How poor classroom acoustics are linked to lower skill levels in students. If you feel you’re struggling to maintain discipline and cooperation, and your students’ motivation and engagement levels are lacking, it may have something to do with the way ...
More »The internet of school things
How technology will connect educators and students, and usher in a new age of smart schools. Schools are becoming increasingly technology rich. Many provide connected devices for students or have programs that enable students to bring their own devices (BYOD). ...
More »Measuring success: How can we help our teachers help themselves?
The Teaching Teams trial promises teacher education students and their supervisors a new approach to self-reflection and assessment. With the current push for new teachers who are ‘classroom ready’, it’s no wonder our teacher education students, teachers and schools are ...
More »‘Social media is the biro of today’: education expert
Just south of the border between England and Scotland and west of the rugged Pennines lies the University of Cumbria. There, this week, director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute professor John Hattie urged teachers to give social media a go in ...
More »We teach English better than the English: expert
Say what you want about Where the Forest Meets the Sea or Storm Boy, because overall, we beat the English at their own linguistic learning game. Dr Paul Gardner from Curtin University’s School of Education has found we are better ...
More »Minecraft goes to school
The world of Minecraft is not flat, nor round. It’s square. Even the cupcakes at the computer game’s promotional stand at EduTECH were square. But, despite their unusual shape, the baked goods weren’t the focus. Rather, teachers’ eyes were glued ...
More »EduTECH: how to cultivate tomorrow’s leaders
Lee Watanabe Crockett strode onto the EduTECH stage to a track filled with electronic bleeps and loops. Wearing a Steve Jobs-like all black outfit and black-rimmed glasses, he looked and acted the part of a digital change maker. As president ...
More »Canberra Grammar students augment reality
Schoolkids may be eagerly awaiting the release of Pokémon GO’s new Fire and Ice event but students at Canberra Grammar School are already toying with augmented reality. Unlike Pokémon GO, however, Pearson’s HoloLens is educational and doesn’t require a mobile ...
More »USYD alumni seek to inspire, inform girls’ post-school choices
You probably wouldn't follow your careers advisor on Snapchat, but you might friend ENID Network. Sydney University graduates Nina Khoury (commerce and law) and Adriana Stefanatos (commerce) created the network: an all-female careers advice and networking platform for high school and university students. Instead of content-heavy formats or one-on-one interviews, ...
More »NAPLAN: a force for good or evil?
“I always say in jest to people, if you type NAPLAN in a Word document or on the computer, it autocorrects to NAPALM, which I think says it all.” Associate professor Michael Nagel, an educational psychologist at the University of ...
More »