Karen Player, Author at Virtual Excursions Australia

July 12, 2013April 16, 2020

Launch of Virtual Excursions Australia

New national partnership connects teachers and students to virtual excursions

SYDNEY, Australia – 11 July 2013 – A new web portal providing access to online education resources was officially launched today by Senator, the Hon Kate Lundy, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister Assisting for Innovation and Industry, Minister Assisting for the Digital Economy.

Virtual Excursions Australia (VEA) is an initiative developed by a network of video conferencing providers from across the country, including arts, cultural, science and other education organisations.

The launch took place at the Interactive Technology in Education Conference (ITEC 2013) at the Sydney Opera House, where digital education programs and leading-edge technologies are being showcased this week.

Senator Kate Lundy and Virtual Excursions Australia content providers

The aim of VEA is to provide educators across the lifelong learning spectrum with information about high-quality videoconferencing events and other educational content delivered via high speed broadband networks.

Karen Player, Museum Outreach Manager for the Australian Museum and Chair of VEA said, “Virtual Excursions Australia is the result of a grass roots collaborative effort by a group of national organisations who wanted to improve how teachers and learners find out about and access the wide array of innovative digital content available today.”

“A high speed broadband connection enables teachers to access a huge choice of interactive online content to engage students and bring the curriculum to life in meaningful ways, without the traditional barrier of the expense and inconvenience of travel. VEA aims to be a portal where educators around Australia can begin their search for local and international resources and connect with content providers,” she said.

VEA will also be organising videoconferencing events, such as an upcoming Teachers Professional Development Day (15 July 2013), ‘SciFest a’ National Science Week Video Conference Festival (5-9 August 2013), Dinosaur Day (4 November 2013), and Clickfest (4-29 November 2013).

The partnering organisations behind the initiative are: Australian Museum, Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum, Australian National Maritime Museum, Bradman Foundation, Fizzics Education, Literature Live, Opera Australia, Museum of Human Disease, Powerhouse Museum, Questacon: The National Science and Technology Centre, State Library NSW, Sydney Living Museums, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney Opera House, Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS), Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), CAASTRO All-sky Astrophysics University of Sydney, National Film & Sound Archive, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre, Australia’s Academic and Research Network (AARNet), Cisco, Distance and Rural Technologies – NSW Department of Education and Communities, Electroboard and Polycom.

Nick Cross, Education Outreach Manager for AARNet, a VEA partner, said, “The increased availability of high speed networks has provided a stimulus for content providers to invest in real-time interactive service design and delivery. The VEA initiative plays a vital role by bringing together networks of educators and nationally significant content providers, broadening access and enabling meaningful learning experiences.”

July 6, 2013July 12, 2013

Professional Development

Meet Virtual Excursions Australia content providers in a series of teacher Professional Development video conferences on Monday 15 July. These Professional Development sessions connect you with a panel of content providers. The sessions are designed to enable you to ask your questions about video conferencing content and technology.

These Professional Development sessions are being run as a follow up from the ITEC 2013 being held on 10 & 11 July. ITEC 2013 will feature national and international educators, innovators, researchers and industry leaders in the field of interactive and real-time technologies and techniques. Presentations will focus on technologies and programs that facilitate the delivery of rich content and the sharing of expertise and experiences across the network and directly into places of learning. See the full ITEC 2013 program.

During these 45 minute sessions you will join members of Virtual Excursions Australia to share your experiences with video conferences, tell us how we can better meet the needs of your students or ask us questions about our content or technical issues.

On Monday 15 July there are sessions throughout the day including:

All these session are availablenow on the DART connections website.

This event is proudly supported by Virtual Excursions Australia.

May 30, 2013June 4, 2013

ITEC 2013 program

ITEC 2013 features national and international educators, innovators, researchers and industry leaders in the field of interactive and real-time technologies and techniques. Presentations focus on technologies and programs that facilitate the delivery of rich content and the sharing of expertise and experiences across the network and directly into places of learning.

Keynote Speakers include:

Dr Kate Cornick

Kate Cornick is the General Manager, Health and Education at NBN Co, the company rolling out the National Broadband Network. In this role Kate is working with the health and education sectors to drive adoption of broadband applications and services that will result in improved services to consumers. From 2009-2012, Kate was the inaugural Executive Director of the Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society (IBES) – an interdisciplinary research institute established at the University of Melbourne focused on broadband applications, including in health and education.

Graham Smith

Graham Smith has been inventing and exploring new forms of telepresence, robotic, virtual reality and media technologies since the early 1980’s as both a university researcher, entrepreneur and artist. From 1992 to 1996 he directed the VRAAP program (Virtual Reality Artist Access Program) at the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto which explored the effects virtual technologies may have on society.

