1.+Background


 * Background **

The NSW Department of Education and Training, (DET) has found it difficult to attract teachers to both rural and disadvantaged schools. As a consequence students in these groups are experiencing diminished educational opportunities. TheDET chose two schools, one in the Western Suburbs of Sydney the other in Parkes, NSW to take part in a pilot program to use Web 2.0 Technologies to enhance the educational opportunities for these two groups of students. Both of the schools have diverse student populations; West Town High School students are predominately from ESL and lower socio-economic backgrounds. Countries of origin include China, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Australia and a large proportion of students live in the Department of Housing accommodation.A significant proportion of Parkes Secondary College students are refugee originating from Sudan, Thailand and India. Many of the Australian students are from disadvantaged backgrounds

Parkes Secondary College has had difficulty attracting teachers; this is the one of the key reasons why Parkes Secondary College was included in the pilot. There is also a large indigenous student population at the school. Parkes is a farming community with many families affected by the drought.

The Web 2.0 technologies that are going to used in this project will be Teen Second Life, Blogs, Wikis and Nings. These will be supplemented by email and phone support. 

**Secondary Learning outcomes**
 * Primary Learning outcomes **
 * To build English reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar and vocabulary skills.
 * To provide students with opportunities to engage with and explore environmental, geographical concepts in the Multi User Virtual Environment Second Life.
 * To improve the computer skills of teachers and students
 * To develop connections between the country and city student population.
 * Personal Learning Networks (PLN) are created by teachers and students.

** Resources **

Parkes Secondary College and West Town High School have teachers who have the skills and the interest to facilitate these workshops. However, teachers from the selected schools will have the opportunity to take part in extra training and development. This will not only enhance the students' educational opportunities, but it will also offer teachers the chance to enhance their skills and increase their career satisfaction. These extra resources for teachers in Parkes and West Town will be provided by [|Country Areas Program] as well as the Web 2.0 project team who will provide 'train the trainer' courses for teachers on how to use the technologies. The Web 2.0 team is made up of various interested parties in the Department of Education including teachers, administrators, principals and computer trainers.

The implementation of the 'Laptops for Learning' program is the other reason why this project is proposed at this time. The student population which we are working with are 14-17 years old. These students are the main recipients of this technology. Most of these children/young adults have had exposure to the internet but most do not have a computer in their homes. These computers will provide them with the chance to have a wider Web 2.0 experience and enable them to complete the tasks and experiences that are part of this project.

As a part of this project the schools IT and teaching resources will also be upgraded. Each school will be provided with two new computer rooms fitted out with the latest computer technology available through the department. As the Laptop for Learning computers are Acer mini laptops, the technology provided to the school will be Acer compatible. Each computer lab with contain 20 desktop PC's networked, printers, scanners, data projectors and interactive white boards. In the case of Parkes, satellite broadband access will be provided to the school as the applications which are going to used in the project are bandwidth hungry ie: Teen Second Life. If required, West Town High School will be also fitted with this satellite technology.

This project will take three months to complete. >  **
 * Outline of project milestones **
 * 1) Fit out of the two classrooms in the school. It will take approximately three weeks to remodel and refit the computers rooms.
 * 2) Interview and test students for both their language and computer skills. Children from ESL backgrounds will be the key target group, however children from indigenous and non indigenous students will be included. 10 students will take part in the pilot and if it is successful, the class sizes will be increase to 15 and run concurrently. The interviewing and testing stage will take approximately two weeks.
 * 3) Getting accounts and permission and conducting background checks on teachers who will be involved with the students in Teen Second life. This can occur while the children/young adults are being interviewed and tested.
 * 4) Train the Trainer course for Country Area Project tutors/teachers conducted by Educational Technologists who specialise in web 2.0 Technologies. This phase will take one week
 * 5) Training teachers involved in the project.This will happen concurrently in Parkes and West Town. Teachers will use the technologies to communicate with each other while setting up accounts in both Teen and adult second life. Adults cannot take an Avatar from one grid to another so two independent avatars must be created. Teachers will also meet it other at an in-service day in West Town two days before the project is about to begin. Two weeks will be required for this phase.
 * 6) The final 6 weeks are the project weeks. Teachers will use their new skills to achieve the four learning objectives.Assessments will be conducted at the end of this period.
 * 7) Meeting of teachers and students in real life to debrief and consolidate what has been learned as well as reviewing assessment and achievements.

Desired outcomes of this project **
 * 1) To achieve Primary and Secondary Learning outcomes
 * 2) To have the program continued and the model used in other schools across N.S.W.