Apr #Edu resources - part 4??

Happy Saturday, folks, and welcome to the fourth and final edition for April. Woohoo ??.

I always like to share a brief insight into my week alongside my usual NetSupport fun, so over the last few days it's actually been a real mix with my monthly Department for Education regional advisory board meeting; it was lovely to see Adrian Rogers join the board as well. I had a call wearing my British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) hat supporting new members, caught up with the fab Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority Nik Johnson to talk about more exciting opportunities in our region, as well as with Richard Kenny to talk about regional growth. Some good strategy meetings at Hampton Academies Trust (we all know the pressures right now). I had some speaker planning meetings for upcoming events I am joining, including UKREiiF , ISTE , Bromcom Annual Conference, Association of Secondary Headteachers in Essex ASHE Conference and loads more (I need to stop saying yes so readily ;)

Oh one bit of cool news, I have been appointed a Department for Business and Trade Export Champion - so now, whenever I am overseas at events, I can fly the flag ? in multiple ways and further support our amazing UK #EdTech sector.

Right, enough of my week's activities; you are here for the news, so let's dive in...

#Edu

? The folks at the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) have published their new guide to implementation in schools. I spotted hot off the press from a share by Emily Ellington (thank you). With a strapline of "Prepare, deliver, and sustain new approaches and practices." this is definitely one to add to your reading list from here.

? It's always a pleasure to share great resources from Dan Fitzpatrick , this week he shared a great summary for taking a more strategic ( and effective) way of shaping Internal communications in your schools. Built around the four pillars of Scope, Shape, Influence and Align. No rocket science advice, just sensible reflections to consider as part of your strategy. Have a read here.

? Last week I shared a great personal reflection piece from Caroline Keep on the value of SureStart centres; this week, the brilliant SJ White shared her personal journey as a woman in tech. You can read her interview in Higher Education Digest? "Empowering Education Leaders to Leverage Technology for Better Learning Outcomes" from this link. Big ?? Sammy.

? This has been a hot topic this week, and Sofia Fenichell captured the discussion perfectly on "AQA’s plans for replacing GCSEs for lower attaining students with a mobile formative assessment app". There has been lots of support and an equal measure of challenge. Fundamentally, I am not sure this is the right focus for improving our outdated national assessment system. I do support it wearing my "Chair of an AP hat" as I really want to offer qualifications that are both attainable and provide practical skills for our learners, but in parallel, would they provide the right skills for a technology and Ai centred world, create more inequality and most importantly, distract from addressing the main assessment system that impacts every learner. Anyway, off my soapbox, have a read of her excellent post (and subsequent chats) from here.

?Here in the UK, the MAT (Multi Academy Trust) landscape is ever-changing, not least with a move to strong and sustainable MATs of scale. Charlotte Santry shared a great new resource from the lovely folks at Tes , their new "MAT Tracker map", which plots every multi academy trust in the country, giving their HQ locations, number of schools, and companies house number. You can find it here.

? A double recommendation firstly to listen to a great interview with Petra Velzeboer on the Edufuturists podcast, "What if work was good for your health, not just something you have to recover from later?" and her new book "Begin with You". Have a watch or listen here. The second recommendation naturally is in my book section ;)

? Gary Henderson always offers sage advice, as well as regularly reflecting on our professional journey. This week, he shared an article, "Is doing more and efficiency our?aim?", you won't find any answers, but you will find a reminder to stop and think about one very important question "Can we keep adding to the things we need to think about, the processes and the complexity of our lives, or is there a limit??". Take a look here.

? Change is often the hardest thing to manage successfully, and one of the barriers, as Ben Whitaker shares, is the #WADILT problem - We've Always Done It Like This. Ben covers this topic in last week's #FrIdeas newsletter, also recognising that the fear of failure is a significant barrier to innovation so most people avoid the failure. Have a read (and subscribe) here.

? With a quick #Ai Lego-inspired separator above of Ferdi & I, back to the good stuff. I regularly listen to the International Classroom podcast, from Alex Gray and last week they had a fab episode featuring Ben Edmonds and Aaron Patching , the folks behind the Inventor Club, as they discuss their unique approach to learning and teaching. You can Watch/Listen to the episode on YouTube from here. Don't forget to subscribe while you are there.

? Jennifer Smith shared an article on Medium "Does Your School Have an AI Philosophy?", it's a great read, but you will need a Medium account to access the full article. Have a read here; it reinforces much that has been shared lately.

? John Dolman continues to share handy nuggets in his "Ai Bytes" newsletter, and this week, he shared an update and reminder about a longer-standing member of the #EdTech community but now with a sprinkling of #Ai Socrative - take a peek here.

