Digital Education Revolution: Difference between revisions

{{Distinguish2distinguish|text=[[Building the Education Revolution]], a similar program to improve infrastructure in eligible schools, also funded by the Australian Government.}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=MarchJune 20112020}}

The '''Digital Education Revolution''' ('''DER''') was an [[Australian Governmentgovernment]] funded–funded [[educational reform]] program, promised by then [[Primeprime Ministerminister of Australia]] [[Kevin Rudd]] during the launch of his [[Australian federal election, 2007|2007 Australian federal election]] campaign in [[Brisbane]].<ref name="DT2">{{cite news | url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/rudd-computer-for-every-kid/story-e6frev8i-1111114877480 | title=Rudd computer for every kid | | accessdate=29 March 2011 | author=Farr, Malcolm | date=15 November 2007 | work=[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]]}}</ref><ref name="COURIERMAIL1">{{cite news | url=http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/kevin-rudd-faces-pressure-over-digital-education-revolution/story-e6freoof-1225830274317 | title=Kevin Rudd faces pressure over digital education revolution | accessdate=20 March 2011 | author=Chalmers, Emma. Balogh, Stefanie | date=14 February 2010 | work=[[The Courier-Mail|Courier Mail]]}}</ref> It was officially launched in late 2008, with the first deployments announced by then [[Deputy Prime Minister of Australia]] and [[Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations|Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations]], [[Julia Gillard]] and then [[Department of Education and Training (New South Wales)|New South Wales counterpart]], [[Verity Firth]]. The first deployment took place at [[Fairvale High School]] in August that year.<ref name="TER1" />

Through the program, the government would allocate [[Australian dollar|A$]]2.4&nbsp;billion over seven years to:<ref name="DEEWR1">{{cite web | url=http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/DigitalEducationRevolution/Pages/default.aspx | title=digital Education Revolution&nbsp;— Overview | accessdate=19 March 2011 | author =Department [[of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations | author-link=Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations]] | publisher=[[Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations]] | archive-date=8 December 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208033908/http://www.deewr.gov.au/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>

* provide [[Laptop|laptops]] to all public high school students in years 9-129–12 through the National Secondary School Computer Fund

* deploy high speed [[broadband]] to all Australian schools and quality digital tools, resources and infrastructure that will help support the Australian Curriculum

* enable parents to participate in their child’schild's education through online learning and access

The Director-General for Education, [[Michael Coutts-Trotter]], told [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]: "We can't commit at this stage until we can be sure the full cost of implementing the computers can be met. But we are enthusiastic about the program and as soon as the funding is sorted out, we will apply in the third round."<ref name="SMH3" /> The Minister for Education and Training Verity Firth said she expected the State Government to resolve the funding issue ahead of the second round of funding. "NSW can't commit to any infrastructure ahead of the mini-budget," said Firth,<ref name="SMH3" /> "It would be unfair to schools and students to seek new computers only to find that there was insufficient funding for their operating costs from the federal Government" .<ref name="TAUS1">{{cite news | url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/state-rejects-unfair-computers-deal/story-e6frg6o6-1111117598327 | title=State rejects 'unfair' computer deals | accessdate=11 April 2011 | author=Ferrari, Justine | date=27 September 2008 | work=[[The Australian]]}}</ref>

In November 2008, after negotiations with the [[Australian Government|Commonwealth Government]] at the [[Council of Australian Governments]] (COAG),<ref name="SMH2">{{cite web | url=http://news.smh.com.au/national/govt-adds-807m-to-school-computer-deal-20081128-6mnx.html | title=Govt adds $807m to school computer deal | accessdate=19 March 2011 | author=Drape, Julian. Berdon, Caroline | date=28 November 2008 | work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref> then [[Premier of New South Wales]] [[Nathan Rees]] and the Government of New South Wales secured A$807&nbsp;million to provide every year 9-129–12 public high school student with a laptop. The laptops, loaded with A$5,500 worth of programs from the latest [[Microsoft Office|Microsoft Office]] Suite]] and [[Adobe Systems|Adobe Suite]], are provided by computer company, [[Lenovo]] under a four-year contract secured by the state government.<ref name="SMH1">{{cite news | url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/11/29/1227979822008.html | title=NSW students to get promised laptops | accessdate=19 March 2011 | author=Carty, Lisa. Walsh, Kerry-Anne | date=30 November 2008 | work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref><ref name="TA1">{{cite news | url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/ipad-slated-for-classrooms-as-part-of-national-program/story-e6frgakx-1225825671783 | title= iPad slated for classrooms as part of national program | accessdate=24 March 2011 | author = Foo, Fran | date=2 February 2010 | work=[[The Australian]]}}</ref>

