CONTENT

Announcements: from the Desk of the President 

VCE news: from the VCAA

Face-to-face workshops: Excellent Term 3 offerings

NCSS Challenge: Student Competition

Go Girls: Cyber Edition 2021

Immersive activiities: From Google

Product review: Purple Mash

EduTECH 2021: Virtual Conference

Upcoming Apple webinars


ANNOUNCEMENTS

From the desk of DLTV President Ben Gallagher

Lockdown 5.0... WOW!!! How things change and so suddenly.

Just when we all thought it was safe to back go in the water, another quickly applied lockdown with no real certainty of when it will end. At my school we had just returned from holidays and were looking forward to a relatively “normal” term. It made me realise how as schools we should be forward planning for lockdowns to occur and not take things for granted.

At DLTV we were also trying to return to Face to Face PL, as we consider this the gold standard for us. As you will see we have had to postpone several events (apologies to those teachers who had already booked). Our strategy this term is to review our position on our workshops each fortnight. The intention is to still run some even if we have small numbers, but we will need to be flexible. Please feel free to confidently book for events, you will be contacted personally if they are postponed and be alerted to the next date.

With that in mind the ability to swing to virtual events becomes increasingly important. We had tapered off our webinars so we could put our energy into Face to Face workshops. However, that said our small team do have some virtual content which we will be rolling our soon. This is mainly due to the hard work of Nathan Alison our PL coordinator. We have also been extremely lucky to be supported by Catherine Newington from The Australian Computing Society.

Coming up we have the following;

Some Python and JavaScript coding workshops and Object-oriented programming resources, both face to face and virtual. This is courtesy of a successful Google grant.

We have created DigiTech Virtual workshops as part of our Strategic Partnership Commitments. Again, these will be published soon and will sometimes replace and also supplement some of our Face to Face content.

We have created content focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its connections to the secondary Digital Technologies curriculum, to be delivered along with a series of webinars this term. These have been produced courtesy of some funding we received from Education Services Australia.

We are also working on a DigiTech Careers Project which has been funded by the Department and is managed by The Career Education Association of Victoria. All being well this should be ready to roll out for Term Four.

As always please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need a hand in these troubling times

Cheers Ben


VCE NEWS: From the VCAA

The VCAA has published an update to COVID-19 advice for schools and teachers on their website at:

https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/news-and-events/latest-news/Novel%20coronavirus%20update/Pages/SchoolsandEducators.aspx

This includes information on:

  • General Achievement Test
  • Consideration of Educational Disadvantage – School FAQs
  • VCE assessment
  • VCE Study Designs

Also, on-demand videos for Unit 4 School-based Assessment for VCE Data Analytics and Software Development have been published to the Professional Learning pages via the Data Analytics and Software Development study pages.

The Unit 4 SBA videos for data Analytics can be accessed at: 

https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/news-and-events/professional-learning/VCE/Pages/VCEDataAnalytics.aspx

The Unit 4 SBA videos for Software Development can be accessed at: 

https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/news-and-events/professional-learning/VCE/Pages/VCESoftwareDevelopment.aspx

Videos for Unit 4 School-based Assessment are:

  • School-based Assessment and the VCE Assessment principle
  • Unit 4 Outcome 1 SAT
  • Unit 4 Outcome 2 SAC
  • Unit 4 Audit


FACE-TO-FACE WORKSHOPS

Teaching Digital Technologies and cross-curricular thinking skills

9:30am - 3:00pm, various dates at venues around metropolitan Melbourne

IMPORTANT: Due to COVID lockdown and the associated pressure this places on schools and teachers, Bayside, Roxburgh Park and Brunswick Professional Learning sessions have been postponed.


These workshops bring together Primary and Secondary teachers and school learning leaders to focus on the thinking skills at the heart of the Victorian Digital Technologies Curriculum, explore links to other learning areas and get hands on with physical tech.

  • clarify how ICT capabilities are different from Digital Technologies,
  • dive into Computational Thinking and Systems Thinking to gain a better grasp of these core skills,
  • discover and share how the DigiTech curriculum and Design Thinking can connect to other learning areas,
  • try your hand at coding with robots and electronics appropriate for the year levels you teach,
  • identify a range of online and offline resources to help you deliver Digital Technologies in your classroom.

