Frankston High School is located on Victoria’s beautiful Mornington Peninsula. With over 1650 students and 165 staff, Frankston High School has achieved many firsts - including the implementation of the largest Notebook program in a Government school in Australia.

In order to become an example of classroom technology best practice, Frankston High School attributes Computelec’s Expanding Learning Horizon’s (ELH) and SchoolTech conferences as the events to help make this happen.

Held once a year, ELH and SchoolTech are Australia’s premier technology and learning conferences that address a wide range of ICT challenges in education - including the integration of ICT into the curriculum to network infrastructure issues. The conferences have been designed for anyone involved in technology programs in schools.

The ELH conference stream provides teachers with ideas, practical resources and tools for integrating technology into the classroom. Through the SchoolTech stream of the conference, senior level IT staff right through to technicians can evaluate the latest technologies, access valuable information and be provided with the resources to assist in the implementation of technology in their school.

Since the development of ELH in 1994, Frankston High School has been sending staff to learn and share in the knowledge of what’s happening with technology in schools on a local and international scale, as Mr Travis Smith, Assistant Principal, Human Resources/IT, explains.

“ELH is a conference where actual teachers from all over Australia can get together to share in real examples of best practice in Australia and overseas. At the same time, school IT staff, such as computer technicians, can attend the SchoolTech part of the conference and be exposed to high level technology solutions.”

ELH exposes teachers to new ideas that are not yet seen in schools. They can informally discuss these ideas, see how they integrate into the curriculum and then implement them into their own school. “The ELH conference is an enriching three day experience. It is made up of keynote speakers, seminars, workshops, networking, social events and vendor support.”

Both the ELH and SchoolTech conferences feature world renowned keynote speakers. The speakers provide attendees with a global perspective and an insight into what’s happening in other parts of the world. “The keynote speakers are a highlight of the conference. We are provided with valuable information and real life cases. Plus, current trends can be looked at in greater detail, for example, cyber safety and control mechanisms that can be employed by schools.”

All teachers and staff attending the conferences have one-on-one access to software and hardware suppliers. These vendors also have displays enabling schools to see the latest products and services available and to find out how they can be integrated into their school environment.

As part of the conference, attendees can participate in the School Tour. This is where attendees are taken to three different schools to see how ideas can be put into practice.

“The School Tour helps put the things you have learnt or been exposed to into perspective. You can talk to the staff in the school and visit the classroom to see how it can be done.”

Attendees also receive an effective follow-up program, as Travis explains, “Once the conference is over, it doesn’t just stop there. Computelec send out a DVD that contains all of the keynote presentations and curriculum resources. They also put you in touch with people that you have spoken to so that if you want to visit another school to see how they do it, you can.” This conference follow-up ensures that attendees have all the support they need to make things happen at their school.

According to Travis, “The conferences are definitely worth attending. At Frankston High School, we find it great value for money and every year we have too many teachers who want to participate! Everyone that attends comes back extremely charged up with ways they can improve things at our school.”

The ELH and SchoolTech conferences have been especially designed to provide teachers and IT staff alike with practical examples in a knowledge sharing environment. It gives attendees the opportunity to network with other teachers, vendors and the staff from Computelec. “It is bursting with practical, real life examples. It is not all theory and you can share and learn so much!”