first hand the ways in which he builds up his illustrations. These stories clearly
demonstrated the power of the video-conference to reach a number of participants who might
otherwise never have met people of these creative capacities.
38
Clearly it is also the case that young people hold sporting heroes in high regard. Students from
Menindee Central School, one that is relatively remote, were linked up with sixteen other schools
in order to interview Kurt Fearnley, Australian Champion Paralympian (Bulletin 14, 21st April
2009). They found his persistence and perseverance highly motivating. In a similar way Socceroo
Mark Schwarzter interacted with 100 students from five DET regions (Bulletin 20, 17th July 2009)
hearing about his commitment to healthy living and physical activity.
Scientists and their work are often quite remote from the day to day experiences of students. Eight
high schools were able to be connected to engage with a practicing astrophysicist, Dr Andrew
Hopkins (Bulletin 8, 31st October 2008). They learned about our universe and were enabled to
transcend their sense of remoteness and isolation. Dr Hopkins revisited schools with colleague
Professor Bryan Gaensler ( Bulletin 12, 16th March 2009) to not only discuss their field, but also
advise about careers and opportunities that the students might not have previously considered.
At a later point 2500 students from 50 schools as far apart as Tumbarumba, Broken Hill and
Newcastle, participated in 18 forums with leading scientists covering such ground as research on
marine mammals and the impacts of climate change (Bulletin 24, 11th September 2009).
A virtual visit to Taronga Zoo Education Centre (DVD resource) demonstrated how engaging and
beneficial it may be to meet with and interact with not only the zoo education experts, but also
some of the fauna that they care for. It is difficult to represent in words the looks of amazement,
awe and wonder on childrens faces as they saw, at close quarters, insects, frogs, birds and
mammals. In one shot of a tawny frogmouth bird opening its beak it was possible to see one
student opening her own mouth in perfect synchrony! Importantly, it was also noted that while
not all students will be able to actually visit the zoo for those who can the virtual visit can act as
an advance organiser for learning and a stimulus for follow through.
39
Historians offer particular insights into Australias culture and development. The Historic Houses
Trust is assisting in bringing Australian convict history to life (Bulletin 38, 12th November 2010).
New resources will be launched in February, 2011, demonstrating the ongoing nature of the
program.
Experts in the field are many with diverse talents and experiences. School captains at Carlton
Public School, along with nine surrounding primary school conducted Captains Day with
leaders from the Police Local Area Command and the NSW Rural Fire Brigade to discover what
their duties and responsibilities were and ways in which leadership is developed (Bulletin 8, 31st
October 2008). Unsung heroes were also affirmed in the project undertaken at Menindee Central
School (Bulletin 34, 23rd August 2010) during NAIDOC week. Sharing their Indigenous heroes with
Lindfield East Public School and Keira High young people heard the many moving stories of local
Aboriginal people and the ways in which they dealt with their travails.
40
B6 CCP technologies increase access to broader subject choice including Physics,

extension Maths and language courses
Access to broader subject choice necessarily also means access to specialist teachers and to
other students desirous of studying those subjects. Four cases are reported in this section of the
Compendium of Practice. The first of these portrays the interactive classroom technology being
employed to teach vocational training to students from a number of Central Schools in the West
of the State (Bulletin 25, 9th October 2009). Not only is the program directed to the students but
also supports their teachers in areas of design, assessment and planning.
The second story from the field relates to delivering curriculum choice to the same area of the
State where over 900 students have benefitted from teaching over 35 subjects to 15 schools
across the region (Bulletin 35, 20th August 2010). Again teachers also have their own professional
learning enhanced through the Program.
In terms of teacher professional learning, currently language learning centres are being established
in 42 schools (Bulletin 38, 12th November 2010). These are designed to assist language teachers in
exploring a range of uses to which the interactive classroom technology might be put.
The DVD resource was able to demonstrate how Senior students function in the same virtual
classroom and are not isolated because of the lack of a Physics teacher at their school due to an
enrolment too small to support a class. One student, employing the language of todays young
people spoke of his capacity to mash subjects together, referring to his ability to seamlessly
blend what he was learning in situ and what he was learning in the virtual Physics classroom.
41
Varying Opportunities Cluster: Benefit 7 - Benefit 10

As well as the earlier cited opportunities for collaboration and the matters associated with access
as discussed above the Connected Classrooms Program has also produced opportunities in a
number of other areas concerned with particular needs. None of these stand alone; each interacts
with the other in complex ways, but then it has always been recognised that educational practices
are complex, influenced by a wide array of factors some of which can be managed and controlled
more readily than others.
42
B7 CCP technologies increase learning oppor tunities for gifted and talented
students
Attention is drawn to three instances in this category. The first of these encompasses provision
of partnerships between secondary schools, TAFE and university to enable extended learning
in maths and science for highly able students in both primary and secondary settings (Bulletin
23, 28th August 2009). The various forums and workshops illustrated the kind of authentic
collaboration discussed earlier in this study in that, for example, students from Parramatta Public
School used the learning that they had experienced to collaborate with each other and design
learning experiences for their peers. This project was continued and further reported on in Bulletin
26, 23rd October 2009 demonstrating that earlier work is being developed and built upon.
The other case reported in this section was specifically focussed on teacher professional learning
in that a presentation was developed in relation to an eGATS! Project and various COGS4 units,
each of which was designed to meet the needs of highly able students.
The DVD resource coverage demonstrated the development of the XSEL5 Virtual Selective High
School in Western New South Wales. The presentation reminds us the region covers over 365
000 square kilometres and is larger than Western Germany. Being enabled to attend a selective
high school would normally be very difficult for students from this region; as it is the students do
not have to leave their families and can participate interactively with their talented peers. It has
been noted that the infrastructure, built by the Connected Classrooms Program is particularly
well suited to this purpose and assists in re-defining what a classroom is.
4 COG is the acronym for Curriculum Outcome Groups. The KLA learning outcomes have been grouped in
each COG to take advantage of connections that can be made because of similar content, processes or
skills and to make connections between ideas to maximise students learning. Each connected outcomes
group is designed to be taught over one term and where essential for learning, there is adequate repetition
of outcomes.
5
It is possible to see current work at the XSEL Virtual Selective High School by going to:
http://www.xsel.schools.nsw.edu.au/sws/view/455464.node
43
B8 CCP technologies provide additional transition strategies from Primar y to High

School
Again, it is evident that there is considerable overlap between the benefits. The Compendium of
Practice brings together two stories from the field in this area. Just as the cases already reported
referred to connections being made between various school sectors, this section also draws
attention to working from the primary to the high school. Using the philosophy of teaching to
learn Year 8 students volunteered for an extension activity in science where they prepared and
taught a lesson on asthma and respiration to younger primary students (Bulletin 11, 27th February
2009). Not only did they link via the video conference, where they demonstrated procedures but
also they developed a quiz, worksheet and set of instructions that were made available to the
primary students so that they might readily follow the procedures being demonstrated.
In the other instance classroom teachers from Stages 3 and 4 worked on a sequence of literacy
lessons that would attend to the NSW Quality Teaching Framework and enhance student
capabilities in writing paying attention to vocabulary, theme and paragraphing (Bulletin 22, 14th
August 2009). Stage 4 students provided feedback to their Stage 3 counterparts and in doing
so also became more attuned and aware of these writing features. As well, teachers worked
collaboratively to develop assessment rubrics and how they might best moderate professional
judgement.
The DVD resource illustrated the ways in which these interactions occurred with teachers and
students commenting on their beliefs that there was now less fear and apprehension about going
to high school, previously seen as something of an unknown and that they were feeling more
confident and excited about the prospect.
44
B9 CCP technologies provide students with access to contemporar y learning

technologies synonymous with 21 st centur y learning
What better way to teach about technology than to use technology. As the DVD resource noted
pedagogy is being redefined for children who were born after the internet was invented. The first
of the stories in this section involved some 2000 students from each of the states ten regions.
Students undertook to develop multi-media projects along with an engaging title, a synopsis
and a promotional advertisement (Bulletin 27, 6th March, 2009). They were reported to have
gained considerable skills in PowerPoint presentation, Bridgit6, and using the facilities of video
conferencing (VC). As well, they learned some of the so called soft skills such as the employment
of a VC etiquette guide and public speaking.
Three of the five stories made reference to using blogED as a communication tool. In one case to
provide a forum for the schools SRC to capture student voice in relation to internal and sometimes
contentious issues such as the school uniform (Bulletin 22, 14th August 2009). In another blogED
was employed to provide a medium for student reflection in relation to visual arts tasks (Bulletin
23, 28th August 2009); while in a third instance young people employed a blog-log to capture
elements of the First Fleet voyage and for parents to view their achievements (Bulletin 24, 11th
September 2009).
It is notable that one story in this section reported upon the adoption of video-conferencing to
enhance learning for young people attending a School for Specific Purposes (SSP) (Bulletin 27, 6th
November, 2009). The school is using the technological capabilities of the interactive classroom
to engage students with a range of challenging behaviours, autism, obsessive compulsive
disorders and cognitive impairment. One class in the school gained a state award in digital story
construction, in another case a young student was enabled to have a voice hitherto denied him.
6 Bridgit is a data collaboration software that allows both communication and demonstration. It can be used
to support student and teacher professional learning; c.f,
http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/Bridgit/
45
B10 CCP technologies enable the creation, sharing and deliver y of curriculum
content
Again, it should be emphasised that there is ample evidence in relation to earlier benefits that
there is significant sharing and delivery of curriculum content. The six stories contained in this
final section of the Compendium of Practice have been selected to draw specific attention to this
important professional outcome.
Connected Outcomes Groups (COGS) are an important resource for teachers who have an
enthusiasm for inter-disciplinary studies. Electronic hubs have been formed that allow teachers to
engage with senior curriculum advisors to meet, collaborate and share (Bulletin 26, 23rd October
2009). They have been enabled to construct and develop resources that can be immediately used
in their classes. For busy teachers this must be a boon.
Teachers have been enabled to learn about dynamic geometry and graphing software using
Dynamic Calculus and Geometers Warehouse using the free open source software GeoGebra
(Bulletin 11, 27th February 2009). Similarly, collaborative learning software has attracted teachers
to draw upon the Lesson Activity Toolkit to develop lessons in a variety of Key Learning Areas
(Bulletin 31, 23rd April, 2010). While Primary Teachers have had access to My Primary Classroom
(Bulletin 33, 18th June 2010) again using SMART Notebook7 software that unlocks a variety of
interactive whiteboard resources.
At a time when there is much lively discussion regarding the content and management of a
National Curriculum teachers have had an opportunity to comment on the drafts for English,
History, Mathematics and Science as they are released for consultation (Bulletin 32, 21st May 2010).
Thirty three video conferences were conducted involving over 800 teachers in 426 locations. This
enabled a coherent, integrated response to be developed and submitted. The DVD resource
demonstrated that the conferencing and consultation between teachers not only saved time and
travel but also led to a more coherent and informed response.
Thus video conferencing, the interactive white-board and tools such as Bridgit, blogED, and
SMART Notebook lesson creation software have all contributed to teachers creating, sharing and
delivering their practices in a manner that recognises talent and innovation between more and
less experienced practitioners.
7 SMART Notebook lesson creation software http://www.smarttech.com/us/Solutions/Education+Solutions
46
Discussion
There can be no question regarding the richness of the evidence that has been made available
through the Compendium of Practice and DVD resource. It is clear that the intended benefits are
being achieved. The penetration of the technology into schools: large and small; metropolitan;
regional and remote; primary and secondary; is noteworthy. Similarly the number of teachers who
have been involved in being the pioneers is significant, this number includes the whole career
spectrum early career through to highly experienced practitioners. The curriculum coverage
demonstrates the applicability of the technology to all key learning areas. Learning has been seen
to go well beyond the classroom into other spheres and realms of practice in the arts and sciences
and into other communities and cultures such as those of Indigenous people. Linkages have
been made to the NSW Quality Teaching Framework such that practice can be reconceptualised
and enhanced. Applications have been adapted and customised as authentic tools to meet 21st
Century teaching and learning needs, for example blogED and Bridgit.
Looking across the spectrum of practice using The Connected Classrooms Program technologies
over a period of three years (2008 2010) it is evident that these practices have evolved in
sophistication.
In their framework for examining appropriate practices in the employment of ICTs in schools
Trinidad, Newhouse and Clarkson (2005) suggest that there are several stages through which
practitioners progress. The framework is a helpful scaffold for considering the extent of the
evolution of the Program.
47
Trinidad et al (2005) have a preliminary stage which describes a threshold where practitioners
neither know about nor are committed to the use of digital technologies in their classrooms.
From this they progress to investigation where the school and teachers accept the possibilities
of such technologies but have reservations and are unsure about the impacts upon their teaching.
The next progression is to application where there is greater confidence that the technology
will make a contribution to teaching and learning, but are still uncertain regarding the ways in
which it might change classroom practices. They then nominate a point in development that they
name the critical border; this is the point where significant change takes place. The qualitative
evidence that has been examined in relation to the Connected Classrooms Program suggests
that this border has now been crossed, leading to integration where the technology is seen as
a suite of comprehensive tools used to address multiple learning outcomes; and, in some cases,
to transformation where the combined affordances of the IWB, VC, Bridgit and blogED act as
a catalyst to support all learners allowing for enhanced collaboration, extended community
engagement and new ways of teaching and learning.
However it would be too sanguine to suggest that there are not several ongoing issues that
will need to be addressed as the Program moves into the future. The burgeoning of Web 2.0
technologies, information sites and peripheral resources means that it is quite possible that
teachers and their students will become quite overwhelmed. It is important to bear in mind that
interactive technologies, powerful as they are, cannot replace mindful and professional classroom
practitioners. Teacher time is being increasingly intensified in an environment where both state
and federal policies are in a state of flux and change and where community expectations are
ever-increasing. These debates are being framed in terms of the evolving needs of a knowledge
society governed by relationships based on knowledge, information, and market competition so
clearly outlined in the DVD resource focusing upon 21st Century Learning and written about over
the past decade (Smyth, Hattarn, Reid & Shacklock, 2000). There is no clear consensus regarding
what these changes mean for teachers or for students other than that they are relentless and
ongoing.
48
It is understandable that the major thrust for the Program would be one that attended to new
ways of teaching and learning. However, at some juncture, it will be helpful to uncover and discuss
those stories from the field where there may have been difficulties and challenges. Having such
accounts will also assist in sustaining the Program beyond its completion. This need has been
noted by the OECD (2010) who in its report,
highlights key issues to facilitate understanding of how a systemic approach to technologybased school innovations can contribute to quality education for all while promoting a
more equal and effective education system. It focuses on the novel concept of systemic
innovation, as well as presenting the emerging opportunities to generate innovations that
stem from Web 2.0 and the important investments and efforts that have gone into the
development and promotion of digital resources (promo).
Hannon (2009) argues that many models of innovation assume that practitioners should be at the
receiving end of initiatives that have been developed elsewhere. However, this policy restricts
the sources of innovative ideas and energy. She proposes that, for scaling up purposes, it is vital
that the practitioners themselves are consulted and that their accounts of practice are treated as
a source of evidence. This has clearly been the case with the Connected Classrooms Program with
its many and varied stories from the field. The point being made here is that, as a supplement to
these, we also need to know where those challenges and difficulties lie in the complexity of new
technology innovations and how they are being addressed.
Clearly, other sustainable and continuing ICT innovations will grow over time and will yield
important lessons for all. What can be said with confidence is that this has been a major learning
experience for all who have been involved. Among other things, practitioners have learned
about new ways in which to function in interactive classrooms connected to other schools, other
places, and other colleagues; students have learned about themselves and ways in which they
better understand their milieu locally, regionally and globally using increasingly sophisticated
tools and applications; leaders have learned to assist in the management of teacher professional
learning and complex technology installations; and finally, the DET itself, as a large organization,
has learned how to steer such an ambitious Program and listen to those voices from the field.
49
Recommendations
1. DET continues to track the benefits of The Connected Classroom Program building on the
work documented in this report;
2. Attention be paid to investigations that will assist in sustaining what the Program has
implemented;
3. Substantial, embedded teacher professional learning programs be put in place including action
research projects for groups of practitioners, aligned with the Quality Teaching Framework,
centred around Connected Classrooms Program technologies that create new teaching and
learning opportunities
4. Specific purpose scholarships be created available to school based pioneers to investigate
new and emerging technologies and to disseminate examples of innovative practice;
5. This report be made widely available both within and beyond the DET to increase our
understanding of the new ways of teaching and learning afforded by the Connected
Classrooms Program technologies.
50
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54
Appendix
Connected Classrooms Program
Compendium of Practice
usage of the CCP technologies delivers
new ways of teaching and learning
55
connected classrooms program
Connected Classrooms Program
Compendium of Practice
usage of the CCP technologies delivers new ways of
teaching and learning
ISBN
9780731386956
SCIS
1490344
NSW Department of Education and Training 2010
Section
Page
Introduction
What does a Connected Classroom look like?
Benefit 1 - CCP technologies increase opportunities for collaboration between

students

teachers and students
27

teachers
35
Benefit 4 - CCP technologies increase access to virtual excursions and events e.g.
Galleries, Libraries and Museums
47
Benefit 5 - CCP technologies increase access to specialist teachers and external

experts
63
Benefit 6 - CCP technologies increase access to broader subject choice including

physics, extension maths and language courses
79
Benefit 7 - CCP technologies increase learning opportunities for gifted and talented
students
87
Benefit 8 - CCP technologies provide additional transition strategies from Primary
10 to High School
Benefit 9 - CCP technologies provide students with access to contemporary learning
11 technologies synonymous with 21 st century learning
Benefit 10 - CCP technologies enable the creation, sharing and delivery of
12 curriculum content
CCP - Compendium of Practice
93
97
105
CCP 2008 - 2010
4 CCP 2008 - 2010
Purpose
This Compendium of Practice provides examples of new ways of teaching and learning made possible through the
implementation of the New South Wales Department of Education and Trainings Connected Classrooms Program. The
Commitment to the Connected Classrooms Program was made by the NSW State Government on 16 March 2007, when
the Premier announced a $158 million investment over 4 years to enhance the Departments ICT capacity for teaching
and learning.
Context
The Connected Classrooms Program is made up of three key projects:
Learning Tools
Next Generation Education Network
The need for Connected Classrooms comes from the demands of todays students: it will facilitate wherever/whenever
learning as students consume, remix and create knowledge.
The project will:
t equip every NSW public school with one Interactive Classroom (interactive whiteboard, video conferencing facilities,
PC with internet connection, preloaded lesson creation software and data collaboration software)
t enable online field trips and access to experts via video conferencing
t enhance opportunities for collaboration between students, teachers and schools across DET
t provide necessary infrastructure to facilitate collegial support networks for teachers.
Learning Tools
The project will provide tools that support the ability to create, store, edit, reuse, manage, view and deliver digital
learning content from collections and repositories to staff and students across NSW. It will deliver an adaptable and
scalable system to provide the latest Web 2.0 technologies to staff and students for teaching and learning.
Specifically it will provide:
t a secure individual online working space for all students and teachers
t upgraded email services to appproximately 1.2 million school and TAFE students
t online access to student reports for parents/caregivers
t collaborative environments such as blogED for the discovery and sharing of digital learning content.
Network Enhancement Project
The project will:
t enhance bandwidth capacity and reliability

t enable interactive environments at all 2,500 DET sites by providing:
t enhanced authenticated and filtered internet browsing services;
t increased bandwidth and speed;
t network upgrades to support the delivery of Interactive Classrooms and Learning Tools.
CCP 2008 - 2010
Inn t roo d ucc t i o n

The Connected Classrooms Program Bulletins
A key component of the Program Communication Strategy has been the publication of forthnightly (2008-2009) and
later monthly (2010) Connected Classrooms Program Bulletins.
The Bulletin served two main purposes:
1. To provide updates for each project under the Program and primarily
2. To capture stories from the field of how CCP technologies are being used by teachers and students in new ways of
teaching and learning.
Each story has been co-authored by a communications officer and the relevant contributor from the field, and the final
draft member checked as an accurate account.
This process has allowed the CCP to capture naratives of practice as examples of new ways of teaching and learning.
As at December 2010, a total of 39 Bulletins were published by the Program and made available online on the CCP
intranet and In-Principal, the online communications to all schools principals.
The Connected Classrooms Program Benefits

A Benefits Management Plan was developed based on the approved Business Case.
A number of non-financial, educational related benefits mapped to the proposed hypothesis that usage of the Connected
Classrooms Program technologies delivers new ways of teaching and learning to engage students is provided below:
Non Financial Benefits
Benefit 1
Connected Classrooms Program technologies increase opportunities for collaboration between

students
Benefit 2

teachers and students
Benefit 3

teachers
Benefit 4
Connected Classrooms Program technologies increase access to virtual excursions and events e.g.
Galleries, Libraries and Museums
Benefit 5
Connected Classrooms Program technologies increase access to specialist teachers and external
experts
Benefit 6
Connected Classrooms Program technologies increase access to access to broader subject choice,
including physics, extension maths and language courses
Benefit 7
Connected Classrooms Program technologies increase learning opportunities for gifted and talented
students
Benefit 8
Connected Classrooms Program technologies provide additional transition strategies from Primary to
High School
Benefit 9
Connected Classrooms Program technologies provide students with access to contemporary learning
technologies synonymous with 21st century learning
Benefit 10
Connected Classrooms Program technologies enable the creation, sharing and delivery of curriculum
content
The examples of new ways of teaching and learning in this Compendium of Practice have been organised according to
the relevant non-financial benefits (B1 - B10) above.
6 CCP 2008 - 2010
What does a Connected Classroom look like?

