WA's ICT program top five in the world

A communications project by the Department of Education and Training has been named one of the top five in the world.

Education and Training Minister Mark McGowan said the department's Learning With Information Communications Technology (LWICT) project received the Computer World Honours Laureate in Washington last week.

"This is a huge accolade for the LWICT project and for public schools in Western Australia," Mr McGowan said.

"This award recognises the LWICT project as a leader in the global ICT industry.

"The LWICT project was also one of five finalists in the education division of the 21st Century Achievement award."

The award, which is one of the top three or four major ICT awards in the world, was judged by a group of industry representatives including Microsoft's Bill Gates, Oracle's Larry Ellison, Apple's Steve Jobs and Cisco's John Chambers.

A case study of each recipient of the Computer World Honours Laureate is submitted to more than 350 partner universities, libraries, archives and research groups around the world, including Oxford University, Cambridge University, Library of Congress, the Australian Archives and CSIRO.

The State Government has invested more than $48million over eight years in the LWICT project, with $7.76million to be spent during 2007-08.

An additional $1.56million is being spent on school power upgrades to support the new computers.

The LWICT project was expanded to another 21 schools this year, making it available at 186 schools so far.

"LWICT is revolutionising classroom teaching by using technology in all subject areas," the Minister said.

"It includes professional development for teachers, additional resources and a range of new or upgraded infrastructure to deliver online teaching and learning."

As part of the program, selected school staff are provided with specialised professional support over three years and go on to become curriculum ICT leaders in their schools.