The evolution of technology has brought with it numerous benefits. Education, in particular, has experienced a multitude of these benefits as technology continues to reach a variety of learners in many different ways. Silicon Valley has, in fact, been turning its attention to education more frequently. Technology education reached $1.87 billion last year (a 55% increase). So what does this mean for teachers?

In 2014, we saw the development and growth in adoption of online learning methods in both business and education. While the UK has been more reticent in implementing online learning programmes than the US, with the lift on student cap, British universities and schools will look for ways to become more international without juggling student capacity in order to compete – and online learning could be the answer. Beyond simply making documents available across devices, online learning or e-learning can ensure education is never compromised and becomes accessible whenever and wherever the student may be.

What makes a geek? Well, according to IMS contributor Rachel Jones, a geek is “passionate, knowledgeable, wanting to convey that to the children in our classrooms. A liking for sci-fi optional.” Here, we take that enthusiasm and look at 30 superb tweeters who either identify as “geeky” or meet this loose, celebratory criteria. Senses of humour and bon mots abound.  Note: This list was assembled by Innovate My School and external recommendations. It is by no means a ‘best-of’, and is in no particular order.

What are the essential resources for the supply teacher? Sharon Wood, founder of National Supply Teacher Week, takes a look at her absolute favourites.

On supply, normal rules don’t apply. You may be left a set of plans, fully resourced, for the day. Or you may turn up with five minutes (10 minutes after you received the call to go) before the children arrive, to an empty desk, a missing laptop, and no password for the photocopier. You don’t know that the children have some work to finish off in any spare five minutes. You need to make sure that the children are fully occupied and engaging with their task to help minimise fuss and poor behaviour. You may be warned assembly is a 9:30 sharp, only to arrive and discover that it has been cancelled for today. In short, you need help! From five minute time fillers, to whole session activities ideas on the hop, apps are an essential tool for supply teachers.

It’s an exciting time for those interested in the role digital technology can play in education. There's no shortage of inspiration; talented, creative and passionate entrepreneurs around the world are using a range of innovations to improve the lives of people and their communities, and it's those using digital technology to improve education and learning that really stand out.

This question is still the subject of many debates, and was at the forefront of my mind when receiving 1:1 devices at the start of my journey with my first Y6 class! After my NQT year, which began in September 2013, I was asked to move into Y6, a daunting thought at the time. Not only that, but a set of brand new 1:1 devices were wheeled into my classroom for the children to use. At first I didn’t know where to start, as there were so many different things the children would be able to do with them. The question that really struck me was ‘what real impact would they have on the children’s progress?’

Apple have produced a series of ebooks to help teachers integrate apps into their daily classroom practice. The Apps in the Classroom series is inspired by Apple Distinguished Educators, and each book contains a collection of activities that allow students to utilize a particular app to demonstrate their learning.

Big Data promises so much more than merely enabling companies to sell us more ‘stuff’. Whilst there’s still a great deal of hype around utilising Big Data for personalised product placement, the opportunities of using data to help improve our lives are potentially boundless. The term Big Data is synonymous with Predictive Analytics, Data-driven Decision Making and even Artificial Intelligence, but it simply means “more data than you can process on a single machine.”

Talk to pupils about their sporting heroes and they always seem interested and engaged. Combine that with interactive demonstrations of their training methods using real scientific kit (that also enables them to see the consequences of poor lifestyle decisions) and you really do have a captive audience.