Dr. Matthew Kearney (who was featured in my recent post on student constructed iVideos) just wrote to inform me about a teacher preparation project currently underway in Australia. The Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) project is a $7.8 million project
… aimed at enabling all pre-service teachers at early, middle and senior levels to become proficient in the use of ICT in education. It will focus on the first phase of the Australian Curriculum subjects – English, Mathematics, Science and History – and will be completed in June 2012. [Emphasis mine.]
The project seeks to target “systematic change in the Information and Communication Technology in Education (ICTE) proficiency of graduate teachers across Australia.” The project is led by a slew of key organizations, including:
Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), and includes the Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE), the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), Education Services Australia (ESA), the Australian Council for Computers in Education (ACCE), and the 39 Australian higher education institutions with pre-service teacher education programs as partners. [Emphasis mine.]
As can be clear this is a huge undertaking seeking to transform teacher training for the entire country. You can find out more about the project by going to their website http://www.altc.edu.au/ttf/
What is interesting is that the TPACK framework underpins much of the work in the project (a link right there on the front page)! How cool and amazing is that.
This year at the SITE conference in Nashville, I was often blown away by the fact that work done my Matt Koehler and myself, (on the TPACK framework) sitting on the 5th floor of Erickson Hall in East Lansing is being utilized by researchers across the US and beyond. For instance, our symposium included presentations on TPACK being applied in Ghana and Kuwait! That is indeed a great feeling.
But this TTF project is a different scale altogether. To have our ideas play an important role in the restructuring of an entire nation’s (actually an entire continent’s, since Australia is both a country and a continent) teacher preparation program… is something else altogether.
I am truly blown away.
I recall first hearing about TPACK during SITE 2007 in San Antonio and later that year encouraging a couple of colleagues to use those insights in some work we were doing in Queensland. This project has been considered as the unique in nature and deployed the content in an article to distributed through out the US.I would like to exchange more about this events.
Thanks Peter, it is people like yourself who saw the “power in the idea” (as you describe it) and took it further. It means a lot to me (and I know to Matt as well) to have scholars such as yourself value our work. It is the greatest compliment a researcher can receive. So thank you (and your colleagues). ~ punya
It’s worth noting that the impact of your TPACK work in Oz has a good deal to do with your presentations and other work with SITE (http://site.aace.org). I recall first hearing about TPACK during SITE 2007 in San Antonio and later that year encouraging a couple of colleagues to use those insights in some work we were doing in Queensland. The keynote that you and Matt delivered at SITE 2008 in Las Vegas added fuel to the fire and encouraged a couple of us to float TPACK in the discussions about the bid for the TTF funding early last year. There was power in the idea and it has taken hold strongly as the framework for the TTF project.
Peter Albion
Thanks Debbie. Thank you for your note. This is just so awesome. As I said in my blog post, it still boggles my mind that some ideas that Matt and I struggled with sitting here in East Lansing, Michigan have spread far and wide and are having a positive influence on teacher education and practice. Nothing can beat that. ~ punya
The work being done by the Matt Kearney at UTS and many other colleagues of mine with the Teaching Teachers for the Future project at Macquarie University and others is extremely exciting and I am thrilled to know that you find it inspiring. It is your inspiration and deep research around TPACK that has led us to develop these types of valuable initiatives. For that we are truly grateful.
Debbie Evans
Centre Director,
Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Macquarie University
a collaborative agreement between NSW Department of Education and Training and Macquarie University.