This year all Year 7 students are being provided with a digital device for the year as they grow in knowledge at secondary school. This is an exciting time for the school, where our junior students are given a year with an immersion experience with a device to learn digital skills that can help them to be efficient and responsible users of technology throughout their learning at Lalor Secondary College.
Our Year 7 students need to honour this opportunity. This device can be a portal to another world, and a whole new style of learning. Or it can sit untouched, unused. Or it can be a distraction keeping them from truly discovering the people, animals and natural world around us. It all depends on how they use this investment.
For the digital device, we decided to give students a netbook – a computer – to help them to succeed in their studies. They are a good device fit for the purpose of learning, and allowing the creation of a wide range of digital products.
So what will students be doing with the laptops? They will be using a lot of computer apps in all subjects to answer questions, play online games such as Kahoot, do research, build websites, control robots, take pictures, create projects, and finally produce results. From whom much is given, much is expected.
Each newsletter I will seek to explain some ICT concepts and provide instructions on apps that will be good to use by people of all ages at the college, not just Year 7s. For now, the Year 7s should just enjoy the opportunity to learn how to use their new devices.
Lucas Garth
Learning Specialist – Digital Technologies
