It's been two weeks since we've been back from Australia and it's time to reflect and recap the highlights and share some additional photos. 
I went to Aussie to present at their ACEC Conference, which is Australia's technology conference. Sessions offered up everything from using Twitter in the class (which they do, and it is NOT blocked) to appraising math apps and so much in between. Some sessions were only thirty minutes some forty-five, and there were still other that ran an hour and a half. There was a day of workshops and field trips, the food was catered and delicious. The Aussies know how to put on a conference Everyone, and I do mean everyone, showed their appreciation and gratitude with a loud applause at the conclusion of each session. I attended a lot of interesting sessions on how iPads were used in the classroom because my presentation was also on using iPads in the classroom. I showed the Aussies how we roll with the iPads and use them to create all sorts of meaningful and creative products. The presentation went off without a hitch and the audience was terrific. I had a nice crowd and received some good feedback. 
I have to add a bit of trivia here as it really speaks to their hospitality and how they run a conference. All of my presentations, prior to this, had been in the United States from Washington State to Pennsylvania. To present, one must agree to a list of terms, which usually include fees. It's odd that we pay so much to attend these conferences yet the presenters also have to pay a registration fee - full price, most of the time. In addition to the registration fee, we (the presenter)) also must supply our own laptop, projector, that is unless you want to rent theirs for a nominal fee of $200, provide our own audio speakers, and sometimes table. The Aussies not only provided all of the above for free, but they also loaded my presentation (which included videos) onto the laptop I'd be using and tested it prior to my presentation! Everything was set up and free! It made my traveling light. 
I have to extend a huge thanks to the folks that ran the conference, they did a remarkable job running the program and offering up great food, keynote speakers and insightful sessions. 
The conference took up a few of my days but I had four days of play (2 weekends). We also had some afternoons to galavant and that's just what we did. My students helped plan my trip with a project they did last spring called, "Aussie Bound". They had to create an itinerary of my entire trip, from flight prices, hotels, restaurants to rental cars and places of interests. They had fun, and I had fun looking at their projects. They definitely had fun things for Richard and I to do and see. I gave them some of my bucket list items and managed to pull them off....
Here are some of their 'MUST SEE" things Richard and I did. Students, this is for you!

Kangaroo Island is located just a short distance from the shores of South Australia. It is one of the world’s unique nature destinations, with crystal clear waters, amazing landscapes and wildlife galore! I was fortunate to take a SeaLink Tour to KI (as the locals call it) on Saturday, October 4th. It was one of the last awesome adventures we had while in South Australia. I'm not going to lie, it was pricey, at $250 each, but it was more than worth every penny. The fee included the ferry trip to and from the shores of Cape Jarvis, a wonderfully delicious lunch (more like a dinner!), and tour across the entire Island. 
KI is Australia's third largest island at 96 miles long by 34 miles wide, and over 330 miles of coastline and if you want to see the island for all it's worth, then it's worth it to take a tour. 
On the ferry ride over we were treated to a Humpback whale lying on its side waving, as if to say, "Hey, have a great time!" We sat with a wonderful couple, Phil and Di, who were from Tasmania. Di is a special education teacher and it was so much fun talking shop with her. Though they had a different bus tour,  it was fun sharing stories for our 25 minute trek across to the island. 
 There were so many interesting facts about the island that it was hard to remember all of them, but here are some fun tidbits of information...

We were so lucky to see all of the above! Our bus driver, Robert, was a fountain of information and I learned so much from his stories. He is a native of the island and shared his own personal experiences of island life. It was a fun-filled day of wildlife, beautiful ocean views (by the way, this is the Southern Ocean) and landscape dotted with sheep, which by the way, number over a million!
Our only disappointment was not to seeing the little Penneshaw penguin that resides on the island, but caught sight of a baby penguin on the mainland - (at least that's what I think I saw and I'm sticking to it!). They are nocturnal and hard to spot during the day. Their numbers have declined over the past years and it's due mainly to the New Zealand Fur seal. While standing on the shores of the Southern Ocean, we were told that we were a mere 2,000 miles from the South Pole. When put into perspective, that's close! It was kind of neat knowing that we were that close! Of course, this also meant that the water is cold year around. 

