ACCE Board

Digital Learning & Teaching Victoria
president@acce.edu.au

Ben is an Australian educator passionate about contemporary learning and students centred learning and uses technology to develop global connections, collaborate and create. Ben has taught in primary schools in regional Victoria and is currently the Leading Teacher of Numeracy and ICT at Melton Primary school An enthusiastic speaker, Ben has presented at conferences, webinars and schools across Australia, as well as internationally sharing his expertise. Ben was ICTEV’s Educator of the Year in 2012 and a finalist in the VEEA Outstanding Primary School Teacher Category in 2015. A Primary School Teacher for 15 years, Ben has taught across all year levels and is passionate about the integration of Digital Technologies across the whole curriculum. . As President of Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria, Ben works with an amazing committee towards creating new opportunities for teachers which reflect contemporary learning and teaching pedagogies.

EdTechSA
vicepresident@acce.edu.au

Tina Photakis is the current Vice Precident of ACCE and the immediate past President of EdTechSA. Tina’s teaching career has spanned over 30 years as a Specialist Educator with qualifications in Early Years and Primary Years education and teaching Language (Greek). She is currently teaching Geography, ICT and EALD, across year levels, R – 7 at an inner city primary school. Tina has extensive experience in teaching the Arts and ICT, which encompasses all areas of computer education. This also includes the provision of Professional Development for educators, both here in Australia and globally, on the use and implementation of ICT programs, Project Based Learning and online learning. Tina has also presented workshops and presentations in the areas of ICT and Languages, at local, national and international levels. She is extremely interested in working with other Language and Specialist teachers in the integration of ICT in their field of teaching. Tina also has experience in leadership and administration management of the specialised subject areas mentioned above – Languages, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and The Arts. Tina has also taught in a diverse range of classroom situations, mainly in tandem with her Greek language teaching. She also has an avid interest in music education and has conducted school choirs of students from Years 2 – 7. Her current school choir has over 25 students from many cultural backgrounds. Tina’s diverse teaching experience has kept her extremely active in many areas of education, especially in the area of online collaborative teaching and learning.

QSITE
secretary@acce.edu.au

Leanne Cameron is currently Senior Lecturer in Education (Technologies) in the School of Education at James Cook University,  Townsville Campus. She has published widely in the area of effective technology integration in education and is particularly sought after for presentations about her work on the use of Digital Technologies, Social Media and integrated STEM programs in education. Her current interest lies in ensuring our teachers are skilled up to meet the challenges of the Australian Technologies curriculum implementation. She draws heavily on her own experience as a classroom teacher and as a Technology Trainer for the NSW Department of Education’s Training & Development Directorate to deliver practical advice for teachers. Leanne has previously worked at Southern Cross University, the Australian Catholic University, Sydney University and Macquarie University in NSW and has co-ordinated courses with universities in Singapore, Malaysia and the UK. The focus of her work for some years has been the investigation of how digital technologies can be used to promote student engagement.

Tasmanian Society for IT in Education
treasurer@acce.edu.au

Martin is an ICT Educator, having taught for over twenty years in Government, Catholic and Independent Schools in Tasmania. Complementing this he worked on the Australian Governments first national Internet Safety program for a five year period.  Having been a member of both the Australian Computer Society (Tas) and TASITE organising committees he is keen to promote the use of computers in education. Martin holds masters degrees in education and business and previously presented his action research at an international boys education conference (IBSC) on ways to improve curiosity in teenage boys through tinkering with small computers. Away from ICT he enjoys photography and sport of any kind.

Michael has been teaching since 2006 and is passionate about engaging students with Digital Technologies. He enjoys looking for contexts that make Digital Technologies come alive for his students which, being at an all boy’s school, includes computer games and robots. Michael is the current President of the Educational Computing Association of Western Australia and WA representative on the ACCE board. 

Queensland Society for Information Technology in Education
qld@acce.edu.au

Norena is the current QSITE President and the Queensland representative on the ACCE Board. She is an experienced secondary school educator and leader. Her key teaching areas include Senior Information Technology, Digital Technologies and Mathematics. Norena served as Assistant Principal at St Margaret Mary’s College for 15 years and is currently employed as a Project Officer at the Townsville Catholic Education Office. She also works as a sessional lecturer and tutor in the College of Arts, Society and Education at James Cook University assisting pre-service teachers to develop their understanding of Years 7-10 Digital Technologies and Years 11/12 Information Technology curriculum and their ability to use ICTs across the curriulum to enhance teaching and learning.

Another of Norena’s interests is curriculum development and she has previously served as a member of the QCAA (Qld Curriculum and Assessment Authority) P-12 Technologies Syllabus Advisory Committee. She also worked on the subcommittees which developed the Information & Communication Technology Subject Area Specification and the Information & Processing Technology Syllabus. Norena is a member of the QCAA Townsville/Mackay District Review Panel for Information & Processing Technology Syllabus.

