Over 7 days in November 2014,  250 students from around the world have had a remarkable experience participating in the World-wide Final of the prestigious F1 in Schools Competition.
The Gamma Rayzing Team from Magdalene Catholic High School, Narellan finished SECOND in the World-wide Final of the prestigious F1 in Schools Competition. The students from Magdalene Catholic College in Narellan have come second outright in the largest STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) competition in the world maintaining Australia's dominance of podium positions in this international competition.

In addition to being 2nd Outright the team from  Magdalene Catholic High School  were runners up in the awards for Sponsorship & Marketing, Research and Development and the Pressure Challenge. The experience was topped off with the opportunity to spend the weekend at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, meeting drivers and learning more about the STEM involved in F1.

The team had the opportunity to spend time with Daniel Ricciardo and to discuss their car designs and ask Daniel a few hairy questions.
This was the icing on the cake for the students! 

This was an an outstanding achievement and we extend our congratulations to the students, coordinator Ian Gorrie and the entire Magdalene Catholic High School community. 

Access to quality online services continues to open up new opportunities for collaborative learning and teaching activities, as described by Heidi Seidle from the Wollongong Diocese.

“If someone told me 3 years ago that within 3 years I would have revolutionised my pedagogy, presented it at an international conference, created video snapshots of the process and started running workshops for teachers, I’m not sure I would have believed them. But my work on the CRISP (Constructing Representations in Science Pedagogy) project has led me to do just that.
The CRISP approach sets up challenges for students to represent their understanding. As they create these representations under the guidance of their teacher, they are able to construct their own understanding of the concepts. For example, my Year 8 students constructed an animation using the IPad App “Explain Everything” to demonstrate the interaction of particles in a chemical reaction, after having observed a reaction. They came to understand the concept that the particles in a chemical reaction are rearranged, not created or lost. 
While traditional methods of teaching can give students this piece of knowledge, it is when they can change the form of the knowledge (e.g. from a statement to a diagram or animation) that deep understanding is established. It is an incredibly engaging and effective approach to teaching science.”

During term 4 2012, CEnet hosted a two-day Google Bootcamp for eLearning specialists from thirteen Member Dioceses at the Polding Centre in Sydney.

The intensive workshop was delivered by staff from the CEO Sydney and was based on the highly successful CloudShare program that the team has been rolling out to schools in the Archdiocese.

Participants had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the use of Google Apps as a means of enhancing the learning and teaching process and found innovative ways to share resources across dioceses.

Many thanks to the team from the CEO Sydney for the time and effort they put into delivering this great cross-diocesan event.

Video conferencing used in a pilot program to connect Mathematics Extension 2 students across the region

Declining numbers studying Mathematics Extension 2 at high school made it the ideal choice to pilot the advantages of video conferencing technology* as a teaching tool.  Using the technology to foster a learning community for students who were typically studying solo and, in turn, make peer support more readily available for their teachers, were the goals put forward for the development of the Macarthur Schools Mathematics Extension 2 Learning Community.

 Rob Muscatello, Education Officer, Secondary Mathematics, Religious Education and Learning Services, Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Wollongong says when the video conferencing technology‚ provided via IT service provider CEnet‚ became operational, a pilot project within the area‚ Mathematics Extension 2 classes was suggested.  Undertaken from Term 4 2009 to Term 3 2010, four schools within the Diocese participated: Magdalene Catholic High School, Narellan; Mount Carmel High School, Varroville; John Therry Catholic High School, Rosemeadow; and St Patrick's College, Campbelltown.

Within the Macarthur region there are seven Maths coordinators, but for this high level of Maths there are not a lot of students, only one or two per school.  Video conferencing enables us to bring students together and to experience teachers with different areas of expertise‚ Muscatello says students in each school were feeling isolated as effectively they did not have a class‚ the video conferencing technology brought companionship and a level of competitiveness.


Practicalities of the pilot
While the whole course could have been delivered via video conference, Muscatello says it was decided to proceed with the course broken down to one session with a teacher at their own school, one two hour face-to-face session where all the students would come together at one location, and one hour-long video conference session per week.  This session was primarily used for continuing the work session from the face-to-face class, or for new teaching or practising HSC exam questions. "We thought it was important that the kids had the opportunity to connect with each other", Muscatello says, "the video conference session was only once a week it kept the interaction fresh so it was just part of the holistic learning experience."

