eLearning in Australian Classrooms

The world and the way children learn is changing.

Now is an exciting time for eLearning and digital innovation in schools. Technology has an important role to play in education and students’

readiness for the digital age. This report looks at the use of digital technologies in Australian schools, trends in eLearning, and the benefits of

effective digital classrooms in helping students develop 21st century skills.

ContentsTeaching Digital Natives

How Australia Compares

Innovation Nation

21st Century Skills

Recipe for Success

New Learning: Blended & Flipped

Top 5 eLearning Trends

Benefits of the Digital Classroom - Super 7

eLearning in Australian Classrooms, LiteracyPlanet • 2

Teaching Digital Natives

Children start school today as ‘digital natives’. It’s a term coined by education consultant and author

Marc Prensky in 2001. In his papers ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’ Part 1 and Part 2,1,2 Prensky

wrote that technology is ubiquitous in children’s lives and this has had a profound affect on the way

their brains function. ‘Digital natives’ think and process information fundamentally differently from

the previous generation. They have a different blend of cognitive skills and need new approaches to

education.

Some of the practical differences Prensky uses to explain this is that ‘digital natives’ receive and

process information at ‘twitch-speed’; they parallel process and multi-task; they prefer graphics first,

text second; they function well when they’re networked; they want instant gratification and frequent

rewards; and gamification, rather than ‘serious’ learning, is a more effective way to reach them in their

‘native language’.

This year’s school starters have been dubbed by demographers as Generation

Alpha 3. They are the first generation of true digital natives. They have

been submerged in technology since they were born, which was the

same year the iPad was released, and they are ‘logged in and linked up’.

They start school with a natural aptitude for using digital resources and

devices, and will live through massive technological change, connected

to a device almost 24/7. They want and will benefit from technology-

rich learning environments.

“Today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors.”

- ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,’ Marc Prensky, 2001.

eLearning in Australian Classrooms, LiteracyPlanet • 3

How Australia Compares

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics4 79% of children aged 5-14

years use the internet, mostly for education, and just over 86% of those access

it from school.

Comparative international studies into early-secondary school students’ use of

ICT such as the ‘International Computer and Information Literacy Study,’5 last

published in 2013, find that students in Australia are above average in ICT use

and Australia is one of the highest users of technology in school classrooms.

The OECD’s 2015 report, ‘Students, Computers and Learning - Making the

Connection,’6 found that every 15-year-old in Australia now has individual

access to a computer at school, and students in Australia show the most

advanced web-browsing skills.

Studies also find however that there is work to be done to improve students’

proficiency and sophistication in using digital technologies. Only 4% of students

in the ICILS 2013 study showed critical thinking when using online resources

and a 2014 National Assessment Program report into ICT Literacy7 found a

decline in student computer literacy from the previous assessment. The Digital

Education Research Network’s review of the NAP’s findings8 pointed out that

maximising ICT requires more than simply using it: “Today’s students need to be

skilled in the use of information and communication technology (ICT), that is

they need to be able to effectively search and retrieve information, manipulate

images, develop online presentations, use ICT creatively and critically, design

surveys, use a range of writing tools and even be able to code”.

• Average number of students per computer.

Global: (18)

Australia: (3)

• Students using computers since they were 6.5 years old or younger.

Global average 36%

Australian average 50%

• Students with basic software knowledge.

Global average 84%

Australian average 94%

• Students who use computers as an information source.

Global average 61%

Australian average 76%

Students with knowledge and skills in ICT for information gathering.

Global average 23%

Australian average 34%

Students who use a computer at school at least once a week.

Global average 54%

Australian average 81%

From ‘ICILS 2013: Australian students’ readiness for

study, work and life in the digital age,’ ACER, 2014 9.

eLearning in Australian Classrooms, LiteracyPlanet • 4

Innovation Nation

To educate technologically-savvy learners, the education system needs government support to embrace,

harness and master digital technologies. In the foreword to the 2010 Australian Council for Educational

Research report, ‘Building Innovation: Learning with technologies,’ 10 James Bosco wrote: “Innovation may

well be the most important educational issue of the day” because “developments have resulted in a chasm

between the world of information, knowledge production and dissemination, and learning as it exists outside

of the schools, with what is happening within them”.

In 2013 the Australian Government’s Digital Education Advisory Group report, ‘Beyond the Classroom: A

New Digital Education for Young Australians in the 21st Century,’ 11 provided a roadmap for how Australia’s

education planners could meet this challenge, and ways to incorporate the use of digital technologies to

achieve high quality learning outcomes. It stated: “Achieving enhanced education outcomes in Australian

schools is increasingly linked to the pace of digital education uptake” and the future digital education

environment in Australia required: digital resources that support the Australian Curriculum and students’

development of 21st Century skills; strong leadership and capacity building in schools; and to extend learning

to encompass home, parents and other experts.

