Ultranet Leadership, Management and Innovation SLAV Conference Karenina Fromhold Department of Education Friday 4 th May

Who has heard of the Ultranet? What have you heard about the Ultranet?

Agenda Project Vision and Objectives Journey Interoperability What will the Ultranet do? Benefits –Teachers –Students –Parents Timelines How is the project managed? Impact for Librarians What can you do?

Ultranet Vision: The Ultranet is a powerful online environment that enhances partnerships between students, teachers and parents to support quality learning and teaching. Objectives:  Improve responsiveness to individual learning needs  Provide better information to parents, the school system and Government  Improve efficiency of the learning environment and school administration  Adopt an enterprise approach to intranet development  Exploit previous ICT investments.

History of the Ultranet How did the Ultranet come about?  A need to increase innovation and access to ICT environments in schools  Prepare students for the digital and multi-media world  Increase learner participation, engagement and achievement in education. The Ultranet supports the following key government strategies:  Blueprint for Government Schools (Ministerial Statement 2003)  Effective Schools Model (DoE Policy 2004).

Proof of Concept – was research and development prototype that was developed as a proof-of-concept system in Involved in the trial in 2006 were:  12 Government Schools (Primary, Secondary and Special Development Schools)  630 Teachers  50 SSOs  10,000 Students  300 Parents. The pilot showed that  increased the level of access to ICT  positively changed teachers attitudes towards the use of technology  increased teachers’ capacity to prepare materials, track student data and report on student progress  enhanced teacher collaboration for curriculum planning and delivery.

workflow processing communication workplace safety online learning and teaching security audit tracking content management archiving lesson planningtimetabling student unique identifier booking resources chat special needs state wide initiative school policy booking rooms list managementdiscussion forum daily organisation notification and bulletins reporting student management professional development content publications feedbacksubmissions enquiry managementvideo content user admindata backupweb servers event management extranetsintranetsremote access feedbackonline roll markingcollaboration progress reporting identity management teacher unique identifier new student report card instant messaging online excursion management administration POLTS early intervention individual learning plans employee management LCSM learning federation online search notesdigital resourcesincidents VELS surveys All Brought Together by One System SPoT Teaching & Learning Student School Informatio n Collaboration Tools Content Management

What will the Ultranet Do? The Ultranet will:  Improve student learning  Support the work of teachers  Enable the Department to better support schools  Enhance active partnerships with parents

What will the Ultranet Do? The Ultranet will be a complete electronic learning environment. This will include:  a repository of curriculum content and learning activities  a repository of student, staff and school records  available anytime (in the classroom, offsite and at home)  an attendance system  a timetabling system  interoperability with existing school systems  a reporting system  an administration system  a school portal

Benefits for Teachers, Principals and Administrative Staff The Ultranet will allow the following online functionality: Teachers:  Planning and creation of curriculum (class programs and lessons)  Access to high quality online resources  Provision of feedback on student assessments  Ability to mark attendance School Administrators:  Access to whole-of-school curriculum  Access to attendance details  Administrative and reporting functionality

Benefits for Students The Ultranet will allow the following online functionality for students:  Access to curriculum (class and homework details)  Ability to communicate with teachers and other students  Capacity to keep a personal journal  Access to digital learning objects  Provision to submit school work

Benefits for Parents Parents will be able to view their child(ren)’s progress such as:  assessment tasks  school reports  school attendance details

Timelines and Budget The following timelines for the project are: Q3 2007Request for Tender released to the Market Q4 2007Evaluation of Tender submissions Q1 2008Contractor to begin the build of the Ultranet Q Initial deployment of the Ultranet to schools Q4 2010All Victorian government schools access the Ultranet $60.5m Ultranet over four years

How is Ultranet managed? Governance of Project –Project Board –Experienced Senior Project Manager Consultation –School Users Advisory Subcommittee –Stakeholders Advisory Subcommittee Feedback –Research & Development Schools Evaluation –Continuous Evaluation Communication –Active Communication Strategy

Impact on Librarians How will the Ultranet impact on Librarians? Enhance the way you work Connect the teacher curriculum planning area to the resource centre / library Share/access resources across schools Central repository of resources that you can access

What can you do? Encourage a community of ICT learning at your school Evaluate your ICT skills using the ICT Capabilities Survey Encourage the use of online curriculum resources using the Victorian Education Channel –Blogs for Teachers –The Global Classroom Project –DigiLearn –Learning Federation Objects How can you support other teachers in your school?

Questions?