Strategies, reports and plans

Sharing digital resources

Stacy:

For me, what I see with the digital strategy is looking at what people do and the tools that they're using and how they can actually really operate with those tools and leverage student learning and improve those student outcomes because it's all about those end users which are the kids.

Chris:

What the digital strategy does it, is allows schools and teachers as well as students to have a voice in the decisions that are going to be made within the school, to find the best fit for them with digital. So, the most important part for the schools digital strategy for me is, it's not the department telling the schools what to do, it's the department listening to schools and then providing them the support that they need.

The digital strategy and teaching

Stacy:

You've got a lot of busy teachers in our system and if they can actually look at a digital resource that's being developed and it's a quality resource by another teacher in another school somewhere that could be shared and all of a sudden that teacher might share a resource back with that other teacher or someone else and all of a sudden you've got this huge community of practice and it's going to save time. It's also going to save time not only with that preparation but with the delivery too. You can flip your classes so students can have a lot of the content beforehand and then you can come in and you can really analyze and get a deeper understanding of the content.

Chris:

Digital resources are very important for lesson planning. They give you the opportunity to reuse and modify digital resources so that you're not constantly reinventing the wheel. It can be a really collaborative process where you're working with other teachers and sharing resources and seeing the curriculum being taught in a new way. Particularly with new curriculums coming through and in the curriculum review there's a lot of changes around and it really cuts down on the amount of time for lesson planning if you can find resources that you can modify to best suit your students to differentiate within the classroom or work with other staff members to make sure that the students are getting the best possible resource for their learning.

Creating life-long learners

Stacy:

There's not going to be the mistakes of the past, we'll be able to say here's the syllabus here's some resources and here's the correct content and let's make sure that the kids are completely prepared for every single stage of their learning and we're not just looking at a K to 12 solution we should be looking at a K to 20 solution with the digital strategy which is what we are, we're creating lifelong learners, so we're not only going to help teachers with their consistency of practice with those syllabuses but we're also going to be able to train the students and get them to a level that we've never been able to get before.

Chris:

If a student has multiple different ways in which they're getting their learning and have to manage multiple passwords and multiple you know they've got Edmodo and Canvas and you know God knows how many different platforms. It can be a bit overwhelming, so having a consistent approach within a school to say these are the systems that we're going to use to communicate with you, with your parents, these are the these are work that the places that you can find your resources that best suit you. It really helps cut down a lot of the wasted time when it comes to logging in and trying to find the resources and really makes that teaching learning experience a lot more user-friendly.

The future of teaching and learning

Chris:

My vision for the future, if we're looking seven years in the future at the end of the schools digital strategy, would be staff and students really having a lot of agency and a lot of involvement in their own learning. To say how they best learn, not every student learns the same not every teacher teaches the same. It's really important to give them, empower them to have, to make the right choices in their classroom to make sure that they're learning in the best possible way to get the best possible outcomes for students.

Stacy:

So, 2026 the end of the SDS I think what we'll hopefully have is a very consistent system. We'll be able to track a lot of data not that the data is the be-all and end-all because we've got to look at the humans that are in front of us. But we'll be able to assist them with that data. We'll be able to know where they sit and where we can move them to. So, I think that will be probably the most important part is looking at that continuum of learning and ensuring our students are following that and if they do, if they are a little, having a few difficulties we'll be able to prop them up and support them with that and that will be through digital means because it will be accessible to all. We can have all this accessible 24/7 for staff, students, parents, caregivers, leaders anyone really that will need that sort of level of data and level of understanding as well so i think i think that's where we'll be heading is hopefully not letting any more people fall through the cracks, whether it's staff or students.

Share your story - schoolsdigitalstrategy@det.nsw.edu.au

[End of transcript]

My name's Clint White. I'm the principal of Sylvania Heights Public School and also the chairperson for the NSW primary principals association technology reference group.

Hi, I'm Katherine Horner principal at Jannali East Public School, a school in the Sutherland Shire with 365 students.

My name is Neil Lavitt and I'm a teaching principal at St Peters Public School, which is a lovely little school of about 123 children at this moment in time, in the inner west of Sydney.

My name is Craig Snudden and I'm the principal at Bangor Public School here in Sydney's south. A reasonably large school of 550 students across 22 classes.

The school digital strategy for me is about making schools more effective by reducing the administrative burden on principals and on school teachers.

[Narration]

Admin staff, teachers and principals just want simple platforms across schools that work. There seems to be so much happening from a technological point of view. New information, new programs, new expectations new ways of doing things.

The biggest problem with technology is it's the preparation time. It's getting everything working, it's the problems with the passwords. It's the problems with individuals not being able to access what they need to access.

It's about having technology that is reliable, cost-effective, enhances teaching and learning without the teacher having the challenges of trying to get the technology to work.

The technology is in schools, it's there. It assists in our core business of teaching and learning. Teachers would love to be able to collaborate together, learn from each other in all aspects of that teaching and learning cycle.

Whether it's planning, whether it's implementing the lessons, whether it's assessing or reporting wouldn't it be fantastic to see the department's support all aspects of that cycle.

If we had a system that was all interlinked with a common language that would be beneficial to everyone and be much more time-efficient and wouldn't be putting more stress on us and our staff.

One area that I'm particularly keen to see is the way in which schools now and teachers are able to collaborate on digital data, which is secure without the need to use USB keys, hard drives which are very very insecure in the sense that they can get lost or broken and data is duplicated and repeated.

We need to look at different settings, different systems where technology is playing the greatest role within the school to be reflective of contemporary workplaces, of contemporary society.

When talking about schools digital strategy it would be wonderful to see support for our core business in the classroom which is the teaching and learning cycle.

The most important thing with any use of any technology is that it doesn't get in the way of the learning.

The cost of the ever-changing technology is a real burden. I see teachers that now come into the school that are highly digitally literate and they know and are able to use tools very effectively in learning. They plan and program through technology.

I think it's great that the department is consulting principals on this new strategy. It's great that we have input now and can make sure that whatever is rolled out works in schools.

If you have something that's simple and makes sense and has a common language that's school language, I think that would be very very helpful for everyone.

The SDS will be able to provide principals and schools with more time for principals to be working with students and teachers. That's what we want.

[End of transcript]