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Sixty Seconds of network news from
education.au |
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Volume:7
Issue:5
April
2008
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Latest from education.au
The Chair will manage Board business and relationships, chair Board meetings,
oversee Chief Executive Officer performance, provide accurate and timely
advice on company operations and represent the company in public forums
as required. The successful candidate will ideally possess extensive leadership experience in the field of technology in education.
Further information, including the selection criteria is at available from our website. |
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Our latest blog posts include:
The decline of reading
OzProjects - online projects for school students
Creating the 21st-Century Classroom
Teachers going digital
Teachers on a learning curve
Establishing an Internet connection
Internet Safety - Vox Pop opportunity
Establishing an Internet connection
Powerhouse Museum collection on Flickr
Subscribe to our
blog RSS Feeds and receive the updates as soon as they are
published! See our RSS Feeds page on how to
subscribe. |
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The National Careers and Employment Expo is making its way around the country. The Expo was a huge success in Perth, and soon it’s Adelaide’s turn to experience the fun.
The Career Services team from education.au will be available to provide information to students, parents and jobseekers, as well as answer questions from career practitioners and teachers who want to find out more about using myfuture as a resource. Come and see us at the Adelaide Showground, from Friday 2nd of May – Saturday 3rd May 2007. |
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 edna services unavailable
edna services will be unavailable commencing 6pm (ACST) Friday 18 April.
Normal service will resume 7am (ACST) ) Sunday 20 April.
This shutdown is to facilitate major building works at the company hosting the edna service.
We apologise for the inconvenience.
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Snapshot of edna Statistics
edna Groups
- 119 new edna Groups created January-March, and there is now a total of 1340 groups.
- There are now 18,500 members of edna Groups
- Record number of unique visits to edna Groups in Nov 2007 (11,238)
me.edu.au
- 6,600 people have created profiles in me.edu.au
- me.edu.au now has as many as 750 visitors a day.
edna Lists
- 60 new edna Lists created January-March, and a total of 754 lists.
- There are now 98,990 members of edna Lists, with 70,197 unique email addresses
- More List subscribers are using the site (URL) to manage their subscriptions or lists, and even post to the lists that they belong to.
edna newsletters
- newsletters page (URL), 18,000 subscribers
edna site
- There were 216,000 page views of the main edna site last month,
- Total selected resources on edna at the end of March 2008: 39,429
with 1,806 new resources added during January-March.
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Snapshot of edna survey results
We recently conducted a survey to gauge your views on the current edna services and assist us in determining future priorities. The survey closed on Monday 31 March and 579 responses were received.
Survey results:
- 87% use the Internet every day
- 41% self-rated themselves as active users of a wide range of web tools such as blogs, photo sharing or social networking sites
- 30% commenced using edna in the last year
- 57% know what RSS is
- Groups rated as the most useful edna service followed by search
Thanks to all who responded and a detailed analysis will be published shortly. |
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Policy and Research
Minister for Education, Julia Gillard confirmed the membership of the National Curriculum Board, which will see a national curriculum be delivered within three years.
The new National Curriculum Board is comprised of representatives from each of the States and Territories, and three representatives from the Catholic and Independent sectors.
The Board will oversee the development of a rigorous, world-class national curriculum for all Australian students from kindergarten to Year 12, starting with the key learning areas of English, Mathematics, the Sciences and History. |
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The 2020 Schools Summits held around Australia over the past month have been a resounding success. Over 500 schools participated in the Schools Summits, including primary and secondary schools from every State and Territory. The schools ranged from large metropolitan public and private schools to one and two-teacher rural schools.
A copy of the Voices of the Future Schools Summits feedback report is available at: www.australia2020.gov.au/schools/index.cfm |
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The Rudd Government will fund a new Chair in Australian Literature to be established at the University of Western Australia (UWA). The Australian Government will provide $1.5 million towards the initiative which will re-invigorate the study of Australian literature at university, in our schools and throughout the community.
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Poor experiences in junior secondary maths classes are resulting in too few students taking up higher mathematics in later years, according to a new report released by the Minister for Education.
The report highlights key factors that deter students from studying higher level maths in senior secondary years including students’ experience of junior secondary maths, perceptions of their own maths ability, and a poor understanding of career options in the field.
