The Digital Education Revolution (DER) aims to contribute sustainable and meaningful change to teaching and learning in Australian schools that will prepare students for further education, training and to live and work in a digital world.
In this context, the Australian Government is investing over $2.4 billion to support the effective integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in Australian schools in line with the Government’s broader education initiatives, including the Australian Curriculum.
The National Broadband Network (NBN) will deliver high speed broadband connections to individual schools, homes and workplaces. The NBN will mean that Australian school students will have access to similar bandwidth capabilities at home and at school, anywhere and at any time.
The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations is continuing to work closely with the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and schools authorities to ensure that the bandwidth needs of schools are understood through the progressive NBN rollout process.
On 31 May, the Australian Government announced the four-year $27.2 million NBN Enabled Education and Skills Services Program to support the development of online and interactive education and training projects. The program aims to demonstrate the benefits of high-speed broadband connectivity to be provided in and across the NBN first-release site areas, including improving online accessibility to education and skills services for individuals at home and in workplaces.
The National Secondary School Computer Fund
The National Secondary School Computer Fund (the Fund) is the major funding element of the DER. The Fund is helping schools to provide new computers and other ICT equipment for students in Years 9 to 12, as well as providing the necessary infrastructure to support the installation and maintenance of additional ICT.
ICT Innovation Fund
The Government is investing over $16 million in the ICT Innovation Fund to fund four projects that will help teachers and school leaders to better use ICT in the classroom. These projects aim to increase teacher proficiency in the use of ICT in teaching and learning to, among other things, support the effective delivery of the new online Australian Curriculum, provide tools for ongoing professional development in ICT and give principals and school leaders the tools and skills to plan for the use of ICT in their schools.
Online Curriculum Resources and Digital Architecture
The Online Curriculum Resources and Digital Architecture initiative is contributing to the development of digital resources, tools and infrastructure that can support the implementation of the Australian Curriculum online and enable communication, collaboration and resource sharing across school, system and jurisdictional boundaries.
Online Curriculum Support package
A new $41.2 million package to support implementation of the Australian Curriculum was announced by the Government on 23 September 2011. The package has two components:
Surveys of broadband connectivity to Australian schools and TAFEs
Since May 2008, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations has conducted an annual survey to establish and monitor the broadband connectivity of schools catering for students from Kindergarten to Year 12. In 2010, the Department also conducted the first survey to establish and monitor the broadband connectivity of TAFEs across Australia. The surveys gather data on:
- Types of broadband enabling infrastructure used (and according to geographical regions)
- Use of bandwidth
- Carriage Service Providers.
This information will be used to support the broadband needs of education institutions in NBN implementation planning. Aggregated national findings can be found below:
The DER Strategic Plan
The implementation of the DER and its associated programs and initiatives, continues to be guided by the DER Strategic Plan.