The View

A Word from the Principal

Are we consumers of information or creators of information. As an educational institution are we preparing our students for the technical demands of work and life, in particular, the technology requirements that our students will have for 20 years into the future? As an adult in the current world reality I move flexibly between Apple, Google and Microsoft devices and apps. The challenge for the College is to use modern methodologies in our teaching and to engage in the world we continue to create. Our students are what is referred to as technology natives, they will not have known a time without the current technology. However, being a native also requires us to ensure they know how to use the technology ethically. How do these questions impact what we do in the technology space?  How does the technology we use interact and integrate with the Australian Curriculum Technologies subject? Are we doing enough to support our students, not just now but into the future?

 

In 2018, the staff organised a committee to research the current educational information and theories around technology in education.  The recommendation from this committee to the wider staff community was to review the use of iPads and to increase the interaction with laptops, particularly in the Secondary space.

 

This year the IT Department has met with Kerrie Loveluck (Business Manager), Caroline Wilson-Haffenden (Director of Primary), Kim Schade (Director of Teaching & Learning) and Ms Charmaine Stanton (Board Representative) to explore the recommendation and to focus on what we need for our future focus.  The recommendation to the Board was that from 2020 laptops will be provided to Year 7 students in a leasing arrangement, which would provide each student with a quality device to use for educational purposes.  The cost of the device would be spread over four years and the student will own their device on completion of Year 10.  This allowed the College the security of ensuring our information is safe, our students are equitably provided for and most importantly, they are using the most appropriate technology to support their learning. 

 

In the review, we were conscious of the portability, flexibility and specific programs which make the Apple iPad so valuable to learning.  In order not to lose this functionality, the College will keep iPads in banks in Kinder to and including Year 3. Banks of iPads will also be located in the O’Brien Resource Centre, the Arts departments (Music, Visual Art and Dance) and be used in Health and Physical Education.

 

Our draft mission refers to “educating our learners to develop their potential” and it is timely to refer to this when thinking about what we are doing in the technology space. Forbes (Gorsht, 2019) has identified the 10 top skills for the future as:

  1. Sensemaking - in order for us to truly create and contribute to the world, we have to be able to connect countless dots from a wealth of disciplines, to combine and recombine these pieces of information and to make sense of what we see.
  2. Social Intellegience - Relationships and the ability to connect with people becomes and remains a crucial capability.
  3. Novel & Adaptive thinking – Constantly improving your skills and quickly adapting to new realities is now an important skill.
  4. Cross-cultural competencies – we work in a global marketplace, with communications happening every minute of every day across the world wide web. Cultural information and sensitivities are the new norm.
  5. Computational Thinking - Many of us work with data on a daily basis, but to understand the meaning, the trends and patterns of what the data is telling us becomes paramount.
  6. New Media Literacies - With an entire generation that was born digital entering the workforce, everyone will need to become fluent in digital and social media forms of communications in the same way that they currently assess a paper or presentation.
  7. Transdisciplinarity - companies are in need of Generalists with new, agile skills that can see the big picture, listen, synthesize ideas and connect the dots.
  8. Design Mindset - It is about focusing on human values and developing a deep understanding of the people that matter most to the problem we’re trying to solve.
  9. Cognitive Load Management - The shear amount of data and information that hits us in a short span of time has exponentially increased with streams in multiple formats coming from multiple devices.
  10. Virtual Collaboration - Technologically, the future for virtual collaboration looks very promising with enterprise tech taking a page out of successful consumer ventures, but the virtual work also demands a new set of competencies and effort in order to ensure productivity in a cross-cultural, fully global reality.

Keeping these 10 skills in the forefront of our minds, introducing our students to multiple platforms and teaching them to access the right technology for the right situation will help them prepare for their future.

 

Fiona Nolan

Principal

 

 

Gorsht, R. (2019). SAP BrandVoice: Are You Ready? Here Are The Top 10 Skills For The Future. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2014/05/12/are-you-ready-here-are-the-top-10-skills-for-the-future/#100ab495c34a [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].