Tag Archives: VCAA

Weaving the Future – Inquiry based learning & DigiTech curriculum

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On Friday, 17 March, School Library Association of Victoria conference Weaving the Future: Inquiry Learning within a Digital Curriculum will feature, Dr Mandy Lupton from QUT and Paula Christophersen formerly of VCAA.  Focus of the day will be the Digital Curriculum and the role of School Libraries can take in its implementation and execution.

Dr Mandy Lupton is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at QUT and well known to library and literacy professionals through her blog Inquiry Learning and Information Literacy.   Mandy teaches units in the Master of Education (teacher-librarianship) and has undertaken a number of research projects into inquiry learning and information literacy.  She will present a number of tools for the design of inquiry learning curriculum including questioning frameworks, process models and Mandy’s GeSTE windows model for information literacy. Delegates will have the opportunity for hands-on application and evaluation of these planning resources.  This is an opportunity to work closely with a renowned Australian information literacy specialist.

Ms Paula Christophersen (formerly of VCAA) is a familiar presenter at SLAV conferences having introduced ICT in the curriculum and general capabilities.  As a major architect of the new Victorian Digitech curriculum, Paula is the ideal person to present Ways of thinking in Digital Technologies.  Through this Paula will explore the essential features of the Victorian Digital Technologies curriculum, paying particular attention to the different ways of thinking in the curriculum, namely computational, design and systems thinking. Exploration involves teasing out the breadth and depth of content associated with this curriculum, and how meaningful connections can be made with other learning areas.  As schools seek methods of integrating the new digital curriculum into both primary and secondary schools, this session gives library staff background and understanding to support digital learning through the STEM curriculum, makerspaces, coding clubs etc.

SLAV is pleased to be starting the year with professional learning support for Victorian teacher librarians, teachers and library staff generally.   Don’t miss out.  Register here.

The new Victorian Curriculum

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vic-curriculum1

As has been the practice for a number of years, the first SLAV conference for 2016 focussed on the role of teacher librarians and school library staff in the learning and teaching program.

The 18 March SLAV Conference entitled Student Centred, Curriculum Centred: Exploring the new Victorian Curriculum, was launched with keynote David Howes, Executive Director, Curriculum Division, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).  David introduced the new Victorian Curriculum  to delegates, explaining similarities, differences and integration with the Australian Curriculum (ACARA).  He emphasised that the new Victorian Curriculum supports the Victorian State Government’s goals for education which has as its aims:

Over the next 5 years:

  • 25% more Year 5 students will reach the highest levels of achievement in reading and maths.

Over the next 10 years:

  • 25% more Year 9 students will reach the highest levels of achievement in reading and maths.

  • 33% more 15 year olds will reach the highest levels of achievement in science.

  • More students will reach the highest levels of achievement in the arts.

  • More students will reach the highest levels of achievement in critical and creative thinking.

David also introduced the  Teaching and Learning Toolkit which is an ‘accessible summary of educational research’ designed to support quality learning and teaching.  Its layout is based on the research of Prof John Hattie, where from a series of explicit goals you delve into the site to discover research and practice to support the topic.  This will be an excellent professional learning tool for teachers.

Rhonda Powling captured the Twitter stream from the Conference to create this Storify which includes tweets relating to David’s presentation and others on the day (more about them to come).

SLAV delegates appreciated the depth of analysis and explanation provided by David who appreciates the role of the school library that is actively working with teachers and curriculum leaders to provide the best possible outcomes for students.  His full presentation is available on the Member’s section of the SLAV website.

VELS ICT resources

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Victorian Northern Metropolitan Region  Ultranet Coach Anesti Anestis has agreed to share a VELS wiki he has been developing.

VELS ICT wiki homepage
VELS ICT wiki homepage

Anesti explains:

Paula Christophersen, ICT Curriculum Manager, VCAA and her team has released a range of new resources and support materials on the VELS website that is designed to support the application of ICT in learning and teaching programs. It is a very comprehensive list of ideas for Prep through to Year 10. There are many practical resources that schools, ICT teachers and classroom teachers can use. Another useful link that may support our understanding of the role of ICT in the curriculum and its interdisciplinary nature is here: http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/about/faq.html#21

VELS Primary and scope and sequence
VELS Primary and scope and sequence

He continues:

This wiki is a community effort to share some “teacher friendly” resources for the VELS ICT domain. In addition we hope to add links to lots of useful resources from the web to aid in its implementation.

Please use the discussion tab above if you have comments or suggestions. Or just jump right in and start adding to the pages.

We are collecting a large number of ICT documents from many schools and cluster educators and placing them in the resources section. We will use these documents as the basis for collaborating on the wiki.

Secondary scope and sequence
Secondary scope and sequence

You will also find that there are examples of Scope and Sequence for both Primary and Secondarylevels. Here schools have been invited to share what they have been doing and add links to documentation so that other interested teachers have easy access to support materials.

Another excellent wiki Anesti. Thank you for your work and for sharing with the readers of Bright Ideas.