? An interesting article from The Conversation U.S. shared by Nick Dennis titled "Schools are using research to try to improve children’s learning –?but it’s not?working" by Sally Riordan. It's a really interesting read and concludes "Right now, we don’t have enough evidence to be confident that evidence should always be our first port of call." Get your thinking caps on and have a read here.

? Ola Handford shared a great paper/research by Ethan Mollick & Lilach M. "Instructors as Innovators: A Future-Focused Approach to New AI Learning Opportunities, with Prompts" which explores how instructors can leverage generative AI to create personalized learning experiences for students that transform teaching and learning. It's definitely one to download and digest at your leisure. Take a look here.

?Depending on the age and stage you support, in this case, reception / primary age, this article from the fab team at GovernorHub should be of interest "Why school readiness needs to be on our radar." One in 4 children who start school are not toilet trained, according to a new survey from charitable foundation Kindred Squared. Really interesting read by Felicity Gillespie that you can find here.

? I'm always happy to signpost other great newsletters and resources, and if you haven't come across it, then the one from Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth is an excellent add to your reading list. You can find the latest episode here (and do subscribe).

? The lovely folks at the Learning Counsel curate some great resources, this week a great article on "The Most Overlooked Reason for Teacher Burnout" focusing on "Change Fatigue" which you can find here, and another handy read on "Educator Perspectives on Social and Emotional Learning Programs" with some really interesting survey feedback on #SEL programs, which you can find here.

? Holly Godfree shared a fairly compelling post, explaining that "This is the best resource I've seen about effective design (and re-design) of assessment tasks." It's from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. You can find the aforementioned resource, "Generative Artificial Intelligence in Teaching and Learning at McMaster University" right here.

? A great share from Talia Vilaire from the EDUtech Asia & EDUtech Europe teams, with an article from CDW 's EdTech Magazine, "Schools Must Focus on Narrowing Digital Divides" which highlights that while providing students with access to digital tools is important, educators must also find solutions for the digital use and the digital design divides. Take a look here.

? A good share from Evidence Based Education in their Great Teaching Resources newsletter, with an article on "The factors affecting student behaviour" A very high-level starter on the discussion with some handy resources/toolkits signposted. Have a read here.

? I mentioned last week that the folks at Bett Global have launched a new newsletter, which you will likely want to get on your mailing list ( Duncan Verry and the team have some really exciting plans moving forward). So here is a reminder, to get a regular copy of the new Bett Buzz, just use this link.

? If #Wellbeing is on your radar you could do a lot worse than checking out Mark Solomons great "Weekly Wellbeing Roundup" newsletter. It's full of handy resources that you can use. Take a look (and subscribe) here.

? Don't forget the excellent FREE education magazine RISE, edited by Kat Cauchi . Issue 8 is now available for you to peruse and is absolutely one to subscribe to for a regular dose of unique articles from educators around the globe. You can find it here. Topics include #Ai, #SEND, #SEL, change, #Ofsted, observations, play, belonging, social action and #EdTech.

#Events

? Just a reminder that the team at Woodland Academy Trust have a brilliant new event coming up on September 3rd, their "AImpowerEd Conference", an event where they will explore how #AI is playing a pivotal role in the ever-changing education landscape from integration in Early Years through to how leadership teams can embrace AI to maximise outcomes. Declaration: I will be speaking there, but based on the other speakers coming, I suspect I'll be doing more learning than sharing. Features Georgina D. , Gemma Gwilliam , Daren White , Mark Anderson FCCT , Adam Webster , Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith , Lyndsey Stuttard M.Ed , Faye Ellis , Christina Tueje, CIPP/E , Donald Clark and more. Get yourself booked asap from here.

? The lovely folks at Bromcom have their annual "Shard 2024: MAT & LA event" on the 12th June at.....well the Shard of course ;) It's one to get on your radar, not least, I'll be speaking there :) have a look here.

? Two great folks, Kelly Hannaghan and Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith are delivering a great online session on 21st June on "Pedagogy And Wellbeing In Education", an event that bridges the gap between innovative teaching methodologies and the holistic wellbeing of educators and learners alike. Sign up here.

? Have you got your June diary booked already to meet Richard Culatta and the fab folks from ISTE for #ISTELive2024 in Denver? I'll be wearing a few hats for this one, but I am really looking forward to coming and joining the conversation. Get your ticket from here.

? I'll be speaking at the Association of Secondary Headteachers in Essex ASHE annual conference in June talking about all things #Ai in education. If you are an Essex leader, find out more about it here.

