CONTENT

Announcements: from the Desk of the President 

Upcoming webinars and events: online PL for Term Four

Passing of a Life Member: Leon Guss

Questionnaire for Primary teachers: research on DigiTech in schools

Product review: Edapt Education - improving data within your school

Cybersecurity webinar: Maths and cryptography

AWS Family Tech series: exploring AI, coding, robotics from home

Minecraft: Virtual Teacher Academy


ANNOUNCEMENTS

From the desk of DLTV President Ben Gallagher

Well, here we are at Week Three already and it’s great to see so many students slowly returning to school, even if they must wear facemasks.

I just wanted to alert you to the fact that DLTVs free webinar series are starting up again this week. Our first one is being delivered by Catherine Newington, the Educators' Specialist at the Australian Computing Society of which DLTV is a member. She is also on the DLTV committee and executive.

Catherine has been assisting DLTV with several projects over the last few years and I would personally like to take the time to thank her for her ongoing contributions to us.

You can still sign up for the webinar titled Making DigiTech and ICT mainstream. This is a pet topic of Catherine’s, and she has produced several articles with other subject associations about it. These are all available at our website, and Catherine assures me there’s more coming.

Don’t forget about our VCE day on the 5th of November.

It is with a heavy heart that I would like to inform our readers of the passing of Leon Guss one of DLTV’s life members. You can read more about Leon’s contribution to education in this newsletter. Our sympathies go out to his family.

Our annual membership drive is well under way and our finance office Lola Kroger has been working hard to ensure all your questions are answered.

DLTV has some exciting offers for both existing members and to attract new ones. Including our highly successful “Gifting” and “Elevating” offers. Remember we are only as strong as our membership base; without you we simply wouldn’t exist.

If you haven’t received an email about membership or have further queries, please contact our manager Kevin Daly.

Finally, I hope the next few weeks of term go well for you and your school.

As always reach out if we can support you in any way.

Cheers, Ben


UPCOMING WEBINARS AND EVENTS

Making DigiTech and ICT mainstream

21 Oct 2021, 4:00 PM – 4:40 PM
Cost: free

In this webinar, Catherine Newington from the Australian Computing Society will show you practical examples for addressing both the Digital Technologies curriculum and ICT capabilities in Primary and Secondary classroom contexts. Catherine will showcase samples of lesson ideas taken from a series she has produced for DLTV in cooperation with other subject associations, DigiTech and ICT Across The Curriculum.

More info and book

Sparking Creativity in any learning area with Adobe’s free tools

28 Oct 2021, 4:00 PM – 4:45 PM

Cost: free

This online workshop by Dr Tim Kitchen from Adobe will show you all about Adobe Spark, a set of free creativity tools that are being used to enhance creativity in classrooms around the world. Available for iOS and via a web browser, students and teachers are able to use Adobe Spark to make posters, videos and web pages quickly and easily.

More info and book

Classroom robotics across learning areas

3 Nov 2021, 4:00 PM – 4:45 PM

Cost: free

In this webinar, Sam Kingsley from The Brainary will showcase practical examples of how to incorporate the Digital Technologies Curriculum and ICT across multiple areas of the school curriculum. He will demonstrate how robotics (hardware and software) can be used in classrooms and across different learning areas.

More info and book

VCE Applied Computing Teachers' Conference

5 Nov 2021, 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM

$45 for DLTV members, $55 for non-members

This year's VCE Applied Computing Teachers' Conference will again take place online.

Presentations are delivered in the form of short, sharp sessions (~40 minutes) throughout the day:

  • core sessions from experienced teachers sharing their knowledge and classroom practice for VCE Applied Computing Units 1 & 2, Data Analytics Units 3 & 4 and Software Development Units 3 & 4,

  • topical sessions on tools, ideas and areas relevant to VCE Applied Computing teachers.
More info and book


PASSING OF A LIFE MEMBER: Leon Guss

DLTV is sad to announce the recent passing of Life Member, Leon Guss. Leon had been an integral member of both this organisation and of the IT teaching community in Victoria for many decades.

As a pioneer of the implementation of the innovative laptop program at Methodist Ladies College, under the stewardship of former Principal David Loader, Leon introduced the policies and procedures required to support the use, maintenance and viability of the program for more than 2,000 students. The laptops for students initiative was the first of its kind in Australia.

Leon was a true pioneer and will be sadly missed.


QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PRIMARY TEACHERS: research on DigiTech in schools

School leaders and teachers in Australian primary schools are invited to complete a questionnaire to inform a University of Sydney PhD research study about computational thinking in primary school Digital Technologies.

You don't need to be an expert to participate. Your questionnaire responses will be anonymous and data from this questionnaire will be reported without revealing any personal information. 

