Area schools on Eyre Peninsula each purchased a Polycom video conference unit + virtual concert two years ago to enable senior secondary students to receive curriculum from teachers based in schools other than their own. Since then many students have accessed learning this way. The technology has also been used to network teachers across the Peninsula, provide Training and Development, link students to places elsewhere in the state and world and to provide information from the Education Department. Our students use the internet daily and integrate ICTs across every curriculum area. Specific ICT skills are taught as stand alone subjects and these skills are then used in other subjects. The school uses data bases to monitor student achievement, attendance and a myriad of other information about students and families.

The Australian Science & Mathematics School is a senior secondary DECS school based at Flinders Uni– a great model of technologies embedded in education (or vice versa). Our students have an extremely high level of access to ICT and bring mobile phones and I-Pods into class without too much disruption, play Wii sports at lunchtime and access their curriculum ahead of classes and for HW via the Portal, talking to their teachers about drafts and deadlines via electronic dropboxes and email — we still manage lots of interpersonal contact. Some of their assessment work is submitted as mini-movies, animations and ppts, but they also make models in wood and metal. Robotics is a popular elective and we teach through an interdisciplinary approach in subjects like NanoTechnology, BioTechnology, Earth and Cosmos and Technology World. We will have our own ASMS TechnoHistory Museum on public display in about 6 weeks after visits to the Aviation, Railway and Maritime Museums at Pt Adelaide, which are well worth a visit. We will also look at indigennous technologies at the SA Museum next term.

This afternoon, I was leaving the home of a young family, and so they walked with me to my car. Their four and a half year old was fascinated with the handle that wound down my driver’s window. We adults looked at each other and then laughed as we realised that he has only ever know windows that move up and down at the press of a button!!

Have just started working in an office for the first time. I think it’s so weird that there is such a strong email culture. No one gets up to hand you documents or just turns around to tell you things anymore. They just email you instead!

Primo Smallgoods (Pt Wakefield) is the Mid North’s largest employer and was seeking a communication solution to operate their administrative functons in addition to large bandwidth requirements to operate some very elaborate robotic technology. We met with them to explore opportunities to develop a business case which enabled an independent to legacy communication system which would scale for their future needs and most importantly, provide access to broadband to the surrounding communities. We achieved this desire by collaborating and jointly investing in new infrastructure for the region. The end result is that Primo have a high end conection which far exceeds any other option available and the communities surrounding (Owen, Balaklava, Pinery, Bowmans and Pt Wakefield) have acces to true Broadband Service which exceeds the Federal Govt Metro comparable service levels on both performance and pricing.