Click a link below for more information on a workshop near you:

POSTPONED: Bayside P-12 College WILLIAMSTOWN (23 July)
POSTPONED: Roxburgh Park Primary ROXBURGH PARK (29 July)
St Margaret's and Berwick Grammar BERWICK (11 August)

Making DigiTech and ICT mainstream

1:30pm - 3:30pm, 4 August 2021 in Clayton

Digital Technologies and ICT capabilities are requirements in schools, and there are many opportunities to incorporate both  across multiple learning areas.

In this workshop, Catherine Newington From the Australian Computing Society and Sam Kingsley from The Brainary 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 ideas and lesson ideas taken from a series she has produced for DLTV in cooperation with other subject associations, DigiTech and ICT Across The Curriculum

All participants will receive a USB with worthwhile resources and have post workshop access contact for further support after the event.

POSTPONED: BRUNSWICK (28 July)
More info and book CLAYTON (4 August)

Getting started coding with Python and JavaScript

9:30pm - 3:30pm, various dates at venues in Victoria and metro Melbourne

Bridging the gap from blocky coding to text programming can be daunting for many teachers.

Attendance to this grant-funded event is free. In this full-day workshop:

  • Learn the basics of writing programs in two programming languages popular in Australian classrooms: Python and JavaScript.
  • Explore strategies for teaching programming, with fun tasks and learning sequences.
  • Discover a range of free resources to bring Python or JavaScript to the classroom, including some hands-on coding with the micro:bit.    

The Australian and Victorian curricula see students transition from block-based coding environments like Scratch to General Purpose Programming by Years 7 & 8. Python and JavaScript are both popular languages at Secondary years, as well as Upper Primary years.

More info and book DLTV BRUNSWICK (4 August)
More info and book WANGARATTA (18 August)

Cybersecurity: careers and the classroom

1:30pm - 3:30pm, various dates at venues in Victoria and metro Melbourne

Are you an educator interested in Cybersecurity?

Tim Edwards will provide a brief overview of the Australian Signals Directorate’s CyberEXP online career awareness program.

This will include background information on ASD’s mission, a program overview, importantly its application in the classroom, the instructor dashboard and resources for teachers.

Tim will also share information about the Cyber Teacher professional development program and other resources from LifeJourney.

More info and book WARNAMBOOL (31 August)
More info and book DLTV BRUNSWICK (1 September)

COVID-safe notice

DLTV follows up-to-date state government health recommendations for all face-to-face events.

  • Social distancing is in place, as required.
  • We supply hand sanitiser and facemasks (if required).
  • All surfaces are cleaned and sanitised before and after events.
  • Records of all attendees and contact details are retained for contact purposes.

If you have any concerns or questions about an event, please contact us.


NCSS CHALLENGE: student competition

The NCSS Challenge is almost here! Get your whole school involved to join this fun and friendly competition where students learn to code as they go along.

Aligned to the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies, this competition offers differentiated streams to cater to students' experience and literacy levels.

Students are supported throughout the competition to help them learn and deeply understand the content with:

  • Interactive notes
  • Engaging problems
  • Auto-marking with intelligent feedback; and
  • Live, online tutoring.

For more information on streams, content, and curriculum links visit: groklearning.com/challenge.


The competition begins 8am AEST Monday July 26. Help your students hit the ground running by assigning the competition to them today from your teacher dashboard.


GO GIRLS: Cyber Edition 2021

Go Girl - Cyber Edition is a fun, virtual and free 1-day technology conference for girls in years 5 to 12. It's coming up on 26 AUGUST 2021! It will be loaded with workshops, presentations and discussions - to inspire and excite girls for further studies and a career in STEM.

Who: Australia wide  

Where: Virtual conference  

When: 26th August 2021  

Agenda: 9am - 12pm: Years 5 to 8  1pm - 4pm: Years 9 to 12

You will need to complete the registration information for each girl that will be attending the event in order to secure your spot. So don't forget to register. Places are limited and registrations close on 2nd August.

A common perception is that 'IT' means coding. Go Girl, Go for IT challenges that view and aims to excite and engage female school students by introducing them to this world.

The one-day event focuses on inspiring students with fantastic role model speakers, showcasing technology of the future and challenging any preconceptions of what a career in IT might look like. 

It opens up the possibilities of following careers in everything from analysis to user design to development to data science (just to name a few!).

