Top education and training issues and challenges from national consultations for schooling and VET:

• Learning needs and appropriate pedagogies must be the driver of change rather than tools and technologies
• Strategies to mainstream digital pedagogies, services and content for educators are required to reach beyond the small proportion of early adopters
• Limited system and institution readiness  for significant reforms in digital content and pedagogies
• Inadequate, patchy and costly broadband access
• Significant variation exists in content filtering and blocking policies
• Carbon reduction considerations an emerging issue

Download the 2008 edna consultation and progress report. Do these issues resonate with you? Take the edna poll at right.

edna Groups now includes live conferencing and voice tools for

• live classroom - video, voice and text chat, shared whiteboard, application sharing and moderation
• voice board - discussion using audio messages and audio replies
• podcaster - record audio and make available via subcriptions to (eg) iTunes
• integrated with Moodle - ie same owner and member permissions are used for both environments

Current edna members have used the collaboration suite for teacher workshops, language (LOTE)  teaching trials and project discussions. Go to edna Groups for more information or to participate in 2009.

ACT e-learning showcase - examples of e-learning practices for learners from RTOs in the ACT and across Australia. 2 December, Canberra

3rd Interational LAMS and Learning Design Conference will focus on the variety of perspectives and experiences on Learning Design in higher education, schools, VET and professional education. 4-5 December, MacQuarie University, Sydney

Apple Innovative Technology Schools Conference 2008 (ITSC) is a professional development opportunity for educators from around Australia, to gain fresh ideas for the classroom and foster communities around the region. Sydney, 9-12 December, 2009 dates for Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

More upcoming e-learning conferences and workshops at edna events.

Research data on the ICT capability of teachers, trainers and lecturers is now available for the main education sectors - primary and secondary schooling, vocational education and training and higher education.

The data includes quantitative and qualitative responses from educators on challenges and enablers of ICT in teaching, what online services they currently use and how they rate their ICT capability

http://educationau.edu.au/jahia/Jahia/home/pid/664

The Exemplar Schools study aimed to identify, case study and document exemplary use of information and communication technologies in Australian schools.

Schools were identified in Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Devonport. At each school interviews were conducted with principals, teachers, parents and students. A series of multimedia stories - digistories - were captured to assist teachers with ideas and practical tips for teaching with a wide range of technologies.