In 2015 Digital Technologies12 was added as a subject in the Australian Curriculum

for Foundation to Year 10, to teach students skills in computational thinking

and information systems. The Australian Government also announced $51

million for school programs13 to better equip students and teachers with skills

in digital technologies as part of its National Innovation & Science Agenda14.

“We need to support both students and teachers in key areas of ICT competence and make Australia as digitally literate and creative as the other nations with which we compete.”

- Australian Government, National Innovation & Science Agenda, 2015.

Special report by LiteracyPlanet, 2016. • 4

eLearning in Australian Classrooms, LiteracyPlanet • 5

21st Century Skills

The Digital Education Advisory Group’s 2013 report11 highlighted that the challenge for educators is to embrace and respond to “not just the

innovations in technology, but the extraordinary pace of change”. It states: “We need to harness the transformative potential of digital technology

to support new approaches to innovative learning centred around the development of 21st Century Learning skills”.

These skills have been defined into four broad categories:

Taken from: ’Defining Twenty-First Century Skills,’ in Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills, 201215.

Including digital technologies in the Australian Curriculum and the Government’s ‘innovation’ agenda is about a lot more than teaching students

to code. It’s about teaching them to think a certain way, and skilling them in computational thinking. It’s about teaching students to think

creatively and to problem solve; to develop 21st century skills that will serve them well in the digital age.

Ways of thinkingCreativity and innovation; critical thinking; problem solving and

decision making; learning to learn/metacognition (knowledge

about cognitive processes).

Tools for workingInformation literacy; information and communication

technology (ICT) literacy.

Ways of workingCommunication; collaboration (teamwork).

Living in the worldConsciousness of being a local and global citizen; personal

and social responsibility.

eLearning in Australian Classrooms, LiteracyPlanet • 6

ICT contributes to a diversity of teaching strategies, and is a supplement to teacher instruction.

There is teacher pre-training and professional development in the use of ICT.

It is part of multiple opportunities for learning, with learner control, clear goals and instant feedback.

The student is in control, for example with time allocation, sequencing, choice of tasks and reviewing.

Peer learning is optimised, by working in pairs and in heterogenous groups.

Feedback is optimised, with explanation rather than simply providing the right answer.

The most positive effect on learning is when:

“We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world.”

– David Warlick, educator, author and software developer.

Recipe for SuccessThe positive impacts of ICT in classrooms correlates directly to how these resources are used, which is

highly dependent on the ICT skills, methods and teaching practices of teachers. Research finds that these

are strongest in well-resourced schools.

Confidence and competence of teachers in using digital technologies, and their accessibility to them,

are key factors to maximising the benefits they can bring to the classroom. As Bill Gates famously said:

“Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is

most important”.

The support of school leaders is also critical for the educational potential of ICT to be realised. Principals

need to assume responsibility for initiating and implementing change. In ‘Building Innovation: Learning

with technologies’10 author Kathryn Moyle wrote: “Schools in the 21st century have to be oriented towards

supporting technologies-enabled learning…Bringing about change at multiple levels within a school

requires whole school approaches…School leadership is critical to bringing about the changes required”.

The work of education researcher Professor John Hattie and his ranking of influences 17 according to their effect sizes provides insights

into how teachers and schools can make the most effective use of their ICT resources.

Taken from: ‘Making the most of ICT, what the research tells us,’ Terry Freedman, 201218.

“Effective professional development, sufficient time, and technical support need to be provided for teachers… the presence of all components increases the likelihood of excellent integration of ICT in learning and teaching opportunities.”

- ‘Barriers to the Successful Integration of ICT in Teaching and Learning Environments: A Review of the Literature’ (Bingimlas, 2009)16.

eLearning in Australian Classrooms, LiteracyPlanet • 7

New Learning

Blended & Flipped

Most schools now implement blended learning, with a combination

of online and offline activities. One way of doing this that is growing in

popularity is flipped learning, made possible by access to online and

digital resources at home.

According to ABS research 85% of children4 who access the internet

from home do it for educational purposes, and the NBN Digital

Parenting Report found in 75% of households19 children use online

resources to learn at home, and take this learning to class.

