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Australian Cultural Forum Model

Overview of the idea
This model for telecommunications activity involves students engaging in structured exchanges with peers and prominent Australians about social issues. Host classes will define a social issue and manage an exchange of ideas in three stages between groups of classes. The term, forum, is used here to capture the activities where an exchange of ideas occurs via telecommunications around one topic or issue. For a forum, participants will engage in offline research and preparation processes and then participate in exchanges around 3 questions, one of which is posed in each stage. The model describes a calendar of forums and a management process to encourage teachers to host and manage forums. The model is sufficiently flexible to incorporate a variety of online tools and processes. This model has been adapted from the Global Youth Forum Project of oz-TeacherNet.

The model has two defining attributes. It enables teachers to underpin the design of the debates/exchanges with the curriculum models from their syllabuses; for example, the social investigations process or an information literacy process. This provides a more precise curriculum fit and will appeal to teachers who are required to incorporate such processes into curriculum implementation. The model also incorporates the use of existing published educational resources into a project. For example, CD resources and information Kits like Discovering Democracy omit the interactions that help students engage in the ideas which have been collated in the resource. This project model helps teachers identify how to extend the use of resources into a set of learning experiences.

The model contains many of the attributes of the Natcom models described in accompanying documents. It identifies the model components which are central to the activities of the stakeholder groups, teachers, students, project mangers and minor stakeholders.

From this model, a variety of curriculum projects might be developed, though it is likely they will be more correctly viewed as episodes of forums in a calendar of forum events. Teachers understand episodes as examples of a forum in a calendar of forums.

The choice and nature of social and cultural problems is a paramount consideration of this model. The model requires that teachers redevelop a topic into a solvable but open-ended social question and that they scaffold students' activities through a problem solving process. The technological environment in which this model is set creates a natural context for some problems and the model is an opportunity for teachers in key learning areas to help students confront the impact of technology, particularly communications technologies on the communities which surround their key learning area.

An example of an Australian Cultural Forum episode
A host school might approach the Forum coordinator to host a forum around the issue of telecommunications access for tertiary opportunities to country areas.

The coordinator and teacher would negotiate the open-ended topic structure into a problem and pose three questions likely to stimulate exchanges between schools.

The episode would be added to the Forum calendar to encourage schools to participate.

A web page would be developed so teachers and students can access and use relevant resources currently available to Australian schools. This web site is an important teachers resource and provides pedagogical as well as curriculum knowledge to accompany the subject matter.

Literacy and numeracy elements would be negotiated and developed onto this web collection.

A professional development program may be initiated for teachers intending to participate.

The host school would conduct the debate in three stages by email or a web forum. It is likely that the first stage would involve collection and analysis of data, the second involve the formation and communication of student positions, the third might involve interactions with community groups and online guests, helping students to redevelop positions and strengthen arguments.

The host school would close the debate.

Further examples

The Australian Federation of Societies for Studies of Society and Environment (AFSSSE) have developed a curriculum project based on this model that suits this purposes.
Download Full Project Description

Oz-TeacherNet have begun testing this model in the Global Youth Forums Project. Some examples are now available.
http://rite.ed.qut.edu.au/oz-teachernet/

Rationales
In order to participate in a future modern society and to help progress Australia's leading information industry position, students need to develop the skills of debating Australia's identity and understanding the cultural, social, industrial, technical and information issues confronting the emerging new structures. Connectivity between people is not a neutral cultural development. There is now a range of new issues to be considered and existing issues need to be redressed through a new lens. Embedded in all curriculum documents is the need to develop skills for informed debate, to have a broader awareness of the views of stakeholders and to think "outside of the box". Such processes are integral to the attributes for modern citizenry where capitalising on the new communications systems and new media is core. This model provides teachers with strategies to enable students to participate in online debates though the medium which is shaping the issues, and to confront issues which have gained significance because Australia is building its information economy within the global context. This model therefore has potential to redefine the curriculum of many key learning areas.

Telecommunications curriculum projects provide an authentic audience for students thinking, questions and debates. Telecommunications provides students with access to audiences outside of the school and provides access to the opinions of others, a wide variety of sources of ideas and background information. In this model in particular, debates with others lead to higher levels of thinking and responsibility for arguments. Teachers and students can work together to develop ideas into debates and to publish ideas to a critical peer audience. Interaction about ideas is the link missing in the static educational resources usually published for school use. This project model adds value to the resources and provides authentic audience for student ideas.

Engaging in subject matter and synthesising ideas through debate and argument are core curriculum processes embedded in all KLA's. Most curriculum documents articulate the processes students might practice. This model enables teachers to insert different curriculum models to the discussion process; for example, the social investigations approach, information literacy approach and various problem solving approaches. The model also encourages constructivist approaches, problem solving, project work and student-centred learning approaches to be built into curriculum activities. It enables teachers to try different communication and discussion strategies and to explore different ways of integrating online activity into learning experiences. It also provides a chance for project designers to try different approaches to enticing teachers to participate with their classes. Further, the open-ended nature of the model, from which specific events and projects will be built, enables exploration of different technologies such as text, voice and video chat, bulletin boards, email lists and conferencing systems. The model's flexibility then enables different subject areas to make use of this model while implementing their particular curriculum models and subject matter.

This project model design provides a pedagogical model for teachers to experience within a supportive professional atmosphere. By participating in this project idea, teachers are undertaking on-the-job professional development and have an audience for their questions and reflections. The project is an exemplary model of curriculum practice. The project model incorporates a number of structures which are specifically aimed at teachers undertaking the curriculum development process and broadening their understanding of the impact of learning technology on subject matter, curriculum interpretations and pedagogical opportunities.