Annual Report
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01
03
05
07
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Contact Information
Directors Message
Highlights
Space Refresh
Imagination Corner
Design Studio
Factory of the Future
CONTENTS 21
25
28
29
33
35
36
Atruim
Digital Twin
Partner School Participation
Programs
Teacher PD
Community Engagement
Feedback
Contact Host
Primary contact
Dianne Semmens
Gail Bray
Dianne.semmens@vu.edu.au
Gail.bray@vu.edu.au
Deputy Vice Chancellor Vocational Education and Training, Victoria University
Tech Schools Operational Funding Wyndham Tech School
1st January 2020 - 31st December 2020
Director, Wyndham Tech School 041 246 8363
Directors Message Wyndham Tech School began 2020 with a reset strategy, with a new Director appointed and a new team in place. Our goal was to strive to position ourselves as a valuable resource for our partner schools, industry and the community. The challenges of a once in a lifetime pandemic were realised at the end of term one and a dramatic shift in facilitation was required as our schools moved to remote delivery. This challenge presented an opportunity to think differently and in term two we launched our “robot at home coding challenge”, where we delivered 100 robots to our students’ homes.
In term three, remote learning was here to stay and opportunities to keep our young people motivated and engaged became our primary focus. We leveraged off our industry connections and partners to launch our career series, linking industry professionals directly with our students providing optimism for the future. As 2020 was coming to a close, our aim was to finish the year on a high providing our partner schools with a highly interactive online gaming week where leading international Youtube stars and influencers set the scene for an inspirational end to what was a difficult year for so many.
While we were struggling to meet our partner schools at their point of need, our obligations to our operational agreement still needed to be met. Part of our reset strategy was to refresh all spaces to ensure high tech equipment aligned to high quality programs. A significant piece of work was completed in co-designing and developing programs with our partner schools and industry partners, this work informed part one of our space refresh that was completed at the end of 2020.
The disruption of 2020 provided valuable insights that we can learn from and take into 2021. Some of these insights include: Adaptability; resilience of our staff, teachers and school community to continuously adapt. Increase in digital literacy; 67% of teachers taught online for the very first time (ImpactEd, 2020) Industry partnerships; more opportunities to engage with industry through cloud-based video conferencing services. The Wyndham Tech School team looks forward to working with all our stakeholders in 2021 to build on what was achieved in 2020 to ensure Wyndham Tech School becomes a benchmark for excellence in STEM education in Melbourne’s West. Gail Bray
Highlights
Students
Space Refresh
9689 students from our partner school network participating in programs
Space refresh (part one) completed
Tech Schools
Priority
2 joint Tech School projects with other Tech Schools
2 programs explicity targeting priority cohorts
Teachers
Connections
412 teachers
1151 community
Programs
Committee
from our partner schools participated in professional development programs
members engaged in the Tech School
8 programs co-designed and developed with our partner schools and industry with pre and post resources
Tech School Committee established.
Connections
Industry
26 industry
5 industry
connections actively involved in Wyndham Tech School
partners activity involved in Wyndham Tech School
Satisfaction
Space Refresh (Part one)
A complete redesign of spaces was undertaken in 2020. Representative of Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things and Cybersecurity. WTS has positioned itself to provide young people with a facility that will expose them to high-tech equipment that will help prepare them for the future of work.
Floorplan 12 11
13
10 9
5
6
4
8
1 2
2 7
3
1 Imagination Corner
8 Teacher PD Station
2 Ideation Space
9 eSports Training Facility
COLLAB WEST
COLLAB EAST
Room 14108
3 CWW Pop-up The Water Cycle
Room 14132
4 Teacher Co-Design
Space
COLLAB WEST
10 Video Confrence Room Room 14112
11 Design Studio Room 14116
5 Atrium
12 Maker Space
6 Production Center
of the Future 13 Factory Room 14120
Room 14105
7 WCC Pop-up Smart Cities Room 14132
Room 14118
Imagination Corner As visitors enter the Wyndham Tech School they will stop and be introduced to some of the possibilities of the future. A corner that inspires all students to think big and imagine a career that they have never dreamed of. Students will showcase their work in this space.
