A strategic audit of digital capability at St Anne’s Primary School has revealed blind spots and helped map clearer priorities for the school’s digital future.
Mrs Lauren Rennison lives and breathes digital technologies.
As Digital Technologies Leader at St Anne’s Primary School in Melbourne’s Park Orchards, she has spent a decade navigating the evolving demands of technology in education.
It’s a dynamic role – balancing immediate needs with longer-term strategy.
“My primary role is a digital technologies teacher, but I also work with the principal to decide what technology needs to be put in place in the school. I also work with the leadership team, making decisions on the devices and the programs that we use, and liaising with our IT support person,” Mrs Rennison says.
“The role involves looking at all these different stakeholders and needs and wants in our context, and sometimes it feels overwhelming because there’s so many different options, and new updates, and things don’t necessarily work as they should.”
That complexity is what led her to engage with the Digital Transformation Tool (DTT), a structured diagnostic and planning platform for schools. In practical terms, it helps schools map where they currently sit in their digital maturity and identify specific gaps across key domains.
It assesses capability by guiding leadership teams through evidence-based questions or indicators across areas like leadership strategy, classroom teaching practice, student learning, infrastructure, and operational systems.
It benchmarks progress so schools can see how their current practices compare against a defined framework or maturity model (for example, moving from ad hoc digital use to fully embedded, strategic integration).
Also, it generates actionable improvement pathways, often translating assessment results into a prioritised roadmap. This might include recommended initiatives, capability-building steps for staff, and areas where investment or policy change is needed.
Seeing the bigger picture
Mrs Rennison’s first exposure to the thinking behind the DTT came several years ago, during a conference presentation focused on strategic approaches to technology in schools.
“I was listening to Anna Kinnane and Paula Christophersen, who are leaders in the field of digital education, talking about strategically putting technology into schools. It’s not just about getting the most recent devices. It’s about thinking about the purpose of the technology and why we’re using it,” she says.
“Their session was about how does technology meet the needs of the students? How does it meet the system requirements? What’s the context of the school community? I could see that they were looking bigger than just a scope and sequence.”
Designed to move schools beyond a narrow focus on devices and infrastructure, the tool supports reflection on digital literacy, professional learning, leadership and vision.
Through St Anne’s Primary School’s involvement in a Catholic school network, Mrs Rennison was invited to trial the tool in its early stages.
“It gave me an overarching sense of
‘this is where we’re at’. This is an audit of where we are. Where do we need to move to next? What are we doing well, and what do we need to do better? It’s really helpful for someone in my role to have that overview,” she says.
From insight to practical next steps
Adopting the DTT provided a structured snapshot of the school’s current position, but its value lay in the actionable detail that followed.
“The DTT report identified some quick wins – some recommendations that I can put into a professional learning meeting for my staff straight away, such as ideas for further study,” Mrs Rennison says.
A key emerging theme in St Anne’s DTT report was artificial intelligence, an area the school recognises as increasingly important but still developing.
At the same time, the tool surfaced strengths in school culture.
“The DTT delves into the culture of the school, whether staff are willing to take on new technology. The results showed our staff are willing to learn new technology and help each other with that, as well as the students,” Mrs Rennison says.
That willingness, she notes, creates a strong foundation for ongoing development.
“The report highlighted some things that we’re not really doing at the moment – things that just haven’t even been on my radar,” she says.
One example stood out.
“I’ve not really even considered our administration team. They use technology all day, every day but I’ve never really thought about how could we be supporting them in their role using technology.”
Informing leadership and long-term planning
While still in its early stages at the school, Mrs Rennison sees the tool playing a key role in guiding strategic conversations, particularly in the lead-up to external review processes.
“My next step would probably be approaching the school’s leadership team to say, ‘These are the things that I’ve noticed, which would be good to discuss’,” she says.
“When we have those discussions, I can flag what I think we’re doing well and the things that we could be doing better with technology over the next four years.”
Beyond individual insights, Mrs Rennison values the tool’s ability to present a more objective perspective.
“It’s impartial – it reveals things that I hadn’t considered. It helps to balance the bias in things you haven’t considered before.”
That impartiality helps move the conversation from immediate concerns to a broader, interconnected view.
“It prompts you to think more about a holistic view of technology in your school, rather than just hyper focusing on our devices needing to be replaced next year,” Mrs Rennison says.
“In the greater scheme of things, it puts it more in perspective of how things are actually flowing in your school, and how one thing can affect another thing positively as well as negatively.”
A tool for clarity and direction
Ease of use also contributed to Mrs Rennison’s positive experience with the DTT, lowering barriers to engagement for busy school leaders.
“It was really simple and relatively quick – the questions themselves are bite-sized,” she says.
However, she sees even greater value in collaborative use, with more than one staff member at the school completing the tool.
“I think the value does come from having multiple perspectives. For example, classroom teachers would probably respond differently to the questions in the tool, or even just two different people with two different expertise levels,” Mrs Rennison says.
For schools grappling with competing priorities and rapid technological change, that shared understanding can be critical.
“If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the expanse of technology and how much potential it has, and you’re not sure where to start, this tool really helps you fine tune your priorities.
“The subsequent report is quite comprehensive. Once you start to break it down, you realise there are some small things you can do and some longer-term goals that you can set,” she says.
The Digital Transformation Tool enables schools to assess key dimensions of digital capability (Leading, Teaching, Learning, and Managing) and provides targeted, evidence-informed guidance to support strategic, future-focused digital improvement.
The DTT is now available to all schools. For more information, visit: www.digitaltransformationtool.com
