RUNNING HEAD: Interview Report

Country Case Study: Australia

Jessica Reeves
EDTC 645
Summer 2016

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Introduction
Australia has a strong emphasis on technology skills built into multiple areas of the
national curriculum and has provided over two billion dollars in funding to put digital devices
into the hands of students, particularly high school students (Hunter, 2016). Although these
measures are in place, recent research suggests that Australian schools face several obstacles for
the successful integration of technology in the K-12 classrooms. Among these obstacles are
consistent integration techniques, equal technology access, and evaluation practices (Hunter,
2016; Toner, 2013; Wilson, Dalton, & Baumann, 2016). The purpose of this report was to seek
out professionals in the Australian education system to gather additional information and
opinions on the accessibility, implementation, and barriers to utilizing technology for instruction.
These interview responses will be used to validate conclusions drawn by research and identify
other areas for growth.
Interview Invitation
The following interview request and questions were e-mailed to various Australian teachers and
principals. It was also posted to the discussion forum of the Global Education Conference.

University of Maryland University College

3501 University Blvd. East
Adelphi, MD 20783

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Jessica Reeves and I am currently studying technology integration in primary and
secondary education as part of my Masters Program. The Australian education system has a
reputation for high quality scientific research and innovation, which sparked my curiosity in your

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curriculum and classroom practices. I am interested in learning more about how technology is
used by educators in your area and how I could implement new strategies or tools to cultivate
21st century skills in my own students.
I have several questions on which Id like to focus my research. I have listed them below. I
would appreciate your help in answering these questions or a recommendation for others who
may be able to provide feedback. Your responses will be an invaluable part of a case study I am
working on for a course, Integration of Technology: Global Perspectives. Thank you for your
time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Jessica Reeves, 6th grade teacher
jareeves@ccps.org
Interview Questions and Rationale
1.

Please tell me about yourself and your role in education.

Rationale: This question provides context for the interviewees experience and possible use of
technology. A classroom teachers use of technology may differ from an administrators use of
technology.

2.

How do you currently use technology in your field?

Rationale: This question was asked to gain an understanding of the access and use of
instructional technology in Australia. It also serves as a point of comparison between
interviewees, as they may use technology tools for different purposes.

3.

What are the major advantages and disadvantages to technology use within your
school/area?
Rationale: This question is integral to evaluating personal experiences with technology for the
classroom and determining how the responses match up with the research on this topic.

4.

How are students evaluated on their information and communication technology

competency?
Rationale: Research into the Australian curriculum reveals that ICT is woven into both the
general curriculum and specific content strands throughout K-12 instruction (Toner, 2013). There
is not much information on how those standards were evaluated. This question provides
clarification into the assessment practices of students using ICT in the classroom.

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5.

How are teachers evaluated on their integration of technology in the classroom (as a
general competency)?
Rationale: Initial research indicated that the evaluation of the ICT standards were subjective and
limited in scope. This question is instrumental for a comparison of perspectives on this
evaluation, based on personal experience.

6.

What tools are students expected to be proficient in? Do students follow a technology
curriculum based on their current skills? For example, if students have mastered Microsoft Excel
do they move on to another tool?
Rationale: This question was instrumental in determining how the ICT standards are taught and
assessed in the classroom.

7.

Do you feel that you have the training and skills necessary to implement a technology
rich method of instruction? If yes, where did you receive this training? If no, what PD or courses
do you wish you had?
Rationale: Lack of training and planning time are often cited as barriers to successful technology
integration. I have been fortunate to receive targeted training on technology integration but have
also spent a great deal of time and effort seeking out resources on my own. With this question, I
wanted to gauge how ambitious educators were in using technology and if their ambitions were
more instrinsic or supported by administrative professional development.

8.

In general, do schools have equal access to technology resources?

Rationale: One of the strengths I identified in my initial case study was a nationwide $2 billion
technology initiative intended to give one to one access to technology, called the Digital
Education Revolution (Hunter, 2016). I wanted to determine the success of this initiative.
Strategies for Interview
In order to acquire more information about educational technology in Australia, I first
began by seeking out qualified professionals in the field of education. I began by posting my
cover letter on Global Education Conference discussion board, hoping it would reach a large
audience. I also used the Australian Schools Directory, found online at
http://www.australianschoolsdirectory.com.au/, to locate individual schools in various locations.
After finding the school name and browsing the website, I was able to send an e-mail with the
contact information provided. I noted during this process that only the principals e-mail
addresses were available from the school web sites. Teacher and staff e-mail information is
unlisted on all school websites, which made contact a little difficult.