The images below are taken from the Connected Classrooms Program 3D model which is linked to the intranet and
internet, ands developed to assist schools understand what the Connected Classrooms Program would deliver.
The 3D model, using an immersive learning strategy, provided advice such as professional learning by clicking on the
drop-down menu and information for each piece of equipment by clicking on the image.
Front View
speakers
projector
ceiling microphone
interactive whiteboard
with SMART Notebook
lesson creation
software
professional
learning resources
drop-down menu
vid conference
video
camera
flat panel VC
monitor
remote
controls
cabinet with:
room
controller
VoIP
PC with
internet
Online learning tools via student portal

Bridgit, data collaboration software
blogED, G-mail, wikiED, eBackpack
enhanced broadband
wireless keyboard
and mouse
CCP 2008 - 2010
8 CCP 2008 - 2010
B1 - Connected Classrooms Program Technologies Increase

Opportunities For
Stories from the Field
Page
1
2
3
Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre Presents Cuddie-Cuddie in NSW

One Rural School Competes with Three City Schools
10
11
13
One Rural Schools Collaborates with One City School
14
5
6
Five Rural Schools Collaborate with Two City Schools about Traditional Tales
15
16
7
8
Two Rural Schools Collaborate with One City School about Nanotechnology
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Five Rural Schools Showcase Their Sustainability Projects with Five City Schools
Six Rural Schools Engage in an Agricultural Field Day

Five Hundred Fifty Nine Classes Participate in Wheres Collie? - an Online
Collaborative Project
ESL Teaching Using Connected Classrooms Program Technologies
Campbelltown Performing Arts High Collaborates with West Wyalong High School
Students Collaborate Using Interactive White Boards
Two Rural Schools Collaborate with Students from One City School
Bligh Park Public School Students Collaborate with International Students
Six Schools Using Video Conferencing to Share Their Sustainability Initiatives
Students from Coogee Public Share Ideas on Sustainability with Students in Japan
Really Active Motivated Students (RAMS) Planning and Running Video Conferences
CCP 2007 - 2011
17
18
19
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
9
Benefit 1
Connected Classrooms Program Technologies Increase Oppor tunities For
coll labb orr a tii o n b e t w e e n s tudd enn ts

1. Macquarie ICT Innovations
Centre Presents Cuddie-Cuddie in

NSW
(Bulletin 24, 11 September 2009)
Each week primary and secondary school students
from across NSW are learning more about Aboriginal
culture directly from Aboriginal communities
utilising the Connected Classroom. Cuddie-Cuddie
(meaning children in language) is a global school
project aimed at sharing and promoting traditional
and ancient cultures to young people using video
conferencing.
Anne-Maree Moore, Project Manager Collaborative
Technologies at MACICT is responsible for the
global project; advice, protocols and directions are
provided to the project by seven Aboriginal community advisors from Sydney, the South Coast, Riverina and Queensland.
Leeanne Hampton, CEO from the West Wyalong Local Aboriginal Land Council said, The most important aspect of our
input into the Cuddie-Cuddie project is being given the opportunity to showcase our culture and change community
perspective on Indigenous people in NSW.
Since February 2009 over 35 video conferences with 200 schools have been held, involving 5,000 students across all
DET regions. They have covered Aboriginal dance, art, artefacts, bush-tucker and language. Aboriginal elders pass on
traditional stories from their local area during a VC session, for example, it might be a Dreamtime tale or some aspect of
Aboriginal culture. After listening to the authentic text, students create their own story in a digital format using original
artwork, music with narration in their own voice, a dance on video, or an oral retelling recorded on editing software.
In July 520 students from 15 primary schools joined a VC with Rod Slockee, Aboriginal elder from the Batemans Bay local
area, in Mogo Public Schools Connected Classroom.
Anne-Maree explained, Rod shared a seagull story, the students then danced a magpie dance while Rod played his
didgeridoo. They also introduced themselves and Rod in their own language. It was quite an exciting event!
Jane McKenzie, Assistant Principal and teacher-librarian at Quirindi Public School in New England Region said, At our
school students in Years 2, 4, 5 and 6 are involved in Cuddie. The stories students listen to using VC are stimulating
content is linked to English, Science and Technology, HSIE and the Creative and Performing Arts.
At Ulmarra Public School, North Coast Region, students in Years 4, 5 and 6 participated in a recent Cuddie-Cuddie video
conference.
Principal, Sandra Armstrong said, The students were inspired by the stunning art work created by students at Mackellar
Girls High School. We were quite mesmerised by the beautiful images being formed in front of us on our IWB. The process
was probably the best use of VC Ive seen so far as it blended method with mystery. Students could see the process, listen
to the commentary then add their own designs all learners were catered for - kinaesthetic, auditory and visual!
Anne-Maree said, To date there have been 17 Aboriginal community presenters across Australia - we are pursuing
contacts in other countries to feature Indigenous cultures from native America, the Canadian and Alaskan Inuit as well
as the Swedish Laps. This ability to share culture is only possible because of Connected Classrooms in so many NSW
schools.
10 C C P 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 1 0
Benefit 1

2. Five Rural Schools Showcase
Their Sustainability Projects with

Five City Schools
(Bulletin 18, 15 June 2009)
On Monday 25 May, Verity Firth MP, NSW Minister
for Education and Training opened Education Week
with Showcase09 from the Connected Classroom
at the Field of Mars Environmental Education
Centre, East Ryde. Steve Papp, A/Principal and Pat
Spiers, a teacher at the Environmental Education
Centre hosted the interactive forum to enable the
Minister to talk with ten schools from across NSW
about their environmental achievements via video
conference.
Year 10 student leader, Robert from Thomas Reddall
High School, was the MC and invited each of the participating sites from across NSW to present and discuss their schools
environmental project with the Minister. Three of the Showcase09 projects are featured below:
Wyong Creek Public School
Wyong Creek Public School is a small school in Hunter/Central Coast Region. Students at the school focused their
environmental project on reducing soil erosion in the creek bed of the Wyong River. Both erosion and revegetating the
riparian area are explained in the short film Caring for the Riparian Zone.
In addition to this work, and with the support from their Principal Gale Ball and various community groups, the students
have built an outdoor environmental classroom.
After the forum Gale commented, The whole school (K-6) attended - they enjoyed watching projects from other schools,
and were very proud to speak about their project and to represent the Connected Classrooms Program Wyong Creek
Public School students presented their environmental film, Caring for the Riparian Zone at Showcase09 region. Video
conferencing is an exciting tool to motivate student learning.
Winston Heights Public School
Another project, from Winston Heights Public School in Western Sydney Region, is Winston Worms Tale. Winston the
worm narrates the story of Year 5 and 6 students in the schools environment group building a worm farm, and using
fertilizer on the vegetable patch. On the day of Showcase09 students traveled with Marie Kobler, teacher and coordinator
of the Winston Heights Environment Group, to the Connected Classroom at Matthew Pierce Public School to present
their project.
Here, the students had a taste of video conference technology, after the Showcase09 forum Marie remarked, The
students reacted very positively to the VC given it was their first time they knew exactly where to look at the camera.
Afterwards they were keenly discussing connecting up with other environmental groups in the local area using the new
Connected Classroom, once its installed at our school later in the year.
Macintyre High School
In New England region at Macintyre High School, Deborah Snaith, Science/Agriculture Head Teacher, worked with her
Year 10 students to create a film about raising awareness of the plight of platypus who live along the banks of the
Macintyre River. After presenting The Platypus of Sapphire City, Inverell at Showcase09 some of the students said, The
experience of using video conferencing was really awesome, especially being able to communicate with people from
other schools from all across the state instantly.
CCP 2008 - 2010
11
Benefit 1

At the conclusion of Showcase09 Pat Spiers from the Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre recounted: Today
showed how much pride the students had in their work, all the channels were alive this was made possible by thorough
planning of the forum and the use of a range of multimedia, it really felt like a state-wide learning community.
The seven other participating schools were:
t Narooma Public School, Illawarra, South East Region
t North Sydney Boys High School, Northern Sydney Region
t Merrylands East Public School, South Western Sydney Region
t Yenda Public School, Riverina Region
t Sylvania High School, Sydney Region
t Orana Heights Public School, Western NSW Region
t Bungwahl Public School, North Coast Region.
12 C C P 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 1 0
Benefit 1

3. One Rural School Competes
with Three City Schools

(Bulletin 21, 31 July 2009)
Stu Hasic, Technology Advisor from Sydney
Region, organised the first DET Jeopardy
series and sent the Program his final report.
Date: Friday July 3rd 2009 - for many it was just
another school morning, however for 20 students
at four secondary schools plus audiences of more
than 80 eager peers - it was JGFD Jeopardy Grand
Final Day! The students gathered in their schools
Connected Classroom to participate in their fourth
challenge, each team having been successful in
prior heats and finals.
Teams in 32 schools across DET competed over
the five weeks of the competition - more than 740
students in a total of 15 matches; the final quiz was between Sydney Girls, St Ives, Albury and Riverside Girls high schools.
The Program spoke to Tania McGurgan, Visual Arts teacher at St Ives High School spoke about her experience of the
tournament:
The students really enjoyed Jeopardy! and not only those that were part of the team but also those who made up our
audiences from Years 7, 8 and 9. It has helped to open up the world of video conferencing to the whole school and for
that I am much appreciative, as it has been my job this year to undertake this role. My confidence with using VC has
grown; we might even host our own competition in the near future.
In terms of the learning experience Tania stated, Quick quizzes based on general knowledge and working in a team are
non-threatening ways for students to engage with new technology.
CCP 2008 - 2010
13
Benefit 1

4. One Rural School Collaborates with One City School
Karen Cuthbert, teacher librarian shared her video conference experience with the CCP office last week:
I met the principal of Boree Creek Public School (near Wagga Wagga) at the iCommunicate conference in June. She
introduced me to a Year 5 teacher and in no time, a relationship was established between both schools by students
exchanging information about their schools via email. Rural students were keen to know whether city students:
t would like to live in a small town?
t get sick of the traffic?
t play games during recess and lunch?
The city students wanted to know:

t what transport they use to get to and from school?
t how they feel about living in such an isolated area?
t what its like to live in a small country town?
The email contact was followed up after our first video conference. We began with introductions and then answered
each others questions. Conversation flowed and both groups listened attentively to responses. After the questions were
answered, we opened it up to additional questions. Students expressed disappointment that the session had to come
to an end.
This experience has had a flow-on effect, and now two more classes at our school have found buddy classes one at
Tintinhull and another at Kyogle.
I look forward to all classes being able to share learning, cultures and expertise.
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5. Five Rural Schools Collaborate
with Two City Schools about

Traditional Tales
(Bulletin 12, 13 March 2009)
Traditional tales are engaging students in all
stages and many curriculum areas via a series
of video conferences. Anne-Maree Moore from
Murrumburrah Public School, who is organising the
series, says that participating schools will be taking
turns to invite a guest to tell a traditional tale and
answer questions from the other schools.
The series started with the story telling on 17

February with Wiradguri community member Jacko
telling his story to 7 sites: 5 from the Riverina and 2
from Sydney.
Jacko showed students indigenous artwork and
artefacts, and told Dreamtime story. The primary students are now creating their own Dreamtime stories and senior
students enrolled in Creative and Performing Arts subjects are inspired to develop contemporary pieces.
The recordings are watched by many more schools both here and overseas. As some schools do not have access to
the DET video conferencing network we are also able to offer streaming of the sessions over the internet via the Codian
website (http:// vcrecorder.det.nsw.edu.au/), explained Anne- Maree Moore. The students will be back in Week 8 of Term
1 to hear from Rod Slockee (didgeridoo player, song-writer and Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer from Batemans
Bay District Office). Future videoconferences will host guests telling indigenous stories from Central Australia, Native
American stories from the USA and Celtic tales from Wales.
Twenty schools are registered for the series, including two from Wales and three from the USA. From these small
beginnings with nine schools in the Riverina and Sydney, the participants classrooms are now encompassing all ages,
the globe, and ancient cultures via connected classrooms technology.
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6. Six Rural Schools Engage in an
Agricultural Field Day

Agquip is the largest agricultural field day in the
southern hemisphere. The event runs for three days
and has about 100,000 people visit the site which is
set up on a wheat paddock just outside Gunnedah
in northwestern NSW.
This year we created a Connected Classroom on
the wheat paddock. There were challenges and
many people to thank for making this unique
experience work.
Over three days we talked to teachers at training

sessions being conducted in Tamworth with Marg
Elliot and Christine Black, as well as sessions in
Tathra, Bega, Wagga Wagga, Casino, and Narromine. For the participants, this placed video conferencing in a real world
context. Participants could ask me questions, and people at the field day could view what they were doing.
It enabled team teaching between me at Agquip and Christine in Tamworth. I was able to view what Tamworth
participants had produced at the end of their course and interact with them remotely. Interaction was not just limited to
the training location.
There were also a number of schools that took advantage of the equipment to talk back to their school and give a news
report on their visit to the Agquip site.
Local agriculture students in one year were able to report back to another year level that werent on the excursion.
Support students from Tamworth High were able to talk to their Head Teacher and tell her about the wonderful
excursion. Next time we do this, it would be great to use our students to interview agriculture experts at the field day
site.
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7. Two Rural Schools Collaborate
with One City School about

Nanotechnology
(Bulletin 27, 6 November 2009)
Last week 15 Mosman High School students
(MHS) in Northern Sydney Region conducted a
Beyond Visible video conference using Bridgit for
groups of students at Hillston Central School and
Tumbarumba High School*. What was different
about this video conference was its focus on
student assessment for learning in an extension
class context.
Year 9/10 Maths and Science MHS students
were being assessed on their knowledge of
nanotechnology and whether they could
understand and effectively communicate scientific concepts to a live audience**. Maths teacher Maggie Dendy who takes
the elective group said, We discussed the fact that if they are going to work in the field of science they needed to be able
to communicate well and explain complex subject matter so that people can engage with it, and easily understand it. I
thought an assessment task with an audience of younger students using video conference and Bridgit would help them
develop these skills.
Topics chosen by the students had names like shape memory alloys, hydrophobic nanotech, ferrofluids, carbon
nanotubes, nanobots, aerogel, invisibility and buckyballs. How many do you know?
Maggie explained further, The focus of this course is to have fun in Maths and Science by exploring some of the cutting
edge areas of scientific and mathematical investigation, in areas like gravitation waves, siRNA and nanotechnology, and
encryption.
Students Paul and Tom spoke about aerogel, a substance used in the Mars Rovers program by NASA. Aerogel is the
lightest solid on the planet and is an excellent source of insulation against heat loss. Paul described, At home we bought
some aerogel off American e-Bay, a tiny piece cost $80, and then we set up an experiment to show how even when close
to a flame the aerogel does not transfer heat to light a match. He added, we filmed the experiment and made video
clips for our Bridgit presentation to show how we understood the concept and could get our point across.
The assessment session went for 40 minutes, during which time the students at Hillston and Tumbarumba remained
engaged and asked questions after each pair of students had presented their nanotechnology topic. They were keen
to know how long were particular substances, how expensive was it to purchase, how will it impact on the world,
how quickly will it be developed to assist with medical, military and household tasks. The session ended with many
of students happy in the knowledge that one day they might, thanks to developments in nanotechnology, become
invisible.
In conclusion Maggie said, Using this technology for assessment certainly developed the students confidence; they
now know how to better engage an audience. The topics were quite broad, with imagination and creativity being the
key. I learnt a lot from todays exercise. Next time I think I would focus more on the experimental aspects and provide
more practical guidance in how to engage the audience. The classes watching could actually see real experiments
being explained by students we could film the experiment and upload the video file into the Bridgit presentation.
As an assessment task it was excellent because the students developed a deep understanding of many aspects of
nanotechnology and invaluable communication skills both face to face and via the video conference.
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*The template for the Beyond the Visible course describes how academic extension assists students to achieve their personal best
in School Certificate Science and Mathematics. It also lays the foundation for Stage 6 Science and Mathematics and supports students
in their Year 10 Student Research Project.
**What is nanotechnology? Often shortened to nanotech, its the study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale.
Generally nanotechnology deals with structures of the size 100 nanometres or smaller in at least one dimension, and involves
developing materials or devices within that size. The kind of size we are talking about is one nanometre being equivalent to a billionth
of a metre.
8. Five Hundred Fifty Nine Classes
Participate in Wheres Collie? an

Online Collaborative Project
(Bulletin 23, 28 August 2009)
Wheres Collie? is based on the popular British
Wheres Wally? book series. The rural and isolated
schools version of the well-known character began
as an idea for primary students in the key learning
areas of HSIE and Science and Technology*.
Collie is a mischievous garden gnome who
travels extensively, engages in unusual activities,
and usually goes travelling without telling anyone
where he is going or what he is doing!
In 2009 more than 559 Stage 1-3 classes have
participated, Mike Tom, Leader - Rural and Distance
Education Programs said, Collies popularity with teachers stems from its strong ties to syllabus materials, Higher Order
Thinking Skills underpinned with Blooms taxonomy.
The project begins when Collie gives clues as to his whereabouts. The students gather information, research the sites
he visits, solve problems and work in teams to locate him. Clues are provided on three days of each week for the five
weeks of the project, the clues eliminate a number of possibilities each day until the correct answer is clear. The winning
class is the first one to submit their entry online with all the correct answers.
As more schools installed their Connected Classrooms in 2008-9 Collie has expanded to include additional elements of
interaction. For example in Term 2, virtual excursions to the Australian Museum on Australian fauna to support a Stage
2 Collies Clicks project.
Over 1000 students participated in this project; a teacher whose class participated described, It improved the students
research skills, locating key words, higher order thinking skills. It complemented the QT Framework elements of Deep
Understanding, Inclusiveness, and Connectedness.
This term, 166 Stage 1 classes are joining a Collies Helpers project which incorporates virtual excursion sessions from
the Royal Flying Doctor Service, a vet at Western Plains Zoo, NSW Police, NSW Ambulance Service and a farming property
in the Riverina Region.
*Collie projects are designed to assist all teachers in remote rural and geographically isolated schools as part of the Country Areas
Program. If you have an Interactive Classroom you can join in, or if you would like to participate anyway the virtual excursion material
is streamed live to the web and will be available to download at a later date.
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9. ESL Teaching Using Connected
Classrooms Program Technologies

(Bulletin 25, 9 October 2009)
New England Region is currently piloting the
teaching of ESL classes using video conference
technology in the schools Connected Classroom.
The initiative was set up by ESL mentor, Jan
Johnson, an ESL teacher at Armidale High School.
It became clear to Jan recently that there were
growing numbers of students in the region who
didnt have immediate access to an experienced
ESL teacher, We had received enquiries from other
schools when they heard that I was teaching this
course at Armidale High and I thought this would
be a great way to use our CCP technologies to
support other students.
Jan currently teaches six students in the Stage 6 ESL course using video conference; commonly agreed periods are
accessed by another two schools, Oxley High School and Moree Secondary College.
Early benefits to the senior students in the course are emerging, Principal, Anne Matley, said, We were very keen to help
and we started talking to other schools who wanted to be involved. Jan is able to mentor the ESL teachers at the other
sites via email, phone and VC and her vast experience has proved invaluable to teachers of ESL in other schools.
The ESL initiative in the region has brought together the expertise of the Regional Implementation team from Learning
Systems and the Country Areas Program consultancy. The classes will continue in Term 4.
10. Campbelltown Performing Arts High Collaborates with West Wyalong High School
The school has an ongoing exchange program with WWHS. It consists of students visiting each others school and
staying for a few nights each year with billets. One of the highlights of the program is the combined concert held at
the end of each trip which showcases the peer tutoring that has occurred in performing arts. This year preparation for
the final concert used CCP technologies in rehearsals; it provided a platform on which the concert preparation and final
performance during the actual exchange could occur.
Darren Johnstone, Music teacher at CPAHS, organised for the Connected Classroom to be viewed in the performance
hall so that parents, students, teachers and community members at WWHS could watch the concert. A live feed from
WWHS also meant that those attending the concert at CPAHS could tune in to WWHS to receive feedback via comments
and applause. Darren said, The community at WWHS would not have been able to attend this concert without the CCP
technologies operating at both sites.
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11. Students Collaborate Using Interactive White Boards
(Bulletin 31, 23 April 2010)
Engadine Public Schools Craig Snudden has another great excursion story, this one showing how field trips can be
paired with multiple technologies to create a unique learning experience.
I recently used the Interactive White Board to introduce the Google SketchUp program to my Stage 3 class, Craig said.
SketchUp creates virtual 3D models, making it a great visual tool to use with the IWB.
After an excursion to the city to look at a variety of buildings, students were asked to design their own floor plan for a
specific purpose, like an outdoor cafe, a meeting room or a foyer.
We used the IWB throughout the project, firstly to model SketchUp to the whole class.
Using the IWB allowed the students to be actively involved in the demonstration and ask their questions before engaging
with the software themselves.
But, as usual, they were teaching me new ways to use it before Id ended my demonstration.
After first sketching out their plans on grid paper, groups used SketchUp to develop designs which they then shared
with the class on the IWB.
I also asked each group to demonstrate something new theyd learnt about the software as part of their presentation,
which provided a great chance for peer learning.
Finally, they made up real 3D models from their designs using recycled materials, which we filmed and posted, together
with footage from the excursion, on YouTube.
This gave us another chance to use the IWB, this time to view the video and reflect on the whole exercise to revisit the
lessons learnt, he said.
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12. Two Rural Schools Collaborate
with Students from One City

School
Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre and AnneMaree Moore from Murrumburrah Public School
organised a videoconference between two country
schools and a city school to learn about each others
communities.
The video conference was also attended by NSW
DET Director General Michael Coutts-Trotter. One
class from a country school and from the city school
had each chosen a worker in the community and
produced a montage of photos and a number of
clues to present to the children in the other school.
Based on these clues, the other school class had to guess what kind of worker the person was, by asking 20 questions.
The activity was simple, but required high order thinking.
The students enjoyed the activity so much, that they wanted to work together again. At the second video conference
each school showed something of significance in their local area. Murrumburrah Public School showed the 1st Australian
Horse and the Australian Light Horse War Memorial of Harden Murrumburrah as the site of the first call up muster to the
1st Australian Horse in 1897.
The world-expanding impact on students participating in this small video conference was clearly rewarding. AnneMaree Moore says that, The 3 schools participating in the videoconference for the Director General were so happy to
have met our students and form that connection, they have since joined the Aboriginal story telling series in order to
continue that link.
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13. Bligh Park Public School
Students Collaborate with

