On Tuesday 17th November, 2009 The Australian National Schools Network (ANSN) hosted a national forum to discuss the Federal Government’s Education Revolution two years into its term in office, and its impact on school education.

The Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. Julia Gillard launched the forum and delivered a précis on the Governments progress and accomplishments to date.

John Spierings at the ANSN ForumFollowing advocacy from the ANSN Board, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Training has established an inquiry titled "Combining school and work: Supporting successful youth transitions". Teachers, parents, employers and schools are encouraged to make submissions to the Committee, and students are especially asked to check into the Inquiry web-site, and complete a short questionnaire designed to tap into their experiences.

Participants of the recent Learning to Coach, Coaching to Learn workshops series were introduced to the skills and knowledge from the Cognitive Coaching program.

By Hanan Harrison

Participants of the Adelaide Digi Kids continued to be challenged on their digital journey when they attended Days 3 and 4 of their Hub workshops. Their first challenge was to develop and create a claymation. The focus was not only to develop skills for the production, but also to develop a philosophy of technology integration where participants would reflect critically on their own pedagogical practices, to develop a meaningful context for introducing claymation as an additional medium for story telling, which could be used to support various literacy outcomes including recount, narratives and procedural genres, as well as a tool for reinforcing other curriculum outcomes.

A series of Snapshots is being developed around the experience and practice of teachers in the Digi Kids program. The first in the series looks at Lynda Page’s work on Integrating Technology in the Early Years Classroom.  A teacher for more than 20 years, Lynda works at Coolum Beach State School, in Queensland. She has been a keen participant in the Digi Kids program, which is co-ordinated by Hanan Harrison. In developing the Snapshot, she worked with Keith Redman, Editor of E-News and this Snapshot series.

The first International Habits of Mind Expo was successfully held in Melbourne and Auckland in October 2007. Over 350 educators from around the world experienced first hand the lessons learnt by leading schools from Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. Feedback from the Expo has been overwhelmingly positive and plans are now afoot for a similar event in 2008!

The Victorian Interactive whiteboard project began this term with 55 teachers from 16 different schools participating. Teachers came from as far as Harrietville and Maffra to contribute to two days of professional development which included technical training as well as action planning for the use of interactive whiteboards in the classroom.

This report is compiled from the experience of teachers involved in the 2004 ANSN Digital Portfolio and Authentic Learning research circle.

Chef claymation from KidSmart cluster dayMany of us are still marveling at how fast technology is being engaged in our everyday life, an example of this is how newspapers through their websites now allow us to interact with the news through audio and video clips, blogs, polls, emails, "your say" comments, photogalleries and the list goes on. The future is here, and students are developing these important technology skills in their everyday lives.