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After several weeks with no responses, I again sought out more contacts. In order to
contact teachers directly, I searched out Australian videos on YouTube with little success. I did;
however, find some contacts on blog sites. One blog called the Australian Teachers Blogspot,
located at http://australianteachers.blogspot.com.au, seemed promising. Every teacher on the
blog had several contact links, including social media links. Each teacher showed a quick
Facebook response time, so I modified my cover letter and sent each teacher on the blog the
interview questions. I received responses very quickly. Although two teachers declined
participating in the interview, I did receive two responses from the educators listed below.
Persons Interviewed

Jem Luck (e-mail interview)

Jem is a classroom teacher in Victoria, Australia. She has taught in the public
school system there for five years. She has spent the majority of her years
working with students in prep, which is the equivalent of Kindergarten. This year
she is teaching a composite class of students in grades 2 and 3. Her students range
in age from 7 to 9 years old.

Sheri Ryan
Sheri is a second year teacher working in Brisbane, Australia. She teaches Grade
2. Sheri uses various technology resources in her classroom and shares the
resources she has created on various sites, including her blog and teachers pay
teachers store.

Interview responses and analysis (See Appendix A and B)

Sheri Ryan provided valuable insight into her daily use of technology and students skills
levels. On a daily basis, Ms. Ryan uses the classroom projector to guide instruction and display
content from e-books, PowerPoint presentations, and student work. iPads are available for math

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rotations, and the class visits the computer lab once a week. Because students are only in Grade
2, much of the computer-based instruction is focused around basic skills like typing and
navigating word processers. The students in Ms. Ryans class are evaluated once a semester,
based on the essential learning curriculum for media and technology. Students complete a project
each semester, and this grade is put on their report card. Ms. Ryans class will be scored on their
ability to create a brochure and take photographs on an iPad (personal communication, July 6,
2016). This was especially interesting as information on student assessment and performance in
regards to ICT was lacking in current research.
Ms. Ryan identified evaluation measures as a missing component of technology
integration for teachers, which supports recent research from the article High possibility
classrooms: Emerging stories in design based learning in Australian secondary schools (Hunter,
2016). Ms. Ryan attributes her own comfort with the technology to a course she took in college
and independent research. There is little to no professional development offered in this area. The
access and reliability of the technology was identified as the major barrier to successful
technology integration. The amount of technology in Brisbane varies by school. Ms. Ryan
purchased her own iPads to utilize in the classroom. She also shared that the school computers
are outdated and slow, while the interactive whiteboards are used mainly as projectors due to
problems with interactive features (personal communication, July 6, 2016).
The results of Ms. Jem Lucks interview provided similar insight. Analogous to Ms.
Ryans experience, Ms. Luck is also comfortable and able to utilize technology in her daily
lessons. She uses various tools, such as iPads, laptops, Smartboards, and phones. Again, teacher
evaluation is identified as an area of need in successful technology integration. The process for
student evaluation is also of concern, as it is very subjective. Teachers score students on the

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information and communication technology competency using anecdotal records and personal
judgement; however, students are expected to be proficient in Microsoft Word and Microsoft
PowerPoint. There is, again, no professional development provided in the area of technology
integration. Ms. Luck admits that she is very interested in technology, but lacks the training and
resources to embed technology into her classroom in the way she would like. Insufficient funding
for technology resources and training are identified as the major barriers for effective technology
education (personal communication, July 16).
Conclusion
Australia has some infrastructure and funding in place to support technology integration
and learning, but there are still obstacles to overcome. The teachers featured in this interview
utilize technology in their classroom on a daily basis, but are largely motivated by their own
ambition and prior experience. Feedback suggests that there is minimal teacher training and
evaluation in place at the primary level, although educational authorities are currently working
on a technology evaluation process for students and teachers. The next steps to effectively
utilizing technology will require strong communication between educational policy makers,
administrators, teachers, staff, and students. It will be important for teachers to receive
appropriate training and time to determine how and where to effectively incorporate technology
into the curriculum.

Appendix A

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Appendix B

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References

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10

Hunter, J. (2016). High possibility classrooms: Emerging stories in design based learning in
Australian secondary schools. Retrieved June 13, 2016, from
http://conference.deanz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DEANZ16-ConferenceproceedingsFINAL.pdf#page=95
Toner, G. (2013). An Introduction to the Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from
http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/connections/an_introduction_to_the_australian_curri
culum.html
Wilson, R., Dalton, B., & Baumann, C. (2015). Six ways Australia's education system is failing
our kids. Retrieved June 13, 2016, from http://theconversation.com/six-ways-australiaseducation-system-is-failing-our-kids-32958