Head Teacher - Computing.
Glenn Mullaney
Site by Weblight Studio (Australia)
Chilly as it may be to us, here on the coast it does not reach minus 38 my family experienced when we teacher 'exchanged' to Valemount in British Columbia, Canada in 1995! When your petrol freezes, you have to plug your car into power to heat the sump and you can snap off your hair if you dont dry it fully....that's cold!
However early I am I don't beat the Soldier's Beach Shore Shufflers who are up and running around Norah Head way earlier than my bike is up and...running.You would be surprised at the number of staff at our school who are there from 7am. In the 'old' days it was the teacher's job to get there early and get the fires started, dust off the blackboard and sharpen the pencils. In our modern high-tech schools, servers, specific applications and data have to be backed up. Broadband internet connection needs to be checked and computer system consistancy assured to provide staff and students access to fulfil our school's vision of Anywhere, Anytime, Learning through Technology!
My role as Head Teacher - Computing, means that every day is full , mostly full of fun as things don't stay the same for very long! Most of us may deal with 'ground hog' days where we get a lot of repetition. However, living on the education technology cutting edge provides something new to learn and teach everyday and enables our kids to have access to, and a degree of, control over the latest technologies in their schooling, home and future work.
I once attempted to describe the power of the computing systems we now have in schools by comparing them to the systems that ran national banks not long ago..."Big 'Tim the Toolman' systems". I was told "we dont want old bank hand-me-down systems"! Our school runs gigabit fibre optic and copper across the entire site. We are implimenting WiFi wireless networkingto compliment this cabled network to cater now and into the future for students and staff with laptop, notebook computers.
Our four servers (multi-processor, hot swappable SCSI drives/power supplies with vast amounts of RAM) provide access to a growing school poulation that will exceed 1500 users. The 'screenagers' and teaching staff of today demand fast paced, visual learning resources that will stimulate and support learning outcomes in every subject area.
Access to technology is the cornerstone to build skills and knowledge. I hope that there is a thin line between opportunity, enterprise, creativity and eccentricity as our latest projects involve the use of technology in some very different ways-