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Partners in Learning www.microsoft.com.au/innovativeteacher Innovative Teachers Award “My students are enthralled by technology because it makes their learning more exciting, interactive and enjoyable.” ICT helps prepare students for future experiences: It enables them to choose the manner in which they complete projects Erin sees ICT learning as the most important way to prepare her students for their future educational and occupational experiences. She presents classwork to her students in a variety of mediums and lets them choose the manner in which they bring homework and projects back to her. “My students are more motivated to work to a high standard when they are given the opportunity to work on a computer or use a digital camera,” says Erin. “They have also become ‘experts’ within the school and are often asked to help other students with using technologies.” And there’s workshops for parents and colleagues Erin’s students have been using everything from Microsoft ® Word, Microsoft ® Publisher, Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® , Microsoft ® PhotoStory to MovieMaker to create ‘Super Hero’ comics, design futuristic objects and make presentations about maritime explorers. And now that they’re giving mum and dad a run for their money, Erin has begun a series of workshops helping parents and colleagues understand how technology can support and enhance educational development. Erin has also spearheaded the development of a ‘Scope and Sequence’ document for ICT use in the classroom, which incorporates the National Statements of Learning for ICT as well as a list of applications and project ideas for her fellow colleagues. Erin Svean Wirrabirra Primary School, Gosnells, Western Australia

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Partners in Learning

www.microsoft.com.au/innovativeteacher

Innovative Teachers Award

“My students are enthralled by technology because it makes their learning more exciting, interactive and enjoyable.”

ICT helps prepare students for future experiences: It enables them to choose the manner in which they complete projects

Erin sees ICT learning as the most important way to prepare her students for their future educational and occupational experiences. She presents classwork to her students in a variety of mediums and lets them choose the manner in which they bring homework and projects back to her.

“My students are more motivated to work to a high standard when they are given the opportunity to work on a computer or use a digital camera,” says Erin. “They have also become ‘experts’ within the school and are often asked to help other students with using technologies.”

And there’s workshops for parents and colleagues

Erin’s students have been using everything from Microsoft® Word, Microsoft®

Publisher, Microsoft® PowerPoint®, Microsoft® PhotoStory to MovieMaker to create ‘Super Hero’ comics, design futuristic objects and make presentations about maritime explorers. And now that they’re giving mum and dad a run for their money, Erin has begun a series of workshops helping parents and colleagues understand how technology can support and enhance educational development. Erin has also spearheaded the development of a ‘Scope and Sequence’ document for ICT use in the classroom, which incorporates the National Statements of Learning for ICT as well as a list of applications and project ideas for her fellow colleagues.

Erin SveanWirrabirra Primary School, Gosnells, Western Australia

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Innovative Teachers Award

“Effective learning is when the students take control and are intrinsically motivated.”

Learning to play the game Students design their own multimedia games

Impressed by the amount of employment and learning opportunities tied to the gaming industry, Brett Butler set about turning his ICT students into real-life game development teams. His students were immediately inspired by the idea and rose to the challenge by developing skills across the entire gamut of multimedia production. On any given day Brett’s students could be writing the game narrative and logic; drawing or digitally creating images of characters, objects and backgrounds; recording sound effects, voice over and musical scores; filming and animating cut scenes; or programming the whole thing using Scratch.

Game on

Brett has developed a supportive course structure but his students are usually able to develop their projects organically, allowing each student to explore their interests and nurture their personal talents.

“I’ve been totally blown away by what they’ve come up with,” says Brett. “But the real achievement has been each student’s personal journey and the pride they all have in their work.” In creating the games, the teams have become more resourceful in their approach to knowledge gaps, preferring to do their own research online before coming to Brett. On top of that, each student team has learnt as much about technology as they have about each other, by working through the inevitable creative differences and communication challenges of teamwork.

Brett ButlerCrows Nest State School, Crows Nest, Queensland

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Innovative Teachers Award

“Without Spinnamaths, it would be extraordinarily difficult to move students beyond the process of calculations to discuss the underlying principles and implications of the problem.”

Creating visual representations of complex mathematics using Microsoft® Office Excel®

It’s a tall order to visually imagine calculus, integrals or logarithms, but Ed Staples is doing just that using his Spinnamaths Excel spreadsheets. Ed discovered the educational power of Excel thanks to an offhand comment from the late James Taylor (Mariah College, NSW), who mentioned that Excel was a teacher’s most critically overlooked learning tool. Since then, Ed has developed over 100 ‘Spinners’ – visual representations of mathematic concepts complete with click-able sliders, which let students manipulate the values on the x and y axes and watch the graph dynamically respond to the changing input.

Come in spinner

Ed brings Spinnamaths into his classrooms using an interactive whiteboard and even helps his students create their own Spinners to investigate any topic of their choosing.

“Spinnamaths has had a profound impact on my teaching,” he says. “I can just walk into class, turn it on and the kids will start learning just by watching rather than rote learning.” By bringing complex mathematics to life, Ed has made it easy for his students to understand concepts at a glance, so they can quickly move on to asking the big ‘what if’ questions and exploring concepts at much greater depth.

Ed StaplesErindale College, Wanniassa, Australian Capital Territory

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Innovative Teachers Award

“It’s all about authenticating student learning. They’re engaged and excited by the cameras because they can apply new skills in their own environment.”

Students make the call using their mobile phones to capture footage for class projects

When it became common for students to own mobile phones, most schools simply banned them. But Harry immediately saw a new vehicle for teaching and learning. His media, film and animation students began using the video and Bluetooth capabilities of mobile phones to record video clips, edit them together using MovieMaker and share them online. But the real breakthrough has been introducing this methodology to traditionally media-poor subjects, like physical education.

