Virtual learning revolutionising rural Catholic education

Eamonn visited Proximity Learning in Austin, Texas, as part of his Churchill Fellowship trip.

Virtual learning in the education sector has enormous potential for students around the Archdiocese, according to Eamonn Moore.

The McAuley College principal received the Blakeney Millar Foundation Churchill Fellowship to investigate best practice in delivering innovative Stage 6 curriculum through virtual learning late last year, and travelled to New Zealand and the United States for five weeks to explore how different organisations were utilising technology.

“The virtual world is on the brink of exploding, and I quickly learnt the scale of it in the US,” he said.

“Millions of kids in America don’t go to brick-and-mortar schools. There are very different models that operate in all kinds of ways – schools of two to three hundred students, where the school is an office in a shopping mall and everyone is online; hybrid models where the kids might come for a day or two a week; and flexible packages where you can do the lessons at any time.”

Mr Moore said he was particularly interested in virtual learning for remote students, such as those in Tumut and Temora.

“What I really hope for is that we could in some way offer specialised subjects and teachers for our students, particularly in Year 11 and 12,” he explained.

“What’s important to me is that I can keep boys and girls at home with their family, in their own town, with their weekend job and their sports team, while they can still have a successful HSC journey that is tailored to them.”

A virtual learning model has already supported the expansion of McAuley College in Tumut and St Anne’s Central School in Temora.

Both schools offered Year 12 for the first time last year thanks to virtual learning, which provided flexibility in timetabling and lesson delivery.

“We quickly found that to offer specialist subjects, we needed to offer them virtually, so we teamed up with St Anne’s to offer Biology and Business Studies,” he said.

“We realised we didn’t necessarily need a teacher standing in front of the class to deliver that class.”

Mr Moore said in New Zealand, he connected with a group of schools collaborating in a similar way.

“They are offering subjects to rural kids that they can’t staff in their own school using quite the same model,” he said.

“It was reaffirming to see we are on a good path. It is an exciting time. It has become a real passion of mine that we can embrace opportunities for our rural boys and girls.”

McAuley College Principal Eamonn Moore and his wife Claudia travelled to New Zealand and the United States to explore virtual learning as part of a Churchill Fellowship.

Mr Moore would love to see such collaboration across the Archdiocese.

“I would love to see it reach the stage that if you want to do physics and you live in Temora, we will find you a class – let’s find a virtual teacher and they can deliver across the whole region,” he said.

“We can’t offer everything as little country schools, but I have seen good things happening in the US, and I have come back with a drive that it can happen. It is just about collaboration and openness. For some people, it is a leap of faith. We have to be brave and lead the way to help rural kids.”

Mr Moore said while the concept was gaining momentum, with about 60 students from Archdiocesan secondary colleges now participating in virtual programs, he had also learned more about the challenges during his trip.

“Overall, what I kept coming back to was that our schools have a clear sense of belonging, and in many of the virtual schools, I failed to find that,” he said.

“That is something we need to hang on to – that’s our core business – that contact and relationship. If we keep that as our core, then we can build out from that as virtual learning progresses.”

Mr Moore said one of his favourite moments of the fellowship trip was seeing students use virtual reality in classes.

“It is mind-blowing,” he said.

“Imagine a history class where you can walk down an aqueduct in Ancient Rome or even see Nero. Imagine your French teacher showing you around Paris. This is very exciting. It is a pivotal time in education.”