In the flipped classroom students use homework time to prepare,

and class time for collaborative work, problem solving and addressing

difficulties. It is a new model for active learning, and a growing body of

research shows that flipped learning can lead to improved educational

outcomes. Flipped learning has been shown by research in the U.K. and

Australia to have a range of positive impacts on teaching and learning

practice, including improving students’ engagement, knowledge and

skills20, and enhancing collaborative learning21.

eLearning in Australian Classrooms, LiteracyPlanet • 8

Top 5 eLearning Trends

Creating content for social media like blogs, videos and podcasts; using apps and software programs linked to the curriculum; incursions that bring the experience into the classroom by video link; interactive smartboards; online discussion boards and virtual classrooms are just some of the creative and innovative ways teachers around Australia are using technology. Now with proficiency the focus, we’re moving towards more sophisticated digital skills like building web sites and coding.

These are the key trends in eLearning and the use of digital technologies in developed countries:

1 Game-based and gamified Learning skills through game

play, and the application of game mechanics and elements to learning platforms. Includes interactivity, multi-player modes, rewards, leaderboards, challenges and immediate feedback. Gamification makes the learning experience fun and engaging for students, motivates them to achieve and develops a mix of skills in addition to the core subject.

2 Personalised Tools that can address

the needs and requirements of the individual. These resources can be tailored to maximise learning outcomes for students of all abilities, from those who need extension to those with learning needs and difficulties. They can easily identify student needs and allow teachers to address these discretely.

3 MobileWith mobile devices, learning

is accessible at any time and from anywhere. Now, we hear about the term mLearning: eLearning that is mobile. Education departments and schools have BYOD, ‘bring-your-own-device’, policies to enable students to bring their own personal mobile electronic devices to school for the purpose of learning, and in many cases 1-to-1 laptop programs provide students with their own laptop for learning at school.

4 Adaptive Programs and resources that create, process

and automatically deliver appropriate content. Examples include automated modes in learning software, tasks curated by year level or type, and tailored tests and quizzes. Content is generated by the program scanning and pulling in content.

5 Augmented On-demand and dynamically tailored content that

augments the learning experience to stimulate discovery. Examples include on-screen pop-up windows or sidebars, touchscreens, QR codes, or supplementary video and audio. More immersive methods of augmented or virtual reality include the use of glasses and headsets like Google Glass or Oculus Rift.

“Teaching in the Internet age means we must teach tomorrow’s skills today.”

– Jennifer Fleming, Associate Professor, Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, California State University.

“A game is an opportunity to focus our energy, with relentless optimism, at something we’re good at (or getting better at) and enjoy.”

- Jane McGonigal, educator, author and game designer.

“Possibly one of the most important shifts needed in schools is to provide individualised and personalised learning experiences to students.”

- Eric Sheninger, educator and author of Digital Leadership.

eLearning in Australian Classrooms, LiteracyPlanet • 9

Benefits of the Digital Classroom - Super 7More and more schools and teachers in Australia are incorporating the use of technology into classroom teaching, and parents are increasingly expecting this as part of schools helping to prepare their children for life and work in the digital age. According to LiteracyPlanet research22, 95% of parents of primary school children believe online education programs are important.

The National Digital Learning Resources Network23 provides support and thousands of digital curriculum resources for schools. Education departments provide practical information on effective ways to use digital technologies to enhance learning.

According to education researcher, lecturer and author Dr. Jane Hunter, Australia’s teachers and students are stepping up to the challenges of teaching and learning effectively with digital technologies. Hunter writes 24 that teachers’ work in technology-enhanced learning in classrooms is exciting, showing good progress, and the pace is hastening.

Teachers implementing appropriate use of technology and eLearning tools identify a range of practical benefits. These are the super seven:

1 Student engagement Digital technologies are fun. They

can be interactive, challenging and rewarding. When students are having fun they’re often not even aware they are learning. Positive and controlled online interactivity within a safe closed network such as a class or year level also encourages healthy competition and collaboration. Gamified learning tools provide students with instant feedback and rewards, and motivate them to continue.

2 Flexibility Online and digital tools

can be easily adapted to suit the full range of abilities in one classroom. Tasks can be assigned for selected students while others can work self-guided. From learners who need extension to those who need extra support, the experience can be adapted to suit each student.

3 Tailored learning Being able to personalise the

experience means that students can work at their own pace, and at the level that suits them. They can be empowered with more independence and control, and challenged without feeling overwhelmed. It is particularly helpful for differentiation and reduces the pressure students can feel to perform at the same level as others or at being compared to classmates.

4 Data collection Easy and reliable automatic online

data collection reduces the administrative task. Digital technologies can track results and monitor student progress, making it faster to identify learning weaknesses, and easier to generate student reports.

5 More time Data collection and the option for student-driven learning

means administration time is reduced, and teachers have more time and opportunity to attend to students who need it most.

6 Home access Online-based tools make it easy to supplement classroom learning at home. They also facilitate

engagement for parents who want to be more involved in what their children are learning at school. Many tools feature an option to send parents progress reports directly.

