ICT educators from around the country will descend onto Sydney this October as it hosts the 2018 Australian Council for Computers in Education (ACCE).

ICT Educators NSW has announced it will host the 28th ACCE conference at Royal Randwick on 2-5 October.

The theme for this year’s conference is 'ImpaCT', with presenters challenged with demonstrating how technologies can ensure the maximum effect on student learning.

Two keynote speakers have so far been announced for the conference.

Professor Tim Bell from the University of Canterbury will present ‘An ABC of Computational Thinking and Digital Technologies’, which will discuss the implementation of a digital technologies curriculum and the relationship between teachers and emerging technologies.

Chair of ACS’ ICT Educators Committee and ACS’ representative on the ACCE board, Associate Professor Therese Keane, said the conference can assist ICT educators as they adjust to the new requirements a digital curriculum brings.

“We’re at a turning point in teaching computing at the moment,” Keane said.

“With a significant digital technologies curriculum, the importance of ensuring that teachers are professionally developed to be able to tackle the curriculum is very important.”

Keane also spoke about the efforts of ACS’ ICT Educators Committee in this space, and the parallels with ACCE.

“What we are doing at ACS is in the same breath as what ACCE is doing in some respects, in that we are trying to improve student learning outcomes by ensuring that teachers are well developed to be able to tackle the digital technologies curriculum.

“It’s all about ensuring the educators, who teach the younger generation, are supported to teach the new Digital Technologies curriculum.”

The other keynote speaker announced to date is prominent digital wellness researcher, Dr Kristy Goodwin.

A former primary school teacher, Dr Goodwin will discuss the ways in which screen-time is shaping the health, learning outcomes and development of children and adolescents.

Registration to attend ACCE is scheduled to open on 27 March. Prospective attendees can register an expression of interest here.