Latest articles from the Innovate My School community.

With teachers and school leaders across the UK enjoying a well-deserved break, we're taking a look at the academic year ahead. What can educators expect? How can they go about boosting their own wellbeing and student achievement alike?

We've gathered writers from a variety of backgrounds to tackle this Countdown to 2018/19. What's more, August's content is powered by Bett Global Series, whose new Bett Innovation Index gives a major selection of insights in itself...

Social Media (34)

Using blogs to make learning visible

Visible learning is not just about John Hattie. This is not to take away from Professor Hattie’s research, merely to say that creating visibility around student learning can redefine a learner’s understanding of the world. When in classes facilitating, I often open with the question “Do you know how many people in the world have access to the internet?” to which there are a myriad of guesses from ...

30 edu-tweeters to follow: Australia and New Zealand

This is a list of 30 recommended education-oriented Twitter feeds. Note: this is by no means a ‘best-of’, and is in no particular order. The list is comprised of suggestions from the public and our own choices.

Using social media to boost classroom engagement

Whether or not you subscribe to the digital native ideology or believe it’s a fallacy, on the whole our students today are more au fait with social media than ever before. Schools have become adept at limiting student access to social media and at managing their own accounts, but it’s often seen as an additional PR tool rather than a legitimate learning activity. Whilst I don&...

How technologies can engage students in creative learning experiences

To gauge his opinion on important matters regarding education, we conduct a Twinterview with Mitchel Resnick, a LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research and the head of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. [As seen in the October 2014 edition of our magazine] Mitchel Resnick is a LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research and the head of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. He led ...

Why teachers should tweet

As discussed in Cazzypot’s article on teacher-blogging from earlier this year, teachers are often very active in their communities. Twitter plays a huge part in this; here, Mark ‘@ICTEvangelist’ Anderson explains why he considers tweeting to be a crucial part of being a modern teacher. That’s right - I’m that teacher in your staffroom talking about people, not by their first names, but by their Twitter handles. ...

Does blogging empower teachers?

Much has been made of how powerful blogging can be in education, by experts such as David Mitchell. But how can online writing platforms benefit teachers? English and SEN educator ‘Cazzypot’ discusses how blogging has helped her over the last couple of years. Late in 2012, I decided I'd start writing a local history blog. Although, having been an English teacher for the last 19 years, this possibly wasn't the most logical ...

30 excellent edu-Tweeters worth following

Twitter is an indispensable aspect of many people’s working lives. As such, it’s good to know whom to follow. A follow-up to April’s 30 great British education-innovators to follow on Twitter article, here are 30 more suggested educators to follow! This is a list of 30 recommended education-oriented Twitter feeds. Note: this is by no means a ‘best-of’, and the order is unimportant. The list is comprised of suggestions from ...

The top social media platforms for 2014/15

Given how often most students access social media sites, it’s now becoming more common for schools to utilise them for education purposes. The Lady Eleanor Holles’ director of ICT Matt Britland waxes lyrical on how social media can help innovate your school. The summer is not too far away, and many school will be thinking about next year. Perhaps 2014-15 is the time for your school to begin to ...

What kind of Twitter animal are you?

One pleasing outcome of Innovate My School’s ‘30 great British education-innovators to follow on Twitter’ article was that it got some of our followers talking about the use of Twitter by educators. Sue Dixon of Thinking Child is particularly interested in the different kind of tweeters that education offers. While it’s a humorous topic, it’s interesting to examine the different characters to whom we’re all now accustomed. ...

30 great British education-innovators to follow on Twitter

Most modern professionals have a Twitter account. The social network can offer belly laughs out-of-nowhere, factoids that can raise a smile or an eyebrow (see Andy Nyman’s account for excellent facts-of-the-day) and often real insight. Indeed, Twitter can be a superb place for getting output from superb innovators of education… Here are thirty education specialists, mostly recommended by followers of Innovate My School. This isn’t meant to be ...