Manoj Chandra Handa
MA (English), BSc, DipEd, MACE, MAITD

Mr Chandra Handa is founder of Connective Learning, a Sydney-based consulting firm specialising in assisting educators understand and implement the latest workplace and leadership practises in embedding learning technologies in education.

Mr Chandra Handa offers consultancy service to educational and religious institutions utilising his skills in innovative systems thinking, change vision, staff professional development, information technology management, and creative application of learning technologies in order to contribute towards transforming an educational institution into a learning organisation.

Mr Chandra Handa is an educator with 23 years experience both at tertiary and secondary levels. He was the Director of Computing at Knox Grammar School, Sydney. Prior to this, he held positions of Computing in Education Coordinator and Assistant Head of English at Knox.

Before serving at Knox for eleven years, he was a lecturer in English literature at DAV College, Punjab University in India and taught English literature at tertiary level for ten years.

Mr. Chandra Handa recently presented a paper at an international conference on educational leadership ("Leading Academic Change - Through Connective Leadership and Learning") in Orlando, Florida, USA on 6th March, 2001. The international conference was hosted by The Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education (SITE 2001), an association of The Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) - http://www.aace.org/conf/site/

At a national conference, "Education 2000: Priorities for the New Millennium", hosted by The Australian College of Education (ACE) in July 2000, Mr. Chandra Handa presented a paper, "Connected Learning by Knowledge Workers - Vision and Strategies". For details of the published paper online, visit the site: http://www.det.nsw.edu.au/aceconf2000/papers/papers/c4-2.htm

As Director of Computing at Knox Grammar School in Sydney with 1800 students and 150 staff members, Mr. Chandra Handa was responsible for setting up and developing the school’s Notebook Programme that encompasses two campuses. Some of the major achievements include:

• Transformed the traditional school culture into a connective, networked environment with online systems.

• Pioneered a unique staff development programme developing the staff into virtual teams with a learning orientation.

• Developed an Excel based, Outcomes oriented, Electronic Markbook and automated it with the Windows based reporting programme.

• Led a team that organised the system migration from Novell to NT in order to create a uniform, secure environment and centralised support.

• Conceived a networking infrastructure conducive to connective learning such as providing remote access to staff from home; creating share drives and introducing roaming profiles for all staff to be able to work anywhere, anytime.

Mr. Chandra Handa holds a Master of Arts in English Literature (Punjab University, India), a Bachelor of Science (GND University, India) and a Diploma In Education (University of Newcastle, Australia with High Distinction in both theory and practicum). He is a member of the Australian College of Education (MACE). He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Training and Development (MAITD).