From the desk of DLTV President Ben Gallagher
I can’t believe we are already hurtling into the fourth week of school, and the mind boggles at the number of rapid antigen tests students and teachers will have done by the end of this term.
Today I like to particularly thank our very hard-working Journal Committee. This group of editors and collators are capably led by Roland Gesthuizen (whom I’m sure many of you would know), who is assisted by Mathew Harrison, Clark Burt and Natasha Dwyer.
DLTV are proud to have recently published our Issue 8.2 Journal, which is now available as a free download at our website:
https://dltv.vic.edu.au/Journal-8-2
Please feel free to distribute widely.
The theme for this journal is one very close to our members and many teachers in Victoria, “Gender and Inclusion.” Issue 8.2 continues a long tradition of celebrating our members and interesting projects happening right across the state, with a focus on celebrating our diversity and working towards a more inclusive community:
Articles include: Girls in STEM by Margaret Lawson, Diversity Means More Than Girls by Dr Linda McIver
As well as some articles to support our VCE teachers… plus much, much more
I would also like to thank our industry partners for their advertisements and support. All our previous Journals are at our website.
If you would ever like to contribute in the future just send an email to our manager Kevin Daly
kev@dltv.vic.edu.au
Our journal is strongly about teacher-to-teacher voice so if you have something you’d like to share it’s a great vehicle.
As always reach out if we can support you in any way. We are only ever a phone call or an email away
Cheers
Ben Gallagher President DLTV and ACCE (Australian Council for Computers in Education) |
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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS AND WEBINARS |
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Making use of creative tools for the classroom: Adobe Creative Cloud Express 21 Mar 2022, 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM |
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This online, hands-on workshop with Dr Tim Kitchen will go through how to access and use a set of effective, free tools throughout the curriculum at any level.
The new Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education is Adobe Spark and so much more. It’s a gift from Adobe to all F-12 schools globally and features very simple low-lift and high impact web-based and mobile apps for graphic design, infographics, video stories, image manipulation and web page production.
No prior experience with Adobe is required. |
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Code testing, tracing and debugging
10 Mar 2022, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM |
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This webinar is designed for VCE Applied Computing teachers, but teachers of 7-10 Digital Technologies are also welcome.
Keen to hear how other teachers instruct students in the key skills of algorithm tracing, and debugging in their chosen environment?
Hosted by members of DLTV's VCE Subcommittee, this webinar will explore techniques to instruct and support students in code testing, tracing and debugging. |
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The challenge of adding a GUI in Python
16 Mar 2022, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM |
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Relevant to senior studies like VCE Applied Computing as well as 7-10 Digital Technologies, this webinar dives into the options available for implementing a Graphical User Interface (GUI) in the Python programming language.
Python continues to grow in popularity as 7-10 DigiTech students move through to senior studies, often displacing other languages and coding environments that came with built-in GUI options. What modules and tools are available to help teachers and students add GUIs to their Python solutions?
Hosted by DLTV's VCE Subcommittee, this webinar also features a discussion with an Australian teacher who has built a GUI framework for his Year 10 Python students. |
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DLTV JOURNAL 8.2: Gender and Inclusion
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This edition marks an important moment to question and critically reflect upon our commitment towards equity and inclusion in our society, after two years that have tested our ability to deliver teaching and learning of digital technologies, with cracks appearing due to challenges from variable online access and digital equity.
Articles in this edition include profiles of DLTV community members, discussions on girls in STEM and wider diversity, as well as reflections on VCE conferences during COVID, explorations of high-performance computing (HPC), and using technology to enhance Chinese characters learning activities and understanding blood types. To download your copy of Journal 8.2 go to https://dltv.vic.edu.au/Journal-8-2 |
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In addition to the 2022 resources already announced, the VCAA has just published on-demand videos to support teachers of VCE Applied Computing: Data Analytics and Software Development.
