Mount Isa School of the Air

Mount Isa School of the Air (MISOTA) supports distance learning for children in remote areas using several ICTs.

The school's motto is "Through Adversity to Higher Things".

Mount Isa School of the Air, based in the mining town of Mount Isa in Queensland, was set up to provide distance learning to children in remote areas. It is the second oldest school of its type in Australia and teaches pupils spread across a vast swath of rugged country from Burketown near the Gulf of Carpentaria to the tiny settlement of Birdsville that lies on the edge of the Simpson Desert. Apart from providing effective distance education within the entire country, it also ensures regular contact with all its students on a daily basis. The history of the Mount Isa School of the Air has been linked with the development of the North West with perhaps a similar community influence as the Royal Flying Doctor Service. There is no doubt that the historic radio communication between Cloncurry and Augustus Station heralded a new era in the development of the region. From the ‘pedal radio’ around 1930, medical advice could be sought to allay the fear that sickness and injury posed. Facilities to enhance education for outback kids was to be realized much later as following the first School of the Air opening in Alice Springs in 1951, the first School of the Air in Queensland opened its doors in 1960 at Cloncurry. The RFDS apart from providing aero-medical support developed a skilled team of radio technicians to attend to the radio communication needs of the RFDS and the station community. As rural telephone services were confined to the principal towns in the region, the RFDS provided a radio/telephone (radphone) interconnect call service to those in isolated station communities. The RFDS technicians provided the technical support for the fledgling School of the Air in Cloncurry.

The School of the Air followed the RFDS to Mount Isa in 1964 when the RFDS moved to its current premises in Barkly Highway. The Mount Isa School of the Air was housed in the building that is now the RFDS Tourist Centre. Later the Principal and Teachers used the Happy Valley School as base and commuted between the Happy Valley School and the studios at the RFDS Base for lesson broadcasting.

In 2001, 230 students from 120 families were enrolled with MISOTA. The majority of the families live on stations within a 450km radius from Mount Isa.

To provide radio coverage over such distances High Frequency (HF or Short Wave) radio was used. MISOTA used 8 frequencies or channels available of which 5 were used daily to enable the teachers to conduct lessons with their classes. Radio signals are reflected from the upper atmosphere some 150 kms above the surface of the earth. The ionosphere, as this region of the atmosphere is called; enables the radio signals to cover the immense distances to the boundaries of the school’s service area. Mount Isa School of the Air refers to the ionosphere as their ‘mirrors in the sky’ acknowledging the important part the ionosphere plays in communicating with their students.

Class groups averaging 7 students were grouped in geographical wedges, where possible, radiating out from Mount Isa to provide 3-way communication from teacher to student, student to teacher and from student to student. It was regarded as important that students could hear other students (hence the grouping in wedges) but on many occasions the children could often only just hear their teacher, let alone other students.

The technical facilities at MISOTA comprise 5 studios and lessons are transmitted from all 5 studios Monday through Friday, with the first lessons starting at 8:30 am. By using 5 studios, lessons can be concentrated into the morning time slot, which is the best period for communicating HF radio lessons to students, taking into consideration the tropical location and the possibility of gulf storms accompanied by lightning producing crackles and pops and interfering with lessons.

The number of students in a class is kept low to enable the teacher to in teract with each student. The number of students in a class is between 5 – 10, on average 7. The teacher keeps a record of responses from each class member and by doing so can even up the active participation by each student.

The Radio Components of The Mount Isa School of the Air consists of the following:

• A computer screen and keyboard
• A control panel
• A tape / CD player
• Audio monitor loudspeaker
• Headset / microphone (two provided, one for visiting student use)

The teacher uses the computer to access the bridge.

• All class groups are displayed that have dialed in.
• The teacher can join a conference or class group (and leave) as lesson times dictate.
• The teacher can speak to the class group via the headset and is able to play a tape or CD as the lesson requires.
• Control of the headset and tape / CD is made possible by manipulating keys on the control panel.
• For visitors in the studio the audio monitor can be turned up for them to listen to the conference in the studio without using a headset.

More frequently these days teachers and students communicate using the Education Queensland E-Learn website and logging into Blackboard and Eluminate for lessons and support.

More details on Mount Isa School of the Air can be found on the school's website: http://mtisasde.eq.edu.au/wcms/

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