Kids are Consumers, too!
The future starts now
State governments weigh in
Global School House comes to Australia
Creative multimedia initiative
Talk to us!

Kids are Consumers, too!

21 October 1996 - The realisation that by the time you get to 10 years old you have money in your pocket and a reasonable idea of how you want to spend it has been a driving force in the development of consumer coaching software, released by the Department of Fair Trading this week.

The CD, called Consumer Power 2 is an upgrade of an idea that the department started work on a couple of years ago, and is designed to teach students that as consumers they have choices, responsibilities and rights as well. The multilevel game takes students through a shopping mall, and the various buying and earning money options -- pick up cans? or go to the bank for a loan?

NSW Minister for Fair Trading Fay Lo Po said that she was initially sceptical about pressuring schools to go beyond their existing mandate to teach literacy and numeracy into life skills such as relationships management and smart consumerism as well, but one look at the software and the reaction it has been getting was enough to convince her. "Our schools are under enormous pressure to provide everything a child needs," she told SchoolPC. "I was afraid in the beginning that programmes like this might replace the basic teaching of core skills like reading and counting, but I believe now that products like Consumer Power 2 just complement the existing curriculum, and anything which instructs students about their rights as consumers must be a good thing."

The initial print run of 10,000 CDs will be distributed to schools around the country. A spokesperson for the NSW department said that each government primary school would get one copy. The department then plans to pass on the rights to the product to commercial development, but will keep an eye on the final retail price. "We're not handing it on so that someone can make a mountain of money," the spokeperson said. "We have to make sure that whoever takes on the project can cover costs and make a reasonable amount out of it, but we would be expecting the product to retail for well under $50."

Stay tuned for a review of Consumer Power 2 soon. Watch this space!

The future starts now

For those of us who went to school when a computer was a device designed to live in the basement rather than the bedroom, the notion that computers now work alongside the teacher in the classroom, (and are on the point of revolutionising the teaching process – the ultimate out-of-box teacher's helper!) takes a little getting used to.

But the future is nearly here, and for some it can't come fast enough.

It's not as if we're talking about the recent invention of radical new technologies. Classrooms have been using Macs or PCs in isolated pockets for years, and the use of the telephone lines to transmit information, although now faster and easier than ever before, is not exactly new.

The difference is co-ordination. Instead of a loose confederation of products and services, and the general recognition that it's probably a good idea to systematically incorporate the use of technology into the teaching process, governments are getting together with technology providers and educators to produce, if not a rigidly applied standard, then certainly a guideline for how to implement technology in schools and what to use it for once it arrives.

An avalanche of software is available to enhance the teaching, not to mention learning experience, it's just a matter of knowing what's out there, and how to best make use of it all.

For lots of reasons, the classroom is pivotal to our information future, and it's important to be aware of what's actually going on there.

State governments weigh in

The NSW government of Bob Carr came to office a little over a year ago on the strength of a promise to connect all government schools in NSW to the Internet during its term of office. But the Education Department got a rude shock from teachers organisations earlier this year when it was announced that teachers weren't coming to the party -- that they wouldn't participate in a scheme which was perceived to be offering them insufficient training, since technology alone is clearly not enough.

After the federal budget, with its spending cuts, there was even concern that Mr Carr would not have the money in the coffers to hold true to his promise. Fortunately, the suggestion didn't come to fruition. In September the NSW education minister John Aquilina MP announced that his department had chosen long time schools favourite Apple Computer as one of the two recommended computer suppliers in its plan to equip school children with means to getting out into the online world.

The government schools tender was jointly awarded to Apple and Ipex for the supply of PCs, Banksia for modems and Ozemail as the Internet Service provider. Telstra will also install a phone line dedicated to the Internet in each school.

Apple Computer Australia's national education market manager Jan Hedge said that of the 2226 schools, around half had opted for the Apple Macintosh Performas on offer, and that the rollout is already underway.

The Victorian government has also pledged the resources to get every government school in good technology shape .It has provided a grant to each school sufficient to buy a modem and install a phone line with (usually) enough left over to pay for some connect time.

SOF Web, the Victorian Department of School Education's home page at http://www.dse.vic.gov.au is a valuable resource for schools in terms of its own material and as a catalogue of other sites.

David Allibon, Apollo Parkways' technology manager and computing teacher, describes it as a significant contribution and one of the best sites for schools he's seen. (See our case study on Apollo Parkways Primary School.)

DSE trains teachers to deliver a "Learning with the Internet" course to their peers. It covers email, collaborative projects, researching on the Internet, PD on the Internet, and designing Web pages. Allibon has delivered the course twice already, and will be offering it again this term. He has already noticed that attendees are already more likely to come from schools with an Internet connection, so the DSE's plan seems to be working.

Global School House comes downunder

Catching up fast to Apple's impressive track record, Microsoft has teamed with Optus and linked in with the Global School House project (at http://www.gsh.org) to produce The JumpStart CD for education. The CD provides a range of tools for getting connected, as well as some tutorial advice for teachers, while the two sites, the Global School House and the newly launched Aussie School House provide rich ground for teachers to graze on ideas and strategies, or take account of other educators' experiences.

The Aussie Schoolhouse site (at http://www.ash.org.au) was launched on September 4 with the aim of being just that -- a virtual meeting place for teachers and students of all ages and backgrounds to meet over the Net and collaborate and learn via a variety of projects.

