Virtual School Delivers Real Learning

In what once would have been in the realm of science fiction, a satellite orbiting 35,000km from the earth is bringing students from all over the Northern Territory together into the same classroom.

Each day students at Corella Creek Primary School in the remote Barkley Tablelands, join Alice Springs School of the Air (ASSOA) classes that include students from some of the territory's most isolated outposts.

Using computers often linked to a large plasma screen, Corella Creek students simultaneously see and talk to their fellow ASSOA students, their ASSOA teacher, and share their work.  It's real learning in a virtual school, but with real people and real interactions. Using the sophisticated NT-developed software REACT, interactive distance learning (IDL) has broadened the education horizons for these and many other remote and isolated students.

Each day, Corrella Creek on-site teacher Judy Brand breaks her 29 students into groups according to year levels.  She assigns one group to join their ASSOA class, while the other groups work under her guidance or local Indigenous tutors.  The undertaking, Judy says, requires her to be "part teacher, part organiser, part everthing."

She said: "Because there are mini groups learning, each tutor had to be instructed on what their group is doing.  It's a juggling thing to get everyone doing something constructive at the same time."

Judy's goal is to have all Corrella Creek students participating in mainstream ASSOA classes.  When new students arrive, she offers them one-to-one instruction to fast track their development.

Meanwhile, ASSOA provides Judy and her students with specialised instruction for Transition and year 6 students.

For example, ASSOA Transition teacher Michele Turk conducts three lessons each week for 40 minutes via REACT.  Michele's class has 17 students from across the Territory, including 5 from Corella Creek.

"Our students each have a home tutor who supports their learning," Michele said. "At Corrella Creek, the Transition students have a tutor who logs them into the online classroom and to support their learning."

She said that keeping the students engaged in a virtual environment presents different challenges to traditional instruction.

"I have my voice, face and the whole suite of technology to keep the students engaged.  I have to plan very carefully, almost to the minute, and teach specific skills for the students to interact via IDL software as much as possible," she said.

Without this technology, it is unlikely there would be a school at Corella Creek.  In 2005 the school was shut down due to power and water failures.  It was reopened in 2008 after a ministerial directive, beginning with just 12 students.

Not only has the technology facilitated a remote management system for the Corella Creek site, it has improved personal and professional support for staff, excellent learning for the students, and opportunities for the local families to be an active part of the ASSOA school council.