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Frequently Asked Questions

Daily Schedule

12- 15 August 2025
9:00 AM – 4:00 (1600) PM Daily

Please plan on participating in the complete institute. If you are traveling interstate or from overseas, plan on arriving a day early and leaving the evening of 15 August or on the 16th.

Detailed information for CMK Australia participants will be posted on this site and emailed in July.

Institute pricing and registration

Registration includes four days of the Institute, materials, lunch, and morning tea. Hotel costs and ground transportation are not included.

All prices are quoted in Australian (AU) dollars.

Registration can be made with credit card or check using our registration siteCredit card is preferred. Checks and POs are accepted – let us know what your plan is! There is a check option on the registration site, use that for checks or POs. Please make a note on the registration form that explains what you plan to do. Your help in getting the PO through your system is appreciated! Email Sylvia Martinez with any paperwork or questions.

If you need anything out of the ordinary for your school to complete the payment process, just let us know. We will do everything in our power to make it work!

An email confirmation and receipt will be sent to the email address you use to register. Additional information will also be sent to this email address so please use an address you check regularly. If you register and do not get a confirmation email immediately, contact Sylvia Martinez.

Cancellation fees apply. Since space is limited, there is a non-refundable deposit of $350 for cancellations prior to June 1st and a $600 charge for cancellations after June 1st. Registrations are transferable.

Pre-institute workshop

There is an optional day-long workshop available for CMK attendees on Monday, 11 August, 2025 at Westbourne Grammar School. It is intended for first time CMK participants who want to learn a bit about electronics, robotics, and coding prior to the institute. The workshop is only open to institute registrants at this time.

Introduction to Learning with Electronics – led by Brian Smith
A popular choice for first-time CMK participants where electronics and coding are demystified.

Learn all about the workshop here.

Should we send a team?

YES!!!

Teams attending CMK have a shared experience that informs and energizes the participants, resulting in expanded opportunities for change school-wide. Read how school administrators make the case for bringing a team to CMK.

Team discounts are available for teams of 5 or more. Please contact Sylvia Martinez for more information. We will handle the registrations and send a consolidated invoice.

If you are registering a smaller team, use the regular registration link and after you register one person, it will ask you if you want to register more without filling in all the same information again.

What if I’m by myself?

Many educators come to CMK on their own. CMK is structured for collegiality and collaboration, but without coercion. There will be many opportunities to meet and enjoy a cuppa with like-minded educators and engage in hard fun. You will leave CMK Australia with lifelong collaborators.

What if I’m a beginner maker or coder?

CMK welcomes educators of all levels of experience with technology. CMK is a unique model of professional development that honors the learner as the center of the learning experience. You will find new colleagues of all experience levels willing to share and collaborate. Our expert faculty will help guide you towards a fantastic experience that you will be able to take back to your school or organization.

You might also consider attending the optional pre-institute Introduction to Learning with Electronics workshop.

What if I’m experienced with technology, what will I get out of CMK?

At CMK you will work on projects of your choice with colleagues who are going through the same things you are. We have many attendees who come back year after year because they need the time to think hard about what non-coercive learning looks like. We make sure that there is time for the speakers to spend with everyone, this provides an audience for your thinking and an opportunity to learn with great learners.

Educators return to CMK (some up to ten times) because they find it to be an ever-changing experience that supports their professional learning goals like nothing else. After her fourth time at CMK, Kate Tabor said, “What makes CMK different is its grounding in the idea that we are adults, we are smart, we are learners, and we crave engaging our minds in some good, hard fun.” (You can read more about this in her blog post CMK and why I go back as often as possible.)

International participants

If you need wire transfer information or an invitation letter for a visa, please email Sylvia with the request.

CMK Australia venue

CMK Australia will be held in the Andrew Park Pavillion on the Campus of Westbourne Grammar School in Truganina, Australia (a suburb of Melbourne)

Parking – There is free parking adjacent to our facility

Please visit the Venue page for more information, and other nearby hotel options.

Hotel options

See the venue/lodging page for hotel options and conference discounts.

What should I bring?

Bring a laptop and a charger. A tablet will not be sufficient by itself, but you have one, bring both! Tablets can be useful as a secondary device to look things up as you work with your primary computer. Please make sure that you have administrative access to your laptop, so that you can download and install software. Also make sure your USB ports are functional and not restricted or disabled.

Also, we can never have enough cardboard. So, clean cardboard boxes would be a nice gift to your fellow participants.

What should I wear?

CMK is a casual, but professional environment. We will be engaged in intensive project work so dress in comfortable clothes and shoes. Remember that CMK Australia will be held during Australian winter where the weather can change multiple times per day. The locals tend to wear layers and prepare for rain.

Where will I get lunch, and more importantly coffee?

Yes, morning tea and lunch will be provided daily. There will be plenty of coffee.

Other questions?

Feel free to ask! Email Sylvia Martinez.

Constructing Modern Knowledge is intended for PK-12 educators and teacher educators of all subjects and experience levels.
 
We create a utopian culture where adult learners of all experience levels create, collaborate, and invent together.

The CMK model embraces heterogeneity and welcomes educators with lots and little technical fluency to learn together. You will be astonished by what can be accomplished and learned in just four days.

A playful attitude is far more essential than expertise at Constructing Modern Knowledge.

If you are concerned about your tech skills, we offer a pre-institute workshop, Introduction to Learning with Electronics, the day before the institute (11 August). During that workshop, you will develop the confidence to crush CMK.

No. Quality work takes time. CMK is not a conference. We sustain a community of practice that requires a commitment of four days.
 
Decades of experience suggests that four days of intense collaboration allows for successful project creation and the construction of insights into learning.

Absolutely not!

Education is growth and we are confident that every participant will learn with their colleagues at CMK. Experts will be challenged and newbies inspired!

After 15 years in the USA, this is the first time Constructing Modern Knowledge has been offered in Australia. There is no guarantee that the institute will be repeated in the future.
 
So, register today and ensure you don’t miss out.

Constructing Modern Knowledge Australia 2025 has the theme, “Roots, Worlds, and Microworlds.” This theme seeks to unify the guest speaker conversations rooting learning-by-doing, computing, and even artificial intelligence, in Piaget, progressive traditions, Papertian constructionism, and Australian ingenuity.

We will commemorate how Aussie educators invented 1:1 personal computing 35 years ago and celebrate how a state primary school brings the arts to life in an astonishing fashion.

All conversations, hands-on experiences, materials, daily lunch and morning tea are included in registration. You are responsible for travel, lodging, and additional meals.

Accomodation and travel advice is featured under the Venue & Lodging menu.

CMK at Westbourne Grammar is approximately 25km from the Melbourne CBD