Mount Carmel High School Teacher Jason Shoebridge initially thought video conferencing would be a fantastic form of professional development for staff and an ideal way for students to interact with their peers attempting the same course from other schools. " With such low numbers from each of the schools it gave the students a chance not only to compare themselves with students from other schools but it also gave them the opportunity to form working friendships and to help and support each other.  I hoped that the students would develop a support network from within the group and also that the group may make the students more competitive."

A student of Shoebridge, Michel Fathallah says it was exciting using the video technology in the classroom. "It allowed for teachers that lived quite a while away to teach and it was also convenient for teachers near us, saving them the extra travel time."

Dealing with the technologyTechnically the pilot went smoothly. Shoebridge says there were instances when the video picture became a little pixelated, however the majority of the issues were small and easily fixed.  Shoebridge adds some students found it difficult to hold a conversation as they did not know when they were able to speak so they were not talking over someone else.  They did however appreciate the ease in which we were able to readily communicate with other schools in the Diocese. He believes despite some initial difficulties, the students did see the value in the video conferencing.  Fathallah had some constructive advice to offer to improve the interactive elements of video conference sessions in the future. There needs to be something like a buzzer where instead of raising a hand, the student would press the buzzer and on the teacher's screen it would become evident that a student had a question.

From a teaching perspective, Shoebridge says his teaching style did change. "I needed to be very clear and concise with my explanations, obviously in Extension 2 Mathematics, some of the worked solutions can be quite lengthy, hence, the video conferencing worked better for some topics than others."  Muscatello says the video conferencing technology offered teachers the ability to learn other techniques of teaching and the ability to experiment using new technologies such as using the camera on a whiteboard or using PowerPoint presentations.  Teachers need to think about the mode of delivery and to be a good teacher you need to deliver a variety of modes of teaching.

For the video conference element of the subject, teachers prepared a booklet that was supplied electronically to the students prior to class. This way the teacher did not waste time during class writing up problems.

The next stepUse of video conferencing technology as part of the Mathematics Extension 2 subject is being continued this year. However only two schools within the Macarthur Diocese are involved due to a smaller number of students undertaking this course in 2011. Muscatello is investigating the establishment of a tutoring program across all schools for senior students.

Shoebridge is very enthusiastic about the future use of the technology.  I think it is a powerful resource that should be utilised among schools to enable students to interact with others from different schools, enable students to experience other teaching methods from various teachers, and also for teachers themselves to learn from other teachers.

The video conferencing enables this to happen very easily.

Six classes across three primary schools collaborate on Mary MacKillop Inquiry Unit
Video conferencing technology  enabled a generation of school children to come together and experience a new way of learning during one of the most significant events for the Catholic community in Australia.
School children and adults alike across the globe were caught up in the excitement surrounding the canonisation of Mary MacKillop on October 17 last year at St Peter’s Basilica, Rome.  There was heightened interest in Mary MacKillop’s country of birth, with the formal recognition of Australia’s first saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
 
In the Diocese of Wollongong, south of Sydney, for one teacher the event sparked the idea of broadening the learning experience for primary school children through the use of new generation technology.
 
Mark Woolley, Education Officer: Learning Technologies, Curriculum and Pedagogy Team for the Catholic Education Office in the Diocese of Wollongong saw the opportunity to use social media and video conferencing technology to bring children and teachers together to share the experience of learning about the life and teachings of Mary MacKillop in a  more contemporary and authentic way.
Thirteen Year Eleven students from across the Diocese of Wollongong were selected by their schools to attend the canonisation.  It was thought that this experience could also be shared by other schools in the diocese through the use of technology.

"I had suggested to the students that they use iPhones to upload video to YouTube and tweet on Twitter so that others could follow and share their experience.  I then mentioned the idea to our IT service provider CEnet and the project grew from there." said Mark Woolley.

Working collaboratively
While bandwidth issues were thought to be a hindrance to the idea, Woolley says it turned out to be less of a problem than initially thought as most primary schools within the Catholic education system in Australia have access to an ADSL level of Internet connection.
 
