University of Tasmania, Australia

AlwaysOn is an ARC Linkage Project based at LaTrobe University with Chief Investigators Professor Margaret Robertson and Dr. Andrew Fluck from University of Tasmania. The Industry Partners are the Departments responsible for school education in Tasmania and Victoria which contribute relief days to support planning in the project schools of the two states.
The project aims to compare the efficacy of portable computers in school education and map the pedagogical adaptations made by teachers to accommodate these mobile devices. In project schools entire cohorts of Year 7 & 9 students study a Health and Wellbeing topic. Most classes learn using contemporary/traditional methods, with one class studying online and another uses personal digital assistants. We gather data through pre- and post-testing and classroom observations. Our evaluation will use Rasch analysis based upon the calibrated items in the tests and will be moderated by the national benchmark tests of literacy and numeracy.

Some schools involved in the project have been so convinced of the efficacy of the mobile devices, and the concept of student ownership, they have given all Year 7 student a netbook at the start of 2009. This is a pathway to radical transformation of what and how students learn in high schools.

For more information, please see the project web-site or contact Dr. Andrew Fluck:
Telephone: +61 (0)3 6324 3284;
E-mail: Andrew.Fluck@utas.edu.au