Pillar: Community
Lead directorate: Education
Overview
The ACT Government recognises the importance of equipping ACT public school students with access to digital tools to support diverse learning needs, provide digital equity and to empower them to be confident leaders of the future.
Benefits
ACT public schools emphasise the use of ICT and the development of ICT skills to ensure that their students can develop their capacity to analyse information, solve problems and communicate in a digital society.
In the 2017/18 Budget the government committed to invest $17.2million to deliver technology-enabled learning (TEL) to provide devices to all students in public high schools and colleges. This investment was in direct response to the needs of our students, who set out their clear expectations for equitable, fast, anywhere, anytime access to modern digital tools and services to meet their learning needs in a globally connected world. The supply of Chromebooks builds on an extensive program to ensure schools have appropriate technology for teaching for the future which includes high speed wi-fi for all our schools and the integration of Google Suite for Education which expands the tools available to ACT public school students, providing access to industry standard applications and collaborative tools. In addition to the supports for students to date, over 1000 public education staff have attended Google for Education professional learning events, including a range of short courses and three two-day annual Google Summits. Through 2020 the Education Directorate will continue to support teachers in schools utilise technology in their teaching to enhance the learning experience for our students.
Status update
Date | Update |
---|---|
March 2021 | Over 26,000 Chromebook devices have been delivered under the TEL program, since it began in January 2018. In February 2021 3,800 Chromebook devices were delivered to new students in the ACT public school system across secondary schools, and colleges. Additionally, in 2021, the ACT secondary school device refresh program has commenced, ensuring ACT students maintain their access to the most current technology for learning. The refresh of devices in ACT public primary schools will be undertaken in mid-late 2021. |