Science teachers at Melbourne's Glen Waverley Secondary College don't need to get out a big ruler and protractor to teach students about refraction and reflection in physics. They just open up their school's intranet on the interactive whiteboard, use their index finger like a mouse to select the right Java application and up pops a digital tool to show the effect of light through convex and concave lenses.
When a humanities teacher starts a debate about the controversy surrounding the 'stolen generation' of aboriginal children, who were taken from their families by the Australian authorities and church missions, instead of asking pupils to write a dry essay, he sets them working in teams to make YouTube videos. And when English teachers want to demonstrate how a story pivots on choice, not character, they ask an audiovisual assistant to prepare a clip from last night's Home and Away, the TV soap opera, and flash it up on screen.