Teaching music online at the Tasmanian eSchool

This semester the young performers of School of Rock have enrolled with Virtual School Victoria as they go on tour.

On Friday 29th March the AADES met at the new Finigan School of Distance Education, based in Queanbeyan NSW and welcomed the school to the AADES Community. Finigan School fo Distance Education is a purpose built K-12 school supporting students across south-eastern NSW. Its facilities include 20 web lesson studios, a satellite lesson studio and 2 video production studios. You can read more about the school here.

The artistry of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura) students is now on permanent display in the Ministry of Education’s national office at Mātauranga House.

With the rapid evolution of Technology into the Modern World, it is vital that we prepare our students for the technological future. Distance Education students are currently effective "drivers" of digital systems, but do your students have the skills, knowledge and understanding to be"mechanics" of these digital systems? This article unpacks a STEM program designed and implemented at Capricornia SDE.

BrisbaneSDE … inspiring leadership BrisbaneSDE 2018 School Captain Mahala Karan studied with BrisbaneSDE for 9 years commencing in year 4. She has been awarded ‘The Empowering Young Women’s Award’ in the Greater Brisbane Women in Business Awards. Nominations for this category were open to outstanding young women who demonstrated significant leadership potential and outstanding qualities or performance. Mahala won this award for her significant leadership skills as BrisbaneSDE school captain and the South Queensland Brigade Cadet Under Officer (CUO) in the Australian Army Cadets, looking after approximately 2500 cadets.

Brisbane SDE recently hosted its inaugural e-Gen Forum.

The 2019 Biennial AADES Conference in conjunction with Common Ground Research Networks is pleased to announce the conference dinner will be at MONA. Further details about the awards dinner and pre-conference activities here.

Tasmanian eSchool’s Year 9 and 10 students participated in the NaNoWriNo challenge.

The AADES Annual General Meeting will be hosted at Finigan School of Distance Education in Queanbeyan NSW at 11am (AEDT) on Friday 29th March 2019. Members are invited to access the AGM via WebEx. Please contact jeane.schocroft@openaccess.edu.au prior to the day for details.

The PLACE Project is about the spirit of belonging in an online learning environment. Item braces mutual respect for personal uniqueness, creativity and difference and celebrates connection.

It's awards time again. Every two years AADES presents a range of awards recognising excellence in distance education at its biennial conference.AADES is now calling for nominations for the awards to be presented at the upcoming conference. Please consider colleagues in your jurisdictions who have made outstanding contributions to distance education over the past two years. Details of the each award and the nomination process are contained in this article.

Our Biennial Conference is being held in Hobart from 2-3 May.‍The program (to be released shortly) is looking full and exciting with workshop contributions from every jurisdiction across Australia and New Zealand. Make sure your school is tapping into this opportunity to share in the journeys and discoveries of our distance education community. This article includes information on how to pay for individuals and groups.

SIDE WA Open Day

Tasmanian eSchool have been investigating how they demonstrate their motto "connected, engagaged, successful global citizens." The school has two campuses. The northern campus is based in Launceston and the southern campus is based in Hobart. These two sites are approximately 220 kilometers apart. Both schools deliver online education to students across Tasmania.

In a partnership established between the Distance Education Centre Victoria and Melbourne Theatre Company in 2017 teaching Drama virtually has been explored in a program called ‘In and Out of Worlds. Through this partnership opportunity, created by the Creative Victoria Education and Partnerships funding program, we have explored new ways to navigate meaningful connections between students learning at home, and those physically attending subjects like drama.

Get an insight into how Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura), New Zealand’s state distance education provider, delivers online learning for early childhood, primary and secondary education. Participants will get insight into the school’s online learning environment; how learners and supervisors interact with learning content; and how teachers manage the environment. Presented by members of Te Kura’s curriculum and online team www.tekura.school.nz Webinar: Thursday 18 October, 12:30pm (ACT) (2:30pm NZ)

For the past several years, Mount Isa School of the Air has been engaging in a community process of creating assessment literate learners in order to enable their teachers to prioritise the teaching of and learning of the Australian Curriculum. Drawing largely from evidence-based works by Fisher and Frey and Hattie, using the Gradual Release of Responsibility as a framework for teaching and learning, the school community have been working collegially towards a deep understanding of the assessment demands of the Curriculum into the classroom suite of materials.