Flip side

Under Harry’s guidance, badminton and basketball teams have been equipped with flip cameras (small and inexpensive hand-held video cameras) to video their physical skills. The students capture and edit video footage into small clips using MovieMaker, upload them onto a web site and view them in sequence with previously uploaded clips. So rather than relying on the teacher’s perception of their skills, students can now self-monitor their skill progression online and post comments or complete personal evaluations.

Languages students are getting on board too: a French class travelling to France will use flip cameras to capture footage and upload it online, where other students will be able to grab clips and edit together their own documentaries.

Harry PostemaGlenunga International High School, Glenunga, South Australia

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Innovative Teachers Award

“What is happening in the world is instantly available, communication can be local, national and international and students can connect in real-time with people and institutions which inform their learning.”

Remote students overcome remote Tasmanian wilderness creating their own online community with buildings and streets

Patricia Corby’s global classrooms connect over 225 students living in remote or isolated locations throughout Tasmania. She encourages her students to communicate by all means possible – and not just on formal educational aspects – to build a real sense of community based on interactive learning experiences. “It’s really important for students to have access to the same level of educational opportunity, no matter where they are,” says Patricia.

Virtual Street

Her primary students, for example, have been collaborating online to create an imaginary street in which they can choose the buildings, amenities and religious structures they feel should be included. Creating the street together in a warm and accepting virtual classroom not only enables her students develop strong ICT skills, but helps them feel a lot less isolated. Patricia’s older students are just as inspired, with one Year 8 and one Year 10 student recently topping the state in the national Defence 2020 Participation Task. “This amazing effort showcases the value of personalised learning and how technology can deliver quality educational programs to students and enable them to achieve alongside and at the forefront of their peers.”

Patricia CorbyTasmanian Department of Education Online Campus

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Innovative Teachers Award

“Technology easily lends itself to the development of multiple intelligences, as it has so many facets with which to target the various ways students learn.”

Students live in a 3D world building claymation short films

In Simone Timms’ classroom, ICT is not isolated as a stand-alone subject, but integrated across the entire spectrum of learning. As a result, her Year 3 and 4 students have developed a fearless approach to technology, deftly putting together 2D shapes on computers and converting them into 3D, recording themselves narrate storybooks to critique their intonation, tabling their spelling scores in Excel – and even composing and editing entire ‘claymations’ using MovieMaker.

The equaliser

And it’s not all sitting down in front of screens either. Students are jumping out of their seats to play games like ‘fill in the blank’ on the class Smartboard and Simone is also planning an excursion to a wildlife park, where her students will be let loose to film footage for short ‘Bindi Irwin style’ documentaries. At the end of the year, her students’ creations are collected together in a comprehensive e-portfolios that can be shared with family and friends.

The most impressive aspect of Simone’s grass-roots approach is that it has inspired and encouraged all kinds of students, even those who typically struggle with schoolwork. “Technology is a great equaliser,” says Simone. “It gives all children the opportunity to succeed as the measures of success can be so easily adjusted to suit their level.”

Simone TimmsDurack School, Durack, Northern Territory

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Innovative Teachers Award

“I want to make technology commonplace in all my classes to prepare students for the working world.”

Students get a buzz out of technology by designing and building electrical components for alarms

When Stacie Witton told Year 9 electronics students they were going to build alarms in class, they were incredulous. But with the right technology, simulation, activities and skill development they all went on to get a buzz out of their creations. Students started by researching electrical components online and creating data sheets using Microsoft® Office Word. Then they learned to solder, filming an instructional video using Windows® Movie Maker to demonstrate the skill to other students. Next they designed and tested alarm circuits to create a working alarm.

Breakthrough moments

“The personal success, pride and knowledge that students gained as they tackled each challenge blew me away,” Stacie says. “It was amazing watching students that typically do not achieve success in traditional educational settings have breakthrough moments and gain praise and respect from their peers. None of it would have been possible without technology.”

Stacie also encourages students to collect information outside the classroom. In a recent excursion to a local amusement park, students got hands-on experience in physics, using phones, cameras and video cameras to capture footage of toboggan rides, bumper cars and mini golf to analyse later in class.

Stacie WittonKorumburra Secondary College, Korumburra, Victoria

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“Students love using technology to extend their education. It’s increasing the enjoyment of learning – making it not a task or a chore, but a choice.”

ICT helps students work at their own pace As well as collaborate on projects using a range of technologies

For Steve Cornish’s Year 5 and 6 students, experimentation and collaboration are helping them acquire computer skills far beyond their years.

Steve’s classroom is a self-directed learning environment where students can develop at their own pace, using a range of technologies to create and present their projects. They might use Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® and an interactive whiteboard to bring fairy tales to life for preschool students. Or create visual aids for oral presentations using Microsoft® Office Publisher. Or animate their ideas using Windows® Movie Maker. However they choose to express themselves, the emphasis is on developing higher order thinking strategies and the skills they need to make decisions confidently.

Closing the digital divide

With the help of a buddy system, Steve’s students are teaching younger students how to send and reply to emails, produce animations and more. This peer support is helping to close the digital divide for indigenous students and minimise equity issues in a rural area.

Students are also communicating and collaborating with their peers at other schools using videoconferencing, blogs, emails and wikis, broadening their learning horizons.

Steve CornishNarrabri West Public School, Narrabri, New South Wales