Julianne Cervellin, Learning Place Mentor for the Townsville district is an IT devotee. With a background as teacher librarian and school IT manager, being selected as a Learning Place Mentor in February this year offered a great opportunity for her to learn and teach more about information and communication technologies. After the first LP training session she said she was hooked.

Currently Julianne is establishing communication lines between regional schools to facilitate inter-school chat sessions and forums and is also working on a Christmas Around the World project. By establishing links with England, Saudi Arabia, Antarctica, USA, Japan, Thailand, Africa, Iraq, Peru, France and Russia, students and staff will have the chance to chat online or participate in forums with people around the globe. Julianne hopes this will let participants gain an understanding, acceptance and empathy for different cultures, religions and traditions related to Christmas.

Although moving into online learning seemed a natural progression for Julianne she readily admits it has been a steep, learning curve. But as is often the case, if learning is vibrant and interesting, people become stimulated by new knowledge and it drives their motivation to learn and know more.

This concept is reflected in the professional development sessions Julianne has developed for regional teachers. After working with educators in the Ingham cluster, she has applied her improved knowledge and skills regarding professional learning delivery to create innovative Learning Place training sessions for teachers. And, if you have ever sat dry-mouthed through a professional development session watching an over-heated OHP wilt well-worn print and wishing it were tomorrow, you’ll know that some staff training sessions are begging for an injection of enthusiasm.

Julianne says good food, good coffee, good company, good conversation, hands-on activities, minimum chalk and talk, short interesting sessions and motivational speakers are the key. She suggests attracting sponsors for large professional development sessions encourages schools to provide release time for staff and offers interesting warm-up activities so teachers have opportunities to share experiences. Topics are based on teacher requests so the material presented is always relevant.

Julianne also believes that when people are treated as valued individuals they respond very positively. Adding little extras like mints, cold-water jugs and prize giveaways creates a comfortable, welcoming environment and makes all the difference.

As a Learning Place Mentor Julianne’s main outcome is for teachers in her district to know about the Learning Place, what it offers and how they can use it.

“I have never been so passionate about a particular part of my job as I have since becoming involved in professional development related to the Leaning Place. In my wildest dreams, I would like all classroom teachers to automatically integrate ICTs into their everyday programs as easily as they select a reading book to use with their class.”

With LP Mentors like Julianne brokering the way for online learning to connect school communities, learning environments and the world, that dream may not be far away.