Katherine School of the Air will be hosting an upcoming webinar. Join Sarah Dohl and Nick Lovering for the story of how KSA integrates rubrics into their whole school approach to student feedback. In this session, they will share: - how rubrics are used for student learning - what students are saying about rubrics - how using rubrics has impacted on interactions between student, home tutor and teacher

Katherine School of the Air has again engaged with the national Write a Book in a Day Competiton which has students collaboratively write stories for children in hospitals across the country. Despite some technical hurdles this year's involvement and contribution was a success.

Te Kura has been working hard over the past few years to explore the best ways to create immersive and engaging learning experiences for their students. This year they have been nominated for the 2018 Best Design Awards in recognition of their innovative work in the creation of interactive, multi-sensory learning modules. Read more here. The article includes a link to a video of Te Kura students talking about their learning experiences at Te Kura.

Victorian students attending Connect with Distance Day participate in robotics and circuits STEM activities . Read more about the day here.

The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) has been supporting NSW distance education school teachers through the provision of a range of professional learning opportunities. AFTRS has been training teachers in the use of voice techniques to help teachers make their web lessons more engaging for students. In this session Pip Jokhan and James Dickman of Sydney Distance Education High School demonstrated a number of these engagement techniques. A recording can now be accessed in this article and the webinar section of this site.

AADES and Common Ground Research Networks present the Twelfth International Conference on e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies: From the Ends of the Earth to Connected Learners. The conference will be held in Hobart from 2-3 May 219. Workshop proposals can now be submitted. Early bird registrations are also now open. Links to the conference site can be found in this article.

Students learning Music through Open Access College had the opportunity to attend a Song writing workshop held at the college. Read more about their experience here.

Play@ASSOA is a fortnightly playgroup delivered through IDL (Interactive Distance Learning) by Alice Springs School of the Air Preschool teacher, Mrs Vicki Skoss. This program is for babies and children from birth to four years, and is broadcast from a studio at ASSOA to children in remote Central Australia.

Distance education schools deliver outstanding results. The Distance Education Centre Victoria recently had 5 students recognised for their achievements by the Victorian Premier.

Save the date! The Tasmanian Department of Education will be hosting a free webinar on Wednesay 20 June on how to apply formative assessment strategies in digital learning environments. Details for accessing the webinar will be posted on this website closer to the date.

Dr Karl Kruslzelnicki recently worked with Year 5 students at Brisbane SDE answering all of their Science related questions.

Blended learning opportunities for students in Tasmanian government schools are growing rapidly with the implementation of Canvas, our new learning management system. The Department has established a blended learning support team to plan, implement and support the roll out of Canvas and to develop blended learning approaches across Tasmanian public schools. The uptake from primary schools, high schools, district schools and colleges has been inspiring

Legal Studies students at Open Access College, Adelaide, recently participated in a Mock Trial. Read here about their experience and how they prepared for the trial as distance education students.

The next AADES webinar to place in your calendars will be hosted by Capricornia School of Distance Education. The webinar will explain how CSoDE has embedded a whole school literacy approach by upskilling staff and Home Tutors (P-12). Aligning with their school priority, ‘How do we successfully lift student literacy capabilities to meet or exceed year level expectations?’ This webinar is free and access details are available within this article and the webinar section of this website.

Te Kura has launched a new website, check it out at www.tekura.school.nz The new website includes access to a showcase of the school’s online learning environment, My Te Kura. Visit Te Kura’s online learning showcase [https://tekura.desire2learn.com/d2l/home/11266 ] Username: showcase Password: showcase

The NSW Distance Education Secondary Music Teachers Network have strengthened their relationships between all five NSW Secondary Distance Education Centres, Southern Cross University, and professional musicians thanks to a recent three-day conference recently held at Goonellabah, Lismore, NSW hosted by Southern Cross School of Distance Education. The State Distance Education Secondary Music Teachers Conference had teachers from each of the five NSW Distance Education Centres in the state in attendance with additional network members from as far as Dubbo School of Distance Education joining in for sessions via Video Conference. Peter Richardson from Camden Haven High School said “This needs to continue. It strengthens and develops the relationship between all Distance Education Centres.” Read more in this article about this wonderful professional learning and networking opportunity.

