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Using ICT to overcome remoteness- award winning educator excels

Mirtschin laughs.

“[Since then] I’ve always been on the cutting edge of any of the new tools that have come out.”

The only Australian to have recently snagged one of six prestigious Making IT Happen awards for her pioneering leadership in the tech ed space, Mirtschin has build up an extensive network of educators from all corners of the globe, thanks to her ‘Tech Talk Tuesdays’ webinars and edublog.

Most find their (virtual) way into Hawkesdale via Skype in the Classroom.

“My kids work in small groups with kids from other countries, like New Zealand, America, Canada we’ve had the Middle East in there as well, so they work together to research and then produce a product they share on their research “

Mirtschin has also connected her otherwise “geographically and culturally isolated” students to the likes of music producer Mark Ronson, Call of Duty game developers, and an author based in New York.

“A lot of our kids are on beef farms, sheep farms so we’ve linked up with students at a Japan university to show them what it looks like in the supermarket over there,” she notes.

Next on the cards is a collaborative project on oceans with a Taiwanese school, plus a ‘pollution and traffic’ investigation with a group of New Delhi students.