BuddeBlog

Australia‘s first trans-sector initiative

Prior to the government’s announcement of the entire scope of the NBN it had already taken a trans-sector initiative.

This was the ‘National Secondary School Computer Fund’ which will see every Australian student in years 9-12 with access to their own school computer.

Upon analysis, the implications of this are rather revolutionary. The combined initiative of 1:1 computers in the school and the 100Mb connections to all the schools in the country is going to open up avenues that will totally revolutionise the education system in the country.

A standardised e-education system

The size of the project and the trans-sector approach to it will create a range of business opportunities. It allows for a standardisation of hardware and software, which will then open the way to an enormous explosion in e-education innovation.

There is already a very healthy education software and content market, which will be only too eager to take their current developments a step forward. Aside from the benefits to Australian students the trans-sector approach will certainly attract world attention and open up export opportunities as well.

Risk of failure – people not technology

As with any revolutionary development one of the most critical issues will be to ensure that the education system is actually capable of leading this change. This will necessitate very significant professional development. Often a great deal of attention and money goes into the technology but very small resources, if any, are available to ensure that those who will have to make it work are equipped to implement and guide that process. Teachers and other educational staff will need significant support – without this, despite the enormous investment the government is making, the project could still fail.

Interactive and personalised education system

A successful implementation will allow for a truly new approach to education – 1:1 education. Each student can, within the context of the education system, gain individualised education. The pace and the subjects studied will be set by the students, once again all within the context of the education system. It will be project-based and both students and teachers will greatly benefit from the new interactive, personalised educational material.

This will be beneficial for fast learners, who can simply steam ahead; also children who have learning difficulties can be supported with specialised services. Management of both these groups is problematic under the current system – it is difficult to cater for them in a cost-effective way.

Expanding the teaching profession

Teachers will be able to coach students in a more individual environment; and when cut loose from the ‘school-based’ structure the education system will be able to go global. Students can tap into knowledge and expertise from all over the world. We only have to look at developments such as Google and Wikipedia to see what this might lead to in an educational framework.

Teaching as a profession will also change radically, as not all teachers will need to be school-based. For example, female teachers who leave the system when they start their own families can be retained in the far more flexible structure of e-education.

From medieval schools to a digital society

Absence due to illness no longer means a disconnection from schooling. And with increasing epidemic scares e-education offers the opportunity to continue the education process.

The current culture of ‘school’-based systems began in the Middle Ages. The first educators (in Paris) set up shop in their homes, in front of their homes, in churches or in parks, and gathered students around them. In essence, that system hasn’t changed.

The government’s new education initiative makes a total break with the past by becoming a fully interactive and personalised system. Australia will be the first country to do this on a national scale.

Although present research has been based on fairly small-scale projects the results of these seem to indicate that this interactive personalised education system will produce a higher level of results.

It is all about economic benefits

Australia has a unique trans-sector opportunity to truly revolutionise the education system, enabling students to fully profit from the new digital society. As a matter of fact, most of these youngsters are already truly digital outside the school; while inside the school they remain caught in an environment that was created several hundreds of years ago.

In the end, as many government and industry leaders have said, investing in education is the soundest economic investment you can make. It is a social development, but it is perhaps even more an economic one. Economic capital has moved towards knowledge and this e-education trans-sector approach is building up that knowledge capital and spreading it throughout society, basically providing every child in the country with an equal opportunity for their education.

Paul Budde

See also:

• Australia – E-Education and E-Government
• Australia – Trans-sector thinking leading to smart communities
• Australia – National Broadband Network – Overview & Analysis

This entry was posted on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 1:01 pm and is filed under From Paul's Desk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.