68:"Ultranet Coaches", who were teachers employed to assist in the implementation of the ultranet in DEECD schools, were notified in May 2011 that at the end of that year their positions would no longer exist. This decision sparked speculation that DEECD was planning to 'sell off' the Ultranet to other education systems, including the Catholic sector. In addition to online comments and leaks, this speculation was also supported by the existence of the position of Ultranet 'Business Owner'.
458:
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Further criticism was made about the
Ultranet being an exclusively closed space. While the Ultranet was designed with online safety as a priority, the lack of modern Web 2.0 tools forced users to embed content from other sources, somewhat undermining the safety and privacy priority. At the time, many
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A pupil-free professional development day was planned for 9 August 2010 for teaching staff to learn how to use the
Ultranet. However heavy server loads caused the system to crash around 9.00am and teaching was unable to continue. Some schools were reported to have abandoned the training day and staff
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An audit by the
Victorian auditor general's office found "the Ultranet was poorly planned and implemented. Six years after its announcement, it is yet to achieve expected benefits for students, parents and schools. It is significantly late, more than 80 per cent over its first announced budget, has
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This audit identified a number of serious probity, procurement and financial management issues surrounding the
Ultranet project. DEECD’s tender process lacked rigour and was seriously flawed. There is little confidence in the financial management practices around the Ultranet project, and limited
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announced that it had signed a $ 2.8 million contract with NEC to continue to support
Ultranet until the end of December 2013, after which it would no longer be backed by the government. Schools would then have to pay NEC to use Ultranet, or find other ways to access equivalent functions. On 19
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In
December 2012, the secretary of the Education Department, Richard Bolt, announced that the Victorian government was "looking at the Ultranet in its entirety... It's a fact, and a well-known fact I think, that the level of take-up of the Ultranet has been nothing like what was intended."
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and phased into school use between 2006 and 2010. Following an audit in 2012 that found that the
Ultranet seriously lacked the features and functionality it was intended to deliver, the Victorian government announced that it would be abandoning support for the system at the end of 2013.
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into the development and rollout of
Ultranet. This operation found corruption in the tender process, and laid charges against three individuals. It also reported that the cost of Ultranet potentially reached $ 240 million dollars, far more than the initial estimate of $ 60 million.
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Darrel Fraser, then a deputy secretary of the
Department of Education was charged with obtaining property by deception, and misconduct in public office. He was sentenced in 2020 to 300 hours of community service.
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65:"The Ultranet" was originally piloted in 22 schools in 2006 under the label 'Student@Centre', and the system was rolled out to all Victorian government schools throughout 2010.
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very low uptake, and does not have originally intended functionality." The auditor general also found that the cost of
Ultranet had reached more than $ 180 million dollars.
93:. Criticism was also made surrounding the lack of options in 'Learning Tasks', where many other rival Learning Management Systems had more modern and flexible solutions.
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December 2013 Ultranet was officially taken offline. Some 15 schools which had signed up to use it were migrated to GenEd, NEC's cloud based Ultranet.
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81:, at a cost of $ 1.4 million dollars. The event featured singing and dance performances, as well as a bus decorated with Ultranet livery.
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to provide extensive services to students, parents and teachers in government schools. The Ultranet was built by Australian IT firm
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135:(IBAC) announced that an investigation and public hearings would take place with regards to the tendering process of Ultranet.
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172:"Ultranet updates - Ultranet - School Management - Department of Education and Early Childhood Development"
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Senior figures in the Education Department had bought shares in the company that won the Ultranet tender.
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1.2 Million NSW school students move to Google Apps for Education, reducing total costs by 66%
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dismissed early. Despite this failure, the next day, Ultranet held a promotional event at the
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249:
Evaluation of the Pilot Implementation of the Student@Centre Ultranet in Victorian Schools
224:"IBAC charges three people following investigation into corrupted Ultranet project | IBAC"
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schools already had access to other free online learning management systems, including
500:"Former Victorian education bureaucrat Darrell Fraser avoids jail over $ 1m fraud"
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119:
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474:"IBAC finds disastrous Ultranet project for schools was a 'corrupt' shambles"
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Ultranet was the subject of Operation Dunham, an investigation made by the
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315:"Teachers can't log in to education portal after students get day off"
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472:
Cook, Henrietta; Preiss, Benjamin; Jacks, Timna (27 January 2017).
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assurance that the selected outcome represented value for money.
296:"'Massive fail': technical glitches upset ultranet training day"
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334:"$ 1.4 million promotional event for botched Ultranet project"
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Criminal charges were made against three individuals by IBAC.
459:"Fairfax Syndication Photo Print Sales and Content Licensing"
422:"Learning Tech", 12 December 2012, accessed 4 February 2013.
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was an online learning management system developed for the
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Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
402:"Clunky, outdated ultranet faces an uncertain future"
251:. The University of Melbourne Victoria, 2006, p. 4.
133:Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission
54:Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission
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97:2012 Victorian government review of the Ultranet
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79:Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
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391:, 23 June 2011, accessed 1 July 2011.
385:"Moodle - Learning Management System"
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268:, 5 April 2011, accessed 1 July 2011.
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361:, 16 May 2010, accessed 3 July 2011.
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281:, 20 May 2010, accessed 1 July 2011.
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138:IBAC made a number of key findings:
433:"How the Ultranet scandal unfolded"
313:Masanauskas, John (9 August 2010).
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332:Jacks, Timna (15 February 2016).
247:Patrick Griffin and Kerry Woods.
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498:Vinall, Frances (24 July 2020).
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16:Defunct online learning system
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535:Education in Victoria (state)
530:Virtual learning environments
294:Levy, Megan (9 August 2010).
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359:"Thoughts on the Ultranet"
194:"Operation Dunham | IBAC"
266:Heidelberg Teaching Unit
176:www.education.vic.gov.au
131:In December 2015, the
114:Government abandonment
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374:. Google, 2010, p. 1.
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72:Launch and reception
277:Andrew Williamson.
228:www.ibac.vic.gov.au
198:www.ibac.vic.gov.au
120:Napthine government
439:. 15 February 2016
182:on 28 August 2008.
127:IBAC investigation
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279:"Ultranet Down!"
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25:Ultranet logo
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507:. Retrieved
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408:. Melbourne.
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321:. Melbourne.
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302:. Melbourne.
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180:the original
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504:News.com.au
91:Google Apps
524:Categories
319:Herald Sun
159:References
147:Aftermath
42:Australia
35:Victorian
383:Moodle.
370:Google.
31:Ultranet
509:26 June
483:26 June
478:The Age
443:26 June
437:The Age
406:The Age
343:26 June
338:The Age
300:The Age
233:26 June
203:26 June
389:Moodle
87:Moodle
418:VAGO
511:2023
485:2023
445:2023
345:2023
235:2023
205:2023
89:and
29:The
46:CSG
40:in
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