The NSW School of Languages provides language learning opportunities to students in over 400 schools across NSW via distance education. The school offers courses in 12 languages as well as support for ESL students. This article outlines two recent examples of the support provided to language students by the NSW School of Languages.

Year 9 students from Katherine School of the Air (KSA) and Alice Springs School of the Air (ASSOA) partnered together to become work ready. Collaborating with GTNT, both schools had students working towards their Certificate 1 in Business. Three students successfully completed the whole qualification and a further two received a statement of attainment.

The Capricornia School of Distance Education has conducted a “Training SDE Reading Coaches” trial. The program aims to increase capability and confidence of Home Tutors to teach students to read, support teachers in monitoring student literacy behaviours and individual goal setting, and improve reading outcomes for students. This article outlines the program.

Professional Learning for staff at the Tasmanian eSchool recently has focussed on developing an understanding of the Grit and Growth Mindset theoretical constructs made famous through the bestselling books by Angela Duckworth and Carol Dweck. We have investigated how these ‘big ideas’ can support our work as teachers, specifically how we can employ a growth mindset and a shared language to improve our own teaching and how we can develop a growth mindset/grit philosophy in our students

In the 2015/2016 summer, Te Kura began a Summer School starting with 201 enrolments. The 2017/2018 summer saw this increase to 1358 enrolments due to the success of the program. In three years the program has helped 633 achieve results in their NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement), the main national qualification for secondary students in New Zealand.

NTSDE is partnering with schools to provide targeted STEM learning opportunities to students across the NT. There are two programs currently in development.

AADES is continuing its commitment to open windows between our distance education schools across Australasia through a series of webinars in 2018. There will be two free webinars each term over the course of the year. Each webinar will be hosted by a different jurisdiction. Keep an eye on the webinar section of this site for further details. The two webinars for this term will be hosted by the School of Isolated and Distance Education, Western Australia and Open Access College, South Australia.

In 2018 the School of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) celebrates 100 years of distance education in Western Australia. SIDE is located in Leederville, an inner city suburb in the Perth metropolitan area and provides K-12 education to remote, rural and isolated students. It continues a tradition of educational service begun by the Correspondence School when it was established in 1918. We invite you to join us and to follow our celebrations.

The 2018 Annual Meeting will be held at 11am (AEST) on Friday 23 March. All member schools are invited to attend via WebEx.

Dubbo School of Distance Education worked with Thom Markham from PBLGlobal.com to investigate ways of implementing project based learning in the distance education context. This article is about DSoDE's journey so far.

Primary students build a robotic vehicle for modern agriculture.

A six-day trip to Canberra delighted 18 Alice Springs School of the Air students, who journeyed to the capital as part of a civics and citizenship study unit. The primary and middle years’ students visited many attractions, including Questacon, Cockington Green Gardens, the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, Parliament House, the Australian War Memorial, and the Royal Australian Mint.

This year Katherine School of the Air implemented the Duke of Edinburgh program into the pastoral care component of their learning pathways. The idea was to effectively transition students into a wider world of opportunity in work and life through Physical Recreation, Skill Development, Community Service, and an Adventurous Journey.

Open Access College, Adelaide, recently hosted a Science Come in Day by Sciworld for their alternative program students. The day was filled with hands on activities designed to spark student interest and enthusiasm for Science.

Longreach School of Distance Education share how they prepare for a whole school musical production. Distance is not a barrier.

An online collaboration between Te Kura students has been recognised in a New Zealand competition. This successful project was also described in Jan Bolton’s citation when she received a Teaching Excellence Award from AADES. The project included 56 students involved in the song development; writing lyrics, the composition of music that’s both electronic and instrumental, and instrumental and vocal performances.

The 2017 AADES Biennial Conference - Connecting is Learning was the biggest and best AADES conference ever. The conference was an opportunity to share the research and ideas that are informing our directions and support of our students. Every moment of the conference was brimming with deep conversation. Delegates have now returned to their schools informed and with new connections to develop and explore. As we all face the challenges of the increasing pace of change AADES has a vital role in connecting our journeys.

