Impact

Digital Technologies

Impact

Digital Technologies

Beginning in the early years on Mitcham Campus, Scotch students are immersed in digital technologies, empowering them from a young age to build their digital literacy and digital citizenship skills to aid in their learning, promote innovative thinking, enhance student agency and share a love for digital technology.

Through intentional activities, students learn important skills that enable them to explore, discover and create, but just as importantly, learn how to stay safe online and how to look after their devices.

Solid Foundations

In Prep and Reception, students sign an age-appropriate digital agreement that reinforces making good online choices as they build their online foundations. Scotch College’s Digital Citizenship’s student-designed mascot, Digi Dude, is looking on and reinforcing good choices. The Prep – Year 2 program dovetails into the curriculums for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6. At all ages students sign a digital agreement – in Year 3, this also involves students completing a cyber security certificate, which includes how to be accountable for their conduct online.

Year 3 & 4 students are introduced to school owned 1:1 devices (which remain at school). In Years 5 and 6, students bring personal iPads to school and learn how to look after them while becoming good digital citizens. Their digital licence is their screensaver, reminding them of their on and offline responsibilities. They also complete a term-long inquiry on the ethics behind A.I. and how to use it to their advantage. Every learning has a purpose and in these years, students gain a deeper understanding of how their machine learning will help them, rather than fostering fear.

Each year students also access a range of internal and external Digital Technologies competitions, designed for students with aptitude and passion in this area.

An e-Sport House Cup is designed to celebrate the interests and skills of children, ranging from Touch Typing to Mario Kart and provide friendly competition.

In the upper primary, the offer changes in line with interests and what is on offer, but typically involves challenges and competitions in the FUSE Cup for e-Sports, artbot design, Young ICT Explorers and FIRST Lego League.

One of Scotch College’s Digital Technologies Policy’s guiding principles is to equip students with the knowledge and experience to thrive in the digital world.

DigiDo: A Celebration of Technology & Student Agency

Since 2022, Scotch has been the host of DigiDo, an annual celebration of technology education and student agency. DigiDo is a student-led conference, filled with industry professional showcases and hands-on workshops, where children from a range of local primary schools have an opportunity to showcase their technology skills and inspire their inter-school peers.

Past showcase exhibitors have included Maker’s Empire, Adobe, Flinders University, Comp Now and Micro-X.

DigiDo has a focus on the Digital Technologies Australian Curriculum and includes student panels discussing important learning topics such as ethics, safety and responsibility in digital use.

Middle School

At Scotch, we recognise that the transition from Junior to Senior school is a significant moment for most students in respect of digital technology. Mobile phones, social media, and the use of laptops alongside a shift in independence and responsibility play a bigger role in student’s lives. This is recognised in a comprehensive induction program.

In the Middle School years, all students study Digital Technologies as a discrete subject following the Australian curriculum at Year 7. They are taught key digital literacy skills and ethics around the use of technology. The course involves both AI and game development with foundations in computational thinking. All students are routinely immersed in the use of digital and emerging technologies throughout the curriculum in middle school and ‘Digital Cultures’ is a significant theme of wellbeing sessions.

Digital challenges & Enrichment opportunities continue for students throughout middle school with Student Digital Leaders, FUSE Cup for e-Sports and FIRST Lego League and robotics.

The DigiMinds Summit

To extend middle school digital technologies offering, Scotch has also launched the DigiMinds Summit, a full-day conference for schools across the state, featuring AI, VR, cyber security, esports, special effects, digital modelling, digital art, robotics and much more. The summit champions the ethos of student empowerment and agency, co-planned with student digital leaders and co-led by these students on the day.

With the assistance of external experts, parents and professionals, Scotch College’s Digital Technologies program shows students how many opportunities are out there for them in this rapidly changing world.

Showcase exhibitors, workshop providers and supporters include Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML), Adobe, Comp Now, CyberCX and Micro-X.

Senior School

From Year 10, students are offered the opportunity to pursue digital technologies with focused courses on game development or specialise in creative arts through digital photography and film making. The later gives students the chance to use a motion capture suit and other special effects tools.

There is also an established media team that hosts podcasts, streams events and is a key aspect of life at Scotch College. Similar extra-curricular opportunities exist for students in senior years with further opportunities to take part in HSEL for e-Sports and becoming a Student Digital Ambassador for the school.