Dozens of hands-on workshops, presentations and discussions provide girls with the right kinds of information to help them discover what a career in IT could mean for them.

Participants will walk away with the ability to make an informed decision on whether they want to pursue a career in IT.


EXCELLENT IMMERSIVE ACTIVITIES

Why not try these activities  from Google with your class during lockdown?

Arts and Culture

Google Arts & Culture features content from over 2000 leading museums and archives who have partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the experience of immersing yourself in Art and Culture to wherever you are. https://artsandculture.google.com/

Virtual Art puzzles

Looking for a fun collaborative activity to share with students, colleagues or friends and family?  Check out gaming experiments from the Google Arts & Culture Lab.  You can do a collaborative virtual puzzle of an iconic piece of art, or complete a visual or cultural crossword.  https://artsandculture.google.com/project/games

Parisian Rooftops

Or why not do a 360 degree tour around 5 Parisian rooftops from the comfort of your couch.  https://artsandculture.google.com/story/walk-around-5-iconic-parisian-rooftops/nwISWA6wXt3HKA


PRODUCT REVIEW: Purple Mash

by Mrs Marnie Power

I am a digital technologies and STEM specialist teacher at St John’s Catholic Parish School in Heidelberg, Victoria. I am also the eLearning Leader and I look at the digital applications our school has and how we can improve the ways we use technology. My goal is to support colleagues in their use of technology to enhance the learning experiences for our students and reduce the overall workload teachers are faced with. Having used Purple Mash extensively in two schools, I consider it invaluable.

Purple Mash is an award-winning cross curricular website for primary school children.  Students receive their Purple Mash individual school account for a small per child yearly subscription, allowing them unrestricted access at home as well. It is cloud based, and enables access on a range of devices including desktops, laptops, Chromebooks, and iPads. It delivers an exciting mash-up of curriculum focused activities, creative tools, programs and games and allows teachers to provide task specific online activities to reinforce the content being explicitly taught in the lesson.

Each student’s work is assigned to a ‘2Do’ folder allowing them to save their work in their personal folder provides students with the facility for student voice via feedback loops with their teacher. Their teacher can view and assess and provide task specific feedback to the student. Included in the tools is blogging, emailing and a parent portal.

Purple Mash’s layout is intuitive and aims for simplicity, using icons and images to assist young learners beginning their digital journey.  The platform has built-in progress and challenges that scaffold learning right up to Year 6.

Teachers can use the search function to easily locate curated content specific to a topic or subject area. These are editable and come complete with video instructions. In this way teachers can differentiate tasks to assist those with learning challenges and extend students as needed. Curriculum mapping allows direct links between the specific curriculum indicator and Purple Mash activities and suggestions. 

Purple Mash is the creative technology tool that teachers have been looking for, parents have hoped existed and students have welcomed.

You can view the full article at;
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10DIIHGK4KUcl-X-ORn9Kc3q5hubFYX0O/view?usp=sharing


EduTECH 2021: Virtual Conference 17th & 18th August

EduTECH 2021 virtually brings together every member of the Education life cycle over two jam packed days. This is your chance to connect, learn and network with the entire Education industry at scale.

This year, EduTECH celebrates its 10-year anniversary!  Due to the latest COVID outbreaks and restrictions, for the health and safety of everyone, we’ve decided to run only the virtual-portion in 2021, and roll-over the in-person portion to 2022.

In conjunction and with support from our partners, Global Victoria, Victoria State Government, and Victoria Department of Education and Training, we are bringing you a free to attend virtual event designed to bring buyers and sellers together to exchange and explore digital technologies products & services from across Australia and beyond.

Attendees will hear insights from more than 150 leading stakeholders across a series of presentations, panel discussions and fireside chats.  Channels include: 

Browse the full agenda here

Here's a sneak peak of EduTECH’s Key Speakers:  

  • The Hon. James Merlino, Minister for Education, VIC Department of Education and Training
  • Tamara Sullivan, Deputy Principal, Brisbane South State Secondary College
  • Prof Marek Kowalkiewicz, Director of Centre for the Digital Economy, Queensland University of Technology
  • Peter Kaye, CEO, The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award - Australia
  • Jeannie Marie Paterson, Professor of Law, Centre for AI and Digital Ethics - Co-director Digital Access and Equity Research Program, The University of Melbourne
  • James Curran, CEO and Director, Grok Learning
  • Elizabeth Wilson, CIO, Victorian Department of Education and Training
  • Andrew Smith, CEO, Educational Services Australia
  • Joanne Blannin, Senior Lecturer: Digital Transformations, Monash Data Futures Institute, Monash University 
  • Matt Stokeld, Manager, Infrastructure Engineering, Information Management and Technology Division, Department of Education and Training

View the full list of speakers here. 