?Check out these free upcoming webinars from the team at NetSupport and secure your spot today.?

• Transform your teaching: Unleash the power of Google tools and maximise your Chromebooks – 22 May?
• Unlock the path to human flourishing in education – 6 June
• All aboard the communication train! Engage stakeholders at every stop – 11 June?

? Another #NotToMiss event coming up is "Ai Unwrapped: Benefits & Challenges of Ai in Education" which is being organised by the brilliant Laura Knight ? for Keynote Educational on Friday 28th June. It has a great list of speakers and personal friends including Bukky Yusuf , Gary Henderson , Dale Bassett , Rachel Evans and Dina Foster . You can find out more about the event and programme from this link. Worth checking out.

#Ai

? This one remains top of my #Ai section, an excellent newsletter "Perpelexing Tech" ??that covers the world of #Ai through a wider lens. It is also written by my daughter Niamh Kingsley a product innovation and #Ai specialist in FinTech. Please take a look and subscribe here ?

? I'll stick a second newsletter in here from Bonnie Nieves , her Educate On Purpose Professional Development and Coaching newsletter is an excellent resource, including last week a great summary of the THE AI SHOW @ ASU+GSV , take a look (and subscribe) from here.

? A lovely share from Sarah Horrocks with her "Five questions on AI and education" on her Connected Learning blog. You can find it on Substack here, well worth a read.

? I am regularly set on the right path reading the excellent resources from Fengchun Miao and the UNESCO team, this week he shared the "Principles for AI competency frameworks or programmes for teachers" which has been further refined following core principles and second-level principles for the formulation of #Ai competency frameworks or programmes for teachers. You can read his post here.

? Top man Chris Goodall has been busy doing my work for me, and shared a great post which featured the top 5 posts he has shared, that people found most interesting on implementing #Ai. You can find his share here.

? The folks at Purpose and Means have started publishing a series of 'AI Explainers' that aim to give the gist of aspects of Artificial Intelligence. I love a good explainer visual, and these look really interesting. Take a look at their post here and see what you think.

? Always really useful shares from Barbara Anna Zielonka , including this week "Teaching and Generative AI: Pedagogical Possibilities and Productive Tensions". An open-source book consisting of six chapters such as Framing Concepts, Research Studies, Race and Indigenous Studies, Humanizing Technology, Teaching Resources and Disciplinary Approaches. You can read a summary here, and access the ebook from here.

? This one caught my eye on Education Next with a title of "There are No Shortcuts to Thinking" which is actually a first hand perspective of an educator who sees promise in the way students are already using AI as a learning tool. Have a read here, it's quite short and succinct.

? A great share from Adam Morris with this YouTube video on "Why GenAI works. Not how but WHY". Adam commented, "The part that floored me was the slide that illuminated how GenAI is just algebra. Actually, there were several slides that I had to pause and allow myself to think and pontificate a bit. The reward was in understanding at a much better level how matrix multiplication, distances between words are related mathematically. Well worth the thinking time." It's a really good watch you can find here.

? Matthew Wemyss asked a very simple question in his recent blog post "Who Gets To Decide the Future of Education? (And Why We Can’t Wait to Find?Out)", Obviously, it's far from a simple one really, but his article and thought process is excellent, and it's a really good read. I won't attempt to encapsulate details here as it won't do it justice, but his final conclusion, "The future belongs to those who are willing to show up, ready to make a difference." is one we can all sign up to. Have a read here.

? Serial sharer Darren Coxon shared a great post around "Leading #Ai change in schools : Kotters Magic 8". It caught my eye as I wrote about Kotter's model in my Secret Edtech Diary a couple of years ago. Darren's post shared some simple and effective steps to take supported by a great visual guide. Check it out here.

Darren also shared another great post that caught my eye, where he talks about "Keeping Ai simple". He explains, "If you’re anxious about using AI with your students, it’s probably because you’re overcomplicating it. Not knowing where to start. Seeing it as this massive deal. Not having a clue how to teach it. Here’s the thing. You don’t have to teach it. Choose one subject, one topic, one simple prompt. Give it to your students for homework. See what they produce." Have a read of his article here.

? Mark Anderson FCCT "The ICT Evangelist" is always sharing great resources, and this week he did a handy blog post "Enhancing Ofsted’s Policy Paper On AI With Actionable Insights", I am sure you can figure out the focus from that title, it's a great read you can find here.

