Recent developments for digital education in Australia: DER, the Australian Access Federation and Learning Design James Dalziel Professor of Learning Technology and Director, Macquarie E-Learning Centre Of Excellence (MELCOE) Macquarie University Keynote Presentation (remote) for eFest 2008, Auckland, New Zealand, September 2008

Overview Digital Education Revolution (DER) Policy Progress to date Learning Design What is Learning Design? Two Examples Australian Access Federation Background Examples

Digital Education Revolution “The Australian Government is committing new funding of $1.2 billion over five years to provide for: The National Secondary School Computer Fund, providing grants of up to $1 million for schools to assist them to provide for new or upgraded information and communications technology (ICT) for secondary students in years 9 – 12 The Fibre Connections to Schools initiative, a contribution of up to $100 million to support the development of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband connections to Australian schools Collaboration with states and territories and Deans of Education to ensure new and continuing teachers have access to training in the use of ICT that enables them to enrich student learning..../over

Digital Education Revolution (cont) $32.6 million over two years to supply students and teachers with online curriculum tools and resources to support the national curriculum and conferencing facilities for specialist subjects such as languages The development of online learning and access that will enable parents to participate in their child’s education $10 million over three years to develop support mechanisms to provide vital assistance for schools in the deployment of ICT provided through the National Secondary School Computer Fund. The Australian Government is committed to working with state and territory governments, Catholic and Independent school systems to make sustainable and meaningful change in the way teaching and learning are delivered in Australian schools. Support and cooperation from important stakeholder groups, such as parent, teacher and principal organisations is imperative for the success of the initiative. Consultation with key stakeholders will continue throughout the implementation of the Digital Education Revolution.” From Digital Education Revolution website (

Digital Education Revolution Progress to date: Review of existing school computer and broadband infrastructure –Determine areas of greatest need Round 1 of National Secondary Schools Computer Fund announced June 2008 – 896 schools receiving $117M –Round 1 focus on ratio 1:8+ computers  1:2 –Round 2 open now Australian ICT in Education Committee (AICTEC) providing advice to government on DER –AICTEC working groups, eg: Teaching for a Digital Age, Enabling Technologies, Intellectual Property & Privacy

Digital Education Revolution Progress to date: Better Practice Guide: ICT in Schools Increased ICT allocation in the Australian Government Quality Teacher Program activities Planning for “ICT infrastructure integrated effectively into schools –Digital repositories –Integrated learning environment –Technical standards –Persistent identifiers –Interoperability of student data –National approach to copyright –e-Portfolios –Access federation for schools”

Digital Education Revolution Some areas of discussion “On-costs” for school computer rollout –Power, cabling, furniture, insurance, etc Charging models for broadband Teacher professional development for ICT in teaching Integration and technology standards for ICT infrastructure

What is Learning Design? Learning Design is a new approach to describing teaching and learning processes in a structured way Typically describes sequences of student activities (scaffolding of content + collaboration) –A sequence applies to a class/week/topic (not whole unit) Focus on sharing and re-using good sequences Often implemented online with technology –But becoming a general framework for face to face and online

What is Learning Design? Learning Design is particularly useful for pedagogical approaches that have a structured process, eg: –Inquiry Based Learning, Role Plays, Problem Based Learning Learning Design focuses on how educators structure activities to foster student learning Learning Design systems can integrate with LMSs –For students, link(s) from course area to the relevant sequence –Lecturer single-sign-on and easy authoring and launching

LAMS + Sakai: Learner Sequence launched from Sakai Course page (SSO)

Example 1: Inquiry Based Learning “What are the qualities of an effective teacher?” Step 1: Answer question, then reflect on others’ answers Step 2: Vote on a list of qualities, consider collated votes Step 3: Discuss responses to Steps 1 & 2 (Stop) Step 4: Read an expert’s view on the topic Step 5: Discuss expert’s view compared to class view (Stop) Step 6: Personal reflection (or essay if assessment) on initial question, based on initial views, class discussion & expert view Can be run face to face with no technology, or fully online, or a mix

Example 1: Inquiry Based Learning - “Qualities of an Effective Teacher”

Example 1a: Inquiry Based Learning “What are the qualities of a great leader?” Step 1: Answer question, then reflect on others’ answers Step 2: Vote on a list of qualities, consider collated votes Step 3: Discuss responses to Steps 1 & 2 (Stop) Step 4: Read an expert’s view on the topic Step 5: Discuss expert’s view compared to class view (Stop) Step 6: Personal reflection (or essay if assessment) on initial question, based on initial views, class discussion & expert view

Example 1a: The overall Learning Design remain the same, but…

Example 1a: …. editing of content within individual activities

Example 1b: Inquiry Based Learning “What are the qualities of energy efficient engines?” Step 1: Answer question, then reflect on others’ answers Step 2: Vote on a list of qualities, consider collated votes Step 3: Discuss responses to Steps 1 & 2 (Stop) Step 4: Read an expert’s view on the topic Step 5: Discuss expert’s view compared to class view (Stop) Step 6: Personal reflection (or essay if assessment) on initial question, based on initial views, class discussion & expert view