International Students
In June, Ross Sutherland, Principal of Bligh Park
Public School (BPPS) in Western Sydney Region
attended the 14th International Conference on
Thinking in Malaysia to present his schools
thinking skills, and an integrated approach to
technology as a tool for learning. Ross said, The
conference has certainly been a highlight in my
career, mixing with Edward de Bono, Howard
Gardiner and other leading thinkers, I shared our
schools method of teacher professional learning
in technology and the connected classrooms we
have been doing with the UK.
BPPS staff made a decision in early 2008 to hold regular, purposeful video conference connections for technology
professional learning with other local schools; this led to Matthew Pearce and Rouse Hill Public School joining BPPS later
in the year. One teacher from BPPS suggested, Its fantastic making connections with other learning sites and from
another teachers outlook, You can share and draw on the expertise of others.
Students in all stages at BPPS make regular connections with British peers and teachers at St Nicholas Church of England
Primary School in Blackpool. Ross outlined, There are now several schools in the Blackpool area that connect to us we
share and problem solve with students leading students within this process, in our next connection BPPS students will
demonstrate podcasting to students at St Nicholas.
Interest levels and staff confidence in using the technology has increased as a result of hosting frequent connections.
Parents in the school are very supportive of the activity and are regularly informed of their childs progress and
engagement in the use of video conference tools as well as the learning focus for international sessions.
Three students offered informed perspectives about what they like about the technology in the schools Connected
Classroom, I love using the IWB to demonstrate issues we are discussing, and for another student it was, learning
about their lives comparing their school life, seeing them eat toast, the different time zones its all very interesting.
Then a pearl of advice for novice student users, I think it is important that everyone understands the protocols. It can
be embarrassing if someone in the group lets the rest down because they were bad mannered or didnt listen to what
was expected.
So far, connected learning at BPPS has included Stage 3 students working with the American Scientific Base in Antarctica,
appearing on Extreme Makeover Home Edition in the US with Hollywood High School, and presenting innovative
learning in a workshop at the Curriculum Corporation National Conference.
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14. Six Schools Using Video
Conferencing to Share Their

Sustainability Initiatives
To launch Education Week 2010 in the Illawara and
South East, schools from across the region join
forces to share and showcase their sustainability
initiatives via video conference.
Students from Cringila Public, Goulburn West
Public, Ulladulla High and Dapto High gave
presentations on a range of innovative projects.
Two Warrawong High students acted as MCs for
the event, which also featured Green Teacher of the
Year, Carly-Jane Boreland of Keira High.
The event caught the interest of media around the
region, with local newspaper and television news reports highlighting the role of the connected classrooms technology
in building bridges between schools and the broader community on issues like sustainability.
Regional Director Maria Gray-Spence said, The event was a chance to bring together partner schools, local community
and business leaders and politicians to demonstrate how much is being achieved.
Our region covers a large geographic area and this launch allowed us to involve schools and communities from across
the region rather than centering in just one location, Maria said.
It was a student-centred launch that not only allowed us to focus on this years theme, but also to showcase the fantastic
technology we have available in our public schools.
David Ashford, School Education Director for the region, described the event as a technologically excellent way to
launch Education Week.
The video link up was a great opportunity for all the schools and students involved to showcase their sustainability
projects and achievements, David said.
Annette Broadbent, Principal of Goulburn West Public, said it was a great chance to hear what other schools are doing.
The ideas shared will certainly form the basis for interesting discussions about school sustainability, Annette said.
It was great fun and a peek into the future of interactive technology. Annettes students presented on the schools
community market garden.
Andrew FitzSimons, Principal at Dapto High said it was entrancing to witness the technological capacity of public
education in this region. Andrews students presented on the schools Ecohesion program, an initiative that cuts energy
use and models responsible approaches to sustainability.
David Lamb, Principal at Cringila Public, host school for the event, said they have received a lot positive feedback on the
day. Davids students presented on their much-loved and lauded permaculture garden.
Everyone around Cringila is bursting with pride and feeling good about our school, and thats a great result, David said.
With the success of this years launch, organisers are hoping to make it an annual event.
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15. Students from Coogee Public Share
Ideas on Sustainability with Students

in Japan
Sarah Fishers Class 4F at Coogee Public School
recently held a video conference with students
from Japan, again on the subject of sustainability.
She shares some of the results with us in this report.
This is the second year that Coogee Public School

has participated in video conferencing with the
Kitarissei School in Japan, Sarah said.
The theme of the video conference this year
was sustainability, and we also explored school
routines.
Coogee Public students sang Home Among
the Gum Trees, performed a sustainability role play, gave two PowerPoint presentations and asked questions theyd
prepared for the Japanese students.
The Japanese students, a Grade 6 group, presented board presentations focused around sustainability and school
routines, and asked their own questions, she said.
Sarah said the event was initiated last year by a group of parents and school staff. Parents Sonia Mycak and Andrew
Bilinsky, and Principal Paul Wood and Assistant Principal Lynda Ward were instrumental in coordinating this years
conference, Sarah said.
The Japanese students used the video conferencing facilities at Mie University, Japan, and this was coordinated by
Shigefumi Nagata from the Faculty of Education, Mie University, Sarah said.
The video conference was also attended by representatives from the Japan Foundation, and DET.
This experience gave both groups of students a greater understanding of global sustainability issues, as well as gaining
a greater cultural awareness.
This was my first time using the technology and it was really fantastic. Being able to show our students whats being
done in other countries on things like sustainability is invaluable, she said.
Sarah said the school plans to make the event an annual project, and is about to host a visit from some of their Japanese
colleagues as a result of the initiative.
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16. Really Active Motivated Students
(RAMS) Planning and Running Video

Conferences
Engadine West Public, Banksmeadow Public, and
a growing number of other schools are using the
connected classroom to create student-centred
learning communities through a new online
network.
The collaboration came about through a discussion
between several teachers on the Yammer social
networking tool currently being trialled by the
Department. Yammer (www.yammer.com) includes
a space for communities of interest, which now
include a Connected Classroom Cafe created by
Craig Snudden of Engadine Public School.
Craig encouraged colleagues Ross Edwards of Engadine West and Lisa Wright of Banksmeadow to use the space to discuss
their shared interest in doing more with their schools connected classrooms. Ross said the discussion they started quickly
turned into a network that is growing all the time.
I was a bit reserved about advertising for a connection in Yammer but it paid off, we have formed a great team and were
really excited about our progress, Ross said.
We are learning tricks on the way but the key is that we are prepared to accept a challenge and model that for our students.
The group formed by Ross, Lisa and Craig has been holding regular video conference hook-ups, planned and run by their
students.
After holding four successful site to site sessions last term, the group has organised weekly Really Active Motivated Students
RAMS hook-ups across NSW this term.
Each session looks at two different Web 2.0 tools that the students are interested in, with the discussions continuing
between VCs on a RAMS blog and other tools.
In our first RAMS video conference we had 9 colleagues and 130 students working together across ES1 to Stage 3 and that
number is growing each week, Ross said.
Our students have benefited from the increased significance of their learning program as they really must focus to prepare
well for our conferencing.
Reinforcement of learning, summarising and evaluating occurs post conference and that is developing our students
higher order thinking skills.
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Oppor tunities For

1
2
3
4
5
blogED Supports ESOL Students to Learn English at TAFE

blogED at Collaroy Plateau Public
blogED at Armidale High Allows Students to Collaborate and Share Their
Research at Any Time
Six Thousand Students and Four Hundred Teachers Collaborate about
Sustainability
Breaking Down Barriers for Special Needs Students with the Interactive White
Board (IWB)
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c o lll abb o raa tioo n b e tw

w e e n t e a chh e rss a n d stuu d e ntt s
1. blogED Supports ESOL
Students to Learn English at

TAFE
Using blogs in teaching ESOL at TAFE gives me a

chance to do four key things: follow each students
work regularly and make comments on the run;
establish a framework for the students to follow in
class; provide accessories for learning in the blog for example video and mp3 files; and share ideas and
perspectives, said Anita Grncarevska.
After gaining her teaching qualifications in
Macedonia; Anita was awarded a Bachelor of
Teaching with majors in ESOL (English for Speakers
of Other Languages) and LOTE (Languages Other
Than English) from the University of Sydney and for
the last nine years she has taught ESOL at St George, Lidcombe and Granville TAFE Colleges.
The class Anita worked with in the recent DET blog trial was a composite class of intermediate and post-intermediate ESOL
learners (in total 14 students) who were enrolled in a course titled Access to Work and Training. There are five units in the
course three are based on planning and carrying out a project working in a team, and the other two are basic computing
units.
For one project Anita created a class blog the students created different items on the blog, for example news, TV and film,
sport, travel, celebrities, fashion, health and fitness, music, food and cooking. She described how the students wrote posts
in the blog and then she corrected and commented on the content of their postings.
Anita stated how she believed this action changed her teaching practice:
I created class public blogs with ESOL students at low intermediate, intermediate and upper intermediate levels. All
the students, even the ones with weaker computer skills, were keen to be engaged in the blog and were very positive
in accepting it as a new tool in learning English. This ultimately gave them the opportunity to learn beyond the
classroom. With the public blog students had an opportunity to create their own blog and add different links. Students
were keen to comment on their peers work which was also an opportunity for critical thinking.
She continued, The blog has easy access through the DET Portal unlike public blogs where an existing email is required
for sign up and then they use another blog address - this can create confusion among blog users, especially ESOL students.
The process for using the DET blog tool was very straightforward.
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2. blogED at Collaroy Plateau
Public
Danka Murray of Collaroy Plateau Public School
is one of the many teachers who are integrating
blogED into their classroom technology mix with
great results.
Danka and her class have combined the blog with
the interactive whiteboard and video conferencing
tools to create a uniques and engaging unit of work.
Although Ive got a growing list of enhancements

Id love to see, Im thrilled with how the site is
working and how the students are interacting with
it, she said. Its agreat motivational tool.
Dankas 5M blog, a pilot for the school, features a
colourful header made up of images of the Balinese shadow puppets the class made from scratch.
The journey of creating the puppets and then writing and staging a performance with them, broadcast to other classes
via video conference, is all captured in the vibrant and colourful blog.
The exercise was the heart of a HSIE Stage 3 learning unit, a study of a cultural group, Danka explained.
It was completely written as a SMART Board unit, coving geography, demography and environment lessons, with
Notebook links to a variety of resources. It also integrated with components of drama, music and visual arts, and as we
looked at the traditional stories of Balinese Wayang Kulit shadow puppet plays, the work linked in with our literacy goals
as well, she said.
Danka said they started their drama work by looking at clips on YouTube, which gave students an idea of all the roles
they could play - musician, puppeteers, scriptwriters, narrators and stagehands.
As we talked through some basic ideas for a narrative, the more creative the students started slipping by my desk,
whispering their ideas or dropping off notes, she said. These students became scriptwriters.
All students made a puppet from their own design, based on their interests - a llama, an elephant, a ninja and so on.
With our wonderful drama teacher, Ginny MacPherson, we finalised our script and gave our play a title, Bali: a Land of
Magic and Wonder.
After drama and music lessons and several weeks of rehersals we staged our first performance for 6K from Wakehurst
Public, who critiqued the show while my students performed. The show was terrific, as soon as the kids knew they had
their audience, they sprang into action, and Ms Kirkwoods class at Wakehurst got busy writing up their feedback.
Our second performance was for our fellow straight-5 class at Collaroy, another terrific day. It was then that blogED
became available and I started posting my kids comments as they were flowing in - so many we had to delete a few of
the more self-congratulatory ones!, she said.
Danka then used the blog to set homework tasks around reflecting on Bali, and is now setting a new blog task each
week.
One of Dankas suggestions for enhancing blogED is to increase the character limit for comments. She says that having
asked her students for 150-300 words, they often want to add much more.
Dankas class are now planning other projects, and would like to hear from others interested in viewing the puppet show,
or being a Connected Classroom buddy class for Marvellous Micro-organisms, a Primary Connections science unit theyre
doing this term.
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3. blogED at Armidale High
Allows Students to Collaborate

and Share Their Research at Any
Time
Graham Hemmings, Head Teacher of Science at
Armidale High, has also had some remarkable
success using blogED to engage his students, even
managing to get them excited about homework.
Ive been creating class wikis for several years

using PBworks, but the problem with this is getting
all student DET email addresses into the wiki - for
some reason it wouldnt let some students in,
Graham said.
I started using blogED as soon as it became
available, and now have three blogs running, one for my partially selective Year 7 class, one for mixed ability Year 9 class
and one for a Year 11 annual snow trip.
The great advantage of blogED is that a click of a button loads your whole class and sends them an invitation email,
he said.
Graham has been using blogED to post assignments, giving most students 24/7 access and allowing them to collaborate
and share their research from home at any time.
This week my Year 7 students are working in pairs (in class and at home) to research the various phyla of animals,
communicating with each other via phone or email on what theyve researched and what theyre posting.
So our blog will have information on all the animal phyla over the next week and students will put together their notes
on these phyla from our blog.
For his Year 9 students, Graham is also posting links and information on how to use OneNote, to help them use the
software on their new DER laptops.
The Year 11 snow trip blog provides the group with basic information on what to take and who is going, along with
links to snow reports and webcams and pictures and videos from last years trip. Graham is also thinking of posting the
medical form in pdf format so students will stop asking him to replace lost copies!
For Graham, the difference the technology has made is that students have, potentially, 24/7 access to information they
need, and that they can do things like posting their homework or reading each others contributions from home.
On the down side, he notes that not all students have internet access at home, and those that do often have to share
the home computer. To get around this, Graham says, the school has set up a homework centre in their library and he
encourages students without internet access to go here.
One of Grahams colleague, Melissa Wood, has a daughter in Grahams Year 7 class. Melissa says that the blog is
enormously popular with students.
I had a group of kids from that class at my house on the weekend and I have never heard school students talk so
enthusiatically about their homework, Melissa said.
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Benefit 2

4. Six Thousand Students
and Four Hundred Teachers

Collaborate about Sustainability
To celebrate the 2010 DET Year of Learning for
Sustainability, the Field of Mars Environmental
Education Centre and Macquarie ICT Innovations
Centre recently hosted a video conference festival
to share best practice in environmental and
sustainability education. Held over a week from 31
May to 4 June, the festival attracted participation
from 400 teachers and, amazingly, 6000 students.
The 25 VCs held in the course of the week included
presentations from teachers and students,
environmental education centres, Curriculum K-12
Directorate, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Do
Something and even Taronga Zoo staff.
Organisers said the VCs were all very lively events, with students asking and answering questions, watching demonstrations
and finding out new facts. The most engaging presentations, they said, were those that maximised interaction with the
students through Bridgit desktop sharing.
Leading up to the festival, Steven Papp, the Principal of Field of Mars and Concetta Gotlieb from the Macquarie ICT
Innovations Centre hosted a series of VC familiarisation sessions for presenters, as some had never used the technology.
These sessions covered setting up and running VCs and best practice tips.
Steven said that despite some glitches with the technology, the overwhelming response from teachers was that the
event was a great chance to use the connected classroom in a way that was meaningful, engaging and relevant to
classroom teaching and learning programs, without the burden of cost.
Overall I see the festival as an amazing success, not only for lifting the profile of environmental and sustainability
education in the state but as a means of getting schools and environmental education centres to use connected
classrooms equipment in a meaningful way, Steven said.
In terms of sustainability, the use of the technology also minimises unnecessary travel and helps to reduce carbon
emissions, he said.
Steven said he and all staff at Field of Mars are keen to continue the conversations started during the festival and
throughout the year will be hosting the Green Room, a series of informal get-togethers over VC.
CCP 2008 - 2010
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Benefit 2
c o lll abb o raa t ioo n b e tw

5. Breaking Down Barriers for
Special Needs Students with the

Interactive White Board (IWB)
Lee-Ann Kervin, a new scheme teacher at Orange
High School, is getting great results using an IWB
with her Year 7 intensive care class, which she has
for a number of subjects.
The idea with this class is to minimise change,

Lee-Ann said. They have one base room for
their classes which (conveniently for me) has an
interactive whiteboard.
My main teaching aim is engagement and the IWB
makes this easy. I frequently use close passages
where I put the words in separate movable boxes
below the main text which is locked.
As I read it out loud, the students are busting to try and get ahead. When they have figured out which word is next they
are allowed to move it.
My wheelchair bound student controls the board using a mouse, which means she has as much opportunity as her
classmates.
I also use maps, puzzles and games based from the board. It doesnt matter how bad their day was prior, when the kids
come in, they control their learning, I just control the environment.
The average reading age for the kids (tested at the start of the year) was around 7 years. Getting assessment tasks out
of these guys then was like getting blood from a stone. Now most of them are handing it in and even reading out loud
in the class.
This class has probably taught me more about teaching than most of my career, Lee-Ann said.
32 C C P 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 1 0
blogED
scrapbook
Louise Graham, Teacher Language, Literacy & Numeracy

Riverina Institute,
We primarily use the blog to support
adult learners with their literacy and numeracy work.
Students also use it as a reflective tool for evaluating their
own needs, to enable them to set realistic goals. It provides them
with a wonderful opportunity to control the
online learning environment.
Deniliquin Campus
TAFE
BLOGS
David Gilchrist, Learning Technologies

New England Institutes Educational
Officer, New England Institute
Developments Unit promotes their blogs through EDUfocus
e-magazine. To help keep pace with the TAFE NSW VLE rollout of
product and services, EDU has launched a blogED portal called Virtual
Learning Environment @ NEI. The blog gives teachers at the coal face
perspectives of VLE topics and other new tools, and looks
at what will be coming from over the horizon.
The NSW DET blogging tool is available

to all TAFE Institute staff. TAFE Institute staff
are able to access blogED and associated
support resources via the Applications
tab on their TAFE portal page.
Extract Bulletin No. 35, 20 August 2010 examples of blogED
CCP 2008 - 2010
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Oppor tunities For

1
2
3
4
5
6
DET Teachers Collaborate with World Expert via Video Conferencing

Disability Programs Directorate Extends Special Needs Training to Four Hundred
Thirty Staff Using CCP Technologies
Early Career Teachers Collaborate Using the Connected Classroom Technologies
Teachers Collaborate Through Thirty Five Seminars Delivered Through CCP
Technologies
DET Schools Participate in Sharing Conference with Educators from Bristol,
and the Northern Territory Using CCP Technology
Four DET Schools Collaborate in the Cross-Sectoral Self and Peer Assessment
Project
Virtual Supervision Trialled with New England University
Page
36
37
38
38
39
40
SWIM BUGS - Creating Teacher Led Support Networks
41
41
42
43
44
12
Getting More Familiar with blogED - Using VC
45
13
Virtual Supervision of Teacher Practicum Placement
45
7
8
9
10
11
Two Hundred Sydney Region Teachers Collaborate Using CCP Technologies

Numeracy Teachers Collaborate via VC
Nine Schools Work Together on Numeracy
CCP 2007 - 2011
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Benefit 3
coll labb orr a tii o n b e t w e e n t e acc hee rs

1. DET Teachers Collaborate
with World Expert via Video

Conferencing
Some of the highest achieving schools around
the world are working in new ways, according to
Professor Stephen Heppell. As the world rapidly
changes, we cannot afford to not change our
classrooms. As reported in Bulletin 11, Professor
Stephen Heppell spoke to DET senior executives,
school and regional leaders via video conference
and face to face, about Visioning the Classroom of
Tomorrow on 16 February.
The Connected Classrooms Program has produced
4 short videos (now available on the CCP website:
https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/lists/directoratesaz/ccp/index.htm) on the themes Stephen Heppell spoke about on this
day:
1.
The Pace is about the pace of change, global innovation, and the necessity for schools to change This new world of
learning has to be built on ingenuity.
2.
The teachers theme is about building trust of teachers in themselves, and by the community, through scholarship,
readiness and esponsibility.
3.
The Digital Divide is about closing the gap between teachers and students, us-ness, mutuality, teacher-student
partnership and engagement.
4.
The Central Vision Local Ingredients looks at what other schools are doing with ingredients that make for longer
time blocks, varied social units of learning, and project based work. All the edges have got a bit softer and a bit
lower.
In response to the interest generated by Professor Heppell, follow up presentations are being made by Sue Beveridge,
to Curriculum K-12 managers and team members, to Sydney Region Principals, and at the Thinking Locally, Delivering
Globally - Video Seminars described in Upcoming Events in this bulletin.
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Benefit 3

2. Disability Programs Directorate
Extends Special Needs Training to

Four Hundred Thirty Staff Using
CCP Technologies
Disability Programs Directorate is using www.
inclusiononline-aus.net a professional learning
platform to train DET teachers, school executive
and regional consultants, in a range of courses for
students with special needs.
The outreach of this approach to professional
learning was trialled in 2008 and early 2009 with
support from the CCP technologies across ten DET
regions; this involved 430 personnel from across
the Department.
One of the course tutors Judi Byrnes, a Disability Programs consultant from Broken Hill in Western NSW Region expressed
her learning experience as being mainly about prior preparation, she said:
One way to think about presenting remotely is to think of distance as the disability and the impact it has on access and
participation. The way you ensure there is equal access and that people can interact and participate is to think about the
participant as being in the same room with the presenter.The barriers can be thought through and each barrier overcome
as much as possible. There is a tech solution for any scenario and its about preparation, preparation, preparation.
In 2009, more than 160 new School Learning Support Coordinators commenced their first online training course,
Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorders. This course aims to increase the capacity of whole schools to support
students with autism spectrum disorders through professional learning.
Trish Rymer, A/Project Leader and Kerrie Kimes, Senior Education Officer, have held training sessions for the course using
Connected Classrooms, located in primary and high secondary schools in all DET regions, including training facilities at
the iTeach 21 Centre at Dubbo, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre and Coffs Harbour TAFE.
Melissa Clements, Manager, Disability Policy and Planning explained:
Online training has become a very important strategy for us in skilling teachers across the DET to meet the needs
of every student, including those students with additional needs in learning. The design and mode of delivery of the
courses we are rolling out lends itself extremely well to the CCP technologies now available in schools. Its great to see
regions making use of these new resources to promote access to the courses and tutor support.
The course Understanding and Managing Behaviour will be delivered to all School Learning Support Coordinators and
additional personnel across the DET using a similar training model in Term 3.
CCP 2008 - 2010
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Benefit 3

