Professor George Betts
George Betts is a highly respected educator, whose Autonomous Learner Model of student learning has been adopted and developed by a number of schools within Australia. He is Professor of Special Education and is currently the Director of the Centre for the Education and Study of the Gifted, Talented and Creative at the University of Northern Colorado. George, a dynamic speaker and consultant, has become an international leader in the field of gifted education. He was recently elected to a sixth three-year term on the Board of Directors of the US National Association for Gifted Children. George is the co-developer of the Autonomous Learner Model for Teaching and Learning which was developed to meet not only the cognitive, but the social and emotional needs of all students in all settings including the regular classroom. George Betts is also Director of the Summer Enrichment Program, a residential program for high-ability learners at the University of Northern Colorado, which provides over 700 children and youth an opportunity to be with their peers and to learn at their own breadth and depth. He received the Distinguished Service Award in 1991 from the US National Association for Gifted Children and Lifetime Achievement Award from the Colorado Association for the gifted and talented in 1995. He is author of several books and scholarly publications.
Vicki Franson
Vicki Franson is employed by Education Queensland as a GATE Way Project Officer responsible for implementation of strategies associated with this Queensland Government initiative. Mrs Franson presents seminars and workshops to interested groups of educators and parents. She has been a classroom educator most of her career with experience in classroom settings of varied types and kinds, from multi-age to self-contained gifted and talented classes. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a Master’s in Special Education of Gifted and Talented.
Dr Miraca Gross is Associate Professor of Gifted Education, and Director
of The Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC)
at the University of New South Wales. She has had 22 years’ experience
as a classroom teacher and school administrator, including 12 years as
a specialist teacher of gifted children, and served for 10 years on the
Executive of the Gifted and Talented Children’s Association of South Australia,
including six years as President. Since 1987 Miraca has won 5 international
awards for her research in the education and psychology of gifted and talented
children. In 1995 the American National Association for Gifted Children
conferred on her its prestigious Early Scholar Award – the first time this
award has ever been presented to a non-American – and in 1997 Australia
honoured her with the Inaugural Australian Award for University Teaching
in Education. Miraca is recognised internationally as a leading authority
on the social and emotional development of gifted and talented children
and her book Exceptionally Gifted Children has been greeted with
critical acclaim.
Marilyn McMeniman (BA, DipEd [Q'ld], MA [Lond], PhD [Q'ld]), is Professor
and Dean of Education, Griffith University. She has held academic positions
at both the University of Queensland and Griffith University since 1973
and, as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Queensland in the 1980s
has co-authored five national and state Reviews including: Bridging the
Language Gap; Review of the Commonwealth's ESL Program; Index of Need for
the Commonwealth's ESL Program; and A Comparison of Alternative and Mainstream
Courses at Year 11. In 1993, Marilyn was seconded to the Queensland Government's
Review of the Queensland School Curriculum as the educator on the three-member
Panel, which resulted in Shaping the Future (Wiltshire Report). She was
Foundation Head of the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at Griffith
University in 1994/5. Her main teaching and research interests include
language acquisition and learning, teaching and learning processes (strategic
learning), and motivation to learn. In June 1997, she was awarded membership
of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to education in the fields of
curriculum theory and practice, language acquisition, research and administration.
Professor Start was born in Wales and State School educated, he has
taught in Grammar, Comprehensive and Secondary Modern Schools in Manchester
and Lancashire. While teaching he completed a Graduate Diploma in Education
in the areas of educational measurement, test development, educational
psychology and psychomotor learning. He joined the staff of the University
of Western Australia as a lecturer in Education, and completed an MEd in
psychomotor learning with a thesis on Mental Practice. Brian returned
to Manchester University as the Research Fellow of the School of Education
working on a longitudinal study of the validity of Teacher Education. He
obtained his PhD on A longitudinal study of a group of teachers. In
1966 he was one of the early members of the NAGC in England. The he went
to Canada as Professor of Educational Research, then the USA as Professor
of Educational Psychology before returning to England as the Director of
Research for the National Foundation of Educational Research. Finally he
came to the University of Melbourne as the John Smyth Professor of Education
in 1973. Brian became Chairman of the Department from 1974-1996 in which
period innovations were established as the degree MEd.Psych and courses
for Educational Administration, Deafness Studies, Dip Ed Primary and Fast
Learning Children. He was Chairman of the ANZAAS Education Section in 1976
and introduced a series of papers on fast learning children. On behalf
of gifted children, he lobbied the Directors of Primary, Secondary, Technical
and Teacher Education. Jack Ford, DSE, Sent an inspector to the NAGC conference
in England from which emerged the Gifted Children’s Task Force, the University
High School Acceleration Programme and the VAGTC. Brian was invited by
Dr Dave Mossenson as Chairman of he School’s Commission Subcommittee on
Gifted Children and he organised the first National Conference on Gifted
Children (Melbourne 1985). In 1987 he established the CHIP Foundation
where CHIP is the acronym from children of high intellectual potential.
After
advice from the QAGTC, the CHIP Foundation became tax exempt in 1989. The
CHIP Unit at the University of Melbourne was established in 1989
offering DipEd, BEdStudies, MEd and PhD programmes for teachers. Centres
for CHIP, their parents and teachers now exist at Melbourne, Dandenong,
Geelong,
Moe and Benalla. The first CHIP Parent’s Conference was set up in Melbourne
in 1996. Brian took early retirement in December 1995. His interests are
wine, food, the bush, gardening and of course children — particularly CHIP.