I am passionate about technology and am constantly looking for the next big thing to engage and motivate my pupils, and enhance their learning. But my budget is extremely limited so how do I make sure I’m not investing in a gimmick that will be left gathering dust?
In education we are bombarded by emails and sales pitches promising transformational technology that will make a difference to our pupils. Sometimes it is hard not to be taken in by the patter but I always try to think carefully and ensure that the technology we buy is actually going to make a difference.
Creative partnerships
Social media provides a constant stream of information about new technologies that can often be very useful. I discovered Primo Toys’ Cubetto, a wooden robot that teaches the basics of programming, on Twitter at the time of its launch, and approached the company to ask if it would consider letting us pilot one of its products. It did and it was a win-win situation, as our pupils were empowered to evaluate Cubetto and we were able to buy one at a reduced price.
Partnerships with outside organisations greatly enhance the curriculum at our school and are a helpful way of introducing and trying out new products. BP introduced us to Lego Robotics; Google to the Expedition Pioneers Programme; and MAKE, a local creative enterprise, to 3D printing.
All these opportunities were free and allowed pupils and teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of the new technologies and to decide whether they would be one-off experiences or whether we wanted to purchase them for more regular use in our curriculum.
Small investment, big results
Sometimes, a small investment can make a big difference. Five years ago, when I became headteacher at Middleton Park School in Aberdeen, the school had no mobile technology and very limited connectivity. We also had the budget to buy only four tablets.
I had previously used iPads to create digital content, so I bought four of these and trained our P7 pupils as the school’s digital experts. They started using iMovie to create short films, which they could do without Wi-Fi, and I would then upload the films to Vimeo at home. The clips were shared across the school and the link sent home via Groupcall. This created tremendous excitement among the pupils, and our families loved having a window into their children’s learning, too.
Every Friday we broadcast and share a new film with our community. To date we have produced more than 350 films, which have been watched by a global audience of 36,000 in more than 120 countries. We have also gradually increased the number of iPads we own to 20. As the confidence and skills of our pupils has increased, we have introduced other apps besides iMovie, and our P7 experts continue to share their knowledge with younger pupils and teachers.
Existing opportunities
Sometimes it is important to maximise the use of technology already in place before purchasing anything else. This allows time for staff and pupils to build their confidence and not become overwhelmed by too many new initiatives at the same time. For example, we invested money in taking one of our classes to the Sky Academy Skills Studios in Livingston, where they used the hi-tech equipment to create their own films. They returned with new skills, enormous enthusiasm and increased aspirations for creating more professional movies with our existing tools.
Technology is constantly evolving and changing in our society. As a school leader, I am very aware that we can never keep up. However, we can offer our pupils rich opportunities to experience different technologies without making a major investment.
For example, I invited a friend with a drone to enhance a film our P7 pupils were creating based on Macbeth. We then purchased just two drones for the pupils to experiment with, and they later shared their learning with younger classes. The pupils decided to create obstacle courses and challenged their younger buddies to team up and fly the drones through the course. Often, having fewer pieces of hardware allows for greater collaboration and richer learning.
By waiting, too, the prices of drones has dropped and we can now afford to buy a few more.
Focused buying
Doing things this way allows for a very strategic approach when we are choosing new technologies. For example, next term the theme for our school is “habitats”, so our planning includes using Google Expeditions to compare environments around the world; using drones to capture images of our own locality; and coding our robots, Cubetto, Dash & Dot and Bee-Bots, to explore pupil-made maps. My staff have identified that we need to purchase more robots and drones, so that will be my focus at the BETT show this year.
Looking forward, we are now exploring the use of Google Classroom and Chrome Books to further share learning between home and school and as a powerful platform for collaboration and creativity. This has been an aspiration for the past five years but has only been made possible by installing a new intranet in our school, which has greatly increased our connectivity. I like having a blend of technologies as I feel this will best prepare our pupils for their future lives.
We will continue to invest in making our pupils digital leaders and encouraging them to road test equipment to help us to decide what the next big thing will be. I know our journey with technology will be constantly evolving and changing and that we will never totally crack it. But most importantly I hope it will continue to be engaging, motivating and fun for our pupils.
Jenny Watson is headteacher of Middleton Park School in Aberdeen. The BETT show takes place from 24-27 January at the ExCel centre in London
