Recent projects
Australians at Work
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A large and ambitious website project being produced for Film Australia, and intended for use in secondary schools. It presents 51 video clips from the Film Australia archives, together with background information, curriculum links and lesson plans. The clips explore a range of issues around work and the workplace, and the resource will be particularly useful in Studies of Society and Environment, English, History and Politics.
The site is quite technically advanced, using PHP to perform content negotiation — dynamically serving either XHTML 1.0 Strict or HTML 4.01 Strict depending on the user’s browser. It also features a custom-designed user registration system, and a Flash video player console which mimic much of the functionality of Apple’s QuickTime Player.
Current status:
Completed → view the site
Synopsis:
On the land and in the cities, at sea and in the air, through boom times and bust, in peace time and war, Film Australia cameras have filmed Australians at work for almost a century. This footage records the honing of time-honoured skills, the development of new technologies, and the growth and sometimes failure of ambitious enterprises.
Australians At Work is an extensive online resource that makes this fascinating audio-visual material available for classroom use.
An easy-to-use website provides access to a large number of self-contained, single-purpose modules. Each module contains a "nugget" of moving images drawn from Film Australia's archive of film, video and digital material, ranging from single shots to three-minute sequences. Each nugget is accompanied by background information, teachers notes, suggested student activities and curriculum pointers.
Users can browse the modules by school subject area (eg English, SOSE), year level (Years 7-12), or themes (eg. the Environment and Work). Registered users can also view the video nuggets online or download to disk. Registration and usage is free.
Developed in consultation with teachers and Education Department specialists from across the country, Australians At Work is designed to assist teachers meet learning outcomes for a wide range of curriculum areas and ages across all states.