3. Early Career Teachers
Collaborate Using The Connected

Classroom Technologies
(Bulletin 16, 18 May 2009)
Early career teachers in DET schools graduate
from their teacher education courses having
achieved particular ICT-focused elements in the
NSW Professional Teaching Standards framework
(in particular elements 1.1.4, and 4.1.5). Sarah
Pickthall, an early career teacher in her first year at
James Fallon High School completed a Bachelor of
Teaching (Secondary) / Bachelor of Science (Maths
specialisation) in 2008 at Charles Sturt University,
Wagga Wagga, We were exposed a lot to using an
interactive whiteboard at uni I did an IT minor we used IWBs to present our assignments but I
want to use it more interactively for units of work in Maths now that I am at school. At the moment I am using it with my
Year 7 Maths students for reinforcing deeper understanding of measurement, fractions and percentages.
Leslie Casey, Mathematics 7-12 consultant in Riverina office, has linked Sarah to other early career Maths teachers in
the region by conducting a number of professional learning afternoons via video conference from each of the schools
Connected Classrooms. Sessions have focussed on syllabus issues for new Mathematics teachers. Sarah describes, It was
great to talk to other early career teachers, to know what their experiences in school have been like to know that I am
not alone we share ideas for teaching concepts, and I found out about Geogebra resources on TaLe (http://www.tale.
nsw.edu.au) - the students find them engaging. When they use digital material they can move things around it triggers
their imagination and encourages cooperative learning. In term 2 Sarah plans to expand her repertoire by using ICT in
her classroom more often, as well as using technology to build the team skills of students in all her Mathematics classes.
4. Teachers Collaborate Through Thirty Five Seminars Delivered Through CCP
Technologies
The three themes Open & Free Education, Aboriginal Education and Building Communities of Schools grouped the thirty
five sessions.
These seminars, delivered via the Connected Classroom, enabled presenters and participants across all regions to engage
in professional dialogue, overcoming distance and isolation, time constraints and cost considerations. School teachers
and executive, regional and state office staff, DET leaders and academics all shared their knowledge and expertise.
Participants explored best practice, current research and successful innovations. Teachers shared what is happening
with their students.
Post-conference comments indicate the value of the series, [The series] showed staff how easy [the video conferencing]
process was; Good overview of available experiences; Examples given that will be able to be used in classroom and
Links with QT (were) excellent.
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Benefit 3

5. DET Schools Participate in
Sharing Conference with

Educators from Bristol, and
Northern Territory Using CCP
Technologies
(Bulletin 29, 4 December 2009)
Stewart House, Campbelltown Performing Arts
and Maitland Grossman High Schools, as well as
Wadalba Central School, Cessnock, Waratah West
and Maitland Public Schools gathered in Connected
Classrooms across NSW on 16 November to share
their project learning with other schools.
This event was the first Sharing Conference using
CCP technologies; it included an ELLI team from the
Northern Territory, Dr Deakin-Crick in the UK plus officers from the AGQTP team and academic partners, Professor Susan
Groundwater-Smith and Dr Kath Grushka from Sydney and Newcastle universities respectively.
Meg Dione, Assistant Principal and Deputy Executive Officer from Stewart House, and Kerin Wood and Sharryn Bowes
both AGQTP officers organised the four-hour video conference event from Oxford Street with support from Lisa Harmers
team at ITD.
The technology format for such a long event in an AGQTP project had not been done before, so the timeframe meant
short input sessions from the schools (maximum of 15 minutes using video conference), with frequent breaks to stretch
and walk around, and it included lunch at each site to allow for time differences.
Meg said, Some really good outcomes arose from the event, one is the promise from other ELLI schools to video
conference together regularly with Stewart House next year when the students are here for 12 days. The intention is to
get the students together to share ideas and write joint stories.
After the event Stacey said, This was video conferencing at its best. It was an opportunity to connect with educators
from around the country and across the globe. It allowed us to share ideas and engage in meaningful dialogue about
pedagogy that will really impact in the classroom with students. This just would not have been possible without video
conference.
Ruth added comments in an email from Bristol; it was her first experience of an international Sharing Conference via
video conference, Congratulations and thanks for such an inspiring event. Especially for chasing us and getting us all
online at the same time ... I look forward to seeing the recordings which I think will be inspirational both for the content
and for the modus operandi.
Sonya Mackenzie, Project Manager, Strategic Priority Projects Curriculum, Teaching and Phases of Learning,
Department of Education and Training Northern Territory who had organized the team from her jurisdiction,
It was a great learning and sharing experience and the feedback from the NT teachers who attended was
that the Sharing Conference using VC was extremely worthwhile. I hope this opens the door to further
opportunities for practitioners to share practice and learning across states and territories, and internationally.
CCP 2008 - 2010
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Benefit 3

6. Four DET Schools Collaborate
in the Cross-Sectoral Self and Peer

Assessment Project
In 2009 Stacey Quince, R/Principal, Campbelltown
Performing Arts High School (CPAHS) and her staff
used their Connected Classroom for key activities:
Cross-sectoral Self and Peer Assessment Project run
for the NSW English Teachers Association
Four DET schools (including CPAHS, Killara, Quirindi,
and Rutherford High Schools) participated in an
initial VC to establish the needs of English teachers
from across the state to discuss the support they
required, this connection was used as a catalyst for
professional reading from the ETA website, student
assessment methods in English and the role of the projects mentor.
Stacey in her role as mentor said, The Connected Classroom and Bridgit especially gave teachers an opportunity to share
ICT and other strategies that engage students as active participants in the assessment process. The ongoing nature of
the project ensured that teachers could use the Connected Classroom to develop, implement, evaluate and refine their
ideas with colleagues with whom they would not usually collaborate.
Collaboration with Orange High School (OHS)
This arrangement occurred when a teacher at OHS found herself suddenly and unexpectedly teaching HSC drama for the
first time. Ken McBeath, Head Teacher Performing Arts at CPAHS was contacted to work with the teacher for professional
support and resource sharing using both schools CCP technologies. They identified that this technology allows them to
view individual students performances across sites, and mark collaboratively to ensure consistency of teacher judgment.
Ken said, This technology offers a unique opportunity to provide professional discourse across the state. It allowed highly
experienced teachers with a wealth of knowledge, to share their expertise with less experienced staff and students. It is
also an excellent opportunity for students to interact and form relationships of mutual support. The spirit of lifting the
level of excellence for everybody is truly an art aesthetic.
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Benefit 3

7. Virtual Supervision Trialled with New England University
A partnership between the NSW Department of Education and Training and the University of New England (UNE) is using
the Connected Classroom to rethink the delivery of teacher training.
Dr Stephen Winn of UNE says the virtual supervision project is using video conferencing to provide real time supervision
and feedback to student teachers doing practicum placements. They can also observe and engage with experienced
teachers delivering demonstration lessons via VC under a second strand of the project.
With this combination we can break down the geographic barriers faced by many pre-service teachers in rural and
remote areas, connecting them with both academic and support staff at the uni, and experienced teachers in the field,
he said.
It means student teachers can complete their placements at their local school, and we can deliver supervision to multiple
locations simultaneously, at a fraction of the cost. Its a really cost-effective alternative, maximising the resources of the
university while providing student teachers and schools with much greater flexibility.
The approach is based on a reflective practice model that has real engagement of academics and schools which will lead
to an enhancement of the quality of teacher graduates.
Stephen said the project is being piloted in schools in the New England region towards the possibility of a wider rollout
next year.
8. Two Hundred Sydney Region
Teachers Collaborate Using CCP

Technologies
Sydney Regions IT consultant, Craig Snudden
and Learning Systems Regional Implementation
Coordinator, Kathy Danilatos, recently delivered
a VC presentation from Hurstville South Public
School to introduce the new blogED tool.
The presentation included an introduction to
using blogs to enhance teaching and learning and
information on how to access and use blogED.
Over 200 teachers from across Sydney Region
participated in the VC using their schools
Connected Classroom and the desktop sharing
software, Bridgit.
The event highlighted the enormous potential of the technology for enhancing collaboration and connection across
multiple sites, and for giving teachers more opportunities to access professional learning.
Schools that participated included Chifley Public, Ultimo Public, Arncliffe Public, Glebe Public, Peakhurst West Public,
Canterbury Girls High, Cleveland Street Intensive English High, Port Hacking High, Rockdale Public, Drummoyne Public,
Canterbury Boys High, Canterbury South Public, Woronora River Public and Hurstville South Public.
CCP 2008 - 2010
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Benefit 3

9. Numeracy Teachers Collaborate via VC
Lesson study and Best Start: live cross to the Connected Classroom at Normanhurst West Public School Video conference
provided an excellent platform for professional learning using lesson study at Ryde State Office recently.
Lesson study is a type of teacher-led professional learning which originated in Japan; its designed to foster shared
reflection based on classroom evidence. Participants observe teaching practice by focusing on the design and intent of
the lesson by watching what the students are doing.
This approach was used in the first session of a series of professional learning workshops on Numeracy for 40 Best
Start State consultants and Literacy and Numeracy Leaders. Participants watched Paula Lott, kindergarten teacher at
Normanhurst West Public School, teach the concept of Building number combinations to 10 via video conference.
The camera in the Connected Classroom at the school, operated by Diane Read, Senior Advisor, Best Start Software,
zoomed in to observe exactly what the students were doing throughout the lesson. Interspersed with observing students
working in groups, Paula would write student responses to Friends of 10 on the interactive whiteboard which could
then be viewed via Bridgit by the participants back at Ryde. At the conclusion of the session, there was a panel discussion
about the lesson between Paula, Diane and Greg McLaren, R/Principal of Normanhurst West and the onlooking workshop
attendees.
Comments in an evaluation after the workshop suggest the VC technology serviced this approach to teacher professional
learning very effectively: I really liked that the study was real and very relevant. I learned a great deal, Much better
to see a real live class than an edited DVD. The lesson study process for Best Start now involves the consultants and
leaders teaching the lesson and discussing it when they meet later.
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Benefit 3

10. Nine Schools Work Together on
Numeracy
In early November the numeracy team from
Curriculum K-12 Directorate, led by Chris Francis,
Leader Numeracy spoke to nine schools in Illawarra
South-East Region via video conference about
progress in implementing the TOWN project for
teachers of Stage 2 and 3 students.
Taking Off With Numeracy, or TOWN, is a project
in the National Partnership on Literacy and
Numeracy. TOWN is designed to assist teachers
to identify where students solution methods in
mathematics are breaking down, and provide
explicit guidance to move the student beyond the
identified hurdle.
In particular, it gives greater emphasis to the teaching sequence related to developing place value, as it underpins the
four operations and decimals. TOWN offers both a whole-class program and a targeted in-class intervention.
Chris described the first video conference session as, A chance to know whats happening at the local level. The project
has a strong emphasis on Quality Teaching, teacher professional learning and uses technology like a secure portal for
data storage, video conference, the interactive whiteboard, Bridgit software and flip cameras to extend the outreach of
the project across NSW.
During the video conference, hosted by the Ryde numeracy team, teachers from Colo Vale, Bega West, Bellambi, Cooma,
Cringila, Farmborough Road, Tarrawanna, Warilla North and Warilla Public Schools provided feedback about their project.
Ray MacArthur, Strengthening Numeracy Adviser, in the TOWN team described how, The use of video conference for
teacher professional learning bridges the distance, it allows teachers in schools at the local level to have professional
learning discussions with other schools in their region. It gives the schools immediate feedback on their needs instead of
having to wait to address issues over longer timeframes.
Also supporting the tailored professional learning approach in TOWN is Bernard Tola, Senior Curriculum Adviser
Mathematics K-6 and Lee-Anne Carragher, Aboriginal Education Consultant, Numeracy. Another video conference with
the schools is planned for Week 7 this term.
CCP 2008 - 2010
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Benefit 3

11. SWIM BUGS - Creating
Teacher Led Support Networks

It may sound like something youd find in a creek,
but SWIM BUGS is actually a network of teachers
sharing their interactive Classroom expertise.
The South Western Implementation Mentors
(SWIM) Board User Group (BUG) is one of several
teacher-lead networks connecting via regular VCs
to expand their skills and knowledge.
Remote training sessions using the interactive
whiteboard and Bridgit give participants a chance
to hear from experienced users, ask questions
and test their skills. Session attendance also
contributes towards formally recognised teacher
identification professional development.
Recent SWIM BUG sessions featured presentations by Jo Bonaz of Warrawong Public on comprehension exercises, and
Doug Reckord of the Bournda Environmental Education Centre.
SWIM BUGS gave the opportunity to present to a network of schools that I would otherwise not have had access to,
Doug said.
Participant Justin Short of Bega Public has found the sessions a chance to tap into other peoples knowledge and ideas.
Ive been able to then pass the information and experience I have gained on to other staff interested in learning to use
the new technology in their teaching, he said.
Glenn Buchanan, Regional Implementation Coordinator, says another group, RivBUGS has been initiated in the Wagga
area by John Grieg from Turvey Park Public. The group has already signed up 54 members and plans to incorporate some
VC sessions this term.
The thing I am most excited about is the organic process - teachers managing the whole thing, Glenn said.
In Term 3 SWIM BUGS focus will be Science Technology in COGS.
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Benefit 3

12. Getting More Familiar with
blogED - Using VC
Familiarisation sessions* to introduce the new
Connected Classrooms Program collaborative
learning tool blogED are being conducted around
the state.
Recently, the North Coast Region Learning Systems
team (Phillip Osborn and Robyn Robertson)
delivered a session by video conference for more
tha 50 teachers from a number of schools in the
area.
Using slides, video and live presentation the
team outlined the features of blogED and online
support resources available (refer to example in the
centerspread), and discussed ideoas on using blogs to enhance teaching and learning.
Arthur Bain, Principal at Millbank Public, said he found the familiarisation session a great chance to confirm were on the
right track.
Its amazing to be able to do professional development from an isolated school like ours, to be able to get together as
a team and receive high quality presentations like this without having to travel for hundreds of kilometres, Arthur said.
*For information on blogED familiarisation sessions in your area, contact your local Learning Systems team https://detwww.det.nsw.
edu.au/it/learnsyssupport/ic/contact.htm.
13. Virtual Supervision of Teacher Practicum Placement

In April the CCP Bulletin reported on a partnership between DET and the University of New England (UNE) which is
rethinking delivery of teacher training.
Dr Stephen Winn of UNE has provided an update on the project, which is using video conferencing to provide real time
supervision and feedback to student teachers doing practicum placements.
The project, being piloted in schools in the New England region, allows student teachers to undertake placements at
their local school, while UNE staff deliver unobtrusive supervision, to multiple locations simultaneously. Pre-service
teachers also have the capacity to observe and engage with experienced teachers delivering their lessons via VC.
Interest has been enormous, Stephen said. We currently have sixteen schools engaged in the trials, and many more
seeking to come on board.
Stephen says the goal is to make virtual supervision and virtual engagement of experienced teachers the standard for
all collaboration between schools and universities, to enhance the quality of teacher training and achieve tangible links
between universities and schools, wherever the school is situated.
CCP 2008 - 2010
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46 C C P 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 1 0

Access to
e .gg . G all l erii e s, L i b r a r i e s ann d M u see u m s
Page
More Than Two Hundred Students Participate in National Film and Sound Archive
Event
Three Hundred Students Dig for a Dinosaur with the Australian Museum
48
Six Schools Watch a Theater Performance of Ruby Moon: Theatre in the Connected
Classrooms
Balgowlah Boys Connect to NASA Using VC
50
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Gordon East Public School Assists Learning with CCP
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
12
Five Hundred Students from Fifteen Schools Attended Virtual Excurtion to the
Sydney Cricket Ground
NASA Drops in to Sydney Girls High (and Nine Other Schools by VC)
1
2
3
4
13
14
15
Twenty Three DET Primary Schools Connect with Questacon in Canberra

Weather Observation Activity on the North Coast Using Video Conference
Students Link up in Asia-Pacific Mock Trial
Thirteen Primary Schools Participate in the Sydney Region Debating VC Gala Day
Do You Remember Dig for a Dinosaur in 2008?
Virtual Excursion to the Great Barrier Reef
Getaway - Special Moon Edition is the Winning Project in Learn Astronomy

From Our School
The Historic Houses Trust Connected Classroom Project Bringing to Life
Australias Convict Stories
CCP 2007 - 2011
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51
58
59
60
61
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Benefit 4
Connected Classrooms Program Technologies Increase Access to
vii rtuu al e xcc u r s i o n s a n d evv e ntt s

1. More Than Two Hundred
Students Participate in National

Film and Sound Archive Event
The National Film and Sound Archives School Screen
program is partnering with Connected Classrooms
to provide students with unprecedented access to
people currently working in the Australian creative
arts industry.
Coordinator of the program, Imelda Cooney
says, The program aims to give rural and
regional audiences a chance to interact with
these professionals, to hear their personal stories
and learn from their experience, as a gateway to
Australias audiovisual culture and industry.
Through live Q&A sessions via video conference, students can get immediate answers to questions and gain insight into
the experience of professionals.
In early May, students from nine schools around NSW joined one of Australias leading actors, Aden Young and director
Ian Darling for the most recent session in the series.
This session followed a successful pilot of the program held late last year which featured Darlene Johnson, director of
River of No Return, a documentary about Indigenous actor, Frances Djulibing.
After the pilot, we were looking to do a video conference that would link in with the drama syllabus, and collaborating
with Aden and Ian gave us that chance, Imelda said.
Aden was part of the Sydney Theatre Companys production of Hedda Gabler, which was invited to play a season in New
York in 2006. The play starred some top name Australian actors, including Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving.
Ian directed and produced the insightful documentary In the Company of Actors that followed the cast from rehearsals
in Sydney to the glamorous opening night at the prestigious Brooklyn Academy of Music.
During the lively Q&A on both pieces of work, Ian commented more than once that the students were asking very
intelligent questions. Aden added that, It was a real joy to be able to field questions from so many different schools.
The session ended with thunderous applause from the students.
The ten schools that participated include Armidale High, Burwood Girls High, Campbelltown Performing Arts High,
Dubbo Senior College, Duval High, Great Lakes College, Tuncurry Senior Campus, Kooringal High, Ku-ring-gai Creative
Arts High and Wollongong Performing Arts High.
Lucy McLure, who teaches at Campbelltown Performing Arts High, said her students gained a lot from the experience.
Lucys class had the added challenge of being the subject of a film themselves, with a DET film crew recording their
participation in the event.
In the end it was worth the effort, and the students really did engage and enjoy the experience of talking directly with
Aden and Ian about their work, she said.
School Screen is now planning the next session in the series, and is calling for suggestions for future events. Schools are
invited to nominate actors, or a film, a topic or a unit of study that might be the focus for a session.
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2. Three Hundred Students Dig
for a Dinosaur with the Australian

Museum
Collaboration across portfolios provides an
outstanding learning opportunity. This week CCP
officers together with officers from Curriculum
K-12, Learning Systems, Infrastructure Services and
ICT School Education Directors in partnership with
the Australian Museum supported the Dig for a
Dinosaur video conference with 300 students from
10 schools across all DET regions.
Robert Jones, a palaeontologist and Fran Dorey, a
museum school educator spoke about the journey
of the 75 million year old Centrosaurus dinosaur
bones from Canada to the museums new exhibition in College Street.
Students listened to information about the discovery of the bones and then took turns to ask questions of the two
dinosaur experts.
Students at Grafton Public School were keen to know How you can tell which dinosaur the bones actually belonged to?
Others were keen to know whether It was easy to actually dig up the bones?.
Narrabri Public School students wrote recounts of their understanding for their teacher Nicole Allison, one student
detailed her experience in the following way:
Today we listened to Fran and Robert who are both palaeontologists. They talked to us and nine
other schools across our state. First all the schools had to wave and say Hi. All of the schools were
connected by video conference and each person at each school asked one question about dinosaurs.
The palaeontologists showed us some of the bones they found in the Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada.
At the bone bed they were looking for Centrosaurus. They were at the bone bed for about three years. The way they
moved all the bones was by putting the fossils in plaster jackets and then placing them in shipping containers for
transport back to Australia. Australia traded Australian fossils and opalised fossils for the Centrosaurus bones. The video
conference went for 30 minutes. I think that the video conference was very interesting and informative.
After this video conference Nicole said:
I am now trying to set up a sister school buddy class system so that all children at Narrabri Public School can connect
and access the technology on a regular basis. We have started with a Kindergarten class here vcing a same stage class at
Warialda Public School for informal chit chat and a news sharing spot.
The power of learning through video conference for 30 minutes was demonstrated by high levels of student engagement.
The learning for Dig for a Dinosaur was enhanced by establishing links to the Science and Technology syllabus and prepreparing questions from students representing each school.
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3. Six Schools Watch a Theater
Performance of Ruby Moon:

