- Explore how young people use technology and how they learn informally
- Investigate how we can change teacher practice by translating what we know about how technology supports informal learning to accommodate formal learning at school
- Identify the best way to support teachers in making these changes.
Supporting teachers to use technology in a way that is relevant to today’s students will help students and teachers ‘speak the same language’ when it comes to technology.
It will also enable increased student engagement and more effective learning through teaching practice that is tailored and relevant to this generation.
This generation of techno savvy ‘screen agers’ and gamers, think and see the world differently. The challenge for educators is to transform the educational environment to ensure these learners are offered engaging and authentic learning experiences, enabled by technology.
In Victorian Government schools we have:
- at least one computer per five students
- wireless broadband in all schools, reaching most learning areas
- ‘interactive whiteboards’ in many schools (whiteboards connected to a computer
- a learning management system (the Ultranet) being developed to assist teachers to support the learning needs of individual students.
As technology becomes increasingly part of our world, now is the time to explore what it means for the way young people learn and engage in education. We need to understand how young people prefer to learn through technology and examine how teaching practice can change to accommodate these learning modes.
We also need to understand how teachers can be supported to make these changes as part of their teaching work.
This project will use a range of methodologies and roll-out over three stages.
The project will access research and evidence from around the world, as well as practical experience within the Victorian Government school system. This project has three main stages: planning and recruiting, research and analysis, and sharing what we learn.