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Education project gets international acclaim

A WESTERN Australian project which is revolutionising the way public school teachers plan and teach lessons has received international acclaim.
The Department of Education and Training's Schools Online Curriculum Services (SOCS) project is a finalist for the 2008 International IMS Global Learning Consortium Learning Impact Awards.
The Department's acting Executive Director of Curriculum Standards Chris Cook said the Learning Impact Awards, which will be announced in Texas in May next year, recognised the innovative use of technology to enhance learning.
"The Department's ambitious SOCS project provides a 'one-stop-shop' teacher portal where teachers can organise, deliver, monitor and evaluate learning programs for students - online," Mrs Cook said.
"This groundbreaking project is giving public school teachers the tools and resources to support effective teaching, wherever they are located."
Ms Cook said the five-year project had been piloted with 17 schools last year, and expanded to 54 schools this year, and would be available to all Western Australian public schools by 2012.
Teachers in public schools piloting the project can access the web-based portal via a password to:

create lesson plans online;
work with other teachers, curriculum experts and parents;
access classroom teaching resources including audio and video clips;
assign learning activities to groups of students;
monitor the performance of students and provide guidance or feedback where needed;
help students to connect with other students in different locations to carry out tasks and assignments online; and
undertake further professional development online.

She said the project was also boosting support to teachers working in remote communities.
"Teachers at Oombulgurri Remote Community School, north of Wyndham in the Kimberley, are using the portal to connect with colleagues in Perth and access the latest classroom resources," she said.
"Oombulgurri students from Years 1 to 12 are benefiting from a range of online classroom activities in this very remote school, which has networked computers and broadband internet."
Mrs Cook said information and communication technologies had become an integral part of people's daily lives, and were now fundamental to teaching and learning in schools.
"Students using the Department's online teaching and learning service are gaining vital exposure to the technology and tools they will encounter in the workplace of the future," she said.
"This project is an example of how Western Australian educators are leading the way in adopting technology to enhance students' learning."
The project was funded by the Australian Government.