Theater in the Connected
Classrooms
Ruby Moon, written by Australian author Matt

Cameron is a contemporary text on the current HSC
Stage 6 Drama syllabus; it explores the sinister side
of suburban life when a young girl goes missing.
In Western, Riverina and New England regions
on May 13 and 14 senior students from six
schools watched a theatre performance of Ruby
Moon via video conference. The performance,
organised by MSquared Productions (http://www.
msquaredtheatre.com.au/ruby-moon), Australias
Academic and Research Network (AARNet: http://www.aarnet.edu.au/) and NSW DET, was the first of its kind for these
partners using Connected Classroom technologies.
Nick Cross from AARNet chaired the event to enable students from each school to ask questions of the cast after the
performance. At the conclusion of the play Glyn Leyshon, Principal of Kooringal High School claimed:
As a school in rural NSW the ability to have our students experience a production bringing the script to life was
invaluable. The ability to question the cast and to listen to the answers - they also gave answers to other questions from
students around the state, this was of great benefit ... and all without having to get on a bus or arrange accommodation
with additional expense for parents.
Drama teacher, Patsy-Anne Hill from Parkes High School expressed:
The ambiguity of the play is so much clearer to my students now that they have viewed it. They were able to observe the
elements of production in performance and can now write about them more clearly than before I cannot say enough
positive things about this experience.
Participating sites were Forbes, Inverell, Oxley, Kooringal, Parkes and Kelso secondary schools. Thank you to everyone
involved in bringing this live theatre event to life.
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4. Balgowlah Boys Connect to
NASA Using VC
Patricia Moore, an education specialist at Houston
Space Centre NASA spoke to the group via VC on
Seeing the World in a New Way. During the course
of the exchange, discussion ranged across: the
study of global warming trends and international
space station research, the US satellite Explorer,
and how satellites and Earth observation play a role
in every day life.
Groundwork for the virtual excursion began
prior to the day with etiquette activities on how
to use the VC equipment, including preparation
of 16 expert accounts of particular satellites.
Each presentation was underpinned by Deep
Understanding, Engagement and Connectedness, all elements in the NSW model of Quality Teaching.
A range of learning scaffolds supported the students to apply their knowledge to create individual satellite research
reports for the NASA discussion. These included:
t work with academic partner Dr John Hughes from the University of Sydney who introduced the students to
Enactment of the Expert;
t science advice from Richard Morante from K-12 Curriculum Directorate on the Tall Poppy Campaign;
t an interactive lecture by Professor Byran Gaensler from the Sydney Institute for Astronomy on Magnets in the Sky;
t NASA lesson notes;
t pre-reading material and lesson resources from NASA.
After the virtual excursion, the 16 students presented their satellite research reports to Year 12 students at the school.
This authentic task then had a context, as it was part of the Physics Core Topic: Space, Geostationary and Low-Earth Orbits;
it provided students with an opportunity to share their work beyond their classroom using the interactive whiteboard
and SMART Notebook 10 software.
Jackson, one of the Year 10 boys said he thought, It was cool to be connected to another country. Another student,
Lachlan, said after his Tropical Rainforest Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite presentation, I thought the NASA
presentation was very interesting and taught me many things, it provided more experienced insight into space
information especially gravity.
Jeffrey expressed his experience this way,In the lesson with NASA, we were able to talk to an expert in a specific area of
science in an interactive environment that was new, informative, exciting and most importantly, fun.
Both Joy and Joanne, the QTAL project leaders agreed that quality learning experiences like the virtual excursion in a
project on science and literacy using technology enhanced the verbal and written skills of students.
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5. Gordon East Public School
Assists Learning with CCP

Students in Stages 1, 2 and 3 (total number=173)
have been consistently using the Connected
Classroom at Gordon East Public School (GEPS) for
a range of learning activities. The pedagogy in this
space enhances what teachers are already doing in
the classroom, according to R/Principal, Gail Smith.
She said, Using VC improves Intellectual Quality by
enabling the learning opportunities for students to
focus on Deep Knowledge, Deep Understanding
and Higher Order Thinking. Also Substantive
Communication it means widening the audience
for our students with less teacher-centred lessons.
In Stage 1 the students did a HSIE unit on transport
and shelter. As part of the learning experience they went on a virtual excursion to Kigluait, Alaska. During the VC students
examined living in Alaska, the dog sleds and how people prepared for life in extreme temperatures.
This stage also worked with St Ives Park Public School on a combined literacy unit using Through My Window from
www.tale.edu.au. In this unit, Gail said, The class concentrated on enhancing the VC etiquette for younger students incorporating speaking clearly and listening carefully the students were very excited about working with another Year
2 class and going to places they had never been before.
Another group of students in Stage 2 at the school did science experiments with NASA and spoke to the astronauts in
situ. Gail explained, We have done this two years running because it is so brilliant and the kids are so engaged.
Angela Churchland, an Assistant Principal at the school, worked with Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre last term in the
Cuddie-Cuddie project. The school hosted Frances Brodkin (an Aboriginal story teller) in the Connected Classroom where
she told stories to 21 schools (involving 1400 students) in the Northern Sydney Region.
Two Stage 3 students from the school spoke about their experiences using VC for learning, Its great to have an
opportunity to communicate with other schools and I really liked learning about how other schools do things. These
comments were gathered after GEPS and Quirindi Public School in New England Region worked together recently on a
project comparing and identifying the uniqueness of their communities.
Students had to write a detailed description of their community, email their peers, and think about how the written word
could be interpreted visually. They then created an artwork to reflect their perception of the other community.
Finished art was shared via VC and led to discussions about lifestyle between the two very different schools. This stage
has also been involved in Speak My Language, and a GATS Peg project with Year 7 students at St Ives High School.
When asked how teachers strategize their lesson content if the technology doesnt all go according to a perfect plan,
Gail told the Program, As you normally do in a classroom, you have an alternate plan or focus its amazing how
adaptive kids are with unforeseen circumstances - they show a surprising level of maturity and patience.
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6. Twenty Three DET Primary
Schools Connect with Questacon

in Canberra
Last week twenty-one Year 5/6 students from
Shellharbour Public School (SPS) joined a virtual
excursion with 22 other DET primary schools to
interact with five polar region scientists and a
whaling captain beamed out from Questacon
in Canberra. A total of 1200 students participated
in this event which included schools in South
Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
The content in the trip was linked to Stages 2 and
3 in the HSIE strands of Environments, Patterns of
Place and Location and Relationships with Places,
and the Science and Technology strands of Living
Things, Earth and its Surroundings and Products and Services. Students listened to each scientist speak about their role
and how the polar regions are being affected by climate change.
Jacki Richter, one of the scientists explained, Environmental changes are first seen and accelerated at the poles. These
changes set the scene for the changes that will occur over time to the rest of the world. Positioned near the Casey
Station, Jacki spoke about ice cores and the information that they provide in relation to climate change. The students
watched video footage of her digging an ice core using an ice saw, she then inserted a drill and explained the layers of
each core and what that meant to scientists.
Other topics covered during the session included temperature changes, krill and whaling, polar bears, and penguins.
Kate Prisk, a teacher at SPS said, The students learnt how much activity really goes on in both of these regions. There
were some nice comparisons drawn between the native people of the Arctic (the Inupiat) and the Aboriginal people of
Australia. The scientists talked about how both people worked and lived off the land and were in harmony with their
environments.
After the excursion ended a student from SPS said to Kate, Its better than being in the classroom as there were real
people on the LCD screen and we could see what they had been doing and they were explaining things as they showed
them to us.
Another student added, We were really keen to go to Antarctica. We learnt a lot of facts, but with the images we were
able to get more information by watching the animals move around and the scientists at work. There was more than one
person, so we were able to get an idea of other jobs that people do in these parts of the world.
Kate concluded, The idea that students from other schools within Australia were watching with them in this video
conference was amazing. Being able to listen to questions that others asked was good, as some of our students had
similar ones. It is just not possible for me to deliver the amount of content covered in 45 minutes and keep that level of
engagement. The content was fast paced, and by having so many scientists from different backgrounds talking with the
students they were able to get different perspectives and consequences resulting from the same cause.
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7. Weather Observation Activity on the North Coast Using Video Conference
A weather activity on temperature, wind direction, cloud cover and rainfall (all topics in the HSIE Primary syllabus: science
and maths measurement), took place recently in Connected Classrooms at Moorland and South Grafton Public Schools.
Its purpose was to build teacher and student confidence in using technology for an explicit learning purpose. Sue Brown,
one of the teachers at Moorland said:
The students had lots of questions as to how the equipment works. They thought they would be able to use this
technology to help them with HSIE units - to connect globally - to talk to other students in different parts of Australia
and the world.
In planning the learning for the activity, teachers at Moorland and South Grafton have worked with another two schools:
Chatham and Glenreagh Public to reinforce specific approaches to using video conference.
Quote from teacher planning notes: Conduct a VC session for no longer than 30 minutes, recommend that two students
from each school report weather readings, learn how to record the session prior to the day, find out how to host a VC
using the virtual meeting room (VMR) number, and explore what might be included in staff training prior to the event;
for example: the on and off switches, video conference etiquette, recording the session, presets and focusing for the
cameras.
From Janelle Buckleys perspective, Janelle is a Year 5/6 OC teacher at South Grafton:
The weather activity was an easy, non time-consuming way to get us started with the VC process. Collecting the weather
results proved to be very topical the week we participated. The activity made sure I got in and had a go at using the VC
equipment when I had put it off several times last term. Overall the activity was simple but productive as it removed the
mystique about the technology.
Murray Woolley, a teacher at Glenreagh Public School, interacted with other schools to assist the learning process:
Students especially enjoyed the video conference and accessing the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) website and locating
the other schools using Google Earth. Glenreagh was in the midst of its second flood in successive weeks and students
were very interested in knowing what was going on, in real time.
At the end of the lesson, a student from Chatham Public School commented, I thought it was fun to use the Connected
Classroom because we could see children from other schools. It was great.
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8. Students Link up in Asia-Pacific
Mock Trial
Students at Hangdong Law School in South Korea
and Penrith High School took part in an Asian-Pacific
mock trial using video-conference technology.
Using the schools Connected Classroom, Year
12 students at Penrith High School recently
participated in the Law Societys International
Mock Trial Competition.
The competition was held via video conference in
real time and was the first mock trial between an
Australian and South Korean school. Robyn Cross,
who coordinates mock trials on behalf of the Law
Society of NSW said, Now that this has been such
a success, well look at an Asian Pacific competition with Australia and countries like Korea and Singapore its fantastic
for kids to be able to compete against students from overseas.
Each team competed from their respective site with cameras and screen set up to give a live-time response; after the
experience one Hangdong student emailed the mock trial organisers and described:
It was a truly amazing experience - I would never be able to forget in a lifetime [sic]. Besides being awed by cutting edge
technology that allowed us to hold a mock trial session face-to-face with Australian participants thousands away made
me feel what globalisation truly means.
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9. Thirteen Primary Schools
Participate in the Sydney Region

Debating VC Gala Day
For the past six years, a small group of schools in
the St George area have participated in a face-toface annual Debating Gala Day to teach primary
students the fundamental principles of debating in
an engaging, non-threatening way.
This year the idea of a virtual Debating Gala Day
for interested schools was proposed. On the 12
November, debating teams involving 250 primary
students and their teachers at Arncliffe, Canterbury
South, Clemton Park, Coogee, Dulwich Hill,
Ferncourt, Leichhardt, McCallums Hill, Newtown
North, Peakhurst South, Peakhurst West, Stanmore and Sutherland Public Schools participated in the activity.*
According to Joanna French, Deputy Principal from Clemton Park Public School, The purpose of day was fourfold, we
wanted to enhance our Year 5 students skills for more formalised competition in Year 6, as well as provide an authentic,
engaging use of CCP technologies in schools across the region. The day allowed teachers to experiment with the
technology and to become more comfortable with using it for cross-curricular learning activities.
Experienced Year 6 debaters in the schools acted as mentors to the younger students, Joanna added, We had many
positive emails outlining how the students and teachers really gained so much through the experience and would like
very much to do it again. We have set up a more comprehensive survey to find out exactly how we might do it again next
year.
*On the Debating VC Gala Day three schools still to receive their Connected Classroom travelled to other sites. Joanna, as well as
Melissa Cameron, a teacher at McCallums Hill Public School and Paul Robinson, Assistant Principal at Canterbury South Public School
coordinated the event.
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10. Do You Remember Dig for a
Dinosaur in 2008?
Well . Winnie Saur, that amazing life size juvenile
Muttaburrasaurs puppet from the Australian
Museum has been chatting to 45 students at Colo
Heights Public School in Western Sydney Region.
Glen Leaf, Principal at Colo Heights said:
Our recent video conferences with the Australian

Museum have been very well received by the whole
school. Students have had the opportunity to ask
their own questions and gain instant feedback.
Collaborating with galleries, libraries and
museums is one of the key outcomes of the
Interactive Classrooms Project. Jenny Horder,
Manager of Learning Services at the Australian Museum is very keen to partner with DET to extend the outreach of their
education programs into DET schools with their own suite of equipment; she said:
We are very excited about the flurry of activity with our new VC, we had two 30 minute experimental runs with Colo
Heights, one with Winnie, the Museums baby dinosaur puppet, and the other about mini-beasts with naturalist, Martyn
Robinson.
David Foley gave further details:
Since the Colo Heights tests the Museum has delivered two open sessions to 43 schools and 1,800 students to supplement
the Collies Clicks program run by the CAP. Further regular open events and module lessons will be available to schools
soon through the Connections Program. The Powerhouse Museum too has conducted its first live VC focusing on the
famous World War II German Enigma machine, and the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst is now ready
to begin live delivery to schools. The Dead Bones Society based at the Fossil and Mineral Museum is also ready to offer
writing workshops with childrens author Paul Stafford.
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11. Virtual Excursion to the Great Barrier Reef
The Office of Schools, School Education Directors were taken on a virtual excursion to the Great Barrier Reef using
Connected Classroom equipment recently. This excursions aim was to provide a model of practice to the 80 participants
of the power of contacting experts using video conference technology.
12. Five Hundred Students from Fifteen Schools Attended Virtual Excurtion to the
Sydney Cricket Ground

In Late March 500 students from 15 schools were lucky enough to get a behind the scenes look at the Sydney Swans
inner sanctum on a virtual excursion to the Clubs headquarters at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The tour, hosted by Swans midfielder Jude Bolton, took students to places usually reserved for the privileged few
using a mobile camera crew streaming live video. This breakthrough use of the Connected Classroom offered a great
demonstration of just how versatile the technology can be - the tour even included a sneak peek at the Swans tactics
board!
Students discovered that theres more to a team like the Swans than the 22 players who run onto the field. A range of
club staff gave presentations on issues such as health and nutrition, motivation and injury management.
The Virtual Excursion Program was developed by the Departments Rural and Distance Education Unit to target students
at remote and regional schools, but all students are now making use of the opportunities it offers. Schools joining the
Swans tour included Alfords Point Public, Botany Public, Cudgegong Valley Public, Culcairn Public, Gilgandra Public,
Jerilderie Public, Killarney Heights Public, Mathoura Public, Mona Vale Public, Nulkaba Public, Oaklands Central, Portland
Central, Tahmoor Public, Thornton Public and Windsor Public.
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13. NASA Drops in to Sydney Girls
High (and Nine Other Schools by

VC)
In September, Sydney Girls High School had a visit
from NASA astronaut, Dr Jim Reilly, following an
invitation from the schools astronomy club.
SGHS science teacher, Jeff Stanger, said Dr Reillys
visit was shared with another nine schools around
the state via video conference.
The format for the VC was a question and answer

session, Jeff said.
Dr Reilly answered many questions from each
school and covered a huge range of topics, from
the dangers of space and how comfortable space suits are, to the possibilities of using space elevators.
His career as a geologist made his talk particularly interesting to students with an interest in science, as he discussed
how his work related to exploring the solar system and finding life elsewhere in the Universe, he said.
Jeff organised Dr Reillys visit through a group called YASSA, Young Astronauts Space Schools Australia. For information
on YASSA visit www.yassa.com.au.
Distance Educations Connections unit also runs regular virtual excursions to the NASA Space Centre in Houston.
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Getaway - Special Moon
Edition is the Winning Project
in Learn Astronomy From Our
School
14.

Congratulations to Burwood Girls High School
and to all the teachers and students involved.

The project demonstrated how quickly our
students and teachers adapt to and utilise new
technology to support learning. Participating
schools demonstrated a commitment to expanding
their learning and ably confirmed their capacity
to create, collaborate and connect with others,
said Carole McDiarmid, Business Executive of
the Connected Classrooms Project and Regional
Director for Western NSW Region.
The Year 9 team from Burwood Girls High School created their successful entry based on the TV series Getaway. They
submitted two advertisements, one poster style created using Adobe Photoshop, and the other a wmv movie file
advertisement made with Adobe Premiere using software on their DER laptops. Astronomy subject matter in the project
focused on lunar geology including crater, maria and mountain formations in the Moons geological history.
Head Teacher Science, John van Leeuwen who supported the team said, The girls video conference concept was an
ambitious plan to include a variety of short and engaging activities using a range of presentation technologies such as
Smart Notebook for the IWB presentation, Bridgit for desktop sharing and interactive communication. They also used
a third flexi-video camera in their live experiment demonstration, and a remote laptop and data projector to provide
background scenes in conjunction with the fixed cameras in the Connected Classroom.
Apparently fuelled by chocolate over many hours of intense planning and groundwork, the team honed content, and
practised their delivery and communication skills in preparation for the final video conference performance on October
1. Leah was the Moon holiday host, she explained the various walking, skiing and swimming activities it was possible to
do on the Moon provided you were wearing the right clothing, I also enjoyed working closely with my group members,
and using the video conferencing software.
Other team members Alison, Annika and Taylah talked about how the project required them to really think about
interactivity, as well as develop new technology skills and appreciate what it was like to learn at a distance with students
in other schools. Anika and Meredith spoke about doing research and gaining wider knowledge of science concepts.
Mia Kumar, Principal of BGHS said, We always encourage our girls to become involved in a variety of projects, emphasizing
teamwork and the development of interpersonal skills. I was thrilled to learn that a team of Year 9 girls had used their
creative skills in science, mathematics and technology to win this competition. An added bonus is another connected
classroom for our school, so the whole school community is looking forward to more opportunities to enhance learning
through technology.
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15. The Historic Houses Trust
Connected Classroom Project

Bringing to Life Australias
Convict Stories
The Historic Houses Trust (HHT) has developed
a new and engaging program to take advantage
of the connected classroom videoconferencing
technology. Important historical sources are
woven into a theatrical presentation to bring the
convict story of Hyde Park Barracks to life and to
the classroom. Jeannie Douglass, the Trusts Head
of Education, explains what the project will offer.
The virtual field trip experience is a dynamic,

exciting and interactive way for students to access
the HHT collection and have fun while learning, Jeannie said.
Programs are tailored to specific syllabus areas and address relevant outcomes. A museum educator will use enquiry
based teaching methods to engage students in a two-way conversation and give them the opportunity to participate in
the telling of intriguing historical stories and events.
The first program for HHT is currently being trialled with Stage 2 students in a number of schools and will be launched
in February 2011, she said.
In this virtual excursion, Jeannie said, students will be transported back in time to fully explore the life of a convict
through sharing stories with the convict presenter students gain insights into their everyday life and the importance of
convict labour to the development of the new colony.
Students are active participants in the lesson and will be encouraged to ask questions of the convict, observe, analyse,
draw conclusions and express their ideas about objects and images presented, Jeannie said.
They will even have the chance of joining in a rousing chorus of a convict ballad.
Each program is supported by online teacher resources to encourage class discussion, suggest follow on activities and
provide videoconferencing tips.
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Access to

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Michael Dell Global Business Leader Converses with Two Hundred DET Students
Dr Andrew Hopkins Converses with Students from Eight High Schools
Three Hundred Students Use VC to Speak to Author Morris Gleitzman on Writing
and Literature
Kurt Fearnley, Australian Champion Paralympian Connected with Students at
Menindee
Author Graeme Base Talked to Six Hundred Sixty Students
Socceroo Mark Schwarzer Speaks to a Hundred Students
Two Thousand Five Hundred Students Participated in Eighteen Forums with
Scientists
Astronomer VC with Senior Students
8
9 Author Pat Flynn Talks to Students About His Book
10 Students VC with Captains from Police and Rural Fire Brigade
11 Six Hundred Students Meet Cartoonist David Hackett via Their Connected
Classrooms
12 Unsung Heroes - Sharing Menindees Cultural Heritage During NAIDOC Week
13 Building Connections and Expanding Awareness of Aboriginal Culture via VC
14 School Communities Talk by VC with a Holocaust Survivor

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1. Michael Dell Global Business
Leader Converses with Two

Hundred DET Students
Business Management and Change, Marketing
and Global Business are topics in the Stage 6 HSC
Business Studies syllabus. Giving students who
study this area of the curriculum an opportunity
to discuss global business ideas with experts in
the field is very powerful using video conference
technology (Becta, 2004; Chua, 2005; Martin, 2005).
On Tuesday 12 May Michael Dell, Chairman of the
Board and Chief Executive of Dell Computers and
Joseph Kremer, Manager of Dell in Australia/New
Zealand spoke to 150 senior students and their
HSIE teachers in nine Connected Classrooms via a
live cross to Austin, Texas. The schools/campuses involved were:
t Gymea Technology High School
t Willyama Central School
t Ulladulla High School
t Broken Hill High School
t Richmond High School
t Homebush Boys High School
t Gunnedah High School

t St Ives High School
Two students, Olivia and Mathew from Gymea Technology High School facilitated the event to all other sites. Topics
for discussion ranged across: the effects of government stimulus packages, altering a companys business model in
challenging economic times, and the global financial crisis.
Michael Dell was asked by another student from Gymea Technology High School about advice he would give to a young
person just starting out in their first business, he replied, Take risks, make mistakes, but never make the same mistake
twice.
A student from Gunnedah High School said of the VC event, Very interesting I thoroughly enjoyed it and would like
to do more.
From a Principals perspective, Darryl Ward from Broken Hill High School stated, The students were impressed by the
VC and several commented it helped with their Business Studies course and if circumstances allow we would love to be
involved in more VCs of a similar nature for other subjects. It helps overcome the isolation factor when we can access
high quality learning material such as this.
Rod Jones, Principal of Gunnedah High school echoed Darryls sentiments, This opportunity was a fantastic one for my
students and their teacher. Prime News did a terrific story about Gunnedah Highs involvement in this initiative. It was
great PR for our school and the Program as a whole.
In a response to the Program office after the VC Michael Dell commented, I always enjoy the chance to talk with students,
and this was no exception. You have a smart and engaging student body, and I know they all bring pride to New South
Wales.
Other leaders of business have offered to conduct video conference events with DET students. This event was a
collaboration between the Connected Classrooms Program, Dell, Curriculum K-12 and Multimedia and Conferencing
Services, ITD.
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2. Dr Andrew Hopkins Converses
with Students from Eight High

