Ballarat Primary Schools Study Tour: Creating, Communicating and Collaborating

Planning your ICT primary program for 2013 - gain ideas and strategies.

We welcome teachers not only within the Ballarat region, but from Melbourne and beyond.

At this stage of the year, teachers are increasingly planning for the following year, whilst still assessing and reporting on current students. This tour will make your planning easier! The three schools comprising this tour are all providing excellent programs using ICT to enhance their learning outcomes. Not only will you see many of these programs in action in a classroom setting, but you can also follow up with our presenters when you are back at school. They are very happy to be a resource for any further queries or concerns.

Format of the study tour

We are pleased to offer this study tour program in Ballarat region to assist with ideas for you to integrate ICT into your primary school program. The format of the study tour is to visit three schools in one day, providing a great opportunity to join with fellow teachers, share ideas and see what other schools do. They are days for observation and provide the opportunity to discuss the various approaches being used with ICT in the classroom to achieve exciting outcomes in student performance.

In this tour there is an emphasis on Web 2.0 tools, 1:1 netbooks, an Ultranet based portfolio, Edmodo and the effective use of video conferencing to widen student's experiences. As well, Pleasant St is looking forward to showing you their blogs and daily start up program - we think you'll be impressed! Caledonian Primary School will share their strategy for the introduction of 1:1 iPads, and Andrew Parry's experiences as Principal from his seven week overseas tour studying ICT in schools.

The three schools will provide descriptions of the planning that went into its successful implementation in their presentations on the tour. Each school takes a varying pathway in the integration of ICT into the curriculum which provides participants with choices and alternatives to consider for their own situations.

Itinerary

Meet at Caledonian Primary School, Thompson Street, Ballarat Vic 3350 for a 9am start. You will then be taken by bus at 11am to Pleasant Street Primary school for our second visit, at the end of which to enjoy a healthy lunch. We then travel to Yuille Park Community College for the afternoon session. We would expect to return to Calendonian Primary School to collect your cars by 3.45pm.

9am Caledonian Primary School
Hosts: Lois Dent and Anthony Tait

Showcasing our special initiatives
The staff of Caledonian Primary School is justly proud of these special initiatives which they are looking forward to sharing with visiting teachers.

• Lego Robotics - meet awrd winning teams and share their plans as they prepare for their third tilt at the First Robotics League Competition to be held at Melbourne Grammar School in December. Students will also discuss their entries in Robocup and perform their routines.
• Caledonian is using iPdas and Dropbox for assessment. You will have an opportunity of observing these programs and discussing how they have helped in improving the assessment processes.
• Edmodo is transforming the way that teachers and students connect, engage, and learn both inside and outside the classroom. See this program in operation.
• RACV Energy Breakthrough Pushcart Team and Human Powered Vehicles - meet the three teams and discuss how ICT has been incorporated into their research/design/training.
• Quicksmart Mathematics - participants will be welcome to view a lesson and discuss the dramatic improvements being made by students in numeracy.
• Online conferencing - using technology/server in literacy to minimise paper trails.

11am Pleasant St Primary School
Host: Luke Johnson, Grade 6 Teacher / ICT Coordinator

From Smartboards to virtual worlds - integrating ICT throughout the curriculum
In this leg of the tour, you will be given time to explore a variety of different ways in which ICT can make a positive impact on student learning and teaching. Your visit to Pleasant Street Primary School will demonstrate how blogs, interactive Smartboards, iPods, iPads and Minecraft, can improve student engagement and learning outcomes in multiple curriculum areas. There will also be a chance to explore some applications and tools used by teachers to collaborate, communicate information and annotate classroom observations.

The 3/4 Classroom - Daily Start-up program, blogs and more
In the 3/4 classrooms, see firsthand how student blogs are being used to improve student reflection, provide authentic audiences for richer writing experiences, improve communication with parents and help teacher's planning.

• Learn how the lower school grades have been using iPod Touches to support student learning and assist in engaging the students, and their individual needs.
• Let the students take you through some of the applications available and how they are employed as effective tools for learning. While there, also observe how blogs are adapted for use with younger students as well as how iPads can be used to improve integration learning.
• At Pleasant St, interactive Smartboards are an integral part of the school's ICT strategy. Not only are they used in regular lessons to share interactive content, they provide the perfect platform to facilitate the Start-up program.
• See how this daily session tries to engage students, build relationships and improve thinking skills through the use of visual literacy.
• Investigate some of the strategies employed by the ICT team to encourage teachers and students alike to engage with their use in the classroom. From interactive rolls to the development of the ICT mascot and daily challenges, this session will show how staff are really getting on board, literally.

Senior Unit
Finally, see how the Senior Unit is taking the classroom beyond the four walls, into a virtual world of learning. Initially, through participating in a statewide virtual worlds trial using OpenSim, the Grades 5 and 6 classes have taken the next step, using the phenomena that is Minecraft, to enrich the learning and engage the students as never before.

• Observe some of the most powerful teaching tools currently availalbe, solely developed to help the implementation of Minecraft seamlessly into the day-to-day school schedule, and existing curriculum learning.
• While there, see how ICT shapes and improves teacher communication, planning and other adminsitrative tasks with Google Docs, Dropbox and iPads.

A really great session, designed stimulate and inspire!

1.30pm Yuille Park Community College
Host: Trish Dower, ICT Coordinator

Creating, communicating and collaborating is a key feature of learning at YPCC. we aim to provide our learners with the skills and tools to develop their understandings and share their learning with an authentic audience.

In the junior grades we have a suite of iPads that are used to:

• Support the building of oral language
• Support independence in learning
• Enable students to create and publish their learning for a real audience
• Develop problem solving skills
• Practise skills and build confidence in numeracy and literacy
• Support specific students with their daily routines, providing feedback and choice.

The iPads are a great tool for engagement in learning and are used throughout the day in numeracy, literacy, discovery learning and ICT focused sessions.

In the middle grades we use notebooks (1:2) to support our students to create and publish their work. We have been exploring a range of Web 2.0 tools including Wall Wisher, Glogster and Voki and these tools have become a daily use tool for gathering information, sharing ideas and publishing sudent learning to the students Ultranet based portfolio. We also have iPod Touches which the students and teachers use to support student learning.

Our senior students use netbooks (1:1) and have been exploring how games can support student learning. We have explored online game creation tools such as Sploder and GameStar Mechanic; used online maths games such as Lure of the Labrynth in maths and have used the Nintendo Wii to engage students with both lieracy and maths. We currently have a group of students developing a Minecraft server and online world in which students will engage and learn as a team. The senior students also complete 'passion projects' and they are required to present their information in a format of their choice. This term we have students creating websites, Glogster, PowerPoints and moives to share their learning.

Finally, across the school we have made a commitment to using video conferencing as a tool to provide out students with opportunities that they may not normally encounter. We have participated in a rt lesson with the National Galery of NSW, joined in 'Fizzics' science lessons, learnt to juggle and joined authors as they share their stories of how they write and more.