Leeanne King, Assistant Principal, Orchard Grove Primary School in Blackburn South, Victoria, has been passionate about using technology in schools for many years. The arrival of the Digital Technologies curriculum was an exciting opportunity to build their staff capacity and their confidence in implementing the new curriculum.
After participating in the Foundations – Year 6 course, Leeanne saw the immediate value of the material offered and the variety of resources available.
Early in 2017, staff discussions around the new curriculum were focussed by using the PL in a Box materials. Leeanne found the materials highly suitable to use for staff Professional Development. “I didn’t have to spend hours creating new presentations. I used the materials and then tailored them to suit the needs and interests of the staff. The Creative Commons Attribution No-Commercialisation licensing meant I could freely use them in our school setting. My Year level leaders will be using the ‘train the trainer’ model to upskill their teachers and the available materials will allow them to search through and select the appropriate theme and format they need to use.”
In April, key staff – spent a day engaging in the MOOC materials, working with Project Officer Celia Coffa. Each level leader enrolled in the course and began their journey. Leeanne reflected “It was great to look at the curriculum and discuss the importance of teaching our students how to be computational thinkers and how to use digital systems. I enjoyed looking at some practical ways to do this and having the Makey Makeys, Ozobots, Beebots, coding/sequencing cards on hand etc was terrific. Joining the Google Community was awesome because I was able to have a look at how others in my level at other schools were including DT in their curriculum as well as share what we have been doing. I am looking forward to completing the course as I know it will be of benefit to my teaching and improve my students learning.”
The discussions that day lead to decisions which include a commitment to have all school staff complete the F-6 MOOC in 2017, supported by the leaders. Orchard Grove PS has also benefitted by receiving a kit of Makey Makey devices from the CSER Lending library.
A wonderful example of a school well placed to deliver the curriculum.
Blog post by CSER Project Officer for Victoria, Celia Coffa.
Do you have a story to share on our blog about using our PL-in-a-Box program, our free Lending Library, or working with a CSER Project Officer? Email us at cser@adelaide.edu.au
