Corporate IT Support and the 21st Century User 9 November, 2011
Posted by paralleldivergence in ICT in Education, Internet, technology.Tags: ICT, IT support, Service desk, technology
8 comments
TRADITIONALLY, ICT Support is a regimented service, based on providing known or predictable support for a limited range of products in a carefully structured business environment. Users are supplied with access to standardised hardware systems and applications that have been approved in the standard operating environment and their range of access is limited according to their status. When they are faced with a problem (aka ‘incident’), they are usually directed to one recommended path to gain ICT support, but often they have a negative perception of it – too arduous to report and too long to wait for action, leading to a view that ICTs are too unreliable to use.
Courtesy: The IT Crowd
The Digital Education Real Illusion 18 July, 2011
Posted by paralleldivergence in education, ICT in Education, Internet, Politics, technology.Tags: DER, DERNSW, Digital Education Revolution
28 comments
THE PROMISE. The challenge. The delivery. The difference. The Australian Digital Education Revolution was rightly heralded as a real gamechanger in school education nation-wide. When Kevin Rudd as opposition leader proclaimed, “This is the toolbox of the 21st Century” while holding up a laptop computer and subsequently promised access to a computer for every student in years 9 through 12, we knew this was something big. This truly was an Education Revolution.
Selling Yammer in NSW DET 28 January, 2011
Posted by paralleldivergence in education, ICT in Education, Internet, yammer.Tags: NSWDET, PLN, social networking, yammer
11 comments
The New South Wales Department of Education and Training (NSW DET) is the largest education authority in the southern hemisphere catering for over 755,000 public school students across more than 2,200 schools. A further 504,000 students are enrolled in TAFE courses across 135 colleges in the state. Add to that 10 regional offices and TAFE administration centres and a similar number of state offices, and it can be clearly seen that staff are massively siloed – thousands of islands all trying to do similar jobs. The logistics of professionally supporting such a diverse staff on an ongoing basis are mind-blowing.
Well May We Say “Advance Australia Fair” 24 June, 2010
Posted by paralleldivergence in elections, Internet, My Thoughts, Politics, voting.Tags: Australia, gillard, labor party, leadership, rudd, spill
10 comments
…because NOTHING will advance Julia Gillard. As the Australian Labor Party prepares to vote in the country’s first ever female prime minister, I’m waiting for Kevin Rudd to come out with a quotation for the history books, but I doubt he’ll be echoing Gough Whitlam’s infamous and nonsensical quote from his dismissal in 1975.
iPad Changes Everything 2 June, 2010
Posted by paralleldivergence in apple, education, ICT in Education, Internet, ipad, Life, technology.Tags: apple, education, ipad, Life, technology
24 comments
Every so often an invention comes along that is a game changer. Most of the really good ones like the Wheel, Electricity, Light Bulb and Plumbing pre-date me, but I am fortunate to live in a time where the rate of progress now is such that I can witness many of the newest breakthroughs first-hand. Arguably, the Apple iPad is one of these breakthroughs.
Image courtesy of philderksen
Stop Phishing: Websites and Users Working Together 5 February, 2010
Posted by paralleldivergence in Internet, Life, My Thoughts, passwords, security.Tags: cyber-crime, identity fraud, phishing
7 comments
PHISHING is a worldwide problem. Unscrupulous cyber-criminals, unsuspecting Internet users and apathetic web-service providers: It’s a volatile mix that will always benefit the crook. Hell, if the user is stupid enough to click on a link in an email message and gladly provide their user account details, they deserve what they get!
image courtesy of Financial Services Technology
How many light bulbs does it take to change teaching? 3 January, 2010
Posted by paralleldivergence in education, ICT in Education, Internet, My Thoughts, technology.Tags: DER, Digital Education Revolution, edtech, ICT in Education
54 comments
Everyday my email inbox alerts me to at least one teacher who has become a new follower on Twitter. Now while I’m definitely not the best ed-tech guy in Twitterland to follow, I like to think that for each of those emails, a light bulb has switched on somewhere and a teacher is working to change, or at least keep up with the change that’s continually going on all around them.
photo courtesy of purplemattfish
You Better Start Swimmin’ or You’ll Sink Like a Stone 4 September, 2009
Posted by paralleldivergence in education, ICT in Education, Internet, Life, My Thoughts, Politics, technology.Tags: Digital Education Revolution, education, edutech, ICT in Education, iwbnet09, learning
21 comments
Today I “attended” an educational technologies conference. Well sort of. I wasn’t there, but then again, I was. IWBnet’s “Leading a Digital School” conference was on at the Gold Coast in sunny Queensland and while I was unable to be a delegate at the venue, I had the next best thing. Many of the delegates who were there, were happy to instantly share their experience with the rest of the world via Twitter.
