Broadband for the Bush 2015
The Broadband for the Bush Forum went really well by all accounts, and seems to have made a little bit of a splash more widely with the #bushbroadband tag trending on Twitter on day 1.
We’ve received some great feedback about the “Digital making for engaged learning” workshop that Zoe co-facilitated with Nicolette from DigitalCareers/NICTA, Mel from ThreeFarm/Makers Place, and Kelly from Code Club Australia.
Slides from the session are embedded below—incl. contact details for all speakers (on the final slide) for anyone that would like to know more about the different opportunities outlined in the session.
"Digital Making" for engaged learning workshop from IDX Initiative
But the session was far less about the slides and presenting, and more about hands-on tech. We had about 20 participants working around a number of stations where we had LEGO robots, MIT Scratch, Ozobots, and me3D printers setup.
Zoe Betar demonstrating LEGO robots at Broadband for the Bush
This was the first trip for a trial/test 3D printer that we now have at the Hub. We have yet to arrange a flight case etc., which made for interesting considerations around making our way through airport security!
Zoe + Mel Fuller prepping for the 3D printing demo
April Long checking out the über cute Ozobot robots demoed by Nicolette Venn from Digital Careers/NICTA
NCIE’s April Long joined the Forum to co-present on the IDX vision—an overview of the concept and a little bit on what we’ve been up to with robotics, 3D printing, [MIT Scratch and Makey Makeys. While some of the content may be familiar to regular readers, there were some new insights from recent research into digital careers that may be of interest. Our presentation deck below:
Introduction to Indigenous Digital Excellence from IDX Initiative
We also attended the Indigenous Focus Day held prior to the main Forum. Zoe and myself were privileged to facilitate break-out sessions across the day, which was a tremendous opportunity to learn about the opportunities and challenges being tackled by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the country.
There were a number of highlights across the day—Joe Morrison’s opening keynote and Mikaela Jade’s eye-opening session on mobile + wearable technology and sharing of information, and the inspiring story of the benefits of tablet computers being deployed by the MJD Foundation (with the support of the Telstra Foundation):
There were a couple of video submission bringing the voices of community members that were unable to attend in person at the session.
The day provided a wide array of insights, too numerous to do justice to here. We’re indebted to the participants who attended for sharing their stories and ideas on the day, both formally and informally.