
This week we have a bonus post, thanks to The Guardian’s #techinschool seminar. As you know, I no longer domicile in the Queen’s country, so there was no possibility of attending the seminar, but thanks to Twitter I was able to follow the salient points, and I wanted to share them with you. In this post I am just going to collate the main points made by the panellists, at a later stage I will add my thoughts on Edtech.
But before we look at what was said, let me introduce the panellists.
Chair
- Kate Hodge, head of content strategy at Jaywing Content and former editor of the Guardian Teacher Network
Panel
- John Galloway, advisory teacher for ICT/special educational needs and inclusion, Tower Hamlets Council
- Donald Clark, founder, PlanB Learning
- Michael Mann, senior programme manager, education team, Nesta Innovation Lab
- Naureen Khalid, school governor and co-founder of @UkGovChat
In order to make it easier to follow the seminar, I will not be embedding the tweets. However you can find them at #techinschools or by following @GuardianTeach
What is on the horizon for Edtech?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be big – Clark
Igaze is the latest in SEN and when it moves into gaming it will become more common – Galloway
Virtual Reality (VR) has a big role to play, to take children where they wouldn’t otherwise be able to go – Galloway
VR can already be used to teach subjects like Physics, but VR isn’t suitable to every topic – Clark
VR can be hard to get your head around. But once you have seen it in practice it is easier – Mann
On procurement, budgets & proof:
If technology was free nobody would question the procurement, but now teachers need to proof need and impact to governors – Khalid
The danger is that procurement is driven by equipment instead of pedagogy – Clark
It is difficult to measure impact. The same iPad in the hands of a good teacher with have a different impact than when you put it in the hands of a bad teacher – Galloway
We can’t just be playing around with this – Clark
Sometimes schools buy tech for the wrong reasons – keeping up with the Joneses – Khalid
Buyers remorse
Start on a small scale, if it work you can expand – Mann
But then you have to give it to the cynic, they are less likely to fall for a cool gadget – Galloway
Problem is most decisions is based on anecdotal evidence. A good or bad teacher can make all the difference. Schools need to find proper research – Clark
It is hard to set up a control group in a school. Which is the better teacher, resources? Lots of variables – Galloway
Most of the available research on EdTech is funded by tech companies – Mann
The idea that every child have a smart phone with them is causing lots of nervousness. It has the potential to be used in the wrong way – Galloway
I don’t believe that tablets are useful in the classroom, however they can be outside the class – Clark
I don’t think it should be Yes or No to technology. It is all about finding the right tool for each learning activity.
The right tool
There has been a change in the way classrooms operate and technology is supporting that change – Galloway
You need to ask yourself what is the problem you are trying to solve, and find the technology that fits with the pedagogy – Khalid
Education is risky anyway, introducing something new can be invigorating – Galloway
Somebody always have to be first. Somebody had to trial the things we now know work well – Galloway
Teachers should be allowed to choose apps to buy and share with each other what work and what didn’t – Galloway
On 21st century skills
We need to ask what jobs there will be in the future – Mann
What so people mean by 21st century skills? Do they think that jobs that exist now will just disappear? – Khalid
It would be ludicrous to completely ignore technology in schools – Clark
We do not need to teach every child coding, that is faddish not strategic – Clark
If some teachers are enthusiastic, we should use them to build expertise – Mann
And to close it all off
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