CSER visits the Torres Strait Islands

Recently CSER Project Officers, Lauren Stanhope and Laura Ferguson, had the opportunity to work with teachers on Thursday Island, following Lauren's visit last year to work with Teacher Aides.

"Every teacher should do the MOOC" (David Potter, Teacher, QLD, July 2019)

It is always fantastic to hear the stories of the teachers who have completed a CSER Digital Technologies MOOC and how they truly value the time they have spent working through it. These stories are even more fabulous when you travel to the most northerly school in Australia and you hear the teachers speaking so highly of our Digital Technologies courses.

During NAIDOC week, CSER Projects Officers from Queensland, Laura and Lauren, travelled to the Torres Strait Islands to work with teachers from Tagai State College. There were approximately 160 enthusiastic teachers who travelled to Thursday Island for their bi-annual teacher conference to finish off the school holiday period. This year's NAIDOC Week theme, 'Voice, Treaty, Truth - Let's work together for a shared future' was clearly visible as all teachers at the college participated in professional development to continue to meet the needs of more than 1400 Indigenous students across 15 islands.

We spoke with David Potter, a teacher who has worked on Thursday Island. He was very impressed by the knowledge he was able to gain through the CSER MOOCs. He said "every teacher should do the MOOC" as he explained the value in online courses in his work as a high school teacher.  David went on to say "while afternoon workshops for teachers have their place in professional development programs about the new curriculum, by their very nature they cannot provide ongoing support and will be limited in what they can offer. The MOOC community of practice is a more effective model."

Later this term, teachers and students at Tagai will be receiving Digital Technologies equipment from the free CSER Lending Library so that teachers can start to implement some of their learning from the face-to-face workshops presented at the conference.

CSER's wrap-around approach of offering online MOOCs, complemented by face to face workshops and free lending library equipment is helping teachers gain confidence in the Digital Technologies curriculum. 

The beautiful islands of the Torres Strait are a pleasure to visit and the warm and welcoming staff at Tagai State College are off to a great start with their Digital Technologies journey.