Schools
Julie Haeusler, Manager ICT, Curriculum K-12
Directorate sent us the following account:
If the universe is still expanding, whats going to
happen to us? and Do black holes ever fill up?
were two questions astrophysicist Dr Andrew
Hopkins fielded when students asked him via video
conference about Planets, stars, black holes and
our universe recently.
Students in Years 9-12 at eight high schools:
Warners Bay, Lithgow, Warialda, Wellington,
Gymea, Batemans Bay, Killarney Heights and West
Wyalong enjoyed the close encounter with a practicing scientist and being able to ask some of the BIG astronomy
questions.
They learned about galaxies and the characteristics of stars. One of the head teachers at Warialda High School, Agbe
Attipoe, expressed the benefit of the experience, In rural areas we see these opportunities as highly valued because it
cures our students of myopia and reduces the feeling of isolation because we are away from metropolitan areas.
Dr Hopkins, who is from the University of Sydney, is a recipient of the prestigious Young Tall Poppy award and is one of
many scientists who have agreed to discuss their work with students across DET via video conference.
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3. Three Hundred Students Use
VC to Speak to Author Morris

Gleitzman on Writing and
Literature
You may recall when Evonne Webb, regional
implementation coordinator, contacted Program
office about her upcoming Talk to an Author
event. It was held last Thursday; here is a snapshot
from Evonnes report:
Chipping Norton Public School hosted a very

successful video conference between Morris
Gleitzman and more than 300 Stage 3 students
in 12 primary schools. The students discussed the
writing process and sought answers to why Morris
wrote about cane toads; how he kept track of little stories within bigger stories and whether the rumour about him
spiking his hair to copy Roald Dahl was actually correct?
Learning Systems implementation officers worked closely with the teachers and literacy consultants prior to the event.
Advice was provided to the school about how to conduct a multipoint video conference and DET literacy consultants
provided advice to teachers about appropriate book and resource selection. Students from each of the participating
schools developed questions with their teachers in activities prior to the video conference.
Questions from each school were submitted and culled to 10 scripted questions to be asked on the day. Impromptu
questions were also made by text message at the live event and were checked before being included. A trial video
conference was conducted, a week before to allow the scripted questions to be rehearsed and appropriate pace finetuned with students.
The group was instructed on video conferencing etiquette, for example its better when one child from the group asks
the question and the camera is focussed on the students chest and head, always to mute the microphone immediately
after questions are asked.
Teachers took the opportunity to practise dialling in and setting the most suitable camera angles.
Morris commented after the session, Today for me was a glimpse at the future as far as being a childrens author goes.
These interactions are important between authors and students because they allow young people to see that stories are
created by ordinary people and its possible to create and write stories yourself.
On reflection: student engagement at all points throughout the video conference was high as the activity was an
authentic task.
Outcomes for teachers included: being able to develop and refine skills in using the video conferencing equipment, and
deepening understanding of its use as a learning tool.
One of the Year 5 students from Beverley Hills North Public School recounted afterwards, The video conference was all
about the Toad series: Toad Away, Toad Heaven and Toad Rage. Mr Gleitzman gave excellent answers to the questions
he was asked, he also gave us brilliant tips like how he would come up with ideas when he wanted to write a book and
how long it would take him to write a book. It took six months to write Toad Surprise.
His longest book took him about ten years to write. In Year 5 he would write stories and keep them in his schoolbag. So
one day his friends went to his bag to get a soccer ball but instead they found stories and started to read them. When
Morris came back his friends told him his stories were really good so he kept writing until he became a professional
author.
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4. Kurt Fearnley, Australian Champion Paralympian Connected with Students at
Menindee
Georgia Shepherd, teacher at Menindee Central School reports on her first experience of with her 6/7 class.
On Friday 6 March my students sat absolutely spellbound and listening intently for more than an hour, as they
participated in a live video conference with Kurt Fearnley, an Australian champion Paralympian. I have never seen these
students as engaged and interested for this length of time before, and it was fantastic!
Dave Fellows, Head Teacher Access (acting) introduced the idea of using the Connected Classroom at our school to
enhance current teaching and learning activities. He arranged for our class to participate in the video conference
interview with Kurt Fearnley. In the lead-up we engaged in a range of activities to prepare the students and to link the
interview with Kurt Fearnley to all KLAs. For example, in literacy we looked at biographical recount texts including one
about Kurt. In HSIE we were able to look at the countries and cities around the world where Kurt had raced, as well as
when and how the Paralympics began.
In maths we looked at time and distance in regards to Kurts race times, as well as averages, temperatures, heart rate etc.
It was also useful in PDHPE as we looked at responsibility, overcoming hurdles and perseverance.
The interview was the end goal that the students were working towards, and it provided the students with motivation and
an engagement level I have not seen before. We joined 16 other schools in the link-up, each of which had an opportunity
to ask Kurt a question about his life.
Kurt spoke very well and had my students enthralled for the whole hour. I am now looking at upcoming opportunities for
my class to participate in connected learning as it has proven to be a most effective tool.
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5. Author Graeme Base Talked to
Six Hundred Sixty Students

The second Talk to an Author video conference
event was held on Wednesday 12 November at
Revesby Public School. This event was an interactive
conversation by video conference hosted by Stage
3 students between revered Australian childrens
picture book author Graeme Base and more than
660 students and 50 teachers from surrounding
schools.
Both events have been covered in the local media,
the following report of the video conference event
was sent to Program office by Evonne Webb,
Regional Implementation Coordinator in South
Western Sydney:
Students discussed with Graeme the inspiration for his books, and how he prepared for writing. They discovered that he
decided to be an artist at age 11 and that on average it takes him two years to write a book.
Students were engaged prior to the video conference in class activities and in developing questions for the event.
Questions were submitted, impromptu questions were also gathered during the video conference by the facilitators
from text messages.
Graeme emphasised good work comes from effort and that three Ps are essential: perseverance, passion and providence.
He shared the story of how it takes many drafts to get it right; for example a picture from his book Enigma takes one
month to complete. He also described to one student whose dream it is to be an author how that to be a good writer;
you must be a good reader.
The student reflected on this experience later in his writing: Yesterday I had the most amazing experience of my life. Mr
Base gave me some great writing tips and a cool signature. I will never forget this day! The students teacher said, Its
not about the video conference but about how one child was inspired by Graeme Base.
Ann Pantel, Assistant Principal at Revesby Public School said afterwards, What a wonderful chance for the students in
our school! Its not often you meet an author and are able to ask them questions. The amazing part is that even though
this video conference was aimed at Stage 3 students, the whole school is now reading and talking about Graeme Base
books.
The video conference is really a very exciting medium to engage and motivate students in learning. Everything went
extremely well. I am so proud of our hosts, Varsha and Neer. The medium of the video conference gives the students a
purpose for public speaking.
The two Talk to an Author events in Term 4 have involved more than 1200 DET students and staff in South Western
Sydney region. Learning Systems implementation officers worked closely with DET literacy consultants to support the
teachers and students in participating schools prior to the event.
This support meant offering advice to schools about how to conduct a multipoint video conference that included
knowing how to position speakers in close proximity to the microphones, checking remote batteries and cleaning filters
on the Sanyo projector.
It was also important that students prepared themselves by dressing appropriately, muting the microphone when not
speaking and being on task, as all movements can be seen by other participants around the video conference screen.
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6. Socceroo Mark Schwarzer
Speaks to a Hundred Students

Mark Schwarzer, OAM is an Australian soccer
goalkeeper who plays for the English Premier
League team Fulham and also represents Australia
in international soccer matches. In 2008 when the
Program spoke to the State SRC about learning
using video conferencing, one of the suggestions
put forward by the students was the opportunity
to engage with famous sporting talents. So, it was
very appropriate that such an interchange was
organized recently by Michelle Lindsay, A/Deputy
Principal at Gymea Bay Public School.
On 25 June 100 students from five DET regions
gathered in Connected Classrooms in primary schools at Gymea Bay, Stanwell Park, Lismore and Tamworth as well as
Dubbo Senior College to discover how Mark Schwarzer established a life-long commitment to healthy living and physical
activity.
Mark spoke about why and how he became interested in literacy, specifically writing childrens novels as well as the
personal leadership qualities and values necessary when representing Australia in sport, said Michelle.
Regional and city students from different Stages were able to share Marks knowledge. Michelle continued, Mark
commented after the VC how impressed he was with the students, the questions they asked and the technology. He
really appreciated the opportunity this type of technology could bring to rural and isolated students ... in fact he was
amazed.
Lee Preston, Principal of Tamworth Public School told the Program the event had made a local news sports report that
evening and expressed her schools gratitude and involvement this way:
It was great to be part of a link up that exposed our students to the expertise and experience of such a high profile
Australian sportsman, without them having to travel several hours to do so. Everyone involved was impressed with
Marks interpersonal skills and his humility. He made the country kids feel as important as our city cousins.
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7. Two Thousand Five Hundred
Students Participated in Eighteen

Forums with Scientists
Ignite Your Imagination was the theme of National
Science Week (from 15-23 August) this year. The
focus on science continued throughout August in a
joint initiative, known as the Tall Poppy Campaign
(TPC), by The Australian Institute of Policy & Science,
the Faculty of Science at Macquarie University, the
Australian Government and the Australian Nuclear
Science and Technology Organisation, and the
Curriculum K-12 Directorate in NSW DET.
Ric Morante, Senior Curriculum Adviser Science
K-12 said, The forums were initiated to bring high
school age students into direct contact with leading scientists making a contribution to our understanding of the science
behind climate change and its effects on our planet.
More than 2,500 Year 10, 11 and 12 students and their science teachers from 50 schools participated in 18 forums via video
conference. Each exchange featured the latest environmental research on aspects of climate change from Australian and
international scientists. For example, Dr Tracey Rogers and Dr Ben McNeil shared new research on marine mammals and
the impact of climate change on the oceans; and Drs Leigh Sheppard and Martina Doblin spoke on energy solutions in
plankton ecology and climate.
This year the CCP technologies have increased the outreach of the TPC, Ric said, When you can have students from
Kingscliffe, Broken Hill and Tumbarumba on the same video conference with half a dozen metropolitan schools from
Newcastle and greater Sydney - this is fantastic for teaching and learning, consistency across the state and brings
home the power of technology to truly advance education in NSW. There is no way this could be done without CCP
technologies!
At two online forums broadcast from Ryde State Office on the 20th August, 600 students gathered in 19 Connected
Classrooms across DET to discuss The Impacts of Climate Change on Australian Species and Ecosystems with Professor
Lesley Hughes. She is one of Australias leading authorities on climate change; based at Macquarie University, Lesley
is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. I wake up every morning hoping we scientists are
wrong about climate change. The 1990s were the warmest decade and its likely the 2000s will break all previous weather
records, she added. Lesley reminded the students, There is a need to reduce greenhouse emissions and To understand
that plants and animals are already responding and adapting to inevitable climate change.
Speaking to Professor Hughes after the forums about technology reducing the carbon footprint she said that,
Technology like this is making learning more flexible, its bridging the gap between our education institutions - enabling
climate change education to be accessed more readily by primary and secondary schools, especially those schools in
more isolated situations.
At Tumbarumba High School, Year 7-9 Enrichment Classes, as well as a Year 11 Biology joined the event. A/Science
Head Teacher Kyle Moffitt added, Students directly questioned some of Australias most prominent scientists in the
forums. They listened to other schools questions and were part of a large peer group of like minded students. As a
small rural school, we often have to travel to broaden our students experiences video conference allows scientists
to come directly to us. Hayden, a student in Year 9 said, I learned how humans can help endangered species and the
environment cope with climate change. I have a better understanding of what causes global warming to happen and
how to reduce it. I understand now that the earth cant regulate excess carbon dioxide levels very well and that animals
that cant adapt will die out.
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8. Astronomers VC with Senior
Students
Top young Australian astronomers brought
their science to Year 10, 11 and 12 students in 8
sessions via Connected Classrooms on 2 and 3
March 2009, in a celebration of the International
Year of Astronomy. Dr Andrew Hopkins of the
Anglo-Australian Observatory presented Planets,
Stars, Black Holes, Galaxies and our Universe and
Professor Bryan Gaensler from the University of
Sydney presented Magnets in the Sky.
These experts brought the latest in science to NSW
DET students. Hearing about it firsthand makes
it engaging, up to date and highly relevant with
an Australian flavour, explained Glen Sawle from
Curriculum Support, where the event was organised.
The sessions with the 2 astronomers continue a larger series organised by Curriculum Support, in which NSW DET
students have been talking with young Australian scientists who donate their time to talk to school students as part of
the Young Tall Poppies Program.
Students are presented with first-hand information about careers and opportunities in science as part of the Stage
6 Curriculum and the Young Tall Poppies series provides students with a look at cutting edge science in Australia, by
Australian scientists, Glen says.
The Connected Classroom is enabling students from non-metropolitan areas to meet these scientists, with over 20 video
conferences having been held already (one of which was reported on in Connected Classrooms Bulletin No. 8).
Feedback from regional high schools has been very positive. Teachers appreciate the enrichment to science education
that these video conference sessions create and are keen to hear about future events, while the students expressed
that they got a lot out of the presentations one student from Narrandera High School is now reportedly very keen on
becoming an astronomer.
Curriculum K-12 is value adding to these video conferences by recording them and developing teaching and learning
resources around them.
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9. Author Pat Flynn Talks to
Students About His Book

The Line Formation is Pat Flynns latest novel.
Pat grew up running around an old dairy farm
in Queensland before moving to the Australian
Institute of Sport in Canberra on a tennis scholarship.
He played and coached on the professional circuit
before becoming a teacher, where his observations
of young people, their interests and stories led to
him writing a popular book series about a teenage
skateboarder named Alex Jackson. This background
was just some of the detail Pat shared in a video
conference with 234 Stage 3-4 students and their
teachers in early July.
Evonne
Webb,
Regional
Implementation
Coordinator from Learning Systems, organized the event with Lynne Marsh, Literacy Consultant 7-12 from Riverwood
Office for Campbellfield, Chipping Norton, and Harrington Street Public Schools, as well as Canley Vale, Cecil Hills,
Concord, East Hills Girls, Hoxton Park and Strathfield South High Schools.
Stephen Plummer, Head Teacher English at Cecil Hills High School said, Participating in the video conference has
enabled my students to discover the author is a real person. Interacting with Mr Flynn has brought the exploration
of context and purpose out of the realm of the English classroom and into the reality of the students own experience.
A Stage 4 student from Cecil Hills said after the event, Books make sense when you meet the writer.
Stephen also explained that the opportunity to host the event had added another dimension to the students video
conference familiarity, They were able to experience firsthand the process of creating a multimodal production: the use
of multiple camera angles, lighting, backboards, sound production, scripts, panning and close-up, not to mention the
absolute necessity of being quiet during the authors presentation. Demystifying the production process has meant the
opening of further opportunities for analysis and creativity.
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10. Students VC with Captains from Police and Rural Fire Brigade
Did you hear about the Captains Day held via video conference at Carlton Public School?
Last term, Principal, Gavin Patterson gathered together Year 6 school captains from nine surrounding primary schools
to hold a day to reflect on What it Means to be a School Captain. Students joined the day using video conference
technologies from each of their schools.
This activity commenced with input from captains of the Police Local Area Command and NSW Rural Fire Brigade who
shared how they understand the role of being a captain. Students considered questions on: What does it mean to be a
leader? Is the role difficult? How do you deal with pressure from peers?
Later in the day, captains and vice captains from J.J. Cahill Memorial High School joined the discussion via video
conference and talked about leadership from a high school perspective. They shared some of the official and unofficial
duties they perform including making speeches, work outside the school and their relationship with other students.
It was a very positive experience; the technology aided development of what was planned for the day and enabled the
exercise to be carried out efficiently.
Gavin believes the learning experience meant, All students seemed to gain a number of different insights into the role
of leadership over the day, and what was really interesting whether you are a captain in a high school, in policing, or
. in the rural fire brigade the issues associated with leadership are the same!
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11. Six Hundred Students Meet
Cartoonist David Hackett via Their

Connected Classroom
South Western Sydney Region schools took part
in a video conference with author and illustrator
Dave Hackett on Monday 6 April. Students were
encouraged to ask Dave Hackett questions about
his novels, in particular the series UFO: Unavoidable
Family Outing and Norman Enormous. Connected
Classrooms technology allowed over 600 students
from multiple sites direct access to the author, to
watch him create illustrations by drawing onto the
interactive whiteboard, and thus to learn about
visual literacy.
The SWS Learning Systems Team have a number of video conference events planned for 2009.
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12. Unsung
Heroes - Sharing
Menindees
Cultural
Heritage
During NAIDOC Week
Menindee Central School celebrated NAIDOC week
with a unique community engagement project,
built around their Interactive Classroom.
NAIDOC week events are held around Australia
each July to celebrate Indigenous history, culture
and achievements. This year the theme was
recognising Unsung Heroes.
The Menindee community recognised its heroes
by publishing a book, titled Menindees Unsung
Aboriginal Heroes, bringing together the life
stories of twelve local Aboriginal leaders, people
who have quietly and purposefully made their contribution to the township.
As part of the schools Parent and Community Engagement (PACE) program, Menindee Central decided to bring the
heroes into the school, and to use the book as the basis of a range of shared learning opportunities.
In the week leading up to NAIDOC, a different Unsung Aboriginal Hero visited the school each day to share their stories
of life in outback NSW. To make the most of this opportunity, Menindee invited two other schools, Lindfield East Public
and Keira High, to join them via video conference (VC).
Students in a range of classes were able use the book as a study text, to hear the stories first hand and to ask questions
and interact with the presenters and each other in extended VC lessons.
Andrew Stevenson, Principal at Lindfield East, described the event as an absolute winner.
This unique strategy of acknowledging local Menindee heroes and sharing their stories of community spirit with other
distant school communities deserves accolades. Hopefully this is the beginning of an ongoing link between our school
communities, Andrew said.
Menindee Centrals Principal, Brian Debus sees these links as a great chance for his students to connect outside their
little corner of the world.
Were never going to have the resources to take our students to all the places theyd like to visit, but the connected
classroom technologies give them the chance to go out into the big wide world, Brian said.
Our kids have grown remarkably from this opportunity.
Brian said they have plans for expanding on the success of this years event, and for using the Interactive Classroom to
open lots more doors.
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Building Connections and
Expanding Awareness of Aboriginal
Culture via VC
13.

In July the CCP Bulletin featured a report on
connections made during NAIDOC week between
a bush school and some city counterparts. We
caught up with the principals of Menindee
Central and Lindfield East Public, Brian Debus and
Andrew Stevenson, for an update on the ongoing
engagement the schools have built, using the
Connected Classrooms Program technologies.
As a result of those video conferences, our kids

have grown so much, Brian said. Its linked us and
the ties have really grown.
The small community of Menindee, in the far west of NSW, is around 80% Indigenous.
Brian said the interest shown by a city school in the lives and culture of his students meant a great deal to them, and has
helped them see their knowledge and experience in a different light.
We had five hook ups during NAIDOC week, and our kids grew in confidence with every session. They picked up on some
things that Lindfield East was asking about, for instance Johnny Cakes, a regular part of their diet and culture, Brian said.
Its a simple thing, but its part of their way of life, and nobody down in Lindfield East really knew anything about it.
So our students put together a PowerPoint on how they actually made Johnny Cakes. They really grew in confidence
because they were the experts and they were presenting. This has continued and translated into a lot of their writing,
which is really good, Brian said.
Andrew said the link ups provided a great chance for his students to gain an awareness of life in a remote school.
Our kids had no idea of the geographical setting of Menindee and the lake system, and as Brian said, its Aboriginal
culture. It was also the first chance for most of the kids to use the video conferencing gear, so it was an amazing journey
for those kids over the week and for myself, Andrew said.
To keep the connection going, Andrew and two beginning teachers from Lindfield East visited Menindee in September.
During the three day visit, they took part in staff development activities that included a workshop presented by Tyson
Yunkaporta, an Aboriginal Pedagogies Mentor who is working with Menindee Central and other schools in the Western
Region.
The session was broadcast via video conference and the Bridgit data collaboration tool back to the rest of Andrews team
at Lindfield East, as was a joint staff meeting linking groups from both schools. Lindfield East is planning a return visit
next year, and will play host to a group of Menindee teachers in late November.
That staff development day with Tyson was one of the best opportunities you could have to expand awareness on
Aboriginal culture. Thats something wed love to do every year, Andrew said.
Slowly things are changing, and its all through building relationships, tangible links, real connections. It would be
impossible without video conferencing. Its just changed everything.
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14. School Communities Talk by
VC with a Holocaust Survivor

A recent video conference brought together several
North Coast school communities to hear from and
talk with Holocaust survivor, Olga Horak.
Throughout the year, students from Fingal

Head, Tyalgum and The Channon Public Schools
have been studying Australian Democracy, said
Matthew Jacobson, Principal at Fingal Head.
This culminated in great discussions about our
place on the worlds political stage, a multi-school
excursion to Canberra and an investigation of the
Holocaust under the rule of Nazi Germany.
Students have completed novel studies around
the books, Once, Then & Now by Morris Gleitzman. This fictional trilogy follows the life experience of young Felix as he
grapples with the loss of family, hiding from his persecutors and then settling into post war life here in Australia.
Recently, student leaders from Fingal Head decided that they wanted to continue their study using their connected
classroom. They were able to locate Holocaust survivor, Olga Horak through the Jewish Board of Deputies and the
Holocaust Museum, Sydney. These students were then responsible for mastering the technical aspects of the VC
equipment, training guests, and moderating the 45 minute meeting.
What a great time to be a teacher! We had parents, grandparents and community members ask to come along to the
event. Everyone was so impressed by our speaker and enthusiastic about the possibilities for future use of our connected
classroom, he said.
Matthew congratulated all the participating students for their thoughtful questions and great maturity on the day. Peter
Meadows, Principal at Tyalgum Public School, described the event, and Mrs Horak, as inspiring. He said the Gleitzman
works include some pretty upfront content but the students appreciated the chance to discuss such serious issues.
To have Olga talk to the children and answer questions took the teaching/learning to a whole new level. Talk about
engagement. Talk about pedagogy, he said.
Martin Gill, Principal at The Channon Public School agreed the event was exceptional, saying his students were absolutely
inspired.
Lynda Ben-Menashe, Education Manager with the Jewish Board of Deputies, hopes other schools take up the opportunity
to connect with speakers such as Olga.
The Jewish community is indebted to the Department for inviting Mrs Horak to talk with students who may
otherwise never have the chance to hear the first-hand account of a survivor of the Holocaust, Lynda said. I know
that other survivors would gladly accept such invitations, and the opportunity to connect with the next generation of
Australians.
Lynda said that the Board offers presentations to schools on the Holocaust, anti-racism and a range of other topics.
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Access to

