Curriculum & Pedagogy

eLearning

As we have progressed through NAPLAN, it has been excellent to see the majority of students have been bringing their devices charged and ready to go for these sessions. The presence of laptops in the classroom can have an excellent impact on their education when they are used in effective ways, and the more we can encourage students to continue bringing a device to every class will help support them in improving their outcomes. It also allows teachers to enhance the way they deliver content, incorporating computer activities and tasks to allow for a variety of approaches to completing class work.

eLearning, as a role, is about investigating how the technology that your student brings to school can help enhance their learning. As we use a range of Microsoft Office products to complete school tasks, your student has access to Microsoft’s Learning Tools. One of these is the Immersive Reader which will transform a written text into a better format for reading, allowing an audio reading of the text, a breakdown of the words into their grammatical components with labels and dictionary/picture definitions when you select a word.

For students who have trouble with reading longer texts or encounter texts that are language-dense, this can be an excellent tool to help them support themselves in developing their literacy skills. 

The link below will take you to a demonstration of Immersive Reader and what it can do, but you can try it on most Microsoft products, all of which are installed as default on your students device: Digital Learning Tools, Immersive Reader | Microsoft Education

eSmart

Back in 2020, GSSC began the journey to becoming an eSmart School. Facilitated by the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, this program provides schools with resources and training to help our students navigate digital spaces in a positive and respectful way.

In the passed fortnight, our staff went through their eSmart refresher/induction, highlighting the main focuses of what we will be promoting among our community. These focuses work together to help promote awareness of cyberbullying and how our community interacts in digital spaces, a concept called Digital Citizenship. 

This program helps us support our students’ in understanding the impact of their interactions online, maintaining their privacy and protecting themselves from cyberbullying and other online threats. 

With the introduction of the eSafety Commissioner by the Federal Government in 2015 as part of the Enhancing Online Safety Act, there is an understanding that more needed to be done in education to prevent harm caused by online interactions. Through implementing eSmart practices at GSSC, we will support our students through additional conversation, education and awareness of what being a positive digital citizen means in our world.

In the coming weeks, our Year 7s will begin learning about eSmart’s philosophy and practices in their Social and Emotional Curriculum, discussing online safety and cyberbullying, as well as how to balance their technology use throughout the week. 

As we continue implementing eSmart across our college, there will be more lessons on eSmart concepts in all year levels, as well as student leadership opportunities for those students passionate about the effect people can have on others, through their online interactions.

If you would like more information or resources about eSmart, you can visit their website here: eSmart.

eSmart also provide a newsletter to keep schools and parents informed of current digital issues that may affect your child as well, which you can subscribe to at the bottom of this webpage: For Parents (esmart.org.au)

For more information about the eSafety Commissioner and their work, you can visit the website here: Homepage | eSafety Commissioner

William Lees

Director of eLearning & Resource Centers

Farewell

Belinda Crosbie finished up this week, heading off to have another baby. We thank her for her efforts this year in supporting our MYLNS Numeracy program and wish her all the best with the new addition to her family.