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What is the Natcom 3 project?
Natcom 3 is a Commonwealth-funded project in which eight national professional associations for teachers in the eight curriculum key learning areas, collaborated with the Australian Council for Computers in Education and the Australian Curriculum Studies Association to develop some exemplary models for online activity designs and some supporting rationales, papers and examples.

Although this web site contains a number of papers, the primary products of the project represented here, are ten models for future curriculum and professional activity. These models articulate the kind of online activity which will form the basis for the next generation of online content in Australia. The models are based on a number of assumptions and beliefs, one of which is that online content for schools must contain activities in which teachers can participate with their classes or which help teachers build professional community, rather than contain large banks of information presented without a curriculum activity context.

The Natcom consortium recommends that the educational communities develop activities based on these models in the near future because the models suggest what is important to achieve now, if teachers are to help the current generation of students participate in their connected culture. The models are not necessarily describing the next generation of forward thinking new and untried ideas and new technologies. The models deliberately acknowledge that teachers currently need role models and examples to help them develop more sophisticated ideas about how to use communications technologies for curriculum goals, than they need ideas about new technologies or more sophisticated and complex telecommunications project ideas. However the models are unique and forward thinking because of their new curriculum orientation in each case, the emphasis on professional development, the development of learning communities, the links between students and professionals and a rethinking of curriculum in a communications technology age. These models chosen by professional associations who understand grassroots teachers, will help teachers move forward.

The project process
Natcom associations met to participate in professional development about the core task of developing new models for online activities. A consequence of the professional development program was that associations began to form clear ideas about how to help their professional communities move forward and how to account for the needs of novice computer-using teachers, computer-aware teachers and the early adopters in their communities who are ready to take leadership roles. Associations began to develop their models for activity, but also began to collaboratively develop other models for online activities in numeracy and literacy, online content and professional development. The shared commitment to these national agendas strengthened the interconnectedness between the models. For example all models for online curriculum activity draw on the models of a literacy walk, a numeracy companion and online content in their structure and description.

We began with clarifying a definition
The papers, models and supporting documentation weave into a story about online activity natcom associations recommend, why they support such activity and how any model for activity might be developed into a project in which teachers can participate. During the process of defining our task, it became apparent that various educational communities had different interpretations of our goals and in expressing their hopes for our work, problematically used terminology about "projects" and "models". During the process of completing our task, we found it necessary to express some meanings for the term "projects". In particular, we wanted to clearly describe what we mean by the term "telecommunications curriculum project" and how stakeholders (like project managers, sponsors and teachers) would view a telecommunications curriculum project differently. Thus the web site contains a short paper to clarify how the Natcom associations understand this and related terms and how they are cognisant of the usual meanings attributed to the term by others. This challenge needed to be met before models for project activity might have been developed.

Models shape telecommunications curriculum projects descriptions
As associations developed commitment to their descriptions of models for online activities which they and others might develop into projects, they developed sophisticated descriptions of telecommunications curriculum projects which they might implement. These descriptions of projects illustrate how to weave the models into a theme of activities which would serve a particular community of teachers. It is expected that audiences of this web site would also develop and implement telecommunications curriculum and professional development projects which use parts of, or combinations of, the models for online activity described here. Further, associations began to clearly understand the different views stakeholders see of a telecommunications curriculum project. The mangers of a project understand the technology, activity and tools which sit underneath a project - the cogs of the wheels. Teachers see a linear list of what to do - how they might join in, what they might do first and what curriculum goals they might work towards. Professional associations developed a way of describing a complete telecommunications curriculum project which could be understood by project managers, teachers and sponsors of project management teams.

Understanding the models
In order to help readers understand the models and why associations chose to develop these ideas out of all that were possible, two documents were developed to support the reader: "The Rationale" and "Understanding the Project Models". The rationale helps the reader understand why Natcom 3 is an important and timely Commonwealth-funded project in the Australian context and how Natcom 3 will set directions for future activity. "Understanding the Project Models" enables the reader to understand an online activity in four ways.

Curriculum design elements, including pedagogical approaches inherent in the idea, the theories of learning, the curriculum interpretation which is embedded in the project idea and the interpretation of teacher and student needs being addressed in the project

Project structure, identifying answers to questions like: what do project managers do, what do activity managers do, what do teachers do, what to students do, what do online experts do and what order of activities occurs for all parties?

Tools and Strategies, accounting for the management needs in the project; that is the tricks, tips, procedures and tools that aid publication and promotion, registration, participation, collation of samples, development of online content etc.

Housekeeping tasks, identifying the housekeeping needed to help participants, activity managers and overall project managers

This four-part structure pervades the descriptions of each model acting as an organising device for the reader.

In this website, some reference is made to a document used during professional development of Natcom associations: "Analysing a project". This document helps readers analyse project descriptions in a similar structure to the four categories described here. During the process of developing the models, Natcom associations first analysed descriptions of existing projects. Critique of these descriptions helped them develop much stronger and complete descriptions of online activity and extract models for common activities incorporated into popular Australian telecommunications curriculum projects.

The usual problem
Different interpretations of terminology are problematic for the various readers of this web site. The Natcom associations struggled with terminology constantly. The issues of what is mean t by words like "technology", "information technology", learning technology" and "Technology curriculum" became difficult. We ask our readers to consider the context of our language when interpreting such terms.

The models
This web site contains the documentation for ten models. Six models for curriculum activity use a common structure describing the model for activity from multiple perspectives - understanding the core activity idea, the core curriculum idea, the project managers concerns and the view teachers see of a project. The structure described above for understanding models and a diagrammatic representation of the complexity of components of a model serve to unify the descriptions. Four of the models deviate from these a little and seek to help the reader visual the products and processes inherent in these models. The Literacy companion is one such example.

Other papers
The web site serves as a collection of papers used in both the professional development programs for Natcom associations and in the writing phases of the project. They are added to the web site, so it may tell a complete story and help readers consider diverse ideas.

The audiences of this document
The audiences for this document are primarily the Commonwealth departments, educational systems, professional associations, education advisors, professional community groups and associations who develop online content and online activities for the educational sector. Practicing teachers are not the primary audience for the documents on this website, though many leading teachers will find value in the models for activities which they would like to design for use in teacher and student communities.

It is expected that these stakeholders will use these models to develop telecommunications curriculum projects and online professional development activities which will help the education community develop sophisticated uses of telecommunications technologies for curriculum and professional purposes. Stakeholders might share their ideas and adaptations with the Natcom community and each other, so that what is known about designing and managing online activities for communities of teachers and students contributes to future designs.