I was involved in the school design process and found it interesting as to how each school planned for ICT needs when we shared our planning journeys before the documentation was prepared. The observation I made in most cases was that the final design reflected current school ICT understandings and pedagogy. As a result there were many different designs that were produced from labs and centres for ICT use to completely flexible wireless technology models.

The most important part of any design when thinking about ICT is to think about what ICT use could look like in the future considering current new trends and changes. There is no point in only planning ICT spaces that are fixed if technology is becoming more mobile. I understand through our own experience that wireless technology still has a long way to go in terms of speed and access especially when using video, however it is vital to think about mobility as this without doubt will shape the future of ICT in education as it already has in business and in our everyday lives. We need to design learning space that will improve pedagogy, meet the current and future needs of student learning and allow full flexibility to support changing ICT needs.

I can compare this to the purchase of Interactive Whiteboards. Some schools are selecting Interactive Whiteboards because they can also be used as whiteboards. Why? So that teachers have choice and still decide to stay with current and past pedagogy? If they were solely interactive then they will be used for this purpose and have far more chance of changing pedagogy. The same applies with a new school design. We should take a risk and create a design that will change and improve pedagogy for the future including our use of ICT.


Mark Richardson wrote:
> Further to a discussion on the EdTech Crew last year DEECD has published a webpage on School Design [Including ideas for ICT]
> http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/infrastructure/schooldesign.htm
>
> Any Comments??