Common Australian ICT issues and challenges

The following are some of the key issues and challenges faced by education jurisdictions from consultation forums over the last two months. Note that the needs of higher education will be canvassed in October and November. Subsequent posts will include feedback on edna and education.au intiatives and further advice and recommendations on future actions for edna and education.au.

• Learning needs and appropriate pedagogies must be the driver of change rather than tools and technologies in themselves
   
• Strategies to mainstream digital pedagogies, services and content for educators are required to reach beyond the small proportion of early adopters - more effective professional learning is crucial
   
• Limited system and institution readiness exists for significant reforms in digital content and pedagogies and low visibility of effective policy and practices elsewhere
   
• Inadequate, patchy and costly broadband access is a major impediment to reforms in digital education
   
• Significant variation exists in content filtering and blocking policies between states, particularly in the school sector and a consequent need for more sophisticated filtering strategies
   
• Carbon reduction considerations is looming as a signifant issue - both potential ICT benefits (eg reduced travel) but also environmental costs such as the impact of decommissioning hardware

Tags: edna2010 consultation policy
Posted at 05:46PM Sep 10, 2008 by Mark Tranthim-Fryer  |  Comments[0]