It all began to take shape through an initial meeting using video conferencing equipment, where those interested decided on taking the approach of an individual class inquiry unit about Mary MacKillop with learnings which would be shared.
 
“All three participating schools focused on the modern face of Mary with the units culminating in how the students could be most like Mary in their actions,” Woolley stated.
 
St Michael’s Catholic School Thirroul was one of three primary schools to be involved and could see the benefits of connecting with other primary schools. The Year Six teacher, Mrs Michelle Shearman believed the experience would enable her students to share with other students and for the teachers involved to work collaboratively.
“My school is small with 216 students in total and only one Year Six class. We have 29 Year Six students. This can be somewhat limiting and the video conferencing experience enabled my students’ learning to go beyond the four walls of the classroom,” Shearman explained.
 
Shearman went into the initial video hook up with a clear idea in her mind as to how she wanted the unit on Mary MacKillop to unfold for her students, but after the conference was able to broaden and deepen the direction that she wanted the unit to take.
 
After the first video conference, teachers from the three participating primary schools went away and ‘fleshed out’ their own units, which were then published via a blog and website.
 
St Michael’s Catholic Primary School Thirroul was joined by St. Paul's Catholic Parish Primary School in Camden, and St Joseph's School The Strand in Townsville.

Dealing with the technology
There were a couple of factors to consider in view of the effectiveness of the video conferencing sessions. Shearman stated that “you need good visibility and sound for the students to stay engaged.” She later went on to state that this was not a huge problem at her school and Camden as they were equipped with a video conferencing unit. “The Catholic Education Office was very supportive of the use of the technology. They brought the unit out to the school and were very helpful. They supported me and taught me how to use it.”
 
Shearman also said that there were some minor technical issues during the video hook ups with Townsville as St Joseph’s was limited by the use  of a built-in camera on a computer, which did not provide great vision at times, however the technology was adequate, although “it would be ideal for each school to have their own video conferencing equipment.”

The Mary MacKillop Inquiry Unit
“The video conferencing sessions were quite structured; I wasn’t sure it would have worked otherwise,” Woolley explained.
 
As Chair of the sessions, Woolley would send out an agenda the week prior to a video conference so teachers and students could prepare. On the day, the classes would dial in and then a couple of students from each school would take turns talking about what they had learnt. “There might be five pairs of students talking for about five minutes, sharing what they had found and created.”
 
The teachers also used an online collaborative tool called ‘PiratePad’ to communicate with each other during the semester, which was especially useful for planning the questions that the Year Six students asked the Year Eleven pilgrims during the final video conference. It ensured that there was no overlap between schools in the questions that were asked.
 
Shearman said that during the last video conference the students’ confidence had grown in terms of using the technology to communicate and that they had built a significant rapport with each other.
 
The teachers believed that the inclusion of video conference technology in the unit enhanced it greatly. “The kids were excited to share and learn with and from their peers. I think it also helps if you have teachers who are on the same page, in terms of their pedagogy,” said Shearman.

Benefits
“I was not 100 percent sure if the video conference would add to the experience,” Woolley confessed. “I think the teachers enjoyed the pressure of having the kids present. Video conferencing is a way of publishing; it gets students out of their comfort zone and provides motivation to learn.”
 
Woolley added the technology did not require a massive change in pedagogy as the teachers chose the approach undertaken in the unit.
 
Shearman said from a teacher perspective, the use of this sort of technology “reminds you of the wonderful teaching tools that are available to enrich student learning”.
 
“I asked the students if they would do it again and what they would change, and they said they loved learning about what the other schools were doing and talking to other schools about things that they were about to do,” Shearman said.
 
“They wished the video conference was over 12 months instead of just one semester to enable the connection with the other schools to be maintained. They especially enjoyed the video conference with the Year 11 pilgrims as it gave them the opportunity to experience a taste of what the pilgrims had experienced in Rome.”
 
While Shearman had not asked her colleagues their thoughts on using video conferencing technology in their teaching, she was confident most would be happy to give it a go.
 
In terms of other topics or Key Learning Areas that would benefit from the use of the technology, Shearman believes Science & Technology, film or novel studies, Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE) and Creative and Practical Arts are areas which would be enhanced through the use of video conferencing, whether it be within a class-to-class structure or an expert-to-class structure.