Attendees can browse through the virtual exhibition hall and explore the latest products, services and technologies from market leaders such as Microsoft, Apple, Global Victoria, Department of Education and Training Victoria, EduGrowth, just to name a few. Attendees can also connect, set up meetings and network with each other along with the expo’s Speakers and Exhibitors. Check out the full list of Exhibitors here

Want to attend?

EduTECH is your chance to see product and technology demos and to network with 10,000+ industry peers and colleagues. Click here to register for your FREE virtual pass now. 

Benefits of Attending Virtually? 

  • Watch sessions live or on-demand in your own time – no need to travel!
  • Save money as ticket are FREE. Plus you can save on travel and accommodation expenses 
  • Receive a certificate of attendance that can be used to claim CPD from your registration authority
  • Learn from over 150 expert speakers from Australia and overseas who will teach and inspire
  • Connect with over 100 key suppliers who are on hand to answer questions, demonstrate products and help you chose new solutions
  • Find and compare new suppliers – many will be giving away special offers and freebies during the event
  • Network with 1000’s of attendees who are all online to learn, connect and be inspired

Want to Exhibit?

If your company provides solutions to the Education industry, get in contact with The EduTECH team on 02 8908 8555 or email education@terrapinn.com to talk to the team for more information.  

We look forward to welcoming you virtually on the 17-18 August. 


UPCOMING APPLE WEBINARS

iPad in the Early Years Classroom

Part 1 - Drawing with iPad Thursday, 19 Aug, 2021

2 session to choose from - 3:30 pm & 5:30 pm (AEST)

Register Here - https://apple.co/3qERTe7

Explore how iPad can nurture creativity and wonder with Everyone Can Create.  In this session, we’ll get hands-on with the drawing guide, exploring how students can use drawing skills in the classroom using free apps available on iPad.

Part 2 - Music with iPad Thursday, 26 Aug, 2021

2 session to choose from - 3:30 pm & 5:30 pm (AEST)

Register Here - https://apple.co/3qERTe7

Explore how iPad can help students creatively express themselves through music with Everyone Can Create.  In this hands-on session, you’ll experience engaging lesson sequences that introduce skills and techniques in music through soundscapes.  

Engaging Primary Learners with iPad Part 1 - Literacy with iPad

Thursday, 29 Jul, 2021

2 session to choose from - 3:30 pm & 5:30 pm (AEST)

Register Here - https://apple.co/2To1AkV

Author Tristan Bancks returns to explore how iPad and education apps extend and enhance your students’ reading and writing skills. 

Part 2 - Numeracy with iPad Thursday, 05 Aug, 2021

2 session to choose from - 3:30 pm & 5:30 pm (AEST)

Register Here - https://apple.co/2To1AkV

Explore how iPad and the Numbers app can extend and enhance student numeracy skills, with a specific focus on financial literacy. You’ll walk away with everything you need to plan and deliver an integrated unit of work focusing on money.

Reimagining Learning for Today's World - Secondary Educator Workshops

Session 1 - Infuse Creativity into Literature with iPad

Monday 16, 23 & 30 Aug, 2021 3:45 pm - 4:45 pm (AEST)

Register Here - https://apple.co/3w9xkaO

Join us to discover how the built-in features of iPad help secondary students make connections to content through creativity. 

Session 2 - Cultivate Inquiry in History with iPad Tuesday 17, 24 & 31 Aug, 2021

3:45 pm - 4:45 pm (AEST)

Register Here - https://apple.co/3x7cDOd

These hands-on sessions delve into how the creative tools on iPad encourage inquiry and provoke curiosity of ancient pasts in new ways.

Session 3 - Engage Science Learners with iPad 

Wednesday 18 & 25 Aug, 01 Sep., 2021

3:45 pm - 4:45 pm (AEST)

Register Here - https://apple.co/3hks2E7

These hands-on sessions will explore ways students can analyse, visualise, capture, and represent science understandings through creative expression.


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