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Urunga Public School - Connecting Country Schools

 

 

Urunga Public School
- Connecting Country Schools

During 2018, Connecting Country Schools will upgrade the wireless networks of over 900 schools across regional and remote NSW. Urunga Public School was one of the first schools to receive this exciting upgrade. To celebrate, the team from the Technology for Learning, Innovations and Utilisation unit visited the school to give the new network a workout!

Learning Journey

Students from Urunga Public School had recently returned from a class excursion to Parliament House in Canberra, with democracy being the hot topic for students after their exciting journey.

The challenge for the school's teachers and the department's information technology staff was this: How can ICTs connect with and enhance teaching and student learning about Democracy?

Minecraft Education Edition

Minecraft isn’t just a popular and engaging game for kids. It's a virtual learning environment where students can collaborate to solve real-world problems.

The new wireless infrastructure provided by Connecting Country Schools enabled students to collaborate to redefine the idea of the ‘voting booth’. Using Minecraft, students developed new ways for citizens to record their votes, as well as new solutions for how the Australian Electoral Commission could count votes.

Find out more information about Minecraft Education Edition.

Students at Urunga PS discovering Minecraft

Robotics with Cozmo

Technology in the classroom can help students focus on computational thinking and digital solutions. The Technology for Learning, Innovations and Utilisation Team’s challenge was this - how could the team connect learning outcomes like computational thinking and provide digital solutions to studying Democracy?

Enter Cozmo.

Students at Urunga meeting Cozmo

Cozmo is a student (and pet!) friendly interactive robot, packing some powerful features including limited AI and facial (and pet!) recognition.  The Technology for Learning, Innovations and Utilisation Team challenged students to program Cozmo to recognise faces and guide hypothetical voters to their voting booths. Students were thoroughly engaged with Cozmo’s capabilities and personality and demonstrated that they were able to achieve real-world application of the Democracy subject’s learning outcomes. 

Find more information about Cozmo.

Virtual Excursions with Google Expeditions

Virtual Reality provides students, with the ability to virtually explore environments around the world and is still a new and exciting experience. How could the Technology for Learning, Innovations and Utilisation Team use this powerful and emerging technology to inspire students in their learning about democracy?

Students at Urunga using Google Expeditions

The Technology for Learning, Innovations and Utilisation Team used the mobility of Urunga Public School’s new wireless network to take multiple students on a virtual tour of a well-known technology company, to inspire them with new ideas to enhance and develop their polling stations developed through Minecraft.

Was the experience successful? Trying to get the virtual reality glasses back from the students proved to be an almost impossible task for the Technology for Learning, Innovations and Utilisation Team, demonstrating the immersive impact and student engagement potential of virtual reality.

Find more information about Google Expeditions.

Internet of Things: SAM's STEAM kit

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the growing network of devices that connect to both the internet and each other. Students, using SAM’s STEAM Kit, brainstormed a system, linked with their Minecraft voting booth and Cozmo robotic assistant, to automatically record citizen votes.

A Urunga student using Sam's STEAM Kit

Students invented a variety of methods for recording citizen votes, including touch and button interfaces.

Find more information about Sam's STEAM Kit.

Telepresence - just like being there with a Double Robot

Telepresence applications such as FaceTime, Skype and Google Hangouts are extremely useful tools for conducting meetings and conversations, but they don’t make you feel quite feel like, well, being there.

The Executive Director of Information Technology Directorate’s Customer Experience and Service Delivery team, who is overseeing Connecting Country Schools, faced this dilemma. Unable to attend the Urunga Public School pilot in person, and with so many activities going on, how could Scott be there, without being there?

Scott Thomson joins the students at Urunga PS via his "Double"

Double Robotics telepresence technology, powered by Connecting Country Schools, allowed Scott to interact with students and experience their learning first hand. The NSW Department of Education is investigating the potential of these robots for student and teacher focused initiatives across the state. Stay tuned for more updates!

Connecting Country Schools rolls out

Connecting Country Schools will give schools improved wireless connectivity that will allow students in regional and remote areas with more power to connect, collaborate and learn with access to online tools including databases, streaming media and global educational institutions and experts.

Connecting Country Schools will power digital age teaching and learning, and the benefits it will deliver for students, teachers, schools and school communities will help to redefine education.

Click here to find out when your school will be upgrading to Connecting Country Schools WiFi.

Photographer: Amit Karmakar

NSW DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIRECTORATE