The new Intel® Teach Elements series is now online!
Intel Teach Program newsletters which keep you up to date with latest developments and resources in Australia
Intel collaborates to connect schools and empower teachers in Australia
Intel’s supports Australia on education transformation
Intel helps guide Australia toward a digital economy

Intel Teach Elements is an exciting new series of high interest, visually compelling short courses which explore ICT integration strategies and 21st century teaching and learning concepts.

Collaboration in the Digital Classroom

Learn how, when and where to integrate collaborative online tools into learning activities, developing students’ understanding and 21st century skills.

Assessment in 21st Century Classrooms

Learn to develop and manage innovative, ongoing, student-centred assessment processes, deepening learning experiences for students and evaluating contemporary skills.

Previously published: Project-Based Approaches

Take a fresh look at effective, engaging projects for today’s classrooms, and integrating ICT for enhanced learning outcomes.

For more information: www.intel.com/education/au/elements

To register/start a course: www.elementscourses.com.au

Term 4, 2011 Newsletter
Email education@crossmark.com.au and let the Intel Teach Program team know that you would like to receive these newsletters by email.

Intel has collaborated with the Australian government in its deployment of 1:1 e-learning programs across the country to help boost teachers’ ICT confidence, build an ICT learning culture and bridge the urban/rural digital divide. The company’s work with the Australian government is part of Intel’s ongoing effort to accelerate access to technology as a gateway to economic and social progress.

The government’s Digital Education Revolution (DER) initiative looks to bring substantial and meaningful change to teaching and learning in Australian schools, preparing students to live and work in a digital world. The initiative includes the Intel® Teach Program, which helps teachers understand how, when and where to bring technology tools and resources into their classroom, and Intel Skoool™, which helps students to explore key math and science concepts through online multi-media technology.

The goal of the DER initiative is to enable every Australian student in years 9-12 to have 1:1 access to laptop devices funded by the federal government. The program is in the second year of its four year rollout with one million laptops already placed.

The DER initiative has received Ministry of Education (MoE) support and is being deployed across Australia. In Victoria, for example, a decade after it kicked off a groundbreaking teacher laptop program, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) is going from strength to strength as it fosters teachers’ information literacy and normalises classroom use of information technology. The results speak for themselves:

• Universal access to laptops, supported by intensive and ongoing professional development, has empowered teachers both to learn to use technology and to integrate it into their everyday teaching practice.
• High-speed broadband, ubiquitous wireless and online teaching resources have facilitated online learning, mirroring the expectations of the twenty-first century workplace.
• With a heavily urbanised population, Australia’s rural students and teachers have often struggled to gain access to ICT, hindering the development of digital literacy. DEECD’s program has raised the bar across the entire state, providing a model that is being emulated across Australia.

Marco Pantano, Intel Corporate Affairs Manager for Australia and New Zealand said, “The role of IT in the teaching community is very clear. It is important that students of the future are armed with the tools that enable them to develop and thrive within the knowledge economy.

Katrina Reynen of the Innovation and Next Practice Division at Victoria’s Department of Education and Early Childhood Development said, “Put simply, we are equipping our teachers with the capacity to innovate and to lead the way.”

Intel has taken a leading industry role in advising the Australian government as part of the company’s efforts to provide students with the necessary tools to become the next generation of innovators.

As an advisor on the board of ideasLAB, a group which studies education practices, Intel will provide input on research and work to develop policy papers on education transformation and pedagogy. Intel will support research investigating ‘virtual pedagogy’ that will support the state of Victoria’s education policy makers.

Intel will draw on its global experience to help connect the next billion people to 21st century opportunities by improving digital literacy, access to technology, and high-speed internet connectivity. It will also draw upon the Intel® Teach Program, which helps teachers understand how, when and where to bring technology tools and resources into their classrooms.

Bruce Dixon, Director at ideasLAB, said: “Our goal is to better understand the emerging possibilities of where, when and how learning can take place in a technology-rich learning environment. The pedagogy attached to the diverse forms of virtual learning is both complex and poorly understood and we are excited to be working with Intel to develop a better understanding of ‘virtual pedagogy’.”

Intel is currently involved in ongoing projects and research to investigate how the integration of emerging technologies and new education practices are improving teaching and learning. It has also taken a leading role in bringing other companies into the joint government/industry venture to help advance the pedagogical changes that are necessary to effectively integrate ICT into the education process.

Intel will play a role in the roll-out of Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN), one of the Federal Government’s key technology initiatives. Intel has signed a three year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Australian Government to which will help ensure Australia takes full advantage of the benefits of the digital economy.

The partnership will see Intel assist in the development of Australia’s digital economy – by sharing its experience from its World Ahead Program, which has worked with over 70 countries help citizens to benefit from today’s connected world.

Australia’s NBN initiative aims to connect 93 per cent of all premises and provide access to affordable fast broadband for every business, house and school. Intel will share its experience, drawing on its global experience using high speed broadband in areas such as health, education, business and environmental management.

Philip Cronin, Managing Director of Intel Australia and New Zealand, said: “This agreement is about looking beyond the politics and instead focusing on the opportunities high speed broadband creates for Australia’s sustained competitiveness in the 21st century digital economy. We want to bring the goodness of ICT to more people in more places, enabling education solutions, e-health, e-government and entertainment.”

Specifically, the agreement will see Intel provide the government with access to research labs, share experiences and best known methods around the development and implementation of open industry standards in computing hardware and software, as well as provide expertise around future digital opportunities by evaluating investment opportunities in Australian technology businesses through Intel Capital.