Guest post from Dr Janet Buchan, Director CiTEL, Lourdes Hill College.
The new Centre for Innovation, Teaching Excellence & Leadership (CiTEL) is a major investment by Lourdes Hill College with the vision to provide professional learning programs and a dedicated space for educators to collaborate and learn towards advancing teaching excellence.
After over 14 years in higher education, in 2015 I moved back into the secondary sector to take up my current appointment as Director of CiTEL. My time in schools, TAFE and universities has taught me that the future of learning and the success of Lourdes Hill College’s vision for CiTEL lies in building connections and partnerships with experts in higher education so that teachers can remain at the top of their game and with ready access to the latest research in technology, pedagogy and assessment (amongst other things).
I have been a member of ASCILITE since 2008 and was a member of the ASCILITE Executive for three years with the CMALT portfolio my main interest. As a long time attendee of the ASCILITE conference I am very supportive of the schools’ night as a new initiative and had no trouble convincing Lourdes Hill College’s driving forces behind our own Learning Futures project (our Principal Ms Robyn Anderson and Deputy Principal Mr Terry Niebling) to get on board with sponsorship by CiTEL. Our College looks forward to the schools’ night and the opportunity to learn from and make connections with schools in the region. All schools in Queensland face significant challenges with a new Digital Technologies curriculum, the introduction of the new QCE System in 2019, the ongoing rollout of the Australian Curriculum and ongoing budget cuts in many areas. Schools and universities need to work together and it will be through events such as the ASCILITE 2018 Conference Schools Night that essential collaboration and support can be grounded.