Even the most innovative schools in the USA, the UK, and Australia often hit the wall in trying to transform learning for the 21st Century. 1-to-1 computing and a technology learning platform do much but by themselves do not lead to 21st Century Learning. Instead a new methodology of standards-based project-based learning, coupled with the appropriate technology tools and a collaborative learning environment, is needed to achieve 21st Century Learning.

Paul Curtis, the Chief Academic Officer of the New Technology Foundation, Napa, CA, will tell the story of the now 35 New Technology High Schools in the US. Students graduate New Technology High School (NTHS) mastering 21st Century Knowledge and Skills through 8 learning outcomes: content standards, collaboration, critical thinking, oral communication, written communication, career preparation, citizenship and ethics, and technology literacy. Paul will share with you New Tech's methodology, practices, and tools for 21st Century Learning. He will show how projects are designed to embed 21st Century Skills, assessments are created to measure these skills, and how a unique "living" skills-based report card gives constant feedback to students and their parents. He will also demonstrate New Tech's Learning System, a suite of technology tools that help teachers design projects, assessment rubrics, and project calendars, and provide students with a "dashboard" environment through which they collaborate, do their work, get constant feedback/assessment of their work, and provide evidence of mastery of 21st Century Knowledge and Skills.

If the BSF investment is about transformation then it is certain the stakeholders are engaged on a journey, not an event.

But what does that destination look like and, most importantly, what could the experience of learners and others be in a connected and “smart” community. We have recently published a series of interlinked BSF Guides to help schools and Local Authorities envision, plan and deploy solutions to support a change agenda in their areas. Now building on the models, guidance and narratives contained in the BSF guides, the BSF Showcase attempts to illustrate the experience of teachers, learners and parents, who are also citizens, in a connected learning community - “what might that experience look like?”

Can BSF be a catalyst to shift the agenda from new buildings towards community renewal? What of the local authorities with a radical agenda for change who view BSF as being less about the connected learner and more about the world of the connected citizen able to create not just consume services.

Technology alone will not transform learning, but learning will not be transformed to meet modern citizens’ expectations and needs without it.

Many schools today are facing the challenge presented by increasing pressure to prepare their students for an unknown future in the information driven society of the 21st century. Technology, as either a catalyst or a transformative agent is increasingly seen as a key component in addressing this challenge. Like many other schools Brigidine College had an infrastructure that was disparate, non-integrated somewhat unreliable and had grown like topsy over the last decade in response to different paths ICT in education has taken.

Karen will share with you Brigidine College’s journey over the last nine months in planning and creating an infrastructure and systems to support their Principal’s vision of changing the teaching and learning paradigms from teacher centred to student centric, from solely classroom based delivery to any time, anywhere learning using technologies such as Microsoft Exchange 2007, Unified Messaging, Windows Vista and Microsoft Office Sharepoint Portal 2007.

Symantec Information Foundation 2007 delivers industry-leading protection against risks to enterprise messaging and collaboration systems and helps reduce the cost of data retention and e-discovery. The integrated product suite helps protect against data leakage, spam, viruses, and other information risks and provides centralized archiving, audit, and discovery for enterprise information. It incorporates Symantec’s world-class antivirus, antispam, content filtering, archiving, retention, discovery, and policy management technologies, helping to protect email and instant messaging, portal servers, file systems, and other sources of enterprise collaboration. Information Foundation 2007 simplifies information risk management and helps lower total cost of ownership by providing consistent content classification and control from one trusted vendor at an all-inclusive price.

What are the current and emerging Internet issues that are creating major concern in schools? This presentation will provide participants with information on trends in cyber bullying, online grooming by paedophiles, issues with podcasting and blogging and the risks created by inappropriate use of mobile technologies and social community web sites.

The presenter will provide an in-depth look at many of the issues that face school all over Australia, as well as provide information on many of the free resources which are available to schools to reduce the risks.

A case study on Luther College. This presentation will not only give you an overview of the coolest new tools that are on the market, but also conceptualise in real world scenarios how they fit together. With a trainee, Engineer & Receptionist, Luther College internally manages 1200 computers across a Cisco wireless network, as well as providing external support to 5 other Lutheran Schools and consultancy to the entire Lutheran Group.

Mark is the General Manager of Toshiba’s Information Systems Division in Australia and New Zealand. He will introduce you to the latest ideas and thinking from Toshiba – the world’s foremost mobile computing innovator. This is a unique opportunity to find out about the next generation of technologies and products, and explore how these will influence your IT strategies and the way your students and staff work.

This presentation will look at Ballarat & Clarendon College, it will give a brief overview of the journey we have taken to get to our current point and what plans we have for the future, the reasons behind why we choose HP managed switches and why we wanted to integrate VLAN’s and Identity Manager software into our network and the issues that we have come across along the way. We will discuss the pros and cons of setting up Dynamic Vlans for both our wired and wireless network, the use of HP’s Identity Manager software and the many issues with students and their notebooks relating to this.