By Ann W. Davis and Kim Kappler-Hewitt
Australia’s Campfires, Caves, and
A group of 17 educators took a trip to explore the Aussies’
pioneering pedagogy and digital age learning spaces.
Students visit the “campfire” to hear a story at Northern Beaches School in Sydney. Visit vimeo.com/49879366 to take a video tour of the
school and see how educators are creating learning spaces that personalize and differentiate instruction.
Educators recognize that they need to create new learn- ing and teaching environments
where the curriculum and instructional tools reflect today’s world. Our
schools are full of students who want
to engage, socialize, communicate,
create, and collaborate in meaningful
ways that reflect the world in which
they live. How can education re-create
itself to engage these learners and
keep up with the pace of this change?
What can educators do in response
to change and to reach their digital
students?
These questions led our group of
17 educators (university professors,
directors of technology, classroom
teachers, tech coordinators, library
media specialists, corporate represen-
tatives, researchers, ISTE’s president,
and two board members) from the
United States and Norway on a two-
week study tour to Australia to seek
answers.
Transforming Learning Spaces
Australia has long been known for
setting the pace in ed tech peda-
gogy and practices. To get a sample
of what educators are doing in this
country, the study group visited the
Australian Council for Computers in
Education conference (ACCE). While
there, several of our group members
presented and led sessions during
the week. We also visited a variety
of schools, libraries, professional de-
velopment centers, and educational
organizations in Perth, Melbourne,
and Sydney. One concept that caught
our attention was the construction of
learning spaces to support personal-
ized and differentiated instruction in
several schools.
