http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au

The Le@rning Federation Schools Online Curriculum Content Iniative is an initiative of the State, Territory and Commonwealth governments of Australia and the government of New Zealand.

Over the period 2001-2006, the Initiative aims to create online curriculum content and the infrastructure (The Exchange) for procurement, storage and distributed access of the content specifically for Australian and New Zealand schools.

Update on the first round of The Le@rning Federation online content

Award of the Contract for BELTS

Download The Basic eLearning Tool Set:

BELTS Deployment Strategy

Download The Delivery and Implementation Support for the Online Content:

Delivery and Implementation Support

Download The Delivery Infrastructure Options:

Delivery Options Outlines the range of delivery options available to the States and Territories through the technical infrastructure developed by The Le@rning Federation joint venture

Download The Le@rning Federation content procurement calender - December 2002 - March 2003

TFL Calendar

Download The Le@rning Federation TFL Catholic Contact Liaison Officers

TFL Catholic Contact Liaison Officers

Download the First Science Content and BELTS Software Release to Education Systems and Sectors

First Science Content Release

The Initiative is distinguished by the following features:

• facilitation of the development of high-quality curriculum content which is directly relevant to schools in Australia and New Zealand;
• 'object'-oriented approach which allows content to be reassembled and repurposed to suit the particular needs of teachers and students;
• development of specifications in educational soundness, interoperability, accessibility, rights management, metadata and other technical issues;
• a user-centred content development process which focuses on user feedback throughout all stages of development;
• content development involving partnerships between online developers and curriculum experts.

Why Online Curriculum Content?

Over the last decade, governments of Australia and New Zealand have recognised that information and communication technologies (ICT) offer powerful tools which help students to learn more effectively.

There has been substantial investment in the basic infrastructure required to facilitate the use of ICT - hardware and networking systems and professional development for teachers.

However, while there is currently a great deal of educational material available online, they tend to be individual units of learning or 'edutainment' activities, largely originating overseas. There is an acute shortage of such resources which are written specifically for Australian and New Zealand teachers and students.

Research shows that good quality, properly sequenced online curriculum materials engage and motivate students. They can also assist teachers to provide learning advantage for students.

Thus there are compelling reasons why all Australian and New Zealand governments pooled their resources to invest in developing online curriculum materials in a coordinated and cohesive fashion for the benefit of all school sectors.

In January 2001, as part of the Backing Australia's Ability: Innovation Action Plan, the Prime Minister announced funding of $34.1 million over 5 years to support the Initiative to:

• develop a body of high-quality curriculum content, suitable to each State and Territory;
• develop a framework which supports distributed access;
• in the long term, use the framework and content to stimulate further contribution to the pool of material.

In July 2001, all Australian States and Territories agreed to match the Commonwealth funds. Following this, New Zealand joined in the Initiative in June 2002.

Learning objects and content is developed based on 4 criteria:

• learner focused
• useability
• integrity
• accessibility

When producing the Learning Objects Senior Education Consultants devise product indicators to guide the soundness of the Learning Objects.

In the development, testing and the evaluation of The Learning Federation's online content and learning objects the following groups have been formed.

Curriculum Area Reference Groups (CARG's)

CARG'S scopes the content development within each priority curriculum area. The priority curriculum areas are:

• Mathematics
• Numeracy
• Inovation, Enterprise and Creativity
• Literacy for Students at Risk 5-9
• Studies of Australia
• Science
• LOTE

Expert Focus Groups (EFG)

• is selected by expression of interest
• is chosen on the basis of innovative practice in the classroom in the priority curriculum area and technological literacy
• provides expert feedback (normally 6 teachers) on all QA stages
• teachers are required a maximum of 15 days a year and teacher replacement is available

User Focus Groups (UFG)

• schools are invited to put forward an Expression of Interest to participate.
• UFGs will be required to test learning content and objects with students.
• feedback on relevance, useability and integrity of content is required
• material to be tested will come on CD. Software necessary to run travels with the CD.

In-School Evaluators

• these are data collectors for the UFGs.
• there are training programs provided for all evaluators.
• all expenses are met.
• In future, In-School Evaluators will be requested for those training sessions and for the future UFG support.
• In -School Evaluators may be expected to work across sectors.
• the key requirements for Evaluators are an educational background and technical literacy
• experience with MS Office and communication tools is needed, and
• extensive technical skills are not required as schools are expected to supply technical support.

or direct to the Learning Federation at info@thelearningfederation.edu.au

If you are interested in joining one of the groups above please contact me for more details.

The Exchange

The development of the Exchange has progressed with the acceptance of Release 2 expected by 30 October 2002. This release provides additional functionality for the quality assurance of content.

Consultation with education systems to discuss implementation issues has continued, with major issues being identified as; alignment with the Exchange development schedule, how to receive content from the Exchange, and how to deliver content to teachers and students. These issues are being addressed as part of the ongoing consultation process. Consultation with a number of e-learning system vendors has been undertaken with a view to informing vendors of relevant TLF activities, and judging where this market is heading. A number of vendors are implementing the same, or similar, specifications as The Le@rning Federation, though implementation of common specifications has a significant lead-time for some vendors.

Exchange Report

Home Page

Update on the first round of The Le@rning Federation online content

Award of the Contract for BELTS