Throughout her career, Norena has placed priority on supporting teachers via the work of teacher professional associations and she has served on the management committees of a number of professional associations. She is a long-serving member of the both the QSITE State Board and her local QSITE Townsville Chapter Committee. Her work with professional associations has been ackowledged through the presentation of a QSITE Outstanding Leader Award and a National Award for Quality Schooling: Highly Commended National Achievement by a Teacher. Norena has also been awarded Fellowship of the Australian College of Educators.

President Information Technology Educators ACT
act@acce.edu.au

Toni Falusi is the ACT Project Officer for the  Adelaide University Computer Science Education Research (CSER) MOOC project. Toni is an experienced K-10 educator. Her passion for Digital Technologies has guided her teaching career as an ICT Coordinator and also a few years as a Teacher Librarian. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Education, Masters of ICT in Education and Certificate IV Training and Assessment.

Karen has been teaching for over 30 years and has had a broad ranging impact on technology use within education circles. At the local level, she has provided insightful leadership at St George Christian School and has overseen the implementation of hands-on quality technology experiences for the students throughout her school. Additionally, she began a world class robotics program. Her expertise was recognised in her local area when she was joined by two other schools to form a Design Thinking Challenge, ‘Think, Create, Connect’ that was a full day of activity by the students in each school. This initiative is an example of where her efforts of cooperatively planning quality student events has produced a scalable model that can be implemented in other school environments. The quality of this program was also recognised by the Powerhouse Museum in 2017 at the Young Creators Conference where it was showcased in one of their school workshop days.

Tasmanian Society for IT in Education (TASITE)
tas@acce.edu.au

Janine currently works as a Curriculum Leader (Years 9 to 12 Mixed Field) for the Department of Education Tasmania. She has had a career-long passion and curiosity about the potential of improving learning with, through and about digital technologies. She has worked nationally on innovative elearning and online community projects since the late 90s, culminating in a 12 month Hardie Fellowship to undertake a Masters Degree in Instructional Technology and Media from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. She is currently reprising the role of President of TASITE with a focus on growing younger leadership as all professional associations refocus in the light of the impacts of global and local challenges. Janine previously served as Secretary of ACCE and was  made an ACCE Fellow in 2014.

Digital Teaching and Learning Victoria (DTLV)
vic@acce.edu.au

Dr Jo Blannin is the Senior Lecturer – Digital Transformations at Monash University, Australia. In the past five years, Joanne has supported more than 400 Victorian schools to engage with technologies for their own and their students’ learning. She is Board Member and Conference Chair for Digital Learning & Teaching Victoria, a reviewer for several journals including the Australian Education Journal and an Academic Board Member for Eurasia Research.

Jo has taught in four countries, in three languages and has developed an in-depth understanding of learning and teaching. She focuses her research on evidence-based uses of digital technologies in classrooms. Having worked in both the private and public sectors, Joanne now researches, teaches and presents internationally on digital technologies and digital pedagogies. Her research focus includes teachers’ uses of technology, teachers’ pedagogical skills with technologies, and the impact of technology on student outcomes.

https://www.acs.org.au/governance/ict-educators-committee.html

Sue is an experienced Head of Department of over 20 years at Kelvin Grove State College, an innovative and futures-focussed Prep to Year 12 Independent Public School near the Brisbane CBD. Sue’s diverse and constantly evolving role includes a cross-curriculum focus on digital pedagogy, professional learning and digital tools. She leads and teaches Digital Technologies (ICT) curriculum implementation (including VET qualifications), line manages the Middle Senior Library (incorporating a MakerSpace and DigiSpace) and previously managed the ICT infrastructure and services program for many years. With the implementation of new Digital Technologies national curriculum and Queensland Senior curriculum including VET, Sue embraced her College Executive Principal’s “raise your gaze” challenge, seeking opportunities for greater industry engagement (including within the start-up community), active participation in industry partnerships and programs (including Queensland Gateways to Industry Schools Programs), and building talent pipelines into the ICT and related industries rather than through traditional pathways. Sue is passionate about enabling and supporting others to build their digital confidence and capabilities to become influencers and change-makers, rather than just being impacted by digital disruptive technologies (as identified in the 2017 Australian Computer Society Deloitte Digital Pulse report). Sue was awarded a Gold Disruptor – ICT Educator of the Year at the 2018 ACS Digital Disruptor Awards. She joined the QSITE Board and the Australian Computer Society ICT Educators Board and was accepted as a Queensland Community Digital Champion in 2019. Sue was recently a Highly Commended finalist in the 2020 Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards after being nominated by a parent in her school community.