Reflection on the impact of standards work on Australian education

Information and communications technologies (ICT) are an ever-present part of our lives and impact on almost all that we do. A number of current initiatives such as the Digital Education Revolution (DER) recognise the important role that technology can play in supporting education. Teaching and learning has always been about collaboration and communication, creating learning materials, sharing them, adapting them, assessing learning and showcasing it. Enhancing this practice through the use of information and communications technology requires a standards and interoperability backbone.

Effective technical standards however, are rarely seen by teaching and learning practitioners, but are essential for supporting 21st century teaching and learning. It is sometimes then hard to establish new technical standards projects: it is difficult to justify spending time and money on things which nobody sees. For these reasons, we recently wrote a brief article and a blog post providing examples of how technical standards have been directly beneficial to Australian education initiatives. They open up more potential for innovation and create opportunities to provide richer, more meaningful environments while at the same time driving operational efficiencies. It is hoped that policy makers take advantage of Australia's expertise in the development and deployment of standards to further enhance the quality of teaching and learning.