Nominations close 30 April for the WISE Prize for Education which will reward individuals - or teams of individuals - who have made an outstanding contribution to any field or level of education, in any country. The first annual WISE Prize for Education will be awarded at the WISE 2011 Summit in Doha, Qatar. See http://www.wiseprizeforeducation.org
Senator Evans has announced a Review that will examine how to ensure Australia has a higher education system in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people share equally in the life and career opportunities that a quality higher education sector can provide. The Review will provide the opportunity to consider new strategies to look at higher education access and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and redress the current inequality, based upon the best available evidence.
A letter to stakeholders of TVET Australia outlines the decision by Ministerial Council for Tertiary Education and Employment
(MCTEE) to wind up the ministerial company model for TVET Australia and to transition to alternative arrangements.
Early intervention service providers across the country are invited to apply to join the Better Start Early Intervention Service Provider Panel to help deliver a new Australian Government program that will provide tailored early intervention services to children with disabilities. FaHCSIA, 20 April 2011.
The Australian Council for Computers in Education has released a position paper on ICT and the Australian Curriculum. Contributions to the discussion are invited at http://acce.edu.au/nationalcurriculum
AGIMO released the draft ICT Strategic Vision for public consultation on the AGIMO blog at http://agimo.govspace.gov.au/. The ICT Strategic Vision encourages innovation through examining and adopting new and emerging technologies more rapidly. As the first step, they have now finalised the Cloud Computing Strategic Direction Paper.
Social media like Facebook and Twitter are distractions for young people, but college and high school students also use them to make important education and career connections, according to an Associated Press-Viacom poll.
When it comes to the impact of various media on their education, students rank the Internet on top, with 53 percent saying it has a "big effect."
A school district in the U.S. has voted to spend $200,000 to give each of its 285 kindergarten students an iPad2 to use in the classroom. The school district will be bringing the tablet devices into kindergarten classrooms with the aim of increasing literacy rates from 62 percent to 90 percent. LiveScience, 19 April 2011.
TAFE Directors Australia (TDA) today released its detailed policy position on the introduction of Provider Categories and associated standards to be applied in Australia's skills and vocational education and training sector. This would be a major step forward in the alignment of the TAFE/VET sector with the Higher Education sector as legislation for the two new national regulatory authorities is established. It is part of ongoing efforts by TDA to support the merging of the two bodies as smoothly and as quickly as possible.
The Shining the Light on Child Protection E-learning Program is now available.
The e-learning resource was developed in 2010 by CCWT and was funded by the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet. The program is available as a CD Rom or as a download version. It is a free resource for relevant organisations in the community sector. A copy can be forwarded on request and be used to support the professional development needs
of staff.
