News

All members of VINE that our annual general meeting will take place

Time:             10.00am - 1.00pm   

Date:              Monday 23 May 2022

Place:              ISV - 40 Rosslyn Street West Melbourne   

Technology:   Members may attend online by registering for a Team's link.   

More information including agenda will be emailed to members in the coming days.

We are pleased to let you know the line up for our first meeting is looking amazing, thanks to the great work of Ashley Voigt.

The meeting theme is 'Time to talk tech' and will provide a great line up of presenters as well as lots of opportunity to learn from other schools.  After last year's survey we understand it is hard to release technical people during the school term, so the Friday 22 April is in the school break.

Venue and final agenda will be made available soon.  For now put the date in your calendar.

Microsoft Education Australia has announced the 2022 Microsoft School Transformation Program. It is a range of free professional development workshops for teachers, leaders, and IT pros that runs in the latter half of each year. In the first half of the year, we run a range of teacher workshops that will allow your staff to learn about Microsoft technologies in education to empower themselves and their students. By upskilling your staff early in the year, you will be set to complete the School Transformation Program later in the year if you choose to. 

Schools can use the calendar of events listed to build a professional learning program for their teachers around using Microsoft Technologies. Individual teachers can use the calendar of events to build their personal professional learning program. Whether these workshops are pursued as a school or as an individual, teachers can build capacity and understanding in using Windows, Teams, 365 tools, STEM and Inclusive Classroom tools.

View Events and Register

One of the ways VINE supports schools is creation of resources which can be used to help ensure safe and effective use of technology for learning and teaching. Today we're excited to announce the release of our second round of animated short films.

The new series of films address three more common topics relating to ICT use in schools: Passwords, Personal Brand and a Parent Guide to managing their children's use of technology. 

Below are links to all films on the VINE YouTube channel. The films are publicly available to enable schools to embed them in newsletters, play them at parent nights and device deployment days, post them on websites or use them how they see fit.

You can do this! Season 1

• You can do this! - Encourages people to have a go at resolving ICT problems for themselves.
• Data breach - This video aims to raise awareness of data breaches and how to avoid them.
• Phishing - This video aims to raise awareness about phishing attacks and how to prevent them.

You can do this! Season 2

• Passwords – This video aims to explain how to craft a strong password and how to manage some of the challenges of account security.
• Personal Brand – This video provides guidance to young people on how to take control of their personal brand.
• Parent guide – Sensible advice for parents around management of their children's use of technology.

Thanks to Nourishing Media who produced the films and members of the VINE committee who contributed to their development. 

What a year it has been for VINE with growing membership and engagement despite the uncertainty that ongoing lockdowns bring. The situation we find ourselves in is an underscoring of the need for schools to connect regularly and this happens best with the support of sponsors. Sponsors not only help fund our work and provide venues where we can meet, but also add a different and valued perspective to the dialogue which helps the industry mature in a positive and productive way.

35 companies applied for the eight annual sponsorship spots offered for the 2021-2022 financial year and of those accepted, six of the eight were returning sponsors. I mention this as these companies (Microsoft, CompNow, Interactive, Somerville, Sentral and Pixevety) demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the work VINE does and this is highly valued by member schools.

We would also like to highlight two new sponsors: Centorrino Technologies (Gold Sponsor) and Trident Technology Solutions (VINE Partner). Both of these companies are well known in Victoria and have contributed to the growth and success of VINE over time – it is fantastic to have them as annual sponsors for 2021-2022.

VINE is a professional association committed to nurturing the effective and innovative use of ICT in all areas of K-12 schools. Our tagline: "share, learn & grow"​ sums up our reason for being and our sponsors help ensure we continue to thrive.

Hardware for Hybrid Learning 

Delivered by Russell Ginley, Microsoft Education Expert

In this digital event briefing, Russell Ginley from Microsoft will provide guidance for Schools to invest in technology that not only delivers measurable ROI, but provides learners with a very real advantage when they need to use similar tools in University and the workplace.

He will share the latest research, local and global insights, as well as future roadmap to help decide:

• Where to Invest in technology that ensures School remains ‘always on’
• What technology is vital to support hybrid learning
• How to capitalise on Modern tools to be at the forefront of the future of Education
• What tools can deliver better learning outcomes & better staff satisfaction

Event Date 3 options to choose from

Tuesday, 3 August 2021 | 12:00 PM-1:00 PM (AEST) OR

Wednesday, 4 August 2021 | 3:00 PM-4:00 PM (AEST) OR

Thursday, 12 August 2021 | 9:30 AM-10:30 AM (AEST)

Introducing The Modern Backpack! Everything you need from Microsoft to ensure your toolkit is packed for the modern classroom!   Join us on the second Tuesday of every month 4:30pm AEST   Join your Modern Work team for 30 mins of: M365 & Surface key announcements and updates  Tips & tricks, topics & demos for education practitioners   Hear from the Microsoft Specialists across areas of devices, productivity, collaboration, and how Microsoft can best serve you.
Join us here: https://aka.ms/themodernbackpack Provide feedback here: https://aka.ms/themodernbackpackfeedback
Powered by you Modern Work & Surface Team Chris Turner, Rhiannon Herbert, Damien Bedford Antoinette Jago, Briar Klavins

We are pleased to announce our sponsorship and vendor engagement opportunities for 2021-2022. 

If you are interested in becoming a VINE sponsor, please complete the 2021-2022 VINE Sponsorship Expression of Interest form. Top tier packages (VINE Platinum Partner and VINE Gold Partner) are highly sought after and for 2021 the Committee have decided to conduct interviews with interested organisations. The interview is intended to explore the alignment of VINE and the potential sponsor and any potential value adds (other than sponsorship fee) the sponsor may be able to provide members or the organisation (e.g. training for members, venue access for meetings, etc.) which help support the network or technology use in education as a whole.

A copy of the sponsorship and vendor opportunities document can be obtained by contacting us.

VINE Sponsors Sentral and Microsoft are working together to achieve ISO 27001 Information Security Management Standards certification for Sentral's suite of school management tools. Read more here.

With security and cyber-attacks, a growing concern globally, this series shares multiple strategies to help mitigate incidents.

The series will then deep dive into each of the mitigation strategies in more detail. Starting with Patching of Operating Systems & Applications. It will cover all eight of the essential recommendations and how you can act today to prevent cyber-attacks in your organisation.

More information and registration can be found here.