It's been two weeks since i’ve been back from the ADE conference in Amsterdam and quite frankly I am still recovering from it. The experience was wonderful and the people even more brilliant. Sharing of ideas as part of the community and meeting new people was a great experience. Friendships I hope to last a lifetime.
I spent last week just reflecting and jotting down all the different things I learnt from the institute but also from talking to different ADE’s from EMEA. I have started putting together a plan taking into consideration what are the priorities at my school and what would work in the short term. I am sort of breaking this down into Whole school ideas and individual subject areas.
My main focus for whole school will be iTunes U and training teachers how to use it. For Departments it would be iBooks Author and subject specific apps. One of my other goals would be to get together a group of students who will be my ‘Tech Ambassadors’ in the school and will train and promote the use of apps to students and teachers.
Below are my top three ADE highlights:
ADE Showcases:
These were three minute long showcases and were started of by the Alumni and 2015 ADE’s. This gave us all an insight as to how ADE’s were revolutionising teaching in their schools and making change happen. These showcases also gave us ideas as to how existing and new apps were being used across different subject areas and gave us an opportunity into looking at the workflow which is so important in our role.
Also if we needed more information all we had to do was to post a question in the discussion area of the iTunes U course or meet the ADE personally which was really helpful. One of the other notable showcases were the ones teaching SEN children. It was really moving to see how iPads have made a difference in their education and also how fortunate some of us are to teach in 1-1 iPad schools.
Bill Frakes:
We were very fortunate to be given a masterclass by award winning Pulitzer prize winner Bill Frakes. He gave us an insight into his life, his passion, some fabulous stories, but most of all how to take great pictures and in his words ‘It's all about the light’.
Follow Bill and Laura at:
@billfrakes
@lheald86
Education Leadership: A time for change
Another highlight for me was being part of a great group of people who share the same vision as me but are in different roles within education. Just getting to know their story and being part of what they want to achieve and develop is itself an honour. We hope to share good practice, ideas but most importantly support each other with any queries and our projects going forward.
Finally I would like to say that being part of this ADE community keeps me buzzing with ideas based on discussions and forums but it’s important to focus on what will work in the classroom in our school and take small baby steps with our teachers in order to show them the big picture with numerous possibilities.
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