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NIDAAG Reference Group Terms of Reference

The Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA) supports the Digital Education Revolution (DER) as a key strategic initiative in achieving world class standards for Australia’s education and training and has agreed to work cooperatively.

The Australian Information and Communications Technology in Education Committee (AICTEC) provides strategic policy advice on the implementation of the DER. The National Interoperability and Digital Architecture Advisory Group (NIDAAG) provides expert cross-jurisdictional and cross-sectoral advice on a technical framework to support online learning and the implementation of the DER. The Advisory Group consults with the Reference Group(s), as well as seeking cross sectoral views from the schools, vocational education and training and higher education sectors, as appropriate to provide strategic advice on:

a national, unified digital architecture built on a modular and flexible technology base;
collaborative work and digital learning environments, including potentially developing middleware services, toolkits, building test beds and possible demonstration projects;
identity and access management;
standards to support content development, discovery and sharing.

The Reference Group(s) may also, under direction from the Advisory Group, provide advice and support to stakeholders involved in implementing the National Interoperability and Digital Architecture Work Plan.

The Reference Group(s) will consist of education professionals and technical experts in areas including:

strategic technical issues such as technical standards for interoperability and online data and information exchange;
digital learning environments;online curriculum content development and useability;
market capability;
authentication, access and identity management; and
collaborative initiatives across schools broadband networks.

Members of the Reference Group(s) will be used as a sounding board and validation process for work undertaken as part of the DER implementation plan. This may be broader than the National Interoperability and Digital Architecture Work Plan.

Membership of the Reference Group(s) will be based on merit and through nominations sought from the education sectors. Selection of the Reference Group(s) members will be made by NIDAAG reflecting the tasks/issues being investigated and relevant expertise of the individual.