The Digital Education Revolution initiative is a major part of the Australian Government Education Revolution. This $1.2 billion initiative aims to contribute sustainable and meaningful change to teaching and learning in Australian schools to prepare students for further education and training and for living and working in a digital world. A total of $1.1 billion over five years has been allocated to the National Secondary School Computer Fund.
The initiative recognises that Australian students need greater access to, and more sophisticated use of, ICT. They need the best hardware, high-speed broadband connections, quality digital content and well-trained teachers to integrate technology into teaching and learning.
The NSSCF Guidelines state that every school providing senior secondary education may benefit from the NSSCF. The total funding available to each school is dependent on student enrolment numbers and the identified needs of the school in relation to its existing ICT capacity.
Each secondary school may apply for funding in future funding rounds. Eligible schools may receive up to $1 million over the life of the fund (2008–12), including funding to update existing technology every three years.
The first priority for funding under the program is to ensure that the computer-to-student ratio for Year 9–12 students is 1:2. Computers may be:
- desktop computers
- laptop computers
- thin client computers.
The Australian Government will provide the NSSCF funds through funding agreements with state and territory education departments on behalf of government schools and with block grant authorities on behalf of the non-government sector. Education authorities and schools have been encouraged to take advantage of bulk purchasing and, where economies of scale can be achieved, NSSCF funding can be used for the effective deployment of the computers. This might include contributions to on-costs; for example, power, security or air conditioning. This could mean that the authorities gain benefits for the jurisdiction or system as a whole (where appropriate) or may negotiate and pass the funds to individual schools to manage.
Residual funds may also be used to purchase other ICT equipment, such as interactive whiteboards, data projectors, printers and scanners or network infrastructure.
The new ICT resources acquired through the NSSCF will be introduced in conjunction with existing school ICT resources and new ICT resources funded through other sources.
Many Australian schools already have access to advice on ICT planning and management from the various government, Catholic and independent school systems. ICT resources acquired through the NSSCF should be planned for and managed in accordance with that advice.
See also: Site diagram 
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The Guide is in five broad sections:
This section describes the purpose of the Guide and provides a glossary of terms and site map.
This section helps schools understand their ICT readiness and set goals and priorities for ICT in teaching and learning. It helps answer the question: ‘How do I plan for the new ICT resources?’
This section helps schools to optimise the learning space options they have, and to answer the question: ‘How do I implement the ICT resources?’
This section helps schools to decide the tools that best meet their needs, and helps answer the question: ‘What ICT infrastructure and tools do I need?’
This section helps answer the questions: ‘How should the ICT infrastructure be managed after the new resources have been implemented?’ and ‘How will I know how well I’ve succeeded?’
There is also a glossary which explains the terms and abbreviations used throughout the Guide.
See also: Site map
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