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The TEC Program

From 2010, all students in Year 7 will receive the same teacher for English, Religious Education and Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE). The four Year 7 teachers selected for this role will work in a team headed by Mr Michael Croucher, our Head of HSIE. This team will work to meld the educational outcomes of the three subjects mentioned above thus ‘buying back’ class time and allowing for the introduction of more Project-Based Learning for our students. Project-Based Learning has huge potential to assist students through learning in a way which young people tell us is how they learn best, namely:

• Collaboratively
• Hands-on
• And on a project

One of the key tools that the students will use for Project-Based Learning is a computer. To this end, the College will invest resources in ensuring that every Year 7 student has ready access to a laptop computer to use in their classroom, to assist in working on project work.

One of the questions that may be asked is how students will be able to access their project work from home. "Cloud computing" and "Web 2.0" technologies will be used extensively to allow students to access their work from any Internet-enabled computer. This is the increasingly common and accessible means of storing data in a remote location via the internet, rather than locally on a PC. Cloud computing and Web 2.0 technologies will be utilised in Year 7 Project-Based Learning to facilitate both student collaboration and students access to their work from home.

This then begs the question of your son’s access to a computer at home. While it is true that many if not most homes in our community now have home PCs and access to the internet, the reality is that many homes have family members competing for that limited resource.

The College will now offer the option of purchasing or leasing a laptop computer to all Year 7 families through the TEC program. Details of this plan will be available at a Year 7 Information Night in November. For more information, please contact the TEC Program Coordinator at the College.