? I've shared a few fun #Music apps of late, and used right, they can be a great way of engaging students in composing music around curriculum topics, as well as have fun too. I have seen a few shares of Suno which is a great #Ai app for quick song composing, You can find it here ( you will need to sign up, but it's free for basic use) and you can listen to my attempt with? this chart busting tune.? Lee Parkinson has shared some great (and fun) clips using this and also showcasing another app that I shared last week Udio - take a look at Lee's posts here. Top man.

? Jason Gulya is always innovating and, at the same time, maintaining a healthy dose of challenge and cynicism around #Ai and the plethora of tools available. He's an absolute must-follow for your #PLN. He has a new resource, an Ai adventure, with his latest article on "The Rise of the Metabots" and how teachers are not using chatbots just to convey information, but to promote literacy. Well worth a read here.

? Incoming #AertsAlert from Carla Aerts , where I always discover some of the really interesting stuff from, this time "The Wizard of Oz method in UX" (The Wizard of Oz is a user-research method where a user interacts with a mock interface controlled, to some degree, by a person.) - this research applies to any application with a user experience. It's a really interesting read for anyone looking to create an application.

? Top chap Alfonso Mendoza Jr., M.Ed. learnt a new term this week #AiWashing ..AI washing means that a product or service misrepresents how it uses artificial intelligence. I suspect we have all seen plenty of tools with the badge, and we have seen quite quickly that it really isn't. It is one of my pet annoyances. Anyway, Alfonso shared a link to this article that should help clarify.

? Another great article from Barbara Anna Zielonka "Building Sustainable Futures: Exploring AI, SDGs and Hexagonal Thinking in my?Classroom" a really interesting read featuring #SDG Beehives ;) Take a look here.

? Barbara also shared that the folks at 微软 had launched #Phi-3, its smallest Ai model yet. The article on The Verge had a catchy sub note "Phi-3 learned from ‘bedtime stories’ created by other LLMs". Compared to their larger counterparts, small AI models are often cheaper to run and perform better on personal devices like phones and laptops. Have a read here.

#Books

? Don't forget you can find all of the books I cover on my Amazon bookshelf, You can find my curated list here.

? A book recommendation from Hywel Roberts that I spotted on X last week, "Critical Pedagogy, A Teachers Companion" by Tait Coles , another addition to the John Catt is becoming Hachette Learning portfolio. Take a look here.

? One from Dr Will Van Reyk "The Future Proof Career - strategies for thriving at every stage" by Isabel Berwick , you can find the book here, and William's linked article from here.

? A recommendation by Ben Whitaker from earlier in the newsletter, with "Begin with you: Invest in Your Mental Well-being and Satisfaction at Work" by Petra Velzeboer , a great suggestion you can find here, or on my bookshelf above.

? A recommendation, by mention, from a post by Ryan Tannenbaum who has been reading "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman, which you can find here. I hadn't heard of it, but it has over 40,000 brilliant reviews on Amazon. Suffice it to say it's now on my wishlist.

? If you fancy an easy read on #EdTech and the evolution of Educational Technology, then you might well enjoy ?? "My Secret #Edtech Diary" based on my 30 years of experience. It's not meant to be a technical overload, but very much a narrative as if we sat down in a coffee shop and talked it through together. You can find it here.

#CandleClub

Let's wrap up with my weekly Candle Club. Hopefully, you will know what this section is for, built on the message that "a Candle never Loses any of its Light while Lighting up another candle" - it costs nothing to help support and highlight others in our space. ???So this week, it's some of the folks who I always keep an eye out for .... Niamh Kingsley , Mark Anderson FCCT , Olly Lewis , Kat Cauchi Caroline Keep Georgina D. Emma Darcy Gemma Gwilliam Abid Patel Gary Henderson Martin Bailey Jon Tait Rick C. Philippa Wraithmell Linda Scaife Baz Nijjar James Garnett Laura Knight ? Dr Neelam Parmar FCCT Lisa Hawker Jonny Wathen Caroline Wright Bukky Yusuf Simon Blower Neil Emery Jordan Smithson Jonathan Emery Matthew Sampson ...the list of fab folks goes on and on.

Ok, best I wrap up this week's summary of news ( and the last for April). A big thanks to all of you whom I was able to squeeze into another edition. Please don't forget to give this a share now you have finished digesting ;) ????

Have a lovely weekend folks, share the love, and I'll see you again soon.

Al

You can book me to come and cause some fun and disruption at your event via Katie Cavill and The Learning Line via this link. Please also reflect on the diversity and representation of your speakers and panels at your events when reaching out.

??2023 EduFuturist of the Year

??2023 Outstanding Achievement winner - Educational Resources Awards (ERA) Awards

??2023 Inspiring Leader winner - British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) Awards

?? 2023 Education CEO winner - EdTech Chronicle.