Anita Kocsis

Anita Kocsis is Head of Design, Society and Culture in the Faculty of Design and Co Director of the Design Factory at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. Anita’s creative, commercial and academic achievement spans a design and technology nexus evidenced by intermedia exhibitions and launches in commercial and public Institutions. Anita’s articulation across research and teaching focuses on how design can facilitate the multilateral process of meaning construction that unfolds between industry, content providers, design & audiences.

Aaron E. Walsh

Aaron E. Walsh is Director of the Immersive Education Initiative, a non-profit international consortium of universities, colleges, research institutes, consortia and companies that work together to define and develop open standards, best practices, platforms, and communities of support for virtual reality and game-based learning and training systems. In 2007 he was named one of the forty most innovative people in the Information Technology (IT) industry by Computerworld, the premier source of news and analysis for the IT industry.

This conference will be of interest to:

Content Providers, Museums, Galleries, Libraries and Cultural Institutions.
Schools, Teachers, and Classroom Practitioners.
Higher Education.
Government or Enterprise Business.

See the full ITEC 2013 program

March 14, 2013March 24, 2020

International Pi Day video conference

Do you know what’s special about the 14 March?

Thanks to the North American custom of writing the date backwards, 14 March looks like the circle constant Pi: 3.14

To celebrate what has become known as International Pi Day, Australian Numeracy Ambassador and mathematics comedian, Simon Pampena, is presenting a special video conference event for school children hosted at the Australian Museum.

“Pi captures all the wonders of mathematics in one simple idea. Divide the outside of a circle by its width and you’ll get a number. No matter if the circle was the size of your eye or the size of the sun, that number will always be the same,” Mr Pampena said.

“But you’ll never know what that number is exactly. It’s impossible because it goes on forever with no contraction. We have to give pi a special symbol to somehow contain its awesomeness…π”, he continued.

We will have students’ onsite at the Australian Museum and 13 schools connecting via video conferencing from across NSW. We are really excited to be able to help connect school so they can participate in this program.

The event is being held as part of the 2013 International Year of Mathematics of Planet Earth, which aims to increase public awareness of the critical utility of the mathematical sciences to solving problems of a global nature.

November 5, 2011April 15, 2013

Dinosaur Day video conferencing

Dinosaur Day on Monday 5 November 2012 was a great way to start the Clickfest video conferencing month. Thousands of students dialled into a series of video conferences from across NSW. Dinosaur day had events from:

Australian Museum
Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum
Australian Ages of Dinosaurs
Taronga Zoo, Sydney
Literature Live

The Australian Museum launched Dinosaur Day with Winny the Muttabuttasaurus. We had 20 school link up to celebrate and learn about dinosaurs. It was a really great atmosphere to have so many students calling out Winny’s name and interacting with her.

Clickfest is an exciting initiative from education organisations across Australia and it highlights the diversity and scope of video conferences available to schools across.

Now in its second year, over 20 organisations are delivering free or reduced cost events to schools. These sessions are being hosted by the Distance and Rural Technologies (DART).

November 1, 2011March 24, 2020

Clickfest 2011

In November this year, DART Connections is hosting ‘Clickfest’: a month of free video conferencing to encourage more teachers to give it a go.

The Clickfest launch at the Australian Museum was a first for new technology that provides educational experiences to regional schools. The live, interactive video conference session was simultaneously attended by regional schools located throughout Australia, including those first connected to the National Broadband Network (NBN).

The participating year five and six children from these schools loved the show, featuring Winny the dinosaur from the Australian Museum, Cogs the Robot from the Powerhouse Museum and Tasmanian Devil researcher Dr Kathy Belov. Each school got to ask several questions and play an important part in the excitement of this event.

Chris Hancock, CEO of AARNet said, “This is an excellent example of how high capacity broadband services can revolutionise the learning experience. Clickfest will connect students in regional communities to iconic Australian institutions as part of their daily classroom activities. The regular use of real time video collaboration on this scale is the bright future of school education, enabling students to learn from Australia’s top talent without leaving the classroom.”

The schools included were:

Presbyterian Ladies College (Armidale, NSW)
The Cathedral School (Townsville, QLD)
Willunga High School (SA)
Circular Head Christian School (Smithtown, TAS)
Bees Creek Primary School (NT).

We’re excited to be participating in the Clickfest Video Conferencing Festival with over 30 other organisation offering free video conferences for schools.

Check out the new and exciting shows and events, all provided at no charge thanks to the NSW State Government. To find out more or to book into a session, go to DARTconnections and have a look at the amazing events on offer

It is a really exciting initiative to get teachers and students to give video conferencing a go.