Professor’s three-city tour for teachers

FOLLOWING last week’s column on the availability of grants to support schools wishing to fund Makerspaces and other digital technologies resources, it is clear that the demand for professional learning for teachers and support for programs in schools is intense.

The Makerspace applications closed mid-afternoon on the day of being opened, such was the demand nationally.

As school leaders seek proCourse) fessional learning opportunities for their teachers, the Tasmanian visit by Associate Professor Nick Falkner, from the Computer Science Education Research Team of Adelaide University, is timely.

In the first week of September Assoc Prof Falkner will work with teachers in Burnie, Launceston and Hobart on the implementation of the Digital Technologies Curriculum.

He will start with a review of the MOOC (Massive Open Online offerings that support the new curriculum with a focus on the opportunities for Years 7—10.

He will then go through the Years 9-10 program for teachers, exploring the MOOC in more detail, discussing some of the implications of the general purpose programming language, sharing experiences from the consultation group when the examples were being developed, and working with participants to develop practical approaches to implementing the curriculum in their classrooms.

“The secondary courses are where students can take the knowledge they’ve developed so far and turn this into projects that they can show to their friends and family,” Associ Prof Falkner said.

“The later years have a framing around games that we hope will really engage students and make it enjoyable to develop their digital technology skills,” he said.

This is a unique opportunity for secondary teachers to meet with one of the key writers of the professional learning program that is freely available through funding from the Federal Department of Education and will be of great value to all engaged in the teaching of the Technologies Curriculum.

Nick Falkner’s visit is a Google CS4HS-funded event, with support of TASITE, and an opportunity not to be missed by secondary teachers of Digital Technologies. He will visit Burnie (Sept 6), Launceston (Sept 7) and Hobart (Sept 8). Register at www.tasite.tas.edu.au.