A copy of the report is available at: www.dest.gov.au/sectors/school_education/publications_resources/profiles/maths_why_not |
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Higher education stakeholders will be given a say on how the Australian Government can best roll out the Scholarships for a Competitive Future initiative - a commitment to double the number of Commonwealth Scholarships for undergraduate students by 2012, benefiting those most in need. A discussion paper has been released on the initiative inviting comment from higher education providers, peak bodies, and state and territory education bodies.
The closing date for submissions to the scholarships discussion paper is COB 1 May 2008. The paper is available from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations' website. |
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Expanding preventative health strategies, introducing a sustainability challenge and paid parental leave were some of the key issues young people from the 2020 Youth Summit want the nation’s leaders to address at the Australian 2020 Summit next weekend.
A summary of the discussions from the two days have been recorded in a communiqué presented to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to take to the major Australia 2020 summit.
For more information about the 2020 Youth Summit visit www.australia2020.gov.au. |
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A new handbook, produced by Futurelab UK, explores the role that digital technologies can play in reducing inequality in education, and offers guidance on the process of designing educational resources or projects to promote social justice. The handbook is aimed at practitioners involved in designing or adapting projects; developers designing digital tools and resources; and funding bodies seeking robust processes in the projects they support. |
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UK Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, Bill Rammell MP recently announced the launch of Becta's three year strategy for technology in further education, skills and regeneration which forms an important part of Becta’s work to update ‘Harnessing Technology’. |
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Australian and New Zealand tertiary students are less engaged with their universities than their North American counterparts according to results from a new study of student engagement released by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).
Results reveal that, on average, Australian and New Zealand students find their study slightly less academically challenging than students in the US. They report lower levels of contact with teaching staff and are less likely to have participated in activities described as ‘enriching educational experiences.’
The full public report, Attracting, Engaging and Retaining: New Conversations background information about AUSSE can be found at www.acer.edu.au/ausse/ |
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Education Minister Bronwyn Pike and Early Childhood Development Minister Maxine Morand released the Government’s proposed future vision for supporting Victorians from birth to adulthood.
The Ministers said the linking of early childhood services and schools – with the creation of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development last August – presented a unique and unprecedented opportunity to develop a blueprint for reform.
Two Blueprint for Early Childhood Development and School Reform discussion papers – one for school reform and one for early childhood development – have been released for public comment and feedback. |
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This paper examines policy options and modalities for framing an international instrument on limitations and exceptions to copyright within the treaty obligations of the current international copyright system. |
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The Australian Council for Educational Leadership 2008 Conference: New Metaphors for Leadership in Schools will be held in Melbourne, 30 September, 1-2 November 2008.
This event provides opportunities to network with students and colleagues from around Australia and throughout the world, learn about innovative approaches and best practices, explore exhibits from leading educational programs and companies.
This is your opportunity to hear from leading thinkers from around the world, not only from education but also business, government and non-profits.
Conference strands include:
- Initiating Courageous Innovation
- Inspiring Greatness
- Unleashing Potential
- Leading in complex and dynamic environments
Further information is available from the ACEL website.
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Universities Australia released its action plan to address participation and equity levels in higher education of people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and Indigenous people. The plan draws on the findings of the Universities Australia-commissioned Equity and Participation scoping study.
The Chair of the Steering Group for these initiatives, Professor Alan Robson said the scoping study was framed to determine barriers to entry and factors that may influence success for Australian students from three low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds: students from rural and regional Australia; Indigenous students; and students from metropolitan areas. |
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The report reviews available literature and data relating to the participation and success of people from low socioeconomic status backgrounds and Indigenous people in Australian higher education. The purpose of the report is to shed light on the factors associated with the persistent under representation of low socioeconomic status of people and Indigenous people in Australian universities with a view to informing policies and strategies and providing a framework for further analysis of equity. |
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TLF’s latest report, that forms a part of its Indigenous Project Plan, is now available on TLF website. The report is titled - Effects of The Le@rning Federation's curriculum content on Indigenous students' motivation to learn and their engagement in learning.
Research has been conducted in 26 Australian schools with a high proportion of Indigenous students. It draws on data from surveys of teachers and students, interviews with teachers and observations of classroom use of TLF's digital learning materials. The schools are located in regional centres, remote areas and Indigenous communities across Australia.
Visit the Research and trials page on TLF website to read reports on trials conducted by TLF and educational jurisdictions, about the implementation and use of online curriculum content in Australian and New Zealand schools. |
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