Relive the IWBnet Conference via Visible Tweets
Is this Technically the Best 1:1 Rollout in the World? 20 August, 2009
Posted by paralleldivergence in education, ICT in Education, Internet, Life, My Thoughts, NSW, technology, windows.Tags: 1:1, Digital Education Revolution, education, laptops, Lenovo, NSWDET, students
15 comments
October 20, 2007 – Australian Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd is on the election campaign trail making a promise that made state governments, educational authorities and teachers shudder in their boots. While holding up a laptop which he referred to as “the toolbox of the 21st Century“, he promised to provide a computer to every high school student from grades 9 through 12. Then he became Prime Minister and the pressure was really on, because while he would provide the funding, the Federal Government does not control school education and would not be responsible for implementation – the individuals states would.
Lifelong Learning is NOT a 9 to 5 Job 14 June, 2009
Posted by paralleldivergence in education, ICT in Education, Internet, Life, technology.Tags: education, Life, lifelong learning, schools, teaching
12 comments
Late last year I attended my son’s high school graduation where speech after speech espoused the knowledge and skills that the Class of 2008 have gained over their thirteen years of schooling. As the students prepared for the next phase of their lives, it was heartening to hear that they all had been instilled with the fundamentals of lifelong learning. I wish.
Image by Tragicomedio
I, Cyberbully. 29 May, 2009
Posted by paralleldivergence in education, hell, ICT in Education, Internet, Life, My Thoughts, pranks.Tags: cyberbullying, Life, school, social networking, students
5 comments
I’m not sure I quite remember when and how it started. He was just another boy in my class. But it seemed that everything he did just grated on me. No, I don’t want to listen to your music. Hell, that’s a stupid haircut. Put your hand down and shutup for god’s sake. I’m gonna say something to him.
image by Jeff Weston
What ICT Teachers Think… 20 May, 2009
Posted by paralleldivergence in education, ICT in Education, Internet, My Thoughts.Tags: computers, education revolution, ICT in Education, teaching
10 comments
EVERY School Term for the past ten years, in conjunction with my team, I have been running Information Days for school ICT Coordinators. Over 250 teachers representing over 200 public schools consistently come to find out the latest information relating to ICT in school education in our little part of the world. Now while I’m usually the one passing the latest news onto them, I often like to ask them what their point of view is – that is, being a school educator that uses ICT in the classroom, or in other words, being a minority within the teaching faculty. Here’s what some of them have told me.
Still Waiting for the Revolution… 26 January, 2009
Posted by paralleldivergence in education, ICT in Education, Internet, NSW, Politics, technology.Tags: Alan Kay, Digital Education Revolution, education, ICT in Education, revolution
7 comments
Date Log: January 2009. Still waiting for the revolution.
Australia’s Digital Education Revolution is coming. Even before it started, it was identified that the $1.2 billion promised was not going to be enough, so now with the injection of a further $807 million, Educational Authorities across the country are investigating hardware options including laptops and wireless connectivity. But Dr Alan Kay is still not convinced that this will be the revolution our children need.
…in my Spare Time, I write Software. 17 August, 2008
Posted by paralleldivergence in children, education, games, ICT in Education, Internet, TV Shows.Tags: educational, gameshow, jeopardy, windows
5 comments
That’s what I’ve been doing lately instead of writing more articles here at Parallel Divergence. So I thought I’d share with you my latest hobby project. It’s called Stu’s Double Jeopardy! version 3.1 – and as usual, it’s completely free for anyone who wants it.
Australia’s Digital Education Revolution? 1 June, 2008
Posted by paralleldivergence in Brad & Phil, children, education, ICT in Education, Internet, Life, My Thoughts.Tags: Australia, Digital Education Revolution, ICT in Education
17 comments
NOT LONG after Kevin Rudd’s Labor Party was whisked into power in Australia after 12 years of conservative government, there were immediate and obvious differences that appeared. Rudd took no traditional “honeymoon” period, instead preferring to get straight to work on delivering his pre-election promises. One of these being the $1.2 billion “Digital Education Revolution“.
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