Considers three social theories--actor-network; marginalization; and intentionality and action--that can be used to reconceptualize open learning to reconstruct openness through research conducted in remote primary home schools and itinerant primary classrooms in Australia. The notions of center/periphery and mobility/immobility are examined. (PEN)

Provides contact information and brief descriptions of 13 high schools, colleges, community programs, and distance education schools receiving the Australian Rural Education Award in 2000. (SV)

An Australian "School of the Air" teacher describes his experiences teaching isolated rural students in grades 3 and 4 via radio and teleconferencing. He discusses lesson materials, exceptional student work, "classroom" techniques for delivering Air lessons, home visits, parent involvement, and his own learning experience. (SV)

In Australia, government-funded equity programs have positively impacted the equality of rural schooling, but persistent issues remain. A literature review examines positive and negative features of rural schooling related to teachers, school size, academic achievement, completion rates, curriculum, lifestyle, and social justice. (Contains 66…

Young people's lives have been directly and indirectly affected by the dynamics of decline in rural Australia. In early 1999, the Casterton region experienced the suicides of two young people. These events led to the funding of a rural youth education and support program at the town's secondary college. The program adopts a multi-layered approach…

This paper describes types of interactive communications technologies relevant to education and discusses their current and potential uses in rural Australia. "Teleconferencing" is a generic term for interactive electronic communications. The four main types of teleconferencing--audio, audiographic, video, and computer (text)…

This case study evaluates the case of a 20-year-old young Australian adult born with agenesis of the corpus callosum, the area of the brain uniting the hemispheres. Deficits commonly associated with agenesis of the corpus callosum are mental retardation, motor involvement, seizure activity, and lateral transfer difficulties. The report: (1)…

Describes the Katherine School of the Air, an educational institution that provides children isolated in Australia's Northern Territory (the outback) with an educational program via daily two-way radio lessons, correspondence courses, and regularly scheduled visits by air. (MLH)

This program overview discusses the aims and organization of the Preschool Correspondence Program (PSCP) in Queensland, Australia, accenting the development of the Correspondence Unit within the Preschool Education Division of the Queensland Department of Education. Four functions of preschool education, conditions seen to be necessary for the…

Debunks common myths about rurality and rural Australia. Calls for a change in perspective, putting person and place at the center of learning. Local involvement is key to the proposed Centre for Rural Communities, which would promote community sustainability through networking and training. Describes the Rural Women's Programme in Victoria and a…

The paper outlines how the principles of the "Thinking Actively in a Social Context" (TASC) model have been adopted to provide an extension program through Telematics, which delivers lessons to remote sites using teleconferencing equipment, fax machines, and computers linked by modems. Describes use of the TASC model for remote…

Describes the changes that occurred at a traditional high school in rural Western Australia and findings that emerged from the Western Australian School Effectiveness Study, a longitudinal study of 28 rural high schools. Focuses on the school's staff and how they absorbed the changes around them and became different people. (CDS)

A teacher intern in New South Wales (Australia) describes her experiences as a student in a small rural school, how early experience with distance education and independent learning was beneficial at university, teaching practicums in two rural schools, and her internship in a rural Aboriginal school. (SV)

The history of remote school education in the Northern Territory can best be summarised as years of lost opportunities, pedagogies of discrimination, and diminished lives for those parents and children who trusted and responded to the government's invitation to come to school. From late 2001 to 2005 historic educational change occurred in the…

This booklet presents an overview of various techniques for remote education presently being used in Australian schools. It is intended as a teacher's resource, introducing the topic and promoting the development of contacts and establishment of communication links. Following a brief history of remote learning in Australia, the distance education…