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Share This MTV clip from 1995 is excellent. It shows reporters and celebrities telling us all about this wonderful new thing called the "internet" - all of a sudden it's everywhere and it's so popular! (Thanks, Sandra Bullock.) While a lot has changed, the issues of the internet as of 1995 weren't all that different from what they are nowadays, actually. Then as now, the web was mostly being used for chatting to like-minded people. But there was a lot more fear around it, with much concern about hackers and debates about protecting children from porn. Not that you could really look at pictures, porn or otherwise, back then, with dial-up being the connection of the day. Remember those crackly modems? We don't miss those. The word "cyber", on the other hand, that looks due for a revival. Who's with me?

An interesting reflection from 1995 from Gary Stager about 'Professional Development'. Interesting that in many ways things have not really changed.

"The internet is awash with exciting and innovative tools, and your students have grown up immersed in this world - get in on the act. The digital revolution has given us instant communication and easy global connectedness, with mobile technology in particular growing at warp speed: in 2013, there are almost as many mobile phone contracts as there are people in the world. This digital transformation has produced some extraordinary online tools for flexible education, which enhance students' learning and promise innovative pedagogy for teachers. However, they can also be daunting and challenging for educators. It is clear that teachers cannot ignore these tools, which go far beyond just Facebook and Twitter. Educators are now dealing with Generation Z - students born after 1995 who have hardly known a world without social media and have always lived a life measured in bits and bytes. Most have access to iPads and smartphones as well as textbooks and, therefore, the massive resource of the internet."

"Project-based learning is centered on the learner and affords learners the opportunity for in-depth investigations of worthy topics. The learners are more autonomous as they construct personally-meaningful artifacts that are representations of their learning. This article examines the theoretical foundations of project-based learning, particularly constructivism and constructionism, and notes the similarities and differences among implementations, including project-based science (Blulmenfeld et al., 1991), disciplined inquiry (Levstik & Barton, 2001) and WebQuests (Dodge, 1995). In addition, an anatomy of a model case will be considered using a WebQuest example developed by the author, describing seven characteristics common among the various implementations of project-based learning. Finally, practical advice and recommendations for project-based learning are discussed, including beginning slowly with the implementation, teaching students to negotiate cooperative/collaborative groups and establishing multiple forms of performance assessments."

Interesting information although it is not Australian. It would be great to see this kind of research done in Australia as we have a great deal of differences in attitude and management of this issue than our northern neighbours.