1. Introducing AusVELS Presented by Lisa Hill
Based on information from INTRODUCING THE AUSVELS WEBSITE, OVERVIEW AND FEATURES
(VCAA Collaborate PD 15 November 2011)
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2. BUT… 2011 -2012 Assess using all VELS
In 2011 and 2012, government and Catholic sector schools will use the VELS website as the source for the mandated Victorian curriculum i.e. we’ll continue to assess with existing curriculum & assessment standards.
BUT…
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3. PLAN using AusVELS
Next year, we’ll use the AusVELS website to plan units and assessment tasks, for teaching and assessing the hybrid AusVELS curriculum framework in 2013.
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4. What is the Australian curriculum?
LEARNING AREAS/ SUBJECT DISCIPLINES
GENERAL CAPABILITIES
CROSS-CURRICULUM PRIORITIES
English
Mathematics
Science
Health and Physical Education
LOTE
Humanities and Social Sciences (History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship, Business and Economics)
The Arts
Technologies (inc ICT)
Critical and creative thinking
Self-management, teamwork and social competence
Intercultural understanding
Ethical behaviour
Literacy
Numeracy
ICT
Aboriginal cultures and histories
Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia
Sustainability
All states have agreed to ‘substantial implementation’ by 2013, i.e. 18 months from now.
The content and standards have been approved in these 4 areas, there will be a national approach to the achievement standards and *there will be further refinement of the content and standards* after teacher feedback in the trial schools. By October there will be finalisation of the standards.
(However, there is a problem with the phased roll-out of this curriculum. It’s hard to tell the full scope of the curriculum i.e. if there’s too much (crowded curriculum) when we don’t have all of it yet.)
The focus of the current trials is
Essential learning: has it been included?
Scope of content: too much?
Professional development and resources needed?

5. How long will we have a hybrid curriculum for?
Curriculum has a shelf-life of about 5-7 years, AusVELS will be around from 2013, and they expect it to last for about 5 years.
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6. Recap: how is it being phased in?
Learning areas
Timeline
English
Phase 1
Mathematics
Science
Humanities and social sciences
History
Geography
Economics, Business, Civics and Citizenship
Phase 2
Phase 3
The Arts
Languages
Health and PE
Technologies
This phased approach is better than trying to introduce the whole lot at once (we’ve learned that from CSF and VELS) but it means we will have a hybrid curriculum for a while.
It’s also hard to tell the total scope of the curriculum if we don’t have all of it yet. First draft was too big and has been reduced, but we won’t be able to tell if the whole thing crowds the curriculum too much until we have all of it. As Phases 2 & 3 come in, there may be problems.
There is still some debate about whether ICT is a learning area or a capability. 6

7. Recap: Victorian timelines Phase 1
English, Mathematics, History and Science
Introductory professional development
‘opt-in’ trialling and validation
2011
Professional development
school-based planning and trialling
2012
Implementation of English, Maths, History and Science F - 10
2013
Implementation of English, Maths, History and Science Year 11
2014?
Implementation of English, Maths, History and Science Year 12
2015?
Vic Stage 1: implement English, Maths, History and Science within the current VELS structure (AusVELS)
Vic Stage 2: Revise VELS structure to reflect the full Aus curriculum.
At least till 2014 states will remain responsible for Y11 & Some drafts done, but F-10 has been a priority. Possible intro of national trade cadetships (some work done) and an Aus Baccalaureate (no work done yet).

8. The AusVELS portal
For information, support and resources about the F-10 curriculum (including AusVELS)at the VCAA urriculum/index.html. When in doubt, go here for official advice.
From there you can link to the entry portal to AusVELS
The design of AUSVELS is intended to be so that teachers have just ONE webpage to visit, that it’s trustworthy, and to integrate the two curricula.
There is a process in place so that both sites will always be consistent with each other i.e. changes on one will always be in place on the other at the same time.
VCAA website glitch: Some schools (e.g. ours) couldn't access VCAA link, (but as of 14 November they’re still fixing this).
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9. This is the AusVELS home page. The link is on the intranet staff page.
Note the little box at the top which links to VELS.
Let’s go exploring…
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10. Select Overview from the menu and scroll down to the chart
Note the AC links for English, Maths, History and Science.
ALL THE OTHERS LINK TO EXISTING VELS.
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11. On the Overview page, scroll down to Levels.
Each level in the RH column links through to the whole curriculum for that level i.e. the 4 new AC subjects (English, Maths, Science and History) + the existing VELS for that level. h
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12. From the Domains menu you can see all the subjects with a little AC text box denoting the 4 new AC subjects.
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13. Click on the drop-down Filter menu (LHS) and deselect SELECT ALL
Click on the drop-down Filter menu (LHS) and deselect SELECT ALL. Click on Science. Click on APPLY FILTERS (RHS).
From the Levels menu you can filter content to get exactly what you want. Select LEVEL 4.
Content descriptions are like learning focus; strands/substrands instead of domains
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14. Change the view by clicking on the little box logo that’s greyed out.
What practical purpose can you use these different views for?
Logos mean Sustainability and Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia.
The column view, which allows users to compare on the one page three levels at once would be a useful option for teachers of multi-age classes, common in small rural schools.
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15. Notice the greyed numbers and letters: - Click on this to see elaborations and more details about this content description.
Scroll down the page and hover over the symbols under Earth and Space Science – what do the symbols mean?
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16. Notice you can download the curriculum from any page.
The General Capabilities page is just a brief description because they are still working on validating it for Victoria.
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17. These 3 priorities are embedded in the domains where appropriate.
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18. Tailor what you download to suit your needs
Tailor what you download to suit your needs. Except you CAN”T download it as a Word doc.
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19. To recap: be ready for 2013!
In 2013 Government and Catholic sector schools will use AusVELS for curriculum planning, assessment and reporting. This will be the current VELS curriculum with the Learning Focus and Standards for English, Mathematics, Science and History replaced by the respective Australian Curriculum Content Descriptions and Achievement Standards.
PD - there will be more collaborate but there will be 'other' PD opportunities
Govt & Catholic schools report against VELS in 2012, VCAA doesn't direct reporting, what happens in 2013 is still be sorted out, lots of collaboration going on and that takes time.
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20. Recap: Features of the AusVELS site
Domains are marked to show which ones are AC, levels allow you to choose which level you want. Old domains show an overview & intro + structure + stages of learning. These are rebadged as AC Levels instead of VELS ones.
Functionality to turn off elements e.g. learning focus or standards, and also a filter to show year levels that you're interested in.
2 different ways to view, ‘flat’ or in columns across the page with year levels side by side, especially useful for composites.
A next/previous function, and also a Show More/Show Less option for some pages.
Content description code boxes link to elaborations and more detail.
Cross Curriculum priorities are also tagged with symbols.
Every page can be printed.
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21. Further changes ahead:
Responding to feedback, they are working on
viewing modes by levels i.e. reading, writing, oral;
LOTE progression measures. These are different because they’re ‘between’ a learning focus and a standard
They’re developing new support materials not recycling old ones.
Templates are being developed for planning, see the overview and resources website, also on home page of AusVELS site - use Implementation, planning support resources menus.
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22. Website addresses Existing VELS curriculum for assessing in 2012ml
New AusVELS curriculum for planning with the hybrid curriculum in 2012
Portal for resources and support
0index.html
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