The NBN revolutionises the classroom
The traditional classroom may become a thing of the past when the NBN rolls out across Australia.
Picture this: you pack your child’s lunch, get them dressed for school and instead of waving them off as they board a school bus, you watch them sit down to a school desk in your own home. It’s not so far from reality. In fact, several rural schools throughout the country have already connected to the NBN and are reaping the benefits of studying in a digital classroom.
Through the ubiquitous NBN connection, students can receive the same quality of learning from their living rooms as they would in a traditional classroom. Students can download their set tasks for the day and correspond with their teachers via webcam. In the classroom of tomorrow, the NBN opens up the floodgates for students to work efficiently no matter where their desk is located.
And it’s not just the location of the classroom that’s changed. Rural students in NBN areas are able to tap into a variety of resources that, until now, have been unreachable. It may seem hard to believe, but sometimes these students aren’t even able to study the subjects they need to succeed in their chosen career path. If there is a lack of teachers in the subject, it’s liable to be axed altogether. Imagine having your future limited by such things.
With the help of the NBN, students can study a subject even if there are no subject-specific teachers available in the area. Teachers themselves can supplement the learning possibilities of their students by connecting with experts online. In addition, students and teachers have access to a host of online resources while researching. Instead of dusty old dictionaries and atlases, there is a world of information online. In short, the future is bright for our rural students.
We’re very keen to see our future students tapping into these opportunities, so iiNet is offering their support for schools looking to apply for the NBN-Enabled Education and Skills Services Program. The initiative is aimed at supporting the development and trialing of online education and skills services that take advantage of the high speed broadband network.
If your school is in an NBN-enabled area and is interested in being involved head to the Education Program website for more information.
One comment
Dear Rachael McIntyre, [IINET NBN Manager]
Your written comment: “Through the ubiquitous NBN connection, students can receive the same quality of learning from their living rooms as they would in a traditional classroom.” is absolutely fallacious.
Numerous educational research papers conclude that the most important factor that determines top quality learning in a classroom is having an energetic, enthusiastic, caring, supportive, skilled, knowledgeable, and experienced teacher DIRECTLY interacting with students making them think with a flexible series of pre-planned teacher questions that make students come up with their OWN answers to the focussed questions. Then asking other students if they can improve on the previous student’s answer in a supportive and caring classroom learning environment.
Rachael, there is much more pedagogy to effective learning in a classroom than just having a fast download internet connection from IINET.
You are most welcome to come into my secondary science classroom to see how I deliver top quality science learning.
Thanks and Best Wishes,
Mike McGarry