On Friday, we exhibited at the third in a series of five ICT for Education events, this time in London. Over halfway through the programme of conferences, we’re really enjoying travelling around the country, introducing delegates to our brand new app, PenstripeEdu.
Held at London’s impressive Charlton Athletic FC, we had a very good view of the pitch!
Another great schedule of speakers presented during the day, capturing the audience on a number of different topics anchored in education technology.
Miles Berry – Principal Lecturer of Computing Education at the University of Roehampton – gave the first presentation. He described the most effective ways to engage students with computing, from the opinion of both himself, and teachers around the country, now we’re two years into computing being a staple of the national curriculum.
Phil Bagge then busted some common tech myths that can hold back the progress of computing in schools, and pointed delegates in the direction of some helpful resources, as well as his own new book, ‘How to teach Primary Programming using Scratch’. As Computing Advisor for the Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service, and Computing at School (CAS) Southeast Coordinator and Computing Master Head Teacher – he was able to share many of his own experiences with us, resulting in an engaging talk.
After a coffee break – where we were given another opportunity to speak to delegates at the Penstripe exhibition stand – Samantha Badchkam, head of IT and computing at Waldegrave School, was next up to present. Giving an in-depth and thought-provoking presentation, she explained how the curriculum has changed and developed since she arrived at Waldegrave School, and how she personally embodied digital classes at the school to encourage students to take these subjects into KS4.
The day ended with education consultant, Alan O’Donohoe, explaining how parents can feel ‘digitally excluded’, and how to overcome this by balancing engagement between pupils, parents, schools and the wider community.
As with the previous ICT for Education events, the day also involved Debbie Forster – UK MD of Apps for Good – describing how to inspire students to be innovators, alongside reviews of ed tech products and a Q&A session with the day’s speakers.
Thank you to ICT for Education for another great event – next stop Birmingham!
Olaf Surtees has been with Penstripe for ten years; what he doesn’t know about teacher planners, student planners, and lesson planners isn’t worth knowing! He’s in charge of creating our blog content, helping teachers and administrators with helpful hints and tips, as well as our socials — see the links below to find out more.
