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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-09-28 Daily Xml
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DIGITAL EDUCATION REVOLUTION

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (14:21): My question is to the Minister for Education. Can the minister advise the house about the progress of the Digital Education Revolution and the impacts this program is having on South Australian schools?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:22): I thank the honourable member for her question and thank her for her real commitment to education in her electorate. I had the pleasure of travelling around her electorate with her recently to visit a number of her schools.

The Digital Education Revolution is, of course, a $2.4 billion program announced in 2007. It is a commonwealth program to provide every year 9 to 12 student with a laptop or computer by the end of this year. The program is due to reach the one-to-one ratio, as part of its program initiative, by the end of this year, and along the way the department has reached many milestones. Schools have met the round 1 and round 2 milestones of one computer for every two year 9 to 12 students, and South Australian schools are on target to meet the final milestone.

The department has ordered 40,268 DER computers and installed 36,202 in secondary schools across South Australia up to this point. This leaves a small 796 computers to be ordered for the DER program. To handle the extra computers installed in secondary schools, 162 school computer networks have been upgraded to meet the increased computer capacity. Computers have been ordered, and the department will continue to work with schools to ensure the DER computers and laptops are installed at a time that suits the needs of the school and doesn't disrupt the learning.

The DER truly is a revolution in the way in which we teach in our schools. Our students are inundated with technologies like iPods, iPhones, MacBooks, laptops and PCs outside of school, and it is crucial that school also be an environment where they have access to the latest technology, otherwise school is just going to look like black-and-white TV versus a very coloured digital environment outside of school and it will cease to engage students. This is so vital if we are to get the sort of results we expect in our schools.

It is really breaking down the barriers between what is the classroom and what is outside of the classroom, with access to the World Wide Web engaging students from around the world and enabling them to embrace technologies which, of course, are going to be so important for work and life. Schools are moving away from the blackboards and chalk of the member for Unley's day, when he was kicking around the schooling system.

An honourable member: What about your day?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: No, I am a much younger man.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Ann Prime, the Principal of Salisbury High School, has seen a tremendous shift in the way students engage with learning and teaching in schools. She pointed out that the DER—

Mr Pisoni: I was a blackboard monitor at Salisbury High School.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Were you really?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Congratulations! She pointed out that the DER funding provided us with the ability to create virtual learning environments and social network—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —to support anytime learning, which is a really powerful part of this new technology. She also reports that at her high school, since the introduction of this new technology, there has been a substantial increase in the number of A grades across all year levels. She attributes that to the additional engagement that is consequent upon the new technology. The DER has provided a strong foundation for our schools to encourage the use of learning technologies to really excite the imagination of our students and to add to their learning.

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