What with  the new Australian Curriculum, new Professional standards, we are experiencing a great deal of change in our Education System at the moment.  Changes that teaching staff from around the state will, no doubt, require support and advice for.  As the  representative of the Australian Council for Computers in Education (ACCE) for South Australia CEGSA are very pleased to tell you about the Teaching Teachers for the Future Project.

Funded through the ICT Innovation Fund (ICTIF) under the Digital Strategy for Teachers and School Leaders strategy, this project has been designed to look at the ways in which the use of Information and Communication Technology in Education (ICTE) has been changing and growing as well as looking at the proficiency of graduate teachers across Australia.  There are 39 Higher Education establishments involved in the project including our local institutions; UniSA, Flinders Uni and Tabor.

The Australian Council for Computers in Education (ACCE) is one of a group of organisations who make up the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC).  It is this council who are responsible for leading a team of Senior Academics, in their role as TTF Project Coordinators (TTFPC),  and  a group of ICT Pedagogy Officers (ICTPO).  Their  job is to help embed ICTEs in:

  • pre-service teacher education curriculum, pedagogies, assessment, professional experience,
  • university classroom and self-study resources,
  • the national program accreditation framework and the Graduate Teacher Standards, and
  • national professional learning networks of ICT and curriculum methods experts within and across the Institutions.
Taken From http://www.altc.edu.au/ttf/

The project itself contains three separate components as shown in this image from the TTF’s website:

 

It is, perhaps, Component 2 that will interest CEGSA members the most.  The ICTPOs in each institution have been given the task of creating “a national collection of digital resources that provide pre-service teachers, teacher educators and teachers with rich professional learning and digital “anywhere, anytime” exemplar packages”  Some of these packages have, in fact already been created and are currently being trialled at the institutions involved in the project.

These resources are all based around the the TPACK conceptual framework developed by Mishra and Koehler (2006).

 

 What does this mean for teachers in the field?

It means that there are a group of educational experts out there developing resources, lesson ideas and exemplars that you will be able to use when delivering the content of the ACARA in the first 4 subject areas (English, History, Maths and Science).

It means that materials you are provided with will be:

  • Supportive and relevant to your curriculum area  if you teach Maths, Science, History or English)
  • Created in a manner that should ensure that ICT is being used to enhance teaching and learning and not just because it’s cool, we have some in the  cupboard or everyone else is doing it
  • Facilitating.  These resources will be designed to exemplify good practice and to help you to develop new, like minded, resources that will also enhance teaching and learning in your classroom.
  • Developed by a range of practitioners from across the country. This means there’s an opportunity to share good practice and learn from each other from across the entire country.  We will not be limited to the experiences of just one state and we have the opportunity, through our ICTPO and TTFPCs to share South Australia’s good practice with the rest of the country.

It should also mean that as the pre-service teachers who are being worked with now, take up post in the next year or so, they will bring with them expertise that they can share and disseminate to colleagues in their new schools.

Who can you contact for more information?

The Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) either by email (ttf@altc.edu.au) or by phone 02 8667 8500

One of the projects ICTPOs is on the CEGSA committee.  Selena is more than happy to answer any questions that are posted below in the comments section.

 Posted by Selena Woodward
BlogACCE and the Teaching Teachers for the Future Project in SA