On 26 August 2009 the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard and New South Wales Minister for Education and Training, Verity Firth announced the delivery of the first laptops to secondary schools in [[New South Wales]]. Gillard and Firth visited a Year 9 class at Fairvale High School in [[Sydney, New South Wales|Sydney’s's west]] to witness the integration of laptops into the lesson.<ref name="TER1">{{cite web | url=http://theeducationrevolution.com.au/index.php?news&nid=5 | title=The Education Revolution | accessdate=19 March 2011 | date=26 August 2009 | publisher=The Education Revolution}}</ref>

In New South Wales, students are beingwere issued with Lenovo laptops no bigger than a sheet of A4 paper. In 2009, the model issued was the [[Lenovo IdeaPad S10S series#S10e|IdeaPad S10e]], in 2010, the [[ThinkPad X- series#X100e and Mini 10|ThinkPad Mini 10]], in 2011, the [[ThinkPad EdgeE series#Edge 11 (DER Special Edition)|ThinkPad Edge 11]], in 2012 the [[ThinkPad X series#X130e|ThinkPad X130e]] which has beenwas uniquely designed <ref name="TaLe KYL">{{cite web | url=http://www.tale.edu.au/tale/live/global/DERNSW/models.jsp?muid=000000&taleUserId=-445990256&userType=u&username= | title=TaLe-Know your laptop | accessdate=24 March 2011 | author=TaLe | publisher=TaLe | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110407185725/http://www.tale.edu.au/tale/live/global/DERNSW/models.jsp?muid=000000&taleUserId=-445990256&userType=u&username= | archive-date=7 April 2011 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and in 2013, the [[ThinkPad X series#X131e Windows and Chromebook|ThinkPad X131e]].<ref name="DER-NSW 2013 Laptop Specifications">{{cite web | url=http://www.det.nsw.edu.au/media/downloads/about-us/how-we-operate/national-partnerships-program/program-information/dernsw2013specs.pdf | title=DER-NSW 2013 Laptop Specifications| accessdate=28 June 2014| author=DET NSW | publisher=DET NSW}}</ref> The laptops also comecame with pre-installed software, such as [[Adobe Creative Suite|Adobe CS5]], [[Adobe LiveCycle|Adobe LiveCycle]] ES2]], [[Microsoft Office 2010]], and [[Microsoft Forefront]].<ref name="TaLe KYL"/> In June 2010 a recall of laptop cases was issued after it was found that there was a flaw in the design of the case when several students reported that their screens had cracks.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/computer-case-recall-as-screens-show-cracks-20100605-xlr0.html | title=Computer case recall as screens show cracks | accessdate=24 March 2011 | author=Gilmore, Heath. Patty, Anne | date=6 June 2010 | work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref> The New South Wales Department of Education and Training's [[Chiefchief Informationinformation Officerofficer]] Stephen Wilson said that the filtering system on the laptops is impervious, and no student will be able to break through the system.<ref name="ZDNET1">{{cite news | url=httphttps://www.zdnet.com.au/article/nsw-to-censor-student-laptops-339292846.htm/ | title=NSW to censor student laptops| accessdateaccess-date=11 April 2011 | author=Tung, Liam | date = 24 October 2008 | publisher=ZDNet}}</ref> "Our internet filtering is unbreakable. We have a huge proxy array that does all the filtering. We've just brought that in-house and the reason we have done that is we want much tighter control over it, every internet site that's known is actually categorised. If it isn't known, it's blocked. If you go to a site, and it's not categorised you can't get to it," said Wilson.<ref name="ZDNET1" />

With the termination of federal government funding commitments, the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities has adopted a formal "Bring Your Own Device" policy approach to laptops and tablet devices.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/end-of-free-laptop-program-means-its-byo-device-now-for-many-high-school-students-20140220-334bz.html | title=End of free laptop program means it's BYO device now for many high school students | work=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=21 February 2014 | accessdate=3 September 2014 | author=Smith, Alexandra}}</ref>

In 2008, letters were leaked that revealed that the Minister of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [[Julia Gillard]] was told that the policy was not thought through and severely underfunded.<ref name="DT1">{{cite news | url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/criticism-for-rudd-school-plan/story-e6freuzi-1111115983358 | title=Criticism for Rudd school plan | accessdate=21 March 2011 | author=Milne, Glenn | date=6 April 2008 | work=[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]]}}</ref> There were concerns that the lack of funds would be compensated for by financially crippled families or some computers left in boxes, unopened. The states were noncompliant upon learning that each would have to contribute up to A$3&nbsp;billion altogether, a contribution that was not mentioned by Rudd or Gillard in the election campaign.<ref name="DT1" />

* [http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/DigitalEducationRevolution/Pages/default.aspx Digital Education Revolution -– Overview]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071208033908/http://www.deewr.gov.au/ Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations]

[[Category:Rudd Governmentgovernment]]