Example 1c: Inquiry Based Learning “What are the qualities of an effective e-learning system?” Step 1: Answer question, then reflect on others’ answers Step 2: Vote on a list of qualities, consider collated votes Step 3: Discuss responses to Steps 1 & 2 (Stop) Step 4: Read an expert’s view on the topic Step 5: Discuss expert’s view compared to class view (Stop) Step 6: Personal reflection (or essay if assessment) on initial question, based on initial views, class discussion & expert view

Example 2: Role Play “Should a K-12 school roll out interactive whiteboards?” Step 1-4: Introduce role play; scenario; tasks; roles Step 5: Break students into role groups (pro teachers, con teachers, school management, students) Step 6: Reflect on own role in private journal Step 7: Shared Q&A about ideas within role group Step 8: Forum about ideas within role group (Stop) Step 9: Main role play (all roles together in Forum to discuss) (Stop) Step 10: Vote on whether roll out should proceed or not Step 11-13: Reflect on role play experience & strengths/weaknesses

Example 2: Role Play - Adoption of Interactive Whiteboards

Example 2a: Role Play “Should the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates to 1%?” Step 1-4: Introduce role play; scenario; tasks; roles Step 5: Break students into role groups (Federal Reserve Chair; US President; Mortgage Insurer; Investment Bank) Step 6: Reflect on own role in private journal Step 7: Shared Q&A about ideas within role group Step 8: Forum about ideas within role group (Stop) Step 9: Main role play (all roles together in Forum to discuss) (Stop) Step 10: Vote on whether to cut interest rates or not Step 11-13: Reflect on role play experience & strengths/weaknesses

Example 2b: Role Play “How could peace be achieved after WW2?” Step 1-4: Introduce role play; scenario; tasks; roles Step 5: Break students into role groups (US, Russia, Germany, France) Step 6: Reflect on own role in private journal Step 7: Shared Q&A about ideas within role group Step 8: Forum about ideas within role group (Stop) Step 9: Main role play (all roles together in Forum to discuss) (Stop) Step 10: Vote on whether to accept peace proposal or not Step 11-13: Reflect on role play experience & strengths/weaknesses

LAMS Community – Sharing & Discussing Learning Designs

LAMS Community – Sequence Repository Summary

LAMS Community – Detailed view of individual sequence

New LAMS Features LAMS V2.1 features: –Branching Teacher allocated Group-based Tool-output based (MCQ, Forum, Voting, Task List) –Sequences in optional Student choice of one or more sequences –For details, see animations at New “Deep Tools Integration” – under development –Eg, Drag and drop Moodle Forums within LAMS sequences, see

LAMS 2.1: Role play: Inside branching for role tasks

LAMS Deep Tools Integration: Moodle Forum example

28 AAF Overview “Facilitates trusted electronic communications and collaboration within and between institutions of higher education and research in Australia and other organisations worldwide.” AAF Website: AAF Animation: – management-animation See also: – (MAMS testbed federation)

29 AAF Overview Funded under Backing Australia’s Ability by the Department of Education, Science, and Training (DEST) –Now managed by DIISR Introduce production federation in 2009 building on work done by previous projects (MAMS, eSecurity) University of Queensland leads project, partnered with AusCERT & Macquarie University (MELCOE) Steering Committee with representation across sector MAMS Testbed Federation (Level 2) has 27 IdPs (approx 900,000 identities) & 28 SPs –To be transitioned to AAF

30 Some AAF use cases Research data and facilities Institutional repositories Cross-institutional course delivery Collaboration tools and shared services Scholarly and information resource licensing Trusted electronic communications

31 AAF Key Principles Home institution (“Identity Provider”) login Institution-backed identities (not self-assertion) Services trust Identity Providers, rather than manage local user accounts, but SPs still control authorisation Overall Trust Framework with 2 implementation technologies (Shibboleth and PKI) –AAF legal entity with governance; Rules of Membership Privacy preservation where required (including “authenticated anonymous” option) Federation services, eg: –People Picker (Federated White Pages), Shib & Grid integration, Virtual Organsiation toolkit (IAMSuite), etc

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A A Muradora: Open Source Fedora Repository based on Shibboleth

IAMSuite secure workspace, showing IAMSuite Shibboleth-enabled services (in this case DSpace repository); content folders; and workspace users and roles.

LAMS Joint Classes animation:

Summary Digital Education Revolution is a major new commitment to ICT adoption in Australia schools Learning Design provides re-usable descriptions and implementations of teaching and learning processes Australian Access Federation provides Single-Sign- On to resources and systems across different organisations within a trust federation