Russ Blackie

Project Officer eLearning, Department of Education and early Childhood Development (DEECD)

Following 22 years as a Secondary education classroom teacher, resource manager and ICT co ordinator Russ moved to DEECD Melbourne to work as resource manager for what has become Connect and with the eLearning team under Lynn Davie. His current projects include Netbooks, Software for Victorian Schools, eduSTAR and Kahootz.

Netbooks and eduSTAR: opening up advantages for Victorian Schools with 1 to 1 learning

The Netbook program was initiated in 2008 under Darrell Fraser's lead as Deputy Secretary within Victoria's DEECD (Department of Education and early Childhood Development) 10,000 Netbooks are now in service across Victorian Schools, in years 5 and 6. The pedagogy that has been developed to support this program is known as 1 to 1 and also includes the interaction of the Ultranet Coaches.

The presentation will examine the implications of the Netbook trial, the co ordination of the different educational groups and the importance of the software. The software is a balance of freeware and Microsoft licensed product. The presentation will examine the freeware titles; how they were selected, what has worked best in what Schools and what changes have been made in the forthcoming, expanded, second iteration.

The other program to be discussed will be eduSTAR. This program will be available for public discussion shortly and should be of considerable interest to the freeware audience.

The presentation will be supported by videos shot in Victorian Schools highlighting freeware in education and also the web based support materials that have been developed for 1 to 1 learning.