In 2011 all Australian teacher education institutions participated in the Teaching Teachers of the Future project. Each institution introduced initiatives adapted to their particular institutional context. At ACU we adopted an approach based on providing resources reflecting authentic classroom practices coupled with providing support staff to…

This article presents the ACCE/ACS National Educator and Leader of the Year winners. Anne Mirtschin is the recipient of the ACCE/ACS 2012 Educator of the Year Award. Mirtschin is an innovative teacher at Hawkesdale P-12 College a small rural school that is isolated culturally and geographically. She uses online tools and technology to create…

This paper reports on a study that sought to explore the pedagogical reasoning behind the use of ICT in secondary teachers' classes. In particular, it explored the question of whether their use of ICT was driven by pedagogical ideals for meaningful learning or whether they were using technology for other purposes. Eighteen teachers from two…

Despite the fact that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is valued as a tool for learning, the modelling for preservice teachers of ICT integration in the curriculum areas is often limited. In the recently approved AITSL standards for Initial Teacher Education Programs, knowledge of ICTs is explicitly mentioned in three of the…

The La Trobe University iteration of the Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) project focused initially on subject in the second semester, third year of the Bachelor of Education course called the Multi-Disciplinary Science & Technology Integrated Experience (MSTIE). Two pairs of pre-service teachers were placed in the school where the TTF…

For over twenty years teachers in Australia and internationally have been encouraged to use ICT in their practice. Various government policies have been implemented to provide the technical means for teachers to do so as well as numerous teacher professional learning programs, often skills based, short term and off site. Yet teacher uptake of…

This article focuses on introducing Web 2.0 technologies and possible uses for student and teacher learning and collaboration. Many of these tools are already used in social and business contexts. These new and emerging applications are also gaining popularity in classrooms across all education levels. Various applications are introduced to raise…

In 2005 the Australian Council for Computers in Education (ACCE) was successful in obtaining a grant from National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR) to undertake the Computing Studies Teachers Network Rural and Regional Focus Project. The project had five…

Concomitant with the many initiatives concerned with ICT curriculum integration are requirements for measurement of the student outcomes of that integration, in keeping with recent education priorities that emphasize outcomes and accountability. However researching and measuring the impact of ICT initiatives has been found to be a significant…

What does it mean to "develop professional standards"? This paper argues that the task is one of setting up the processes and resources that will bring about an informed and growing teaching community. This is not a task in making lists of the "competencies" that teachers are to be measured against. Considerable work by…

Technology in secondary schools has become of increasing interest as the power of the micro chip has developed. For the students of Mathematics, computers and hand held graphic calculators need to be accessible to all. They are relevant to the needs of the students' courses and to support and develop their Mathematical learning (Smith, 1997).…

The importance of teacher education graduates having appropriate information and communication technology (ICT) for learning competencies and experiences is well documented. However, without well developed processes for auditing the ICT experiences of undergraduates it should not be assumed that teachers will enter their profession with the…

Professional development for teachers is often described as a journey. This paper, using the findings from a small-scale study interrogating professional development in ICT, offers the alternate metaphor of an interwoven Celtic knot to explain this phenomenon. It will show how the four key elements identified as being critical to creating the most…

National priorities set by an Australian ministerial taskforce provide clear guidelines to develop pedagogy that integrates ICT. Although these guidelines do not specifically address rural and regional school needs, the two priorities: promoting pedagogic leadership and creating new learning environments, are of particular interest. But how are…

Developing Information Technology (IT) skills in pre-service teachers and identifying IT competencies required of practising teachers is an issue challenging most developed nations. This paper looks at IT capabilities required by a number of educational systems and discusses IT skills developed in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) degree at the…