The Digital Education Revolution (DER) has been broadly regarded as a major success, according to the mid-programme review to assess its progress and potential future direction.

In 2008, the Australian Government committed more than A$2.1 billion (US$1.9 billion) to the DER initiative – an intervention designed to generate an immediate, large-scale boost to enhance the integration of ICT into teaching and learning in Australian schools. The initiative involved investment in computers and software, school-based infrastructure, leadership, professional development and digital resources across all Australian education systems and sectors. The objective of the DER was to create ubiquitous access to the tools necessary for students to take advantage of new technologies.

The objectives of the review are to assess the impact of DER and its achievements to date; record stakeholder views on the extent to which DER is on track to meet its objectives; and to identify perspectives on current and future trends in educational technology, as well as insight from key stakeholders on how to continue to improve the integration of technology into teaching and learning.

The DER is broadly regarded as a major success. It is credited with generating a catalytic positive impact across Australian schools, including that:

# A general acknowledgement now exists across Australian education sectors that digital technology leads to enhanced educational outcomes.

# The DER has allowed schools to accelerate and scale activity that was already underway. The impact is most profound in low socio-economic status schools, where stakeholders considered that the DER accomplished in two years what may have otherwise taken a decade.

# The DER has directly or indirectly assisted schools to put in place more robust and scalable infrastructure to support the uptake of technology. Even schools that had not been previously convinced of the merits of digital education reported that the DER had caused them to change their attitude and approach to technology and its integration into teaching and learning.

# The basic building blocks for improved digital education performance are now in place. While the DER was responsible for some of those building blocks, it was recognised that the true value of the DER has been the significant, planned and sustained school level engagement it had helped to engender.

# The DER has achieved, or is on track to achieve, the vast majority of its objectives. From an infrastructure perspective, the DER has not only achieved its objective of achieving a 1:1 ratio under the NSSCF, but it has also provided a major uplift in technology available to year levels outside of the target group (i.e. outside of years 9 – 12). The DER has also provided direct funding or impetus for schools to improve their school-based infrastructure, such as wireless internet, benefitting all year levels and better positioning schools for the future.

From a leadership perspective, the DER has helped to convince school leaders – particularly those that were unconvinced of technology’s value in education – to invest in the integration of technology. This is borne out by consistent feedback that school leaders’ roles in ICT decisions is increasing, recognising its increased profile and priority. In the area of teacher capability there was anecdotal evidence of changing attitudes and practice, though there is much work remaining to ensure that the value of capability deployed under the DER is fully harnessed. The body of learning resources continues to increase, in part stimulated by the DER, but also by the explosion in the use of video and interactive content more generally in the market.

Perhaps one of the defining achievements of the DER was the contribution to low SES schools and their students. The ubiquitous nature of the DER rollout enabled less well-resourced schools to benefit from technology and capability that they would otherwise have struggled to afford.

While there was a general consensus that the DER had made a positive contribution, stakeholders recognised that the initiative’s design and implementation did not establish all of the foundation stones for the long-term uptake of ICT in schools. Many believe that more effort is required for the teaching profession to capitalise on the potential value of technology.

dandolopartners was commissioned to undertake this mid-program review, following the achievement of the one to one (1:1) computer to student ratio target under the National Secondary School Computer Fund, the major component of the DER, and prior to the completion of the DER National Partnership Agreement.