Discussions

Your Name and Title: Robert Sbaglia

School or Organization Name: Castlemaine North Primary School

Co-Presenter Name(s): Simone Uren

Area of the World from Which You Will Present: Australia

Language in Which You Will Present: English

Target Audience(s): School leaders and teachers of students in middle years (aged 10-14)

Short Session Description (one line): Within, Across, Beyond - Using technology to connect kids and realise a vision.

Full Session Description (as long as you would like):

This presentation will outline how Castlemaine North Primary School uses technology to connect students within, across and beyond school our school. This presentation will focus on existing and potential opportunities for international collaboration presented by our links across and beyond schools.

Students are connected across schools by conducting debate-style discussions around current events, using videoconferencing and collaborative document writing. These discussions present ideal opportunities for students from different countries to discuss issues, and further the understanding of students as to how opinion can be influenced by geographic location, socio-economic and ethnic background.

Students are also linked across schools through involvement in blogging communities such as the "Writers' Club" which allows the students to have an international audience for their writing. The goal of these communities is to create ongoing relationships with schools in addition to one-off special programs that exist to link schools across the globe.

Students are connected beyond schools to a team of 'virtual experts' who use our blogging site, private messaging, forums and video conferencing to support our students in their individual inquiries. At present, our students call on the virtual assistance of real-life scientists, engineers, filmmakers, graphic artists, biomechanists and historians from around the country and world to help their work go beyond the knowledge of their teacher.

Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: http://thenorthschool.com, http://sbaglia.com