Dallas Brooks community primary school, is a diverse school located in Broadmeadows, 18km north of Melbourne’s CBD. The school has a holistic approach to learning – with technology woven into everything that they do, using Microsoft O365 programs such as OneNote to drive greater collaboration in the classroom, for all learning levels.
At Dallas, we believe that every child has a right to learn, and your post code is not your destiny. We have 480 students, and many of the children come from middle-eastern countries, such as Iraq, Lebanon and Pakistan. We see a real opportunity to use the power of technology to make a real difference to our students’ education and their future, to ensure they have the skills they need for tomorrow’s workforce.
As our students come from all walks of life, 21st century learning is about embracing the student as an individual. It’s differentiating the curriculum to suit the purpose for the child, but it’s also taking them along that journey, to ensure they play a critical role in their education.
“To us, 21st century learning is embracing the student as an individual. It’s differentiating the curriculum to suit the purpose for the child, but it’s also taking them along that journey, to ensure they play a critical role in their education.”
It’s a priority for us to cater for students at all learning levels, so when we are working with technology it’s important for us to keep this in mind, so no student is left behind. Many of our students have English as a second language, and some don’t know any English at all – therefore, it is impossible to teach one lesson plan to one group. Often it’s the vocabulary, the higher thinking and the comprehension that holds them back.
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We also allow our students to be part of the goal setting process, because we’ve noticed that when students are aware of their own learning goals they can see an end result, which means they are more active in taking steps forward to achieve those goals.
We have a one-to-one device environment using netbooks, and some of our teachers use Surface Pro in class. We deliver 21st century lessons using Microsoft Office 365 – which we introduced more than two years ago. Using programs such as OneNote, students can take ownership of what they want to learn and how they want to learn. It also teaches them how to collaborate, share ideas and create new projects in a team environment. O365 is a part of the fabric of our school.
“We don’t believe in being restricted to the four walls of a traditional classroom. With O365 our students are incredibly engaged with what they are learning, and really love that they can communicate with other students, and their teachers online using OneNote.”
We don’t believe in being restricted to the four walls of a traditional classroom. With O365 our students are incredibly engaged with what they are learning, and really love that they can communicate with other students, and their teachers online using OneNote. They are also saving and sharing documents and projects on OneDrive. A lot of the time we’ll also get peers to assess each other.
Within reading, we’re using OneNote to record their voice so we can listen to their fluency and expression and they also set goals to determine how they’re going with that. I also use Office 365 to set tasks and give feedback to students and also use it for our intros. It means that when we break out into group, each group will have a different set of instructions. This is a huge advantage, because other kids won’t know if they are falling behind or if they’re more advanced. With O365 We get the opportunity to be really individualised to each class group.
As an e-learning coach, I’m also very passionate about teaching students how to code because it will be really beneficial later on in life, therefore we have introduced coding to both our primary and prep students. Currently we are working with our students to code video games. Similar to games they have played in the past they need to climb ladders, and avoid obstacles to move to the next level. From here they will design and construct the controller that they will use to play their game.
“We’ve seen that our students can get frustrated when they’re sitting at a desk and they’re not achieving the results they want, but when they’re doing STEM subjects, it’s rewarding as they can see the progress,”
It’s incredibly important for students at our school to have STEM skills because they enjoy the hands-on-approach to learning, which means they’re truly engaged. We’ve seen that our students can get frustrated when they’re sitting at a desk and they’re not achieving the results they want, but when they’re doing STEM subjects, it’s rewarding as they can see the progress.
At Dallas, we believe our students have the opportunity to make the most of their education – and often it starts at home. A lot of them haven’t had great experiences, so we want to bring the parents along the journey, so the students have a role model at home that really values education.
We’re trying to create a culture of lifelong learnings, and it’s for the local community as well – and we believe that the gateway to success is education, and the way we are embracing technology is helping to successfully achieve this.
