Effective use of technology in education requires genuine innovation

And these students are learning first hand that this is how the new knowledge economy works.

So technology at Woodcrest is about more than using email to communicate with teachers after hours, or about reading class notes on the school's Intranet website.

It is integral to all learning activity. Each piece of learning undertaken by Woodcrest students is individual in focus, digital in format and creates new knowledge - new insights - in a highly innovative and practical way. Take the project of the following eight year old student as an example.

When asked "what are you doing" by one of the authors, this student explained "I'm making a model of a house", as she turned her iMac to display a revolving 3D animation of the sort of house you would need in an earthquake area.

This isn't someone who is simply learning about earthquakes; this is a knowledge maker who is putting together a number of resources to solve the problem of housing in an earthquake zone. She is coming up with something new - something that wasn't known when the lesson began. (Something that is innovative and has to be evaluated in its own terms and not against the correct answer).

The school's integrated curriculum is integral to this change of focus. Because there are no individual subjects, learning has become project-based, (Earth and Beyond, Past Present and Future being among some of the themes covered). This focus is how old subject areas are integrated and the state-mandated curriculum is addressed

Teachers at Woodcrest have also moved from being instructors at the front of a class, to collaborating with students to achieve stated learning goals, through problem solving, and the creation of new understandings and products.

It should not be surprising then that Woodcrest students, regardless of age, have 'digital portfolios'. Where else would their Intellectual Property be kept?

As part of the Brisbane suburban sprawl, Woodcrest is proof that innovation and inspiration can be independent of wealth.

After all, at the end of the day, it will be the graduates from Woodcrest who have the skills and the smarts to prosper in a digital society where the basis is clever thinking and the smart application of Intellectual Property. All skills which the Australian Council of Education Deans have identified should be key aims of current and future education policies.

What is interesting to note is that Woodcrest is not alone. Rather, it is one of hundreds of schools around the world that are changing how they go about their business of learning.

Take the Charter School movement in the US as a further example. Covering both public and private schools, some of the most creative solutions to learning have been devised in these schools. Whether they are run as small independent operations or managed by some of the biggest education companies listed on the NASDAQ.

In all their permutations, schools like Minnesota New Country School are leading by example. As with Woodcrest College, the Minnesota School is located in an area of social and economic disadvantage. As a "computer-infused" school - all learning is undertaken online in rooms housing pods of networked computers - Minnesota, too, focuses upon digital project work. Operating in 10 week project blocks with students choosing their own topics of exploration and research, students at Minnesota - like their Woodcrest peers - are self-directed learners.

Schools like Woodcrest and Minnesota represent the future of education. More importantly, it is only through innovations such as these schools have undertaken, that students will leave school with skills more suited to the new knowledge economy rather than the old industrial one. Yet it has been the thoughtful and strategic approach of the staff, rather than the extent of the funding, which has provided the quality education which every Australian student deserves.