Presenter Biographies:

Joanna Bell
Joanna has worked in the education field for over 30 years as a Primary Teacher in Australia and New Zealand, a teacher in Adult Education and as an Education Sales Consultant. She has a Diploma of Teaching in Primary Education and Teaching and Certificate 1V in  Assessment and Workplace Training.
As an Education Consultant, Joanna has conducted professional staff development workshops for teachers and students in the use of LEGO Education Robotics. She has also designed a specific range of Robotics workshops that cater for the needs of the particular audience she works with. Joanna has conducted and specifically been involved in curriculum days, workshops, information sessions, conferences, network meetings and professional development specialising in robotics for teachers and students.
She is also an active member of the NSW Robocup Junior and will be assisting the National Robocup Junior Australia  Committee in 2007 on behalf of MTA.

Wendy Bean
Wendy is a well respected education consultant who regularly presents at local, national and international conferences. She has published articles and books on spelling, writing and other aspects of literacy. Wendy works as a consultant in NSW schools on a regular basis. Her work in the classroom is focused on providing teachers with practical strategies to meet the needs of the students.

Damien Kee - Domabotics
Damien Kee holds a PhD in Robotics and Bachelor of Electrical Engineering both from the University of Queensland. Damien has been running robotics workshops in the Brisbane area for students and teachers since 2002. During this time he has conducted workshops throughout Queensland including Rockhampton, Cairns, Weipa, Townsville, Kingaroy, Gladstone and St George.

Damien has been heavily involved with the RoboCup Junior competition since 2001, initially as a judge but more recently as one of the QLD State competition technical organisers. In 2007, Damien was the Chair of the Organising Committee for the 2007 RoboCup Junior Australian Open. Damien is on the RoboCup Junior Australian Committee and is the Australian representative to the RoboCup Junior International Committee.

Damien holds a current 'Blue Card' issued by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardians.

Michael Schofield
Michael Schofield is a self employed IT Professional, with extensive experience in providing training and development in both the public and private sectors. His interest in robotics has lead to his involvement with RoboCup Junior Australia, where he has been a committee member since 2001.
Michael holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and was recently appointed as a Visiting Fellow at the University of NSW School of Computer Science and Engineering, specifically to run robotics workshops for both teachers and students. He also runs mentoring and training programs for many schools throughout NSW, where the focus is the use of robotics in the classroom.

Celeste Musgrave & Santina DiMauro
Jolly Discoveries

Celeste and Santina are experienced teachers who have taught in both State and private Catholic schools. They are well known in the education field through their advocacy of Synthetic Phonics and the success they have achieved with the reading and writing levels of children in Kindergarten. They have in-serviced teachers and parents throughout Australia, Asia, Lebanon and England on the benefits of Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar. They are official Jolly Phonics trainers.