Scotch College

What happened in class today?...

Whether you are a student or a parent asking this age-old question, 2002 at Scotch will introduce a new resource for getting the answer. Day 1, Term 1, 2002 sees the rollout of the Scotch College Intranet Workbench.

This facility will enable families to access key information about academic work in every class for Grade 1 through to Year 12.

Stage 1 will concentrate on complementing the academic curriculum of the school, by allowing 24/7 on-line access to homework, assignments tasks, research resources, on-line discussions and all classwork materials apart from textbooks. In addition, students will be able to access specialist software unlikely to be on their home computer, such as Inspiration, Microworlds, BeReasonable, and GIS software.

Scotch is aiming for a new level of information transfer between school and home. Students who unavoidably miss classes through illness, appointment or competing school demands will be able to access the key information wherever they can connect to the Internet. Of course it will not be possible to duplicate all the experience of attending class; direct teaching, class discussions and other in-class activities will continue to be the hub of teaching and learning at Scotch.

How will it work?

A link from the Scotch website will take you to password screens, and then the 'front page' of the Workbench, as shown next column.

Clicking on the icons takes you to the next level. At present we are concentrating on the 'Subject Departments' area, though there are a wide range of excellent learning resources in the 'Resource Centre. Continued navigation in this way will take you to the class page, or class area of your son's class. A Year 12 class area is shown above (the Junior school is organized slightly differently).

Clicking on the round buttons leads to downloadable documents; clicking on the homework or assignment titles gives more details. At present there are ten trial classes operating, in both the junior and senior schools, sorting out the inevitable teething problems associated with such an undertaking.

The Workbench will, in its early stages, simply complement current teaching practices, but as experience with it develops, we expect it to enrich the curriculum with new possibilities. For example, the Discussion function would allow every student to submit a viewpoint on an issue before a class discussion takes place, and to read the viewpoints of others. It will also allow us to make better use of the possibilities of the Internet, with live links to useful sites being incorporated in research briefs. Finally, it will allow a continuity between school and home; work started at school using Microworlds (for example) can be continued at home, and vice-versa.

Access to specialist software packages (as mentioned earlier) and direct access to all features on the Library home page will be through a link on the Scotch website in a similar fashion to the Workbench.

Future developments of the Workbench will see information and resources on nearly every aspect of Scotch life - sport, houses, auxiliaries, camps - the list goes on and on.

The Workbench facility is supplied by Impaq Australia, who are working with us and other schools to produce a world class product.

Regular 'user group' meetings mean that we are well in touch with similar developments elsewhere. Impaq will also provide a telephone 'helpdesk' open from 9am - 11pm weekdays, and 12noon - 9pm on weekends and public holidays.

Planning

Intense preparations for next year's launch have been underway throughout the year under the leadership of Dr Syd Boydell, Director of Educational Research and Development. All staff are being trained in the use of the new technology, learning how to load their curriculum resources onto the Intranet Workbench, and exploring ways in which an on-line environment can assist teaching in their subject areas.

A Steering Group comprising Dr Boydell, Mr Greg Baker, Director of Computing, Ms Suzette Boyd, Director of Library and Information Services, Mrs Libby Moore, Head of Information Technology, Mr Tom Bowen, the Internet Administrator and Mr Andrew Murdoch and Mr Matthew Dickinson from the Junior School, together with an outside consultant, Mrs Olivia Clarke (a former Curriculum Coordinator of PLC, Melbourne) are guiding the change process. Enquiries from parents are welcome -

Dr Boydell may be contacted at Scotch on 9810 4266 or by email (syd.boydell@scotch.vic.edu.au).

New on-line Physics and Chemistry courses

Next year Scotch will also offer specialised 'Olympiad' courses in Physics and Chemistry to selected Year 10 and 11 students using the Workbench. These courses will be largely delivered on-line with weekly face-to-face meetings.

The courses will prepare students both for the annual Olympiad examinations and for the school Year 11 assessments. They will enable us to explore the practicalities of on-line teaching and learning at Scotch as we move forward.

What families will require at home, to connect to the Workbench

Most ordinary reasonably recent home computers with an Internet connection should have no difficulty connecting. Computers running Windows 95, 98 or 2000 or Mac OS 9+, together with Internet Explorer 5+ are the normal minimum standards.

Other combinations (eg Mac OS 8.6+) will sometimes connect; the help desk can be of assistance with this (1300 138 555).

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Easing the pain - a glimpse of the future

Rohan, in Year 11, has been home from school for over a week now with a broken leg. Despite his mobility being severely limited, this accident hasn't left him at a disadvantage with regard to his school work. All of his teachers have posted the required tasks and learning activities onto their Intranet Workbench class sites and Rohan checks each day to see what's new. He has finished his History assignment at home using the Scotch Library resources for research, and the recommended Internet web sites posted on his teacher's site. This morning he sent his completed History work on-line to his teacher and hopes there will be a response before he returns to school. Genetic engineering is currently the hot topic in Biology and Rohan's Biology teacher is currently using the Discussion tool to further explore associated ethical issues. Rohan joins in enthusiastically (he has strong views on this topic) with both questions and comments. It is surprising how much a part of his Scotch classes he feels despite being away from the Boarding House on the family farm in Western Victoria. Returning to school next week will require a lot less catching up than when he returned after the chicken-pox in Grade 6.