Imagination Corner: Before
Imagination Corner: After
Design Studio 30 Networked PC’s with extended spec capability, providing the latest in software programs include: Adobe Cloud Suite TinkerCad & Fusion 360 Scratch Choreographe & Python Virtual Labs for Cybersecurity Unity and much more
Design Studio: Before
Design Studio: After
Factory of the Future The new Factory of the Future provides students with a firsthand experience in industry aligned applications and projects. Students engage with process automation principles and practice using industrial and collaborative robots to solve complex problems. At our new FoF, students will be introduced to: Create virtual simulations of robots Understand the future of IoT devices Create virtual designs & simulations Troubleshooting robots remotely
Factory of the Future: Before
Factory of the Future: After
Atrium Large space where students gather to be introduced to the WTS team and the program for the day. Industry speakers and panel discussions will take place in the Atrium. Students will use this space to present and pitch to their peers
Atrium: Before
Atrium: After
Digital Twin The new digital twin command centre provides students with a centralised experience of future factories. Students will be able to analyse data from the connected sensors, robots and other smart devices to make efficient predictions. The Digital Twin will help students to: Create virtual simulations of robots Understand the future of IoT devices Create virtual designs & simulations Troubleshooting robots remotely
Digital Twin: Before
Digital Twin: After
Partner school participation We engaged with 82% of our partner schools in 2020 through remote and onsite programs, virtual events and co-design workshops.
Overall Engagement 2019
2020
12000
10878
10000 8000 6000 4476
4000
2855
2401
2000 0
1146 142
Term 1
1198
Term 2
1220
Term 3
1061
Term 4
3621
Total to date
Students Programs
Other Programs
Through the establishment of four STEM advisory teams the Tech School developed and delivered the following remote programs:
Science Week - 15th to 23rd August 2020
Introduction to Game Design (Pre>Synchronous>Post)
Diver Discovery (Pre>Synchronous>Post)
Digital Storytelling (Pre>Synchronous>Post)
Future Flight (Pre>Asynchronous>Post)
Product Design Using CAD (Pre>Synchronous>Post)
Robot Coding Challenge (Multi-session Synchronous)
Minecraft Marine Discovery (Pre>Synchronous>Post)
Cybersecurity Year 9-12 (Pre>Synchronous>Post)
The Wyndham Tech School National Science Week events were held online, and included a keynote presentation from Professor Vasso Apostolopoulos who is leading a team of researchers at Victoria University working on a COVID-19 vaccine. The team also designed three new remote programs reflecting the theme, “Deep Blue: innovations for the future of our oceans”:
Minecraft Marine Research Mission Where students explored a custom built Minecraft realm to work on challenges in the Marine world.
Languages of the Ocean Community based project that encouraged participants to embrace the diversity of our community and come together to share knowledge and understanding about cultures as it relates to the ocean.
Career Series - Term 3 By introducing students to inspiring young professionals in STEM careers, we hoped to open student’s eyes to the jobs and skills of the future, whilst providing optimism in a post COVID world. We know people learn and connect through storytelling, therefore we asked a series of inspiring young professionals from PwC, Google, ABB Robotics, Telstra Purple, City West Water, Optiver and SEA Electric to join us for a series of six informal virtual panel discussions to share their career stories and offer some advice. The series focused on the following emerging careers: Robotics and Automation, Big Data, Digital Design and Content Creation, Technology and Science and Research.
Other Programs
Student Programs specialist
Gaming Week and Open Day – 30th November to 4th December Highlights in term four were our Gaming Week and Open Day, both events attracted a large audience with 16 headline international and local talent participating in and providing a range of activities and presentations that would educate, inspire, motivate and provide optimism for 2021 and beyond.
Gaming Week Gaming Week was a four day online event, where teachers and students chose from a broad range of presentations by leading experts in game based education, international Youtube stars and interactive workshops including game design, CAD and unreal engine. The event provided insights into the multiple careers available in the gaming industry.
Open Day - 4th December Partner schools and community were invited to join us for a virtual tour of our innovative learning spaces and heard from leading adolescent psychologist, Michael Carr-Gregg and Tania Hegarty (PwC expert on the Future of Work). The team shared information about the exciting changes to our physical spaces and new and improved program offerings for 2021.