The following on-demand videos are available for the SAT in each study:
- Video 1 – Background to the SAT
- Video 2 – Unit 3 Outcome 2 SAT Criteria 1-5
- Video 3 – Unit 4 Outcome 1 SAT Criteria 6-10
- Video 4 – SAT Authentication
- Video 5 – Administration of the SAT
The following on-demand videos are available for Unit 3 School-based Assessment:
- Video 1 – Unit 3 School-based Assessment and the VCE Assessment principles
- Video 2 – Background to the Unit 3 Outcome 1 SAC
- Video 3 – Planning the Unit 3 Outcome 1 SAC
- Video 4 – Assessing the Unit 3 Outcome 1 SAC
- Video 5 – Using the Unit 3 Outcome 1 SAC Template
- Video 6 – Unit 3 School-based Assessment Audit process
You can view these on-demand videos at the following links:
For Data Analytics: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/news-and-events/professional-learning/VCE/Pages/VCEDataAnalytics.aspx For Software Development: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/news-and-events/professional-learning/VCE/Pages/VCESoftwareDevelopment.aspx
Also, a reminder that the VCAA SAT webinars are taking place next week:
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In light of the challenges of Term One 2022, our VCE Subcommittee has decided to host three short afternoon webinars during March. Each webinar is an opportunity to dive into a specific topic as well as share your practice with other teachers.
WEBINAR 1: Code tracing, testing and debugging
10th March, 4pm - 5pm (free booking now available)
Properly testing and debug code is a key skill set that can remove many roadblocks when students are implementing their projects. For teachers of Applied Computing U1O2 and Software Development.
WEBINAR 2: The challenge of adding a GUI in Python
16th March, 4pm - 5pm (free booking now available)
Relevant to Applied Computing U1O2 and Software Development as well as 7-10 Digital Technologies, this webinar will explore the options available for implementing a Graphical User Interface (GUI) in the Python programming language. WEBINAR 3: Supporting students with the Innovative Project Week beginning 21st March (booking page coming soon)
The team Innovative Project (VCE Applied Computing U2O1) brings many challenges, including how to support and keep accountable students who are using their own technology choices for their projects. For teachers looking towards Applied Computing Unit 2. |
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MONASH VIRTUAL SCHOOL: free VCE Revision Classes
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The Monash Virtual School offers a series of free, interactive revision classes, delivered over Zoom, focused on supporting girls studying VCE Units 3 and 4; Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Psychology and Software Development, as well as Further, Methods and Specialist Mathematics.
For each subject there will be six sessions over the course of a year, each focusing on a different area of the curriculum. Students are able to register for any or all sessions for subjects they are currently undertaking.
The Monash Virtual School will be led by online learning expert Associate Professor Michael Phillips and delivered by Monash pre-service teachers under the guidance of experienced and qualified educators.
Our focus is supporting young women’s learning and engagement in STEM by providing them with opportunities to engage with outstanding female educators who develop and deliver STEM programs in the Monash Virtual School; however, students of all genders are welcome to participate. Find out more at the Monash Virtual School website. |
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VICTORIAN CODING CHALLENGE: 2021 winners
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In 2021, DLTV collaborated again with the Mathematical Association of Victoria (MAV) to run the Victorian Coding Challenge, a two-stage coding challenge open to government schools in Victoria. The following report is adapted from the winners announcement by Danijela Draskovic (MAV).
As in 2020, we were impressed with the level of engagement and participation in the 2021 Victorian Coding Challenge. We had over 1700 students from government schools across Year 5-10 take part. The feedback we have received from teachers and students alike has been very encouraging, and so, we hope to keep this program going for many years to come. (Registrations for the 2022 Victorian Coding Challenge will be available soon at the MAV webpage.)
We would like to thank the schools who took their students through to the second stage of the VCC – the competition stage. Judging day was extremely fun, and rewarding for the judges. We are always so impressed by what students put forward. A very big congratulations to all the students on their submissions. They should be very proud of their achievements, regardless of if they’ve received a prize or not.
