ESC407 Melintheclassroom

21st Century Education   from   Future Tense, ABC Radio This podcast provides perspectives on the use of technology in teaching from a variety of delegates at the 2012 Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association.  One of the speakers, G reg Whitby, E xecutive Director of Schools for the Catholic Diocese of Parramatta in Sydney  claims that the focus on technology is a "waste of time". He says, "If you focus on the technology, you ignore the central problem and the central issue." Greg goes on to state that the central issue "is the nature and quality of the learning and teaching".  What he means by this is that technology, regardless of whether it is a lap top, desktop, tablet or smart phone is not what is important.  What is important is what is done with the actual technology and how it is used to engage or assist the students in what they are actually learning. In other words, what he is saying is that a school could have the greatest a...

Yes, I'm in search of cool!  Apparently.   My name is Melinda Barton and I am enrolled in Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) Graduate Entry.  I completed a Bachelor of Science majoring in Microbiology in 1988 and due to parental pressure, went on to complete an Honours project in 1989.  I received First Class Honours for my troubles but the experience firmly convinced me that a researcher I am not.  After 8 years in an industrial microbiology and chemistry laboratory, I applied for a job as a recruiter with a science and technology recruitment company and spent the next 15 years in the mad world of corporate and academic recruitment, working with scientists of all types from metallurgists to biochemists in both private industry and Academia.  It was a great job as it allowed me to use both my science AND my people skills.   In this time, I had 2 boys and in 2013, my husband, the boys and I moved from the Sunshine Coast of Qld to Dubbo ...