Australia 2012

Monday, October 1st, 2012

It is 10:00 p.m. Western Australian time as I blog today.

Last evening we ate at Miss Maud's Swedish Restaurant. The restaurant is near our hotel and the food was served as a smorgasbord. In Australia there is an across the board tax of 10% for all services and tipping is not expected but appreciated. The food was delicious and the wait staff was highly attentive. The best part of the evening was getting to know our group a little better.

Our Group -- This is an ISTE study tour (International Society for Technology in Education). ISTE is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting the use of information technology to aid in learning, teaching of K-12 students and teachers. Our purpose/mission is to study the Australian education system, attend the ACCE (Australian Council for Computers in Education) conference (where Kim and I are presenting), tour multiple schools in several states and territories, learn from being together with participants from all over the US and two from Norway, and then return to our setting to advocate and influence 21st century teaching and learning.

We have classroom teachers, university professors, educational business sponsors, researchers, district level technology leaders, IT staff, Directors of Instructional Technology and Instructional Technology Coaches. We have public, private and religious schools all represented. Large urban districts and small rural districts are also represented. Our current ISTE President (Holly Jobe) and President Elect (Kecia Ray) is also part of our group. The energy is enormous!

Today we spent time together (4 hours) on a bus touring the city, Kings Park and Freemantle. We also stopped off at a beach and several took a swim in the Indian Ocean. (I only got my feet wet). The ocean is beautiful like the Caribbean yet had waves like the east coast. I have attached a couple of photos.

Perth is the most outdoorsy of all Aussie cities. It is set along the Swan River and the Indian Ocean and has an abundance of parkland. It has a wonderful Mediterranean climate that gives it more hours of sun than any other major city in Australia.

This evening we met with the ACCE Board at Wesley College (a PK - 12 grade independent grade school) where they shared a broad perspective on the Aussie education system and political structure. Interesting indeed! They also sponsored a BBQ for us - Aussie style! Honestly, I was expecting chopped pork. But to them BBQ is grilling out. We had steaks, hot dogs and kraut. It was delicious! The conversation was the best. They were open to anything I wanted to ask. Can't wait to learn more!