I was lucky enough to be a part of a school tour while on my visit to Adelaide and the ACEC conference. The trip from our B&B in Hahndorf  to the Adelaide Conference Center is a story in itself. 
We decided that getting an international phone package would be too expensive so we settled on a couple of toss-away phones that only work inside Adelaide. The only hope of getting in and around town fall to the job of the GPS system in our rental car, which had been doing a great job up to this point. 
I had to meet the tour at 9:15 a.m. so we left our place around 7:45, leaving plenty of time to register for the conference and meet the group. We had entered the city limits and that's when the GPS decided to stop working. The screen went blank and nothing we did seemed to fix it. We had take a dry run the day before so we thought we knew the general location, but when you are in the thick of their 'rush' hour and driving on unfamiliar roads, not to mention the one way streets and poor Richard, who is driving on the right side of the car...well, it went south fast. 
We were in the city by 8ish, leaving plenty of time to catch the group and bus, but that time soon got eaten up with wrong turns, frustration, stopping to ask folks, and eventually by 9:40 we arrived...I was excited to see a group of teachers waiting for the bus but also embarrassed that the American was holding up the bus. I was wrong, this was a group going on a school tour, just not my tour, that ship had sailed minutes before we got there. 
I went inside and sheepishly told them what had happened and they were so gracious and did what they could to insure my state of mind...which wasn't good. I told them that Richard could drive me to the school but we needed a map with directions since our GPS petered out. They printed out Google Map directions and let us know that Hertz was just down the street to exchange our busted unit. We decided to go to the school first, and while I was there, Richard would head back to Hertz. Well, that didn't work out. The Google Map wasn't any better than navigating around the city ourselves. We ended up at Hertz, traded in the broke for new and we made it to the first school at 11:50, and the first visit was from 10-12. I walked in the room, the leader of the groups, Greg, jumped up, greeted me with a hug and a spot of tea. I had just enough time to see the building, and get their re-cap on their philosophy. 
St. John's Grammar School is a private, co-educational Anglican school for preschool to year 12. The campus is beautiful and they have a modern new  Design & Technology and Information Technology Center, that I didn't get to see. Most of the private schools have a one:one iPad initiative but the caveat is, parents are required to buy the devices along with a laptop.  iPads are used for just about everything from writing, and reading to using apps to solve problems. The Campus is currently using Office 365 but the program is still too new to make any fast judgments on whether it's better than what they were using. Tuition at this school ranges from Elementary - $7,000 yearly, Middle School - $11,000 and HS - $13,000 per year. 
When I was roaming the grounds of the Cleland Wildlife Reserve, I struck up a conversation with some moms out there with their children. Both moms had their kids enrolled in private school. I asked why and they said the public schools just weren't up to par compared to what they used to be. There is a fierce debate over private and public schooling.  According to these moms,  public schools have become a places of academic failure. They said the tuition was worth it. By the way, tuition to private schools is far less than their college tuition (which will set you back about Three-thousand per year) - and the state government is trying to get that changed to be comparable to the U.S. State College tuitions - which isn't going over too well.
Parents are required to purchase everything from school uniforms to iPads and laptops along with textbooks. I'm not sure what that leaves for the tuition! 
From the beautiful campus of St. Johns, we moved along to the  Australian Science and Mathematics School (ASMS) where they embrace the diversity of learning, encourage self directed learning and place great importance on collaborative learning. 

The Australian Science & Mathematics School is a public school for senior secondary students, (Jr. and Sr. year) When you walk in, one of the first things you notice about the school is the open space. Gone are the walls and there are really no hallway. Instead there are learning pods.  

Their focus is on science and mathematics but managed to hit the other requirements, (History, Language Arts) through their innovative interdisciplinary curriculum. The concept is all cross curricular with the students’ learning through the new sciences -  nanotechnology, biotechnology, communication systems and sustainable futures. There is NO TEST to get into this school but relies on an application process much like our local Thomas Jefferson in Fairfax, Virginia. It's not really a magnet school however each application is assessed against the following selection criteria.

• interest in pursuing pathways based on science and mathematics;
• interest and aptitude or potential in science, mathematics and related technologies;
• evidence of ability to engage with the innovative teaching and learning environment of ASMS

They are an Inquiry Based Learning school where the teacher is the facilitator and the students direct their own learning. If they run into problems, the teacher is there to assist or better still, other students have jumped ahead and created their own Youtube 'Kahn Academy' type video for their fellow students. 
They are a Google Education School which helps with the collaborative piece but oddly, no chrome books or mobile devices were in sight. In fact, one of their teachers leading our lecture said, "iPads are detrimental to our school". YIKES! Really? Why? Apparently they don't play a role in their philosophy. Their students want meat and potatoes, as in real computers, not silly little iPads. One teacher suggested that perhaps they didn't quite know how to use it to its full potential? The principal then interjected that if a student wanted to use one, they wouldn't disallow it. In fact, students could use any device they wanted to, but we got the impression that laptops were the preferred choice. 
If a student did bring their own device to school, they logged on to their network, not a guest network, in fact, they don't have a guest network.  At this school, teachers create "School Facebook"  accounts for their students and parents. This allows students to engage with teachers in a social atmosphere while it teaches the students proper Netiquette. In addition, Twitter is also open. They shared a lesson where students participated in a mock UN Earth Summit. Each class was divided into teams and each team had to have their own UN members. Teams were assigned a Twitter account and each team had to field comments and questions based on the commentary from the panel discussion. 
What a brilliant way to show students the power of social media! 
A school like this works and it's what we'd all like to have a little piece of. However the dividing factor between the U.S and our friends Down Under is testing. We are so focused on data and this school is focused on student innovation and creativity. It's not Utopia, (though they only enroll 300+ students) but it would be nice to see this school as the norm and not the exception. 
The day started off on a downer, but ended up with new friends and a visit to two different yet successful schools. 
Next time, I'll talk more about the Aussie teachers and my conference sessions.