Ferraris Or Monaros

I've been mixing it a bit with these International School types in my online meanderings via twitter and Skype and it is certainly another world that they inhabit facility and resource wise compared to the average Aussie government school. Talented educators and bloggers like Kim Cofino, Jeff Utecht, Susan Sedro and Clay Burell (amongst many others) are innovative and important voices to be listening to when it comes to practical application of what web based tools can actually do and enable in the real classroom. In fact, my teaching next door neighbour, Annabel, is off to China next term to take up her own opportunity in a Beijing International School. So I love reading what they are doing and how they are embedding technology into their teaching and learning experiences for their students.

But I am a realist in that my resources here (and we are better off than a lot of schools in this state) don't allow for the same take up and push that my IS colleagues can manage. As I am a fan of the metaphor, this one keeps in perspective for me on days like today as I try to get my kids working on their global project and working on some new tools with potential when the broadband is slow, the 2 year old computers struggle and the mandated Internet Explorer 6 that is preferred for our education system wreaks havoc with uploading of images, adding of audio and easy access to worthwhile resources.

"It's easy to drive fast in a Ferrari."

I've seen the futuristic Media Centres, the laptop rollouts and the conferences in China. These guys are lucky to be working in these amazing environments, the Ferraris of 21st century education.

ferrari.jpgMe?

At times, it feels more like a hotted up Monaro...

monaro.jpg

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3 thoughts on “Ferraris Or Monaros

  1. mscofino

    You’re right Graham, we are incredibly lucky to be working in schools that are so willing to invest so much in infrastructure and hardware. I will be the first to admit that it definitely makes my job easier.

    But, by no means are our schools perfect. For example, here in Bangkok, we can have all the hardware in the world, but our outdated Thai electric wiring means that we have all sorts of strange problems when we plug equipment in for charging. No use having such great equipment if we can’t power it, right?

    So, I guess we all have to do the best we can with what we have. Even a super cool Ferrari can get a flat tire now and again 🙂

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  2. Graham Wegner

    Kim, your points are true and it’s easy to comment on what can be easily seen. What I think is really positive is the way that International School teachers can showcase what is possible if you invest in your students and staff and enable them to have the most up-to-date learning opportunities. It helps to have successful practice to point to for those of us in our local systems when we push for increased resourcing. And the world is definitely a smaller place as you demonstrated so well today during your online Parents meeting. Getting so many boundary pushers to connect in at once and at short notice really nails home the point about educators collaborating.

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