The following two programs were designed and delivered specifically for VCAL and VCE students: Year 11 and 12 VCAL students from Warringa Park completed a partial and adapted Certificate II in IDMT Year 11 VCE students from Werribee Secondary and Heathdale College completed masterclasses in Cybersecurity
Teacher Professional Development Informal PD
Questacon Workshop
The move to remote delivery saw a significant increase in digital literacy skills through the use of virtual classrooms, ImpactEd 2020 reported 67% of teachers taught online for the first time in April and May. This steep learning curve for teachers saw a lack of demand for formal PD programs, however through remote delivery teachers engaged with us through a co-facilitation approach where they delivered the pre and post learning and our STEM facilitators delivered the synchronous component. This approach enabled teachers to upskill quickly in 30 minute increments, providing them with the confidence to use software that previously they thought difficult or they didn’t have time to learn.
In November 2020, teachers and students were transitioning back into classrooms. The year had been a challenging one trying to connect students to their learning whilst trying to settle them back in. To support our schools in their transition, WTS partnered with Questacon, the National Science and Technology Centre, to present a tailored Teacher Professional Development experience.
Formal PD In addition to the informal PD that was occurring, the Tech School managed to deliver two formal programs.
Adobe Workshop Workshop run by Dr Tim Kitchen from Adobe - overview of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Attended by WTS and local partner school teachers. Offering a fabuoluous insight into the breadth and scope of the Adobe suite and its broad application in education.
The STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering Art and Mathematics) focused workshop uses simple materials and some electronics to build an animated zoetrope that demonstrates the principles behind animation and movies. This same technology can be seen in contemporary exhibitions like Leaving LA. The program focused on developing problem solving skills using the innovation process to test and refine a prototype. Many options to connect to class content through exploring the mathematics behind changing the speed of animation and the biology of how our eyes interpret movement, the artistic endeavours of film making and its history. Educators from five partner schools and three Tech Schools joined the session with content facilitated by the team at Questacon and customised designed kits, like the one below, provided by WTS. Partner schools received a full kit for their exploration as well as a teacher resource guide with a lesson plan and all the equipment needed to create multiple more Zoetropes. With this additional kit and the exploration expertly led and facilitated by Questacon, teachers were empowered to roll the content out in their classrooms from the very next day.
Joint Tech School Projects The Wyndham Tech School team partnered with the Geelong Tech School, Ballarat Tech School, Whittlesea Tech School and Banyule Nillumbik Tech School in 2020 to co-design and deliver two programs - Design to Innovate PD and the Questacon Science PD for teachers.
Community Engagement
Qualitative Feedback
We were unable to invite our community members and partners into the Tech School in 2020, what we did instead was invite them to participate in our virtual events and participate in our Open Day, we had 1151 community members engage with us.
“Thank you so much on behalf of the 45 students from Alamanda watching from the theatre!”
“Loving this so much, learning a lot!” Showcasing LUA programming language in Unreal Engine with Brad Shreffler
Altered Adventures – Gaming Experiences with Gizzy Gazza!
“I LOVED this event! Both for my learning and to bring information to my students. There are 3 sessions I hope to share with my students. There are many tools I learned about, such as Krita, Core, etc. ….Thanks again the sessions were spot on!” A Teacher from Waterloo, Iowa in the USA. Brad Shreffler
Quantitative Feedback Spark Chart Remote Report Summary – Students 30% female, 50% male, 20% rather not say
Student Cohorts Year 7 - 60%, Year 10 - 40% 83% of respondents agree or strongly agree that they were satisfied with their remote learning experience.
Spark Chart Remote Report Summary – Teachers 34% female, 66% male 100% of teachers said the remote learning program was vey clearly linked to the general capabilities of the Victorian Curriculum. 100% of respondents said, students were motivated to design solutions to challenges that are related to real life and that they could identify tangible connections between what they do in the classroom learning and real-life challenges. 100% of teachers said the remote Tech School experience would encourage them to consider ways to innovatively use online platforms as part of their teaching practice. 100% of teachers would be interested in bringing students to Tech School in the future.