1
2
3
4
CCP Technology Works for Vet Students Enrolled in Metal Engineering, Carpentry
and Hospitality
Access to Broader Subject Choices
Language Learning Centres: Teaching Aboriginal, Asian and European Languages
Creating Virtual VET Training Opportunities
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1. CCP Technology Works for
Vet Students Enrolled in Metal

Engineering, Carpentry and
Hospitality
Connected Classroom technology is being used to
teach vocational training for the Western Access
Program (WAP) to pilot the implementation of the
Western Access Trade Training Centre. The centre
uses video conference for live demonstrations
from kitchens and construction workshops to more
than 60 VET students from Peak Hill, Tullamore,
Trangie, Yeoval, Trundle, Tottenham and Tullibigeal
Central Schools. In 2010, the numbers of students
studying VET at these schools will exceed 80
enrolments.
Teachers at each of the schools can also observe the students practical skills to gauge their competency. Over the next 12
months course instruction and theory components will be beamed into each school by the program coordinators using
Connected Classroom technology.
Head Teacher Access, Brendan Maher said, The technology helps VET teachers from each school work as one faculty.We meet
together via video conference with Regional Vocational Education Consultants to discuss issues related to the remote delivery
of VET subjects, to validate assessments and to plan the curriculum. He added, This way we remain part of a professional
group which brings extra support and motivation.
The first cohort of students is completing preliminary courses this year; in 2010 they will commence Certificate II qualifications
in:
t Metal Engineering Mechanical and Fabricator Trades
t Carpentry
t Hospitality
Since 2005 the WAP has been using video conferencing technology to deliver courses, however last year the rollout of CCP
technologies has meant expanded course offerings of over 50 subjects to another nine schools across Western NSW Region*.
Brendan concluded, We are proving that practical vocational subjects can be well supported by this technology, in fact, just
as well as more theory based subjects - our students have enjoyed outstanding success so far.
*In 2009 WAP offered 29 HSC subjects and 33 Preliminary subjects with commencement Stage 5 students starting their HSC early. Students
have also participated in World Skills in Metals and Engineering and Construction.
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2. Access to Broader Subject
Choices
The Western Access Program recently celebrated 20
years of delivering high quality education to students
in Western
NSW as a pioneering connected learning community.
One of the programs leaders, Brendan Maher of
Peak Hill Central, said their goal throughout these
two decades has been to give students in rural and
remote schools in the region access to the broadest
range of subjects possible.
Weve used technology to make this goal a reality

by making the most of the collective expertise of our
teachers, Brendan said. Weve now had more than
900 students graduate under the program.
The anniversary has been a chance to reflect on the many milestones, in particular the introduction of technology like video
conferencing and interactive whiteboards.
After starting with a core group of seven schools, we now offer over 35 subjects to 15 schools across the region, as well as
professional learning opportunities for staff.
We offer full video conference delivery of courses with IWBs as standard in each studio and currently have three Virtual
Meeting Rooms operating full time each day.
Next year a Western Access Trade Training Centre will be implemented into the senior curriculum to deliver shared modules
with TAFE Dubbo, he said.
The Western Access Program is one of five cluster groups operating across the state.
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3. Language Learning Centres:
Teaching Aboriginal, Asian and

European Languages
The Connected Classrooms Program technologies
and learning tools are being used to great effect in
Language Learning Centres, now in use in a number
of schools around the state. As part of the Australian
Governments Building the Education Revolution
(BER) program, 42 Language Learning Centres have
been built in NSW government schools.
Each Language Learning Centre is equipped with
video conferencing facilities and two interactive
whiteboards, one in the main classroom and one in
the tutorial room.
On 22-24 September 2010, the Languages Unit at the Curriculum K 12 Directorate ran a three day workshop to support teachers
with a Language Learning Centre in using these new technologies.
The program included:
using video conference facilities to link with other classes learning a language
developing an understanding of Bridgit, and the impact this can have on creating senior Languages classes across multiple
school sites
blogED and the ways it can create real audiences for language learners
resources which can be used on the interactive whiteboard, including those created by the Curriculum K12 Directorate, as
well as sites where students can create avatars, comic strips and short animations, and
integrating the DER laptops into teaching and learning programs, including using Audacity and Adobe Presenter, and
adding sound files to PDFs.
Participants included teachers of Aboriginal, Asian and European languages. All participants will be continuing to expand on
their knowledge and skills throughout Term 4, as they work with their students on these exciting projects.
Sue Lofts, Korean teacher at Wollumbin High, was one of a number of participants who commented on the difference the CCP
technologies and learning tools are making.
The introduction of the new technologies has generated so much enthusiasm among the students and this has already been
reflected in increased numbers selecting Korean next year, Sue said.
Our new blogs are enabling greater communication between myself and the students and, in the future, we hope to be able
to use this technology to communicate with overseas classrooms, she said.
Jim Rourke, French teacher at Wingham High, said that he and his students are also greatly enjoying the opportunities the
technology offers.
My class and I have had great fun implementing the technology that I learnt about at the workshop, Jim said.
My students enjoyed recording their own voices using Audacity and then uploading these files to their avatar at www.voki.
com.
We have also embedded some of the most successful vokis into our new Year 7 blog through blogED. This is technology
making learning (and teaching) fun! he said.
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4. Creating Virtual VET Training
Opportunities
Gregory Sheath, head teacher of computing studies
and VET coordinator at Homebush Boys High, is using
the connected classroom to conduct an innovative
collaboration between his school and several
schools in the New England region. In partnership
with Tamworth TAFE, the schools are sharing their
expertise to create virtual VET training opportunities.
We have also embedded some of the most successful
vokis into our new Year 7 blog through blogED. This
is technology making learning (and teaching) fun! he
said.
This is the second year that we have delivered

simulated work placements via video conference, Gregory said.
Participating schools this year are Uralla and Merriwa Central schools and Homebush Boys High.
Sessions are delivered by teachers at Homebush Boys High and Tamworth TAFE, while all students in the work placement
learn their HSC theory through Tamworth TAFE online.
This year students from all schools have had to deliver some parts of the program to other schools as well, he said.
Gregory said the project has been running for several years, delivering simulated work placements for Year 11 IT VET framework
students.
After its initial success at Homebush, in 2009 Gregory proposed the project be extended to include some remote schools that
Tamworth TAFE delivered the IT course to. Mungindi and Goodooga Central agreed to participate in 2009, with Uralla and
Merriwa Central joining in 2010.
This years sessions, conducted over a week in late October, covered a range of IT and business tasks and activities, using
Connected Classrooms Program technologies such as the video conferencing and Bridgit data collaboration tools and other
resources.
The strength of the project is that it allows all the students involved to participate in high quality training from their own
school locations, Gregory said.
This years activities included setting up Linux desktops and servers and establishing a network for all schools to use.
Students also developed training and learning materials for a fictitious company, and then presented their work via VC at the
end of the week, he said.
Gregory said feedback from students and staff involved in the project has been very positive. The benefits mentioned included
giving participants the chance to:
communicate and work with new people
complete realistic IT tasks that would be expected of them out in the business world
use a variety of technological tools on collaborative projects, and
gain more appreciation of the differences in school and community sizes.
Another important outcome, commented on by everyone involved, has been student motivation, Gregory said.
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Tom Urry, Regional Director for South West Sydney, described the event as a wonderful experience for students participating
in what was a very complex work placement.
The logistics of a one hour presentation delivered from four sites to four sites covering up to 700kms distance was in itself
outstanding, Tom said.
Murat Dizdar, South Western Sydney SED, called it an extremely rich learning experience for all involved that incorporated
enormous hidden curriculum benefits and experiences.
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blogED
scrapbook
Meg Parsons from Dubbo South

Public uses blogED to enhance literacy
strategies using an online newspaper generator
to introduce media texts to her
stage one students
EARLY YEARS
MIDDLE YEARS
Opportunities for extended
written responses are provided through
this Year 8 library blog, created by
Di Cooper of Menai High
Extract Bulletin No. 33, 18 June 2010 examples of blogED
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Learning Oppor tunities For

1
2
3
How CCP Technologies are Supporting a Western Sydney Region College to

Connect, Share and Thrive
Connections, COGs and Communities
Teaching Earth and Environmental Sciences Using CCP technologies at LMC
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Connected Classrooms Program Technologies Increased Learning Oppor tunities For
g iftt e d a ndd t a l e n t e d stt u dee ntss

1. How CCP Technologies are
Supporting a Western Sydney

Region College to Connect, Share
and Thrive
Mark Grady, Coordinator Lachlan Macquarie
College (LMC) and Judy Dutton, Project Officer from
the same site presented a workshop Connecting,
Sharing and Thriving at the Connected Learning
conference.
The workshop illustrated strategies of how a
partnership with secondary schools, TAFE and
university uses a range of technologies to enhance
Mathematics and Science learning outcomes for
local students.
LMC commenced in 2008, its program has three strands;
t Applied Mathematics and Science: hands-on and on the job opportunities and experiences, through partnerships
developed with Western Sydney Institute of TAFE, local industry, business and community leaders and groups;
t Specialist Mathematics and Science: extension courses for students who intend to undertake tertiary study
in Mathematics and/or Science involving University of Western Sydney (UWS) academics and other local and
international Mathematics and Science experts; and
t Mathematics and Science Teaching: working with UWS to develop and deliver relevant professional learning
programs and activities for local Mathematics and Science teachers. This includes action research, and the analysis of
local, regional and state-wide Mathematics and Science program evaluations and student performance data.
In 2009 LMC initiated a series of forums for Stage 3 Gifted and Talented Students (GATS) to utilize the Connected
Classrooms being installed at school sites.
Schools involved in the initiative are Carlingford, Westmead, Parramatta and Northmead Public supported by Arthur
Phillip, Northmead and Cumberland High Schools.
At one of the Mathematics forums earlier this year, the Stage 3 students from Parramatta Public School met their older
peers via VC. This forum supported the students to become familiar with VC etiquette as well as enabling them to work
in a group to solve challenging questions.
Mark said afterwards, These students were looking at what fairness means in probability. The learning was then taken
back to the students own class and they presented their findings across the school - allowing students to teach other
students.
He continued, The aim of the forums is to make them as student-centred as possible in a connected environment. They
are not lectures the students discuss, share, collaborate, experiment and present their findings.
Jennifer Kelly, Assistant Principal from Parramatta Public School found, The students came back from Arthur Phillip High
School excited about their experiences and shared what they learned using PowerPoint. It has been a great experience
for all of us, empowering the students to challenge themselves both academically and socially in a new student-centred
learning situation and it challenged me to grasp the connected classroom technology (Im still learning)!
Other activities planned from LMC include online Master Classes in Astronomy and Statistics developed in collaboration
with the Centre for Learning Innovation, an experience science day at UWS, Earth and Environmental Science Connected
Classes (EESCC) for Stage 5 and 6 accelerated students, HSC lecture days and teacher professional learning activities in
Mathematics and Science via video conference.
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Francesca Molluso, School Education Director Connected Learning, Western Sydney Region said, We are encouraging
teachers to use the CCP technologies to personalize learning for students, our experience at LMC will be used to leverage
innovative and creative curriculum delivery right across the Region. Not only is it about whats possible for students, but
teachers too will have choices in their preferred professional learning delivery modes.
2. Connections, COGs and Communities

Jennifer Andrews (AP), Michael Wilson (AERT) and Joe Bell (online mentor) from Drummond Memorial PS, Armidale,
used to bring the inspiration of their work on 2 innovative projects in 2008 to teachers from the Illawarra and South
East Region. Drummond Memorial PS presented a collaborative Gifted and Talented Project (eGATS!), and the schools
Connected Outcomes Groups (COGs) unit Our Place on the interactive whiteboard via Bridgit software and discussed
these via video conference with the Illawarra and South East Region literacy consultants collaborative network.
The COGS Project
Drummond Memorial PS had previously participated in a video conference with State personnel and staff at Broken
Hill for the Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme (AGQTP) COGs project. Drummond Memorial PS was
invited to be part of the ICT and localizing Aboriginal content into the COGs units because of the schools information
technology facilities. The school took to COGs in a big way. Following the video conference, the schools shared via email
tips for resources, scope and sequences, and discussed their issues and successes with the COGs units.
Local Indigenous content was written into the units as Drummond Memorial PS has a significant Aboriginal cohort
whose heritage is mostly Anaiwan and Gomeroi. A powerful piece of an elder sharing her experience as part of the stolen
generation has been recently shown to a stage 3 class in the COGs unit they are currently studying.
The Connected Classroom has enabled Drummond Memorial PS staff to participate in the state-wide AGQTP project, to
form links with similar schools to continue to work together, and to deliver professional learning to other regions.
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3. Teaching Earth and
Environmental Sciences Using

CCP technologies at LMC
In Bulletin 23 we covered a Story from the Field
on Connecting, Sharing and Thriving at Lachlan
Macquarie College (LMC) from Western Sydney
Region. This fortnight we detail the connected
classrooms in Preliminary Earth and Environmental
Science; the course offering uses CCP technologies
as a means of broadening curriculum choice
opportunities for students.
For Stage 5 students involved in the initiative it was
an opportunity to accelerate gifted and talented
students to complete an HSC course in Year 10, and
for students in Stage 6 it was an occasion to study a course of their choice for the HSC that would not have been possible
in a conventional timetable. Judy Dutton, Project Officer at LMC said, The syllabus topics covered the Preliminary Course
topics: Planet Earth and Its EnvironmentA Five Thousand Million Year Journey, the Local Environment, Water Issues and
Dynamic Earth.
Year 11 students at Parramatta as well as accelerated students from Year 9 at Arthur Phillip High School (APHS) and
James Ruse Agricultural High Schools, joined the twice weekly connected classrooms.
Bruce Walters, Science teacher at APHS said, The classes were a success! True learning went on, the students learned and
they learned in a novel way.
The classes will continue in Term 4 and into 2010, Judy added, I think it was a very beneficial thing to do. We really didnt
know what to expect, we were piloting it, and it had a very steep learning curve initially. The students enjoyed many
aspects of the course.
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blogED
scrapbook
Sue Crawford, teacher librarian at

Terrey Hills Public, promotes book week by
posting book reviews and embedding YouTube
video excerpts of short listed books on her
across the story bridge blog
EARLY -- MIDDLE YEARS
EARLY YEARS
Kindergarten at Ultimo Public record their
scientific observations and literary responses of
their chicken hatchlings in their blogED journal
Extract Bulletin No. 32, 21 May 2010 examples of blogED
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B8 - Connected Classrooms Program Technologies Provide

Additional Transition Strategies From

1
2
Learning in the Middle Years in South Western Sydney Region:

The Best Way to Learn is to Teach
TLC Uses CCP Technologies for Teacher Professional Learning and Student
Literacy
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From
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1. Learning in the Middle Years in
South Western Sydney Region:

The Best Way to Learn is to Teach
(Bulletin 11, 27 February 2009)
The Connected Classroom offers a great opportunity
to secondary students to consolidate and extend
their learning by presenting to primary students, as
a group of Year 8 Science students from East Hills
Girls Technology High School recently discovered.
The aspiring scientists became experts in the
respiratory system when they delivered an
interactive lesson via video conference to Year 6
students at Revesby Public School. Ann Pantel,
Relieving Principal at Revesby PS said, It kept 2
classes engaged for a whole session. They were
very excited about the experience.

The lesson was Anns idea, raised with Heidi Hammond, Head Teacher of Science at East Hills Girls Technology High.
Four students from a Year 8 science class volunteered for the extension activity and with Heidis assistance came up
with a plan for a lesson that was both fun and informative. The primary students were kept entertained with a variety
of activities during the videoconference, as the secondary students delivered a lesson on asthma, carried out practical
demonstrations and presented a video and quiz via the interactive whiteboard.
The videoconference equipment proved no challenge for the East Hills Girls Technology High students, as Heidi noted,
The Year 8 students were very quick to take over the remote. They took to the VC like ducks to water, and presented
professionally.
The secondary students prepared the Revesby PS students for the video conference by sending the quiz, a worksheet
and instructions to be equipped with string, balloons and calculators prior to the event. These simple measures meant
that the primary students were able to be actively involved in the lesson, while Heidi, the supervising teacher at East Hills
Girls Technology High, manned the volume control to ensure that the lesson was not drowned out by any noise from the
eager Year 6 students.
The video conference was a great success, with educational value for both schools. Heidi encourages other schools to do
the same thing, saying the exercise builds links between the High School and the Primary School. It would be good to
have different groups of kids doing this with other schools, to extend their learning.
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2. TLC Uses CCP Technologies for
Teacher Professional Learning and

Student Literacy
TLC or the Turrumurra Learning Community in
Northern Sydney Region presented its project
Turramurra Community of Schools: Interactive
Connections in Quality Teaching and Learning
Strategies using CCP technologies in a workshop at
the recent Connected Learning conference.
The project, one of many TLC initiatives, was
determined late last year by the Principals of
Turramurra High School, West Pymble, Turramurra,
and Gordon West Public Schools prior to the
installation of each of the schools Connected
Classrooms.
Each Principal nominated a classroom teacher to join the project and to work out a sequence of literacy lessons for
students in Stages 3 and 4 that utilized the new technology and elements from the three dimensions of the NSW model
of Quality Teaching. Throughout the project, CCP technologies were used for the classroom lessons and after school
by the project team for planning and preparation. All students were pre and post tested to measure their descriptive
writing skills.
See the interactive 3D Model at: https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/lists/directoratesaz/ccp/model/index.htm.
The project aimed to:
t use NAPLAN data from all schools to identify authentic focus, in this case vocabulary, theme and paragraphing;
t share best practice in the focus areas via VC lessons for students;
t connect the classrooms and enable Stage 3 students to receive feedback from Stage 4 mentors on their written story
drafts; and
t outline the steps to achieve consistency in teacher judgment in writing assessments rubrics and how to develop
deeper teacher understanding of the learning continuum from primary to high school.
Belinda Kelly, Deputy Principal, Turramurra High School, described her learning from the project, It was a challenging
but exciting experience. I learned to accept that to be able to use this technology I needed to take it in small chunks and
start with a simple idea. The interactive whiteboard software resources are highly visual and work well with Bridgit - I
will always remember the gasp in the classroom when an amazing simile appeared on the interactive whiteboard from
a classroom five kilometres away.
English teacher Veronika Cibas, also from Turramurra High School, witnessed how, Mentoring in the project developed
student confidence and our high expectations encouraged the students to be original in their images for the metaphors.
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B9 - Connected Classrooms Program Technologies Provide

Students with Access to
st

1
2
3
4
5
More Than Two Thousand Students in K-12 Participated in Learn Astronomy

From Our School
Blogs for Participatory Democracy in the High School Context
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Using the Interactive White Board for Teaching and Learning in the SSP Context
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Case Study: No Silent Voices: We Love the Blog - Thanks for Letting us Use it
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The Blog in Visual Arts at Fairfield High School
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m poo raa ry leaa rnii n g tee c h n o l o g i e s s y noo nyy m o u s w ith
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21 stt c enn t urr y l eaa r nii n g
1. More Than Two Thousand
Students in K-12 Participated

in Learn Astronomy From Our
School
There was a galaxy of star gazing in 63 Connected
Classrooms towards the end of Term 3 the
occasion was a project celebrating the 400th
anniversary of Galileos first use of the telescope in
astronomy.
Ann-Marie Furney, School Education Director
and Senior User in the Connected Classrooms
Project explained, All DET regions participated;
the projects purpose was to enhance the video
conferencing skills of teachers and students, as well
as further develop the students learning in IT and science syllabus outcomes.
Using the astronomy theme, each school group had to produce a video conference presentation with an engaging title,
a brief synopsis and an advertisement to promote it. The sessions took 25 minutes, 15-20 minutes on content and five
minutes for questions from other schools. Projects used a mix of desktop collaboration via IWB showing Notebook 10
files, or the use of content Share via video conference.
Five students in Year 8 Science at Willyama High School, Broken Hill entered their project, Journey to the Moon and
Back. Ellysia, a student in the team believed she had, Learnt a lot about moon exploration, through Apollo Missions
11 and 13, and how this revolutionised human understanding of the moon. It also enhanced my PowerPoint, video
conferencing, Bridgit and public speaking skills.
Another team member Katelyn said, I gained skills in filming and camera techniques. Those skills will not be lost. From
her perspective the project was challenging, Yet very educational and fun. It was our first time competing in such a
competition. I am very proud of our video conference, we worked well as a group - it turned out really well.
Science Head Teacher, Lesley Black, in collaboration with Computing Studies teacher Phil Danaher, supported the
Willyama students participation. For Lesley the project acted as a professional learning exercise for her understanding
and use of new technologies, she said, It was a brilliant way to redress the inequity that exists between city and country
students due to the tyranny of distance. The project was an outstanding success both academically and socially and
the input of Ronald Payne must not be ignored. The class enthusiastically embraced this mode of learning and will now
spend the later part of Term 4 producing video conference resources for different Stage 5 Science syllabus outcomes
they look forward to using Bridgit to share what they produce with other schools.
In Sydney Region, at Coogee Public School 12 GAT students from Years 3-6 researched The Mars Rovers using the
Quality Teaching elements of Deep Understanding and Substantive Communication. Students, Aimee and Anna, inspired
their group to create a story about, Rovers sent to Mars called Spirit and Opportunity, the content included where the
rovers were made, the journey to Mars and the design features of the spacecraft, said their teacher Catherine Ryan.
They used Notebook 10, and Garage Band for the presentation. As well as developing their ICT skills, the students applied
their science knowledge through creating a play, song and a quiz show to interact with the audience, she explained.
The students negotiated and cooperated to make their presentation; they worked in pairs and small groups on different
aspects of Mars. The work was then sequenced and edited by their teacher to produce the final presentation.
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After the project some of the students commented, It was interesting using the Connected Classroom for the first time
and I liked seeing and talking to classes from other schools.
From Catherines perspective, As a novice to the VC equipment I found the video conference etiquette guide really
useful. I had trouble hearing kids speak in one of the other presentations so I made it a priority for my group to use loud,
clear voices. Logging on and off is simple and I enjoyed using the remote to change camera shots, its probably as close
as Ill ever get to directing a movie.
Ron Payne from iTeach 21 who managed the Astronomy Project said, Most of the schools involved had not used the
technology much before, they were also introduced to Bridgit - after this learning experience they are now quite at ease
using both technologies.
2. Blogs for Participatory
Democracy in the High School