We are looking to identify the knowledge, skills and understanding required to enable teaching and learning of computational thinking, as related to the DT curriculum. The final aim is to develop a framework along with a package of Professional Learning materials and teaching and learning resources to support primary school teachers implement computational thinking in primary school Digital Technologies.

Access the questionnaire


PRODUCT REVIEW: Edapt Education

Eugene Roizman

Digital Technologies and Maths teacher, Box Hill High School

Head of Product, Edapt Education

The world that our young people are navigating every day is rapidly changing. While traditional academic achievement is still important and provides a solid foundation, it is becoming increasingly crucial that students are also developing broader capabilities and skills that are crucial to success in learning, life and work.

The challenge for us as teachers is: how do we capture all the great things that students are doing that don’t fit neatly into the curriculum box? How do we empower them to set goals, work towards those valuable skills and capabilities, and reflect on their progress? And how do we even get to know about all the great things our students are doing outside the classroom?

Edapt Education's Learner Profile

Edapt Education’s Learner Profile sets out to meet this need, providing students with the ability to share portfolios of work, celebrate achievements, and track goals. As teachers, we can view an individual learner’s profile, provide feedback on what they've uploaded or get an overview of a group of students.

The Edapt Learner Profile connects these student-driven contributions with a historical overview of the student's progress drawn from a SIS, LMS or other reporting sources. But it's not really about the data – the numbers just provide a way for the student and teacher to better understand the academic strengths of the student so that the student can best focus their energies into an area where they will succeed.

Looking to the future

The Looking to the Future report made clear that we must be equipping our students with more than an ATAR. I have spent most of my career working with high-achieving students whose ATARs may look impressive and gets them into university, but they too are becoming increasingly restless with a one-size-fits-all system. More than simply looking to the future, using a Learner Profile with our students gives them agency to craft their own future by sharing and emphasising the aspects of themselves that they are most proud of.

Currently, it is only possible for students and staff to access the platform; however, there are plans for parents and guardians to be included in the conversation – an important step that would allow the Learner Profile to act as a dynamic tool for parents to better see and hear their students rather than waiting for a generic semester report.

CYBER TEACHER: virtual workshop

LifeJourney's final Cyber Teacher virtual workshop for 2021 for will focus on maths and cryptography and their relation to careers in cyber security. Danesh from the Australian Signals Directorate will take us through his career journey in cryptography and how a strong mathematics background set him up for success.

Donna Buckley from John Curtin College of the Arts in Fremantle will present the classroom perspective. Donna will share how her love of teaching mathematics led her to become a leading Cyber Teacher in Australia. Donna will share her groundbreaking new Certificate 2 program for Cyber Security that she is currently implementing and its impact on students. Donna's recent experience with Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions in Australia will also be covered during the workshop.

The workshops are designed to build an understanding of the cyber security field for secondary teachers and careers advisors in Australia. The workshops are available free and address standards 3.4.2, 4.5.2, 6.2.2 and 7.4.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

Register to attend

AWS FAMILY TECH: learning series

The AWS Family Tech Series registration process has been recently revised and the current registration link for Australian teachers and parents is https://bit.ly/3uuEU0p

This complimentary resource consists of interesting talks, fun workshops, demonstrations and a careers corner.

Explore at your own pace and re-visit the site at any time to learn from subject matter experts: What is the Cloud? A Data Centre? AI? Machine Learning? Robotics? Coding? How do we benefit from it all? and much more.

You can download the FAQs document here and watch the latest introductory video clip here.

It’s a great resource for students of all ages and their families to explore together at home and also for teachers use in classrooms to enhance school subjects such as “Technologies and Society”.

Please contact Adrian Rhodes if you require additional information.

Register

MINECRAFT: Virtual Teacher Academy

Microsoft invites you to join Minecraft Global Training Partners in a free 5-week online cohort designed to help you master Minecraft: Education Edition and earn your Minecraft Certified Teacher Badge.

*Note – you must have Minecraft: Education Edition at your school to be eligible and be available to come to all sessions.

We will be meeting once a week in November in December as we complete the content on the Online Course, the Minecraft Teacher Academy. This cohort model is designed to highlight 2 modules each week, answer questions, and connect with each other to reflect on the material. You will receive a digital badge and join the Minecraft Certified Teacher Community. We are offering two time zones so everyone around the world can join! Sessions are one hour each.

If you attend all five live cohort events, you will be eligible to receive a professional development certificate for your time and a special gift. These courses will not be recorded as we will be discussing and reviewing and the best value will be attending the virtual meetings in person.

Register by Oct 25 to receive confirmation


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