The second semester residential school for NTSDE dependent and dual Year 10 and 11 students was held in Darwin in Week 4 this term. 20 participants came from all regions of the Territory.

Katherine School of the Air (KSA) is now a regular participant in the Australia-wide competition Write a Book in a Day (WABIAD). The competition raises money for the KIDS Cancer Project, currently this year they are up to $129, 000. Participants have 12 hours on their chosen day to write and publish a book that will be sent out to kids’ cancer wards in hospitals around Australia. So 12 hours to write a book? That might work well enough when the writers are in one room but how do you achieve this in a distance education setting?

The NSW School of Languages has been working on a trial with two remote NSW schools to support the learning of languages in schools where it is difficult to find qualified language teachers. The trial has involved Indonesian teachers Danielle Elvy and Ida Harsojo connecting with between 17-30 students via Adobe Connect and or Skype for live sessions supported with online learning via Moodle. Danielle also visited the schools to run incursion days. Read more about the trial here.

Tilly is an exceptional young woman from rural NSW who has a passion and love for music and composing. A Year 9 Southern Cross School of Distance Education, Tilly studies a full pattern of study whilst taking additional lessons at the Northern Rivers Conservatorium. She speaks French and Auslan at home with her foster siblings. Tilly is diagnosed with multiple disabilities including cerabal palsy. Tilly and and her carers see what she can do, rather than what she cannot. She is currently in France for six months continuing her studies with Southern Cross School of Distance Education whilst she travels. This article tells the story of Tilly's involvement with the Australian Chamber Orchestra's Move Program.

Charleville School of Distance Education has created the 'Kilometre Club' as a competition that runs between the school's two sporting houses Kanyanna and Narungi. The program encourages students to engage in and track physical activity, gain points for their house and earn 'brag tags'.

The Oaktree Foundation is a movement by young people with the goal of ending poverty. The Foundation believes that extreme poverty is unacceptable. The Foundation recently ran an incursion for Year 9 students at Open Access College, Adelaide linked to curriculum content on natural disasters.

Te Kura provides a quality learning experiences via distance education to over 23,000 students across New Zealand. This article covers the school's evolution from the traditional correspondence model to online delivery. The article also discusses the role of Te Kura in the establishment of Communities of Online Learning (COOLs), as legislated in the recently amended New Zealand Education Act.

NSW distance education Visual Arts teachers have a long history of effective networking. The teachers in the network recently met in Canberra to visit galleries, meet with artists and collaborate on teaching and learning ideas.

Southern Cross School of Distance Education encourages their teachers to pursue their own ideas around teaching and learning through their Learning Innovation Team (LIT). School staff are invited to submit an expression of interest for a project they’d like to work on. This article provides an overview of the initiative with a focus on a successful staff wellbeing program which was designed and implemented by a member of the school's teaching staff.

New South Wales has a large, distributed network of distance education schools. Over recent years Kym Knight, Project Officer with Rural and Distance Education has worked hard to establish and coordinate collaborative collegial networks across these schools for the development and sharing of materials. This article outlines how these networks operate and includes contact details for further information and ideas.

Capricornia School of Distance Education show how they live up to the school motto - 'Be different. Make a difference' when catering for students with mental health.

Brisbane School of Distance Education have an effective whole school student wellbeing program.

NTSDE Community Residiental School

Don't miss the 2017 AADES Biennial Leaders and Teachers Conference that is being held in Adelaide on 17-18th August 2017.

A super heroes fantasy, a political satire and a moral tale based around basketball are the stories a group of Te Kura students have chosen to tell through digital technology.

Alice Springs School of the Air ran a successful five week online coding competition with its Middle Year students. This article outlines the program and includes feedback from a student.

Levi is a year 9 student enrolled at the Distance Education Centre Victoria. He has experienced the poverty of parts of Cambodia first hand. He now lives in Ballarat but it determined to make a difference for as many people as he can in Cambodia. He writes about his experiences of living there and the social project he is trying to get up and running.