Context
Darcy Moore is Deputy Principal at Dapto High
School in Illawarra and South East Region. He has
dabbled in new technologies for most of his career
but especially since the internet became available
at DET schools.
Dapto High School has more than 960 students,
and has a developing culture of active student
citizenship. Student leaders at the school this year,
namely the Student Representative Council (SRC),
seized the opportunity to participate in the DET
blog trial during Term 2 with enthusiasm.
In May, Darcy and Renee Gilbert, SRC coordinator (also a Drama teacher and keen blogger) supported students to
establish a public blog called OurSpace-run by you for you. Sitting behind the SRCs willingness to gather student
voice or constituent contributions was, Barack Obamas web 2.0 strategy, the students particularly liked his notion
of participatory democracy, said Darcy. He explained further: The SRC can see how the OurSpace blog can work for
students, as entertainment, as community and a place to agitate for change that benefits the student body that elected
them. All posts and comments are moderated as the blog is set up as public. Students with posting rights have been
able to balance common sense with deft political skills.
One powerful example of the OurSpace blog in action canvassed the issue of the quality of the current school uniform.
A student from the SRC made a blog post highlighting his concern; this in turn led to the Principal facilitating a meeting
between the uniform supplier and the student which resulted in the supplier acknowledging the matter and offering
replacement uniforms and other financial concessions within a week. This student said, At least we are getting action.
The SRC and the student body appreciate that we are being heard and our opinions validated.
Darcy outlined that OurSpace hosted stills and a video from the schools MADD (Music, Art, Drama and Dance) Night.
Later in the year, Darcy re-capped, The SRC is intending to have students who nominate for election make brief online
video speeches on the blog prior to voting as well as conducting polls on a variety of issues to gather data on what
students want - again this is participatory democracy in action - students are using web 2.0 tools in a genuinely authentic
manner. At the blog trial conclusion Principal Andrew FitzSimons remarked in comments to the Program, This strategy
has galvanised our SRC in a manner Ive not observed before.
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3. The
Blog in Visual Arts at

Fairfield High School
Digital video drove my need to develop computer

literacy, and with the development of the new
Years 7-10 Photographic and Digital Media syllabus,
opportunities to incorporate Photoshop and other
software to digitally enhance 2D art forms is endless
- Visual Arts, as with every other subject, lends itself
beautifully to the use of a blog.
This is how Kathleen Hannigan, Head Teacher,
Visual Arts and Computing Studies at Fairfield
High School (FHS) described her motivation for
being a participant in the Term 2 DET blog trial. She
began teaching at FHS 18 years ago; the school in
South Western Sydney Region has more than 1100
students, of which 94% come from Language Backgrounds Other Than English (LBOTE), A school where at least 60
different languages are spoken, Kathleen explained.
Kathleen used the blog with her mixed-ability elective Year 9 Visual Arts class of 29 students. When my students go
home, I want them to be thinking about my subject more than any other subject! The blog provides a fantastic link
between school and home I set a descriptive task for homework, I had 27 hits on the blog in 24 hours, she stated.
Kathleen set daily blogs, and a weekly blog for short and longer learning tasks. Such blogs would be loaded with stimulus
material in the form of video, vodcasts, links to internet sites and still images. She outlined, Because the blog is so easy
to manage, I could walk out of the classroom after a lesson, and in five minutes, using the staff room computer, create
a homework task that would extend the students thinking of the content they gained that day. This would also prepare
them for the next days lesson.
The Year 9 students also were able to upload their own material via the concept of a Di-Log (a digital log or journal)
when Kathleen gave them authoring rights. Over the trial period students uploaded compressed video art, scans and
photographs of artworks, and wrote recounts of their processes.
What was also interesting said Kathleen, The more literate students were able to model better grammar for the ESL
students, as they read each others responses. When the 2009 NAPLAN results are available, I will be able to design blog
tasks that specifically address individual students needs in literacy and numeracy.
One measure Kathleen used to check student engagement using the blog tool was via the careful manner in which they
designed aliases and avatars, and how students responded to peers on the blog.
She said, I felt the class develop more cohesiveness after the blog took off, and the sense of a learning community within
the blog has now extended into the classroom. A newly arrived student made a short, two minute film after school - I
posted his film for a Friday funny activity - the other students were very impressed by what he did. They didnt know
much about him till then - he became a hero in the class for a while after that.
Significantly, Kathleen saw the blog as an opportunity to enhance her relationship with the students. She told the
Program in an interview it had supported her to, Know her students better, I saw more of their personalities, all without
much more of my own time. In fact, interacting with students written responses on a blog is far faster than taking home
a stack of books.
Three students from the trial commented on what using a blog meant to them, I know more about the subject because it
has a blog; I showed the blog to my parents to show them how well I am working in class with other students and how
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much work I am getting done! and I like how students can post comments and do their homework on the blog. You
learn better since you can locate it on the internet at home, you cant forget your homework or lose it.
This term Kathleen has started a new blog The Hall of Fame - a list of students who do something well in the lesson; their
names are recorded on the interactive whiteboard and noted on the blog. Students are awarded a merit certificate to
show their parents and family they have made it to The Hall of Fame, Ill let you know about the educational benefits,
there may be more students trying to answer questions in class, or achieving a numeracy task because they know it will
land them in the Hall of Fame (lol) - its all good fun and they are learning!
4. Using the Interactive White
Board for Teaching and Learning

in the SSP Context
Fran Borrego is the student who heard himself
speak for the first time using his schools touch
screen interactive whiteboard you may have
read about him in recent news articles? Research
findings support the advantages of how this
technology appeals to the visual needs of students
with special needs (Schuck and Kearney, 2006).
Fran is in the class at Mary Brooksbank School
whose entry Kangaroo Class Goes to Playmaze
was awarded one of the top three positions in the
recent Centre for Learning Innovation Digital Story
Awards; the class competed against mainstream schools*.
This School for Specific Purposes (SSP) in South Western Sydney Region has 70 students ranging in age from 4 to 18.
Their needs reflect challenging levels of behaviour, difficulties with engagement due to autism, obsessive compulsive
disorders and cognitive impairments that impact on their academic capabilities.
After our involvement in the ICT for the 21st century project the school team mapped a three year plan for ICT
development; this incorporated cabling the school in June and installation of four interactive whiteboards purchased
through the discretionary process in December 2008 said Principal Dianne Robertson.
All of the technology activities in the school have been augmented for students with limited physical mobility, as well as
restricted productive and receptive language. Teachers Pamela Carter and Claudia Vera led Kangaroo Classs digital story
project. Pamela said, Student outcomes and engagement levels have improved dramatically since the introduction of
IWBs at our school. This technology provides our students with access to curriculum content in a way that caters for their
highly individualised and sensory based needs.
For Claudia it was more about, ICT being an agent for challenging traditional strategies, raising expectations and
unlocking potential. It has become an important new mode of expression for teachers and students alike, equipping us
with a new common language that helps us better understand and assist each other. In recent weeks the school has
confirmed the purchase of another three interactive whiteboards to support engagement using technology across the
school.
*The digital story is about a school excursion, it was made by seven boys in SMART Notebook 10 lesson creation software; it can be
viewed at http:// www.cli.nsw.edu.au/support_nav/news/2009_award_winners.htm.
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5. Case Study: No Silent Voices:
We Love the Blog - Thanks for

Letting us Use it
In Term 2 Mike Cooper, Assistant Principal at Bligh
Park Public School (BPPS) in Western Sydney Region
posted a comment on the bloglog, Empowerment!
I have a number of children who rarely contribute
to classroom discussions. The blog has given them
a voice. Theyre impressed and so am I.
The bloglog (a term used by the blog evaluation
team) was used to capture the teachers feedback.
The sense of empowerment Mike cites, I found
that children who appeared disengaged during
class discussions used the blog as their voice.
He continued, The posts and comments they made demonstrated that the blog was their preferred forum for expressing
views and providing information - the fact that they could post from behind an avatar (and an) alias gave them more
strength.
BPPS has more than 435 students; it has a diverse range of families who are very supportive of the school and its
community. During the trial Mike created three class blogs for his Year 3/4 class of 28 students:
t a private blog that recreated the First Fleet voyage. The term long activity simulated the voyage by sailing ship. Each
day the students had to make decisions and keep a ship log of the voyage on the blog, for example: which course to
set, weather patterns, food shortages, mutinies and disease;
t a public blog for the parents to view their childs ship log. Mike said, Parents were very impressed with both
the standard of writing and the depth of knowledge and information the children were learning from the sailing
simulation; and
t another public blog to communicate with a class at Barnacre Primary School, near Blackpool in the UK. Its purpose,
Was to share and exchange cultural information about our two schools and countries. We have achieved some
success and we will build on this once the English students return to school following their summer vacation.
For the trial debriefing day, Mike captured his class blog experience in a short film, A Day in the Life of the Bligh Park
Blog. In the film the students described, Being able to upload all kinds of photos, download homework and The blog
improved my typing skills as well as being able to get answers to questions I had from my peers all while my parents
were busy helping our neighbours to move house!
The film also details Mikes reflection on the use of the blog for Quality Teaching; in particular he observed evidence of
Engagement, Substantive Communication, and Metalanguage. As well as Higher Order Thinking Skills, also present were
Narrative and Connectedness in the Significance dimension.
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h
Mike responded, The Substantive Communication aspect was strong. I noticed that the children were able to slip very
easily into the language of the blog and could readily discuss posts and comments. With minimal instruction, each child
was able to log in and navigate his / her way around the blog. Many became adept at uploading files, photographs and
their homework. It was often the reluctant paper submitters who were first to submit using the blog.
In an interview with the Program Mike explained how using a blog for teaching and learning differs from other pedagogical
approaches, stating, The potential for the blog is huge. Different interest / ability groups can be set up. For example,
podcasts of a musical piece could be uploaded so that instrumental music students could practice with their teacher,
outside knowledge experts from places like NASA could be invited to post and comment. The blog, in part, re-creates the
childs digital bedroom at school. In the hands of a passionate pedagogue, it is a powerful learning tool.
C C P 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 1 0 103
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B10 - Connected Classrooms Program Technologies Enable the
Page
Vicki Lowery from Curriculum K-12 Directorate Explains How to Sustain the
Implementation and Support of COGs Through Networking Using CCP Technologies
106
2
3
4
SMART Notebook Content Creation Seminar

Using Video Conferencing to Give Teachers a Say on National Curriculum
107
107
108
Videoconferencing for Professional Learning: Geo Gebra for Beginners
109
Connecting Learning in My Primary Classroom
110
Connecting Learning in the Primary Classroom
CCP 2007 - 2011
105
Benefit 10
Connected Classrooms Program Technologies Enable the
cree atioo n , s h arr ingg a n d d e l i v e r y o f c urrr icuu luu m c o n tee n t

1. Vicki Lowery from Curriculum
K-12 Directorate Explains How

to Sustain the Implementation
and Support of COGs Through
Networking Using CCP
Technologies
A number of hub schools across the state have
established local networks as a way of sustaining the
support for the program: Curriculum Planning and
Implementation, incorporating COGs (Connected
Outcomes Groups).
Two hub meetings were held in Term 3; the first
meeting included eight sites hosted by Cobbity,
Drummond Memorial, Gosford, Lake Illawarra,
Medowie, Ross Hill and Windsor Park Public Schools. Hub schools contacted local schools and invited them to meet,
and share COGs achievements, issues and resources.
As part of the first meeting, the schools joined a video conference held at Ryde with Senior Curriculum Advisers Annalies van Westenbrugge and Anne Southwell, from English K-6 and HSIE K-6, respectively. Both presenters used
Bridgit software to show participants the COGs resources available.
Two teachers who attended the first hub sent Vicki these comments after the initial meeting, I would have to say that
was a great success. Well done! and The teachers in our hub came from several schools in Illawarra SE region. We were
all very impressed with the Bridgit technology from our end we could see and hear you well, and we could clearly see
the computer work.
Vicki, a Senior Project Officer at Curriculum K-12 Directorate said, The Connected Classroom technology provides
wonderful opportunities for teachers to meet, collaborate and share. Alison Partridge, a teacher at Medowie Public
School described how, One teacher brought her thumb drive with files shed created for S2 COG A using the Notebook
10 software. Three participants in the hub were teaching that stage, so all have gone away happy with a copy of resources
they can use immediately with their classes.
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Benefit 10

2. SMART Notebook Content
Creation Seminar
A seminar was held in Sydney recently to take a
detailed look at content creation using the SMART
Notebook collaborative learning software. Held
over three days from 11 to 13 March, the event
gave teachers a chance to get expert advice and
hands on experience in developing and sharing
rich and interactive resources. Offered exclusively
for the DET, the seminar attracted 29 participants
representing all regions. At the completion of
the event, participants were recognised as skilled
SMART Notebook users. The quality lessons they
created during the seminar will be available in Term
2 on the curriculum support website. The seminar
was led by ELECTROBOARD education consultants in conjunction with DET staff. Presentations were tailored to focus on
Key Learning Areas for both primary and secondary stages, and featured tips and tricks for using the softwares design
and delivery tools, including the popular Lesson Activity Toolkit. Feedback from participants was very positive. The best
and most valuable course I have been to in a while, said Michelle Caruso, North Ryde Public School.
3. Connecting Learning in the Primary Classroom

In Term 4, 2009 a collaborative project between Information Technology, Learning Systems and Curriculum K-12,
brought 30 officers together from two Directorates to work in primary school classrooms with 19 teachers from nine
regions. The aim of this approach was to support teachers to effectively embed technology into teaching and learning,
and to develop teaching resources that use the interactive whiteboard and video conferencing equipment. An additional
purpose was the development of video conference links and possible events based on units of work being done in the
teachers classrooms.
Producing these quality resources was a partnership between Curriculum K-12 officers and teachers, sharing their
knowledge, expertise and experiences.
C C P 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 1 0 107
Benefit 10
cree atii o n , s h arr ingg a n d d e l i v e r y o f c urrr icuu luu m c o n tee n t

4. Using Video Conferencing to
Give Teachers a Say on National

Curriculum
The DET Curriculum Directorate has been using
video conferencing to consult with teachers around
the state on the draft Australian Curriculum. Bill
Blake, Manager Curriculum Policy and Planning,
reports here on the project.
The move to a national curriculum is one of the
biggest educational changes in Australia for many
decades. There are vast implications for students,
teachers and the community.
Draft curriculum in K-10 English, history,
mathematics and science were released in March
for consultation until May.

The challenge for us in the Curriculum K-12 Directorate was how to provide opportunities for teachers in primary,
secondary, central and special schools, anywhere in the state, to have their say.
The new video conferencing equipment, provided through the Connected Classrooms Program, seemed the obvious
solution.
For some time, school leaders and teachers have been using video conferencing for short meetings, with a limited
number of participants, in order to save time, travel expenses and inconvenience.
But we werent aware whether video conferencing had been used before on such a large scale, with such high stakes.
How many schools can participate at once? Can there be interaction? Would teachers participate? Can the technology
cope with the load? Would it be boring? These were some of the questions we wondered about.
After 33 video conferences involving almost 800 teachers in 426 locations, the answer is an unequivocal yes.
With the release of 14 draft senior secondary courses in English, History, Mathematics and Science, and more phases
of the national curriculum in the coming years, video conferencing will continue to be the major means of supporting
teacher consultation on the national curriculum.
We learned a number of lessons from this exercise that well be applying in the future, one being that you need to keep
a sense of humour, Bill said.
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5. Videoconferencing for
Professional Learning: Geo Gebra

for Beginners
Curriculum K-12 and the Centre for Learning
Innovation (CLI) collaborated to use the power
of videoconferencing to deliver a three week
professional learning course on the use of new
technologies, including interactive whiteboards, to
Mathematics teachers. Teachers from three schools
in the Lachlan Macquarie College group of schools,
Macquarie Boys Technology High School, Arthur
Phillip High School and Cumberland High School,
learnt about dynamic geometry and graphing
software through using the CLI resources Dynamic
Calculus and The Geometers Warehouse, which
were created using the free open source software GeoGebra.
At the first session maths teachers were introduced to the potential of the software with a PowerPoint presentation
shown on the interactive whiteboard, and discussion via videoconference of each teachers current knowledge and use
of dynamic software in the classroom. The teachers first task was to use applets (an applet is a small piece of software
that produces a dynamic display), from the Dynamic Calculus resource in class, and report back on their experience via
videoconference at the second session.
Tutorials were presented on the interactive whiteboard with a walk through of the components of the software and
website, and a demonstration of the construction of applets. By the third session the teachers followed the construction
of applets on the interactive whiteboard and used their laptops to create their own GeoGebra applets for use in the
classroom.
Mark Grady, Coordinator of Lachlan Macquarie College, sees many advantages in professional development of this
kind. A major benefit of the delivery of professional learning modules such as GeoGebra for beginners through video
conferencing and using interactive whiteboards is that participants were exposed to the great potential of connected
classrooms.
Lachlan Macquarie College aims to build the capacity of teachers and leaders within schools to improve student
learning outcomes and make mathematics and science relevant, exciting and innovative. As teachers CLI resource Dynamic Calculus created with free open source software, GeoGebra Year 6 students in the Sydney Region participate
in an interactive quiz show tournament via videoconference become accustomed to curriculum delivery in a virtual
environment via video conferencing and the use of IWBs, using quality products such as Dynamic Calculus, students and
teachers of mathematics will reap the benefits.
More GeoGebra for beginners courses are being run in 2008. For information go to Curriculum Support - Mathematics
Professional Learning - Mathematics 7-12 professional learning activities - http://www.curriculumsupport.education.
nsw.gov.au/secondary/mathematics/prolearn/ pl_activity.htm.
CLI is also developing an online version of GeoGebra for beginners, for independent use, to be available during Term 2.
C C P 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 1 0 109
Benefit 10

6. Connecting Learning in My
Primary Classroom
Got an interactive Whiteboard and looking for
a great KLA resources to use? A new website
has been created by Curriculum K-12 to bring
together the best available curriculum resources
and professional learning to help primary teachers
make the most of IWBs and video conferencing
equipment.
Theres no shortage of material on the internet
but how much suits our curriculum, our KLAs, our
software and our students?
Connecting learning in my primary classroom has
a range of IWB resources, many teacher created,
organised in easy to find Stage and KLA categories.
Each resource is supported by teacher notes, recommending programming and teaching ideas to get the most out of
that resource.
IWBs are great for accessing the Internet and interactive software applications give my students the tools to communicate,
collaborate and create, said one of the teachers involved in the project, Karen Grace from Coogee Public.
In my classroom, students explore their own ideas and share them with the class as they reflect on what theyve learnt
and how, creating an interactive and engaging learning experience.
My students are motivated, involved, engaged and participate in learning.
The SMART Notebooks, developed as part of the project, are a great resource for my planning and can be easily adapted
to suit my students needs, she said.
110 C C P 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 1 0
Further information regarding the Connected Classrooms Program can be obtained

from: www.det.nsw.edu.au
2010

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connected classrooms program

Connected Classrooms Program in Action

NSW Department of Education and Training 2010

Par t A - Connected Classrooms Program in Action:

The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians

21 st Century Learning What Is It and How Might It Be Managed?

Using Digital Technologies for Learning an Historical Perspective

Recent Educational Innovation Employing Web 2.0 and Mobile Technologies

The Connected Classrooms Program

Methodology Employed For Qualitative Evaluation of the Program:

Connected Classrooms Program Compendium of Practice

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action:

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

21 st Centur y Learning What Is It and How Might It Be Managed?

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

Using Digital Technologies for Learning an Historical Perspective

There is a strong commitment by education authorities for computer technology to

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

1. How is learning understood and constructed by young people?

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

The Connected Classrooms Program

The Connected Classrooms Program is made up of three key projects:

provide necessary infrastructure to facilitate collegial support networks for teachers.

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

online access to student reports for parents/caregivers

Network Enhancement Project

enhance bandwidth capacity and reliability

enable interactive environments at all 2,500 DET sites by providing:

enhanced authenticated and filtered internet browsing services;

increased bandwidth and speed;

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

to curriculum choice and specialised teachers and subject experts.

There was a recognition in the Business Case that:

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

Note: At the time of writing, December 2010:

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

B1 Increase opportunities for collaboration between students;

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

Methodology Employed For Qualitative Evaluation of The Program:

Rigorous, trustworthy and transferable;

Consistent with the philosophy of the given program or project;

Aligned to the medium; and consistent.

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

Ethicality is always a key concern whether employing qualitative or quantitative methods.

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

Exploring the Compendium of Practice and DVD Resource in Relation to

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

Collaboration Cluster: Benefit 1 Benefit 3

The Connected Classrooms Program in Action

B1 CCP technologies increase oppor tunities for collaboration between students

an opportunity for schools to engage in competitive games with one another;

an ability for a number of schools to participate in a virtual conference in relation to an event