Years 5 and 6 Winning School: Merri Creek Primary School
Years 5 and 6 Runners Up: Ascot Vale Primary School & Surrey Hills Primary School
Years 7 and 8 Winning School: Mount Erin College
Years 7 and 8 Runners Up: Glen Waverley Secondary College
Years 8 and 9 Winning School: John Monash Science School
Years 8 and 9 Runners Up: Melbourne High School
For more details and judges comments go to https://dltv.vic.edu.au/vcc-2021-winners |
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DLTV PL SURVEY: open to all readers |
Open to all our readers. Please help us offer the best Professional Learning we can. A prize of a $150 voucher supplied by our sponsor Pakronics is available to one lucky participant. Click on the image below to complete our survey.
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VIDEO GAMES: ACMI'S Game Builder
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Traverse the curriculum with videogames and ACMI's Game Builder
Supporting your students to build their own videogame from ideation to playtesting has never been easier. ACMI's Game Builder is an extensive teaching resource guiding teachers and students to make their very first videogame, and for those who have some experience already.
The clear and concise modules offer step by step instructions, accessible online tools and video tutorials, and clips providing fun explainers around concepts like Videogame Mechanics and differences in Videogame Narratives.
Game Builder supports two skill levels - absolute beginners and intermediates - and is designed to enable students (and teachers) to work their own way through as they explore narrative, coding, designing sound and graphics and more.
You can now download the full lesson sequence from the ACMI website:
Game Builder Overview
Game Builder Level 1
Game Builder Level 2
Recommended for Year levels: 3-10
Learning areas: Technologies, Mathematics, English, Arts, Media Arts
Capabilities: Creative and critical thinking |
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SCALING ROBOTICS ACROSS THE CURRICULUM: at Mount Alexander College
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Mount Alexander College is a government school in the inner city suburb of Flemington. Six years ago in an effort to increase enrollments and student engagement the school adopted a student led approach and a vertical learning structure. This essentially meant abolishing year levels between years 7 and 10 and offering students a wide range of elective subjects to choose from throughout their school journey.
One area of interest that students were particularly interested in was new technologies including Robotics. After initially starting with a different platform the school switched to VEX robotics due the progression the various kits offered from the largely plastic and easy to build and take apart components of the vex IQ kits to the more robust V5 kits with powerful motors and metal parts that require more thought and planning.
The students not only interact practically with engineering principles such as gears and levers as well as computer science principles, but also learn skills such as teamwork and project management. A major motivation for the students are the competitions where the groups of students get to test their skills against students from other schools around the Melbourne region and if successful attend the Australian Championships. We had a team compete in the 2019 Australian finals in Adelaide and there is even the possibility of the World Champions after that if teams are successful.
The program has grown from one class to last year over 5 classes running with around a 100 students taking part. This is in a school of around 600 students which is a sign of its popularity. We also allow keen students to repeat the elective multiple times over their school journey allowing them to build on and refine their skills and knowledge each time.
Tom Grocott
Science and Technology Teacher
Mount Alexander College |
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CEAV & DLTV: Call for webinar participants
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DLTV in conjunction with Career Education Association Victoria (CEAV) are creating a discussion type webinar for careers teachers and DigiTech/STEM teachers. This webinar will form part the Connecting Learning to Work project which encourages year 10 girls to consider careers in digital technologies. The webinar will take place late - February/early March 2022 we are looking for three careers teachers and three Digitech teachers to take part in this Q&A style panel. The discussion will be guided by a moderator from DLTV and all participants will have access to the recording to make sure they are happy with it before its published. If you’d like to take part, please email kev@dltv.vic.edu.au |
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Sent by Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria |
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P +61 3 9349 3733 | 61 Blyth Street, Brunswick, VIC, 3056 | dltv.vic.edu.au |
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