7 Psychological benefits Engaging students in a positive and

innovative learning experience where they feel they are achieving often has benefits that are less about subject learning, and more to do with attitude and motivation. Gamification in particular has been shown to engage struggling or reluctant learners, and to improve their enthusiasm, confidence and self-esteem.

eLearning in Australian Classrooms, LiteracyPlanet • 10

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Further reading1. ’Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’: Part I, 2001.http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

2. ’Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’: Part II, 2001.http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf

3. ’Australia’s second baby boom Generation Alpha, smarter, richer, healthier,’ news.com.au, June 2, 2013.http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/australias-second-baby-boom-generation-alpha-smarter-richer-healthier/story-fnet08ui-1226655064591

4. ’Australian Social Trends June 2011, Children of the digital revolution,’ Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011.http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/LookupAttach/4102.0Publication29.06.117/$File/41020_Childrendigital_Jun2011.pdf

5. ’International Computer and Information Literacy Study, ICILS 2013 Technical Report,’ International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, 2013.http://www.iea.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/Electronic_versions/ICILS_2013_Technical_Report.pdf

6. ’Students, Computers and Learning - Making the Connection,’ The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2015.http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/students-computers-and-learning_9789264239555-en

7. ’National Assessment Program - ICT Literacy Years 6 & 10, Report, 2014,’ Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority and National Assessment Program, 2015.http://www.nap.edu.au/verve/_resources/D15_8761__NAP-ICT_2014_Public_Report_Final.pdf

8. Research Reviews, ‘Australian students and ICT literacy,’ Digital Education Research Network, December 2015.https://dern.acer.edu.au/dern/research-reviews/page/australian-students-and-ict-literacy

9. ’ICILS 2013: Australian students’ readiness for study, work and life in the digital age,’ Australian Council for Educational Research, 2014.http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=ict_literacy

10. ’Building Innovation: Learning with technologies,’ Kathryn Moyle, Australian Education Review; 56, Australian Council for Educational Research, 2010.https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=aer

11. ’Beyond the Classroom: A New Digital Education for Young Australians in the 21st Century,’ Digital Education Advisory Group, 2013.http://apo.org.au/files/Resource/deag_beyond_the_classroom_2013.pdf

12. Digital Technologies, v8.1 F-10 Curriculum, Australian Curriculum.http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/technologies/digital-technologies/curriculum/f-10

13. ’Equipping students to create and use digital technologies,’ National Innovation & Science Agenda, Fact-sheet, Australian Government, 2015.http://www.innovation.gov.au/system/files/case-study/Factsheet%2019%20-%20Equipping%20students%20to%20create%20and%20use%20digital%20technologies.pdf

14. National Innovation & Science Agenda, Australian Government, 2015.http://innovation.gov.au/system/files/case-study/National%20Innovation%20and%20Science%20Agenda%20-%20Report.pdf

15. ’Defining Twenty-First Century Skills,’ Binkley, M., Erstad, O., Hermna, J., Raizen, S., Ripley, M., Miller-Ricci, M., & Rumble, M. In Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills, Griffin, P., Care, E., & McGaw, B., Dordrecht, Springer 2012.http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-007-2324-5_2

16. ’Barriers to the Successful Integration of ICT in Teaching and Learning Environments: A Review of the Literature,’ Khalid Bingimlas, 2009.http://www.ejmste.com/v5n3/eurasia_v5n3_bingimlas.pdf

17. Hattie Ranking: Influences And Effect Sizes Related To Student Achievement, 2009.http://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/

18. ’Making the most of ICT, what the research tells us,’ Terry Freedman, 2012.http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/2014/1/29/making-the-most-of-ict-what-the-research-tells-us.html

19. ’NBN Digital Parenting Report,’ Colmar Bruton, 2015.http://www.nbnco.com.au/content/dam/nbnco2/documents/Digital%20Parenting%20Report_Final-FINAL.pdf

20. ’Flipped Learning, Research Report,’ National Foundation for Educational Research and Nesta, 2015.http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/NESM01/NESM01.pdf

21. ’Enhancing Collaborative Learning in Flipped Classroom,’ Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, February 2015.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zamzami_Zainuddin/publication/275637932_Enhancing_collaborative_learning_in_flipped_classroom/links/5540b4650cf23222272f38de.pdf

22. ’Study finds parents concerned about literacy development,’ LiteracyPlanet, 2014.http://www.literacyplanet.com/blog/archive/2014/11

23. National Digital Learning Resources Network .http://www.ndlrn.edu.au/default.asp

24. ‘’Click bait’ hijacks the real story about technology in Australian schools,’ EduResearch Matters, Dr Jane Hunter, October 6, 2015.http://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=1264