Theme - ELH Conference 2010

Theme

“What is now possible?”

Once a vision, but now a reality, technology-rich learning has suddenly become mainstream in Australian schools.

With more than a million students in Australian schools having their own laptops by the end of next year, there will be new accountabilities that are associated with scale of this order. Firstly, we can expect closer media scrutiny around the classroom experience of students in 1 to 1 schools, and with that a responsibility for all schools to engage both their immediate and their wider communities in informed dialogue and conversations that help set appropriate and realistic expectations. Secondly such scale brings with it the possibility of tackling the “elephant in the room”, assessment. It will no longer be realistic to see students reverting to an old medium to best express their competence, but exactly what the implications of this are, and how we might influence that are still to be addressed.

Finally and probably most importantly, we must ‘unchain our thinking’, challenge many of the assumptions about effective schooling that we have too often hidden behind, and be bold and ambitious in exploring what school could, and should be, in this genuinely technology-rich age.

No longer can the courage of early pioneers be lost amongst timidity and incrementalism. Now in fact is the time for many of our schools to take the next big step forward and show genuine thought leadership around What this country-wide technology-rich learning environment might make Possible....for all Australian students. We must once again draw on the creativity and ambitious thinking of our best educators and best educational leaders to challenge mediocrity...even when it is wrapped in a technology blanket, and set a new agenda for the next decade of this millennium that explores what is now possible. Expanding Learning Horizons 2010 will seek to explore these challenges, test our assumptions and share some experiences and ideas from some of the most experienced 1 to 1 educators and educational leaders in the world.

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Theme “What is now possible?” Once a vision, but now a reality, technology-rich learning has suddenly become mainstream in Australian schools. With more than a million students in Australian schools having their own laptops by the end of next year, there will be new accountabilities that are associated with scale of this order. Firstly, we can expect closer media scrutiny around the classroom experience of students in 1 to 1 schools, and with that a responsibility for all schools to engage both their immediate and their wider communities in informed dialogue and conversations that help set appropriate and realistic expectations. Secondly such scale brings with it the possibility of tackling the “elephant in the room”, assessment. It will no longer be realistic to see students reverting to an old medium to best express their competence, but exactly what the implications of this are, and how we might influence that are still to be addressed. Finally and probably most importantly, we must ‘unchain our thinking’, challenge many of the assumptions about effective schooling that we have too often hidden behind, and be bold and ambitious in exploring what school could, and should be, in this genuinely technology-rich age. No longer can the courage of early pioneers be lost amongst timidity and incrementalism. Now in fact is the time for many of our schools to take the next big step forward and show genuine thought leadership around What this country-wide technology-rich learning environment might make Possible....for all Australian students. We must once again draw on the creativity and ambitious thinking of our best educators and best educational leaders to challenge mediocrity...even when it is wrapped in a technology blanket, and set a new agenda for the next decade of this millennium that explores what is now possible. Expanding Learning Horizons 2010 will seek to explore these challenges, test our assumptions and share some experiences and ideas from some of the most experienced 1 to 1 educators and educational leaders in the world.