Huge Growth in eBook Use
Use of the CEnet ACEN Sora eBook platform has seen phenomenal growth since last year, with a 52% growth year to year. While huge growth could be seen during the learning from home period, checkouts of books are still continuing to grow at a healthy rate each month. Recent strategies by the consortium to invest in a range of Always Available titles has been very popular with teachers and students alike, with over 7,000 loans in the last 10 weeks.
Users of the Sora platform have also benefited from updates to the interface featuring redesigned Preferences and Collections sections and eye-catching backgrounds to the display of curated collections.
Additionally, to help motivate students to keep meeting their reading goals, the Sora reading app also recently added 10 new subject-based achievements that they can earn by borrowing and completing titles from specific genres.
For more information about Sora subject-based achievements click here.
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Member Dioceses Consultations
CEnet recently completed meetings with the 16 member dioceses as part of the annual review, planning and budget consultation process.
The meetings provide an opportunity for Directors of Schools, Chief Financial Officers and IT Leaders to spend time with key CEnet personnel to discuss plans for the coming year, and benefits derived from the CEnet membership.
Whilst detail of the consultations is still being consolidated, comments indicate appreciation of the value of participation in a partnership.
“Membership is very rewarding and that there are a number of initiatives that the diocese would not have been able to undertake if we had not been a member.”
“We are getting support in everything we do”
“We have been really happy with CEnet’s service especially with the support during the transition to learning from home. All the technologies have been very valuable and this reinforces that without the leadership and value of working with CEnet we would not have got through it.”
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Aggregated Procurement Activities
CEnet has an ongoing aggregate procurement process which is driven by the needs of member dioceses and aims to reduce costs associated with using a product or service by harnessing collective buying power.
There are a number of opportunities being explored at the moment, including:
- Doodle
- Education Perfect
- BBC Micro:bits
- Seesaw
- Vivi
In addition to exploring new opportunities, CEnet also coordinates a license renewal program for member dioceses. The next renewal process will be the Adobe Agreement, which has its anniversary aligned to the commencement of the school year. Contacts in member dioceses will shortly receive a request for details of any additional licenses required for the 2021 school year.
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On Thursday of last week 50 teachers from across the CEnet membership participated in a workshop on the use of Google’s Tour Creator to develop immersive experiences by creating virtual reality tours. The session which commenced after school in Qld, NSW, ACT and Tasmania, was delivered by John Hession from Catholic Schools Broken Bay, following the highly successful session run in term 3.
Participant comments:
"I will use this for classroom activities, as an alternate way for students to present their learning/understanding"
"I will try creating a tour of my school for Kindergarten orientation"
"For Visual Art this will be invaluable. There are very few virtual tours coming out of galleries that are really useful. We also can't take any groups to galleries. Now I can make the tour on site and share with the class."
"Thank you. This has ready inspired me to use this tool!"
A recording of the session will be published in the resources section of the Catholic Learning Online Events website, where you can find a range of workshop recordings from previous events.
Upcoming Catholic Learning Online Events:
- Using Sora 29 October 4.15 pm AEDT
- Using Sora 11 November 7.30 am AEDT
- Using Seesaw 18 November 7.30 am AEDT
- Using Seesaw 26 November 4.15 pm AEDT
Register interest in participation in upcoming events by clicking here or by using the button below.
Catholic Learning Online Events is an initiative involving members of the the CEnet eLearning Working Group and others, that aims to identify and support areas of common need for professional learning in CEnet member dioceses.
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ONCE News
The latest edition of ONCE News is now available.
Inside this edition
- CeSIS/CeFMS project update
- Catholic Learning Online Events
- Collaborating on Cybersecurity
- CEnet’s two-time award-winning culture
- Student innovation in the Diocese of Wollongong
- and much more!
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Share a Story
The CEnet Member Bulletin provides a great opportunity to share information about activities occurring in member dioceses.
If your diocese has an interesting story to share contact us.
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Bulletin Archive
In case you missed the earlier editions of the CEnet Member Bulletin, the archived documents are available here.
Term 4
Term 3
Term 2
Term 1
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