EDTECH

When asked about the most memorable songs of all time, what springs to mind? The Killers’ Mr Brightside, Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time, or Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean? There are so many songs that no matter how much time has passed, you’re able to sing-along to every lyric without hesitation.

Richard Fulford is head of Biology at The Latymer School in Edmonton, North London. He introduced the online learning program Tassomai while working at Invicta Grammar in Maidstone, helping them to significantly improve GCSE Science grades through exciting new methods. Richard explains further:

As a headteacher, I am always looking for ways to do things differently. Innovation is vital to ensuring that we are always delivering the very highest standards of education, and giving students the tools they need to thrive and fulfil their potential. The digital world presents a whole host of new challenges for schools – challenges which require exactly this kind of different thinking and new ideas, if we are to address them successfully.

On the 1st November 2017, Nightingale Primary School in Greenwich joined the Maritime Academy Trust. The school took this opportunity in becoming an Academy to check the edtech market for innovative solutions which could help them move forward into the new era.

Being a Computing coordinator, I am regularly looking for the next great product to bring into school and engage learners. I’ll admit, as a coordinator and self-confessed geek I am regularly a child in a sweet shop! That said, I think it’s important to think about pedagogy first; edtech legend Mark Anderson came up with an interesting model of how to put pedagogy first:

“Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you find some way to break the rules, and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women.”

– Nora Ephron, 1996, commencement speech at Wellesley College.

“Technology is best when it brings people together.” - Matt Mullenweg, American entrepreneur

The beginning of the new millennium saw an influx of portable devices into the classroom. Ever since, debate amongst teachers has raged on the appropriateness of laptop computers, tablets and mobile phones in the learning environment. Whilst technology can aid learning, there is concern over declining standards, unnecessary distractions and its actual role in purposeful learning.

As I write this, making my way back from this year’s Bett Show, my train journey is the perfect time to take stock, relax, and think about all of the things I’ve seen this weekend.

Since I was a teenager, I have always looked forward to the In/Out List published in the Washington Post right before the start of each new year. So, as Innovate My School discusses the ‘Hottest EdTech Trends’ this month, I thought I’d have a little fun and put my own spin on the idea.

In 2013, marketing communications specialist Emilie-Kate Kidd got together with a bunch of teachers who felt that, in the 21st century, technology must provide a better way to manage teaching evidence, learning journeys, formative assessment and reporting.

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