The site, still in its infancy, is being developed with the help of the ozteachernet, the largest community of teachers in Australia using the Internet, a group which already numbers over 1,000. The Aussie Schoolhouse will provide access to different curriculum ideas, and a mix of projects for schoolchildren to work on both in the classroom and at home.

The Queensland University of Technology will have a watching brief, researching the use of the Internet by teachers and overseeing curriculum development, as well as providing support and training for educators to aid in understanding the new developments in technology.

Four students from Elanora Heights primary school, which was feted earlier this year in the international competition Cyberfair for their 'Rivers and Lakes' website were invited along to give a first hand account of the value of project based use of the Internet.

Their experience was that the Internet was easy to use and that it definitely made learning more fun. Erin, one of the website's developers told the gathering “'If primary school kids can use the Internet, then anyone can”. Friend Daniel emphasised that “projects are a more efficient use of time than browsing for and downloading information.” Another comment, made by Stevie, was that “You don't even know you're learning…and you get more information per minute than in a normal class”.

Future projects include an 'Online Christmas Card' project, and the 'Travel Buddy' project. With Travel Buddy, soft toys or glove puppets travel the world representing a school or a class, and email back to the schools everything they do. One travel buddy from Australia has been to the Antarctic, and there are plans underway to get one on the next Space Shuttle flight.

The Aussie Schoolhouse is managed by the non-profit Aussie School Foundation and sponsored by Microsoft and Optus Vision. Optus Vision is providing schools with high speed data services -- a 10M ethernet service to schools. Microsoft provides the CD.

Greg Butler from the Aussie School House sees a the linking of schools around the country as the site's primary goal, but says that the wider aim is to include parents as well as kids. The Internet is a useful tool, but only with some help and direction for both teachers and students, he believes. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that Internet connections in schools are often wasted, because as yet only one or two teachers in a school may know how to use it, and even fewer know how to use it to maximum effect

The Global School House project was founded in Canada by a group of teachers who felt that greater communication was not just ideal but essential, and the Global School House site now attracts over 30,000 visitors a day Al Rogers, the founder and now Executive Director of the Global Schoolhouse was in Australia to help launch this latest arm of the Schoolhouse project. The creation of these communities of teachers were part of a 'new dynamic', he said, and was aimed at helping teachers at the grass roots level. He felt that the lack of informed decision making at the higher levels of education meant that not only were education departments slow to adopt new technology, but were even slower in recognising the need for proper training for the educators. When asked if he felt that teachers were sometimes intimidated by the fact that their students were more computer and Internet literate than they were, he agreed absolutely, emphasising that they encouraged students and teachers to do 'side by side learning'. The key message he said, is blindingly simple, but intrinsically important. “Teachers are good at answering questions; what we have to teach them now is how to ask them.”

Creative multimedia initiative

Of course before the Internet came along the biggest baddest buzzword to hit not just the education community but the market as a whole was surely `multimedia'. Multimedia is what makes edutainment and reference works such a compelling proposition for kids. Big slick production numbers, moving images and in-your-face music are what we have come to expect – and appreciate, as part of our daily dose of CD-ROM. There's no disputing that it has value in the teaching process. But whether or not the majority of the titles currently available are actually helping the educators' message, or whether there's greater education value in consuming than producing are questions which have been largely untested. Until now. A closer alliance between the co-operative multimedia centre (CMC) Access Australia and the NSW department of school education is a good start.

"Essentially, our role under agreement with the Commonwealth Government, is to provide the community with multimedia skills. We would like to be able to bring multimedia into the classroom as a resource," said Kate Gardiner, quality co-ordinator with Access Australia, one of five CMCs established as part of the Creative Nation initiative some two years ago to offer multimedia training and resources.

Kevin Richardson, director of School Technology for the Department of School Education in NSW, said Access Australia was well-suited to bringing its experience to NSW schools.

"We hope Access Australia will improve the quality of multimedia in schools, and encourage students to develop their own multimedia," he said. "Given Access Australia's focus is on the role of multimedia teaching, and on technologies which focus on learning, it will be a great resource for our teachers and students."

The CMC will run a workshop in November for Access Australia staff, primary and secondary school teachers and multimedia companies. Gardiner says the purpose of the meeting will be to structure a multimedia course which will eventually be delivered to teachers over the state. "We are working with the schools to try and identify how best to structure a course to help teachers use multimedia in the classroom as a resource," she said.

Access Australia is also looking at becoming a provider of multimedia resource kits to schools. The kits would contain multimedia information, samples and templates, which would be sent to teachers every few months.

The CMC is also planning to co-opt a number of government departments and vendor organisations to participate in a planned theme-based competition early next year, aimed at showcasing schools' new-found multimedia knowledge, according to Peter Higgs, marketing director of Access Australia. The Australia-wide competition, will set out to find the best school home page.

Talk to us!

There's no shortage of technology activity in the area of education -- from integrated attempts to get the equipment in, to improved efforts to teach the teachers and inspire both parents and students.

If your school is participating in a technology related project, or feel that your school is leading the way, we'd like to hear from you. Email us at schoolpc@acp.com.au or fax us some details on (02) 9264 6320.

By Helen Dancer, with additional text by Matt Bateman, Stephen Withers and Roulla Yiacoumi