A community of practice for Australian education leaders

Presenter: Helen EddyMahara Hui 19-20 March 2014

www.palnet.edu.au

To provide professional learning and support for school leaders

and build the capacity and profile of the profession.

Palnet

• For principals by principals• Online professional development communities• Supported, facilitated, collaborative• For school leaders – all sectors, all levels, all across

Australia• Connecting international best practice to local needs• Storage of professional evidence• Platform complementing other systems• Closed and open communities and information –

your choice

First designs

Groups

Mentoring

Portfolio

Profile

Events

Events, polls, like, search, breadcrumbs

Forums – collapsible, sortable

Group icons

Embeddable content

Social media buttons

RSS

AnswerGarden

Video in forum post

Google Calendar

Launched February 2012

Thoughtleaders

Experienced, skilled practitioners for collegiate support and mentoring

Thoughtleaders

Their roles as Principals and aspiring leaders:

• Modelling ICT learning and development

• Supporting colleagues (mentoring/facilitating)

• Building ICT resources in education and school leadership

• Creating and extending international educational networks and communities

10 facilitated groups

• Australian Curriculum• Change leadership• Leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education• Leading ICT• Data and reporting• Rural and Remote education• School governance and autonomy• Social inclusion• Special education• Standards

Palnet 2.0• Changed tagline• New streamlined

‘supergroups’• Archived old groups• New thoughtleaders• Education consultant• Webinar series

Upgrade 2013• New hosting arrangement with Catalyst IT, Sydney• Upgrade from Mahara 1.4 to 1.8• Re-evaluated customisations, some to become core code• Better security• New Elastic search• Responsive theming for small devices

www.palnet.edu.au

Search

Palnet

• Over 3,500 members

• 88 groups• Partnerships with

universities and organisations, Australian and international

palnet@pai.edu.au