Nov #Edu resources - part 4
Al Kingsley
All things #Education, #EdTech, #Ai, #Digital & Growth. CEO NetSupport, Multi Academy Trust Chair, DfE Advisory Board, ISC Top 10 Global Edrupter, ??Author/Speaker, DBT Export Champion, 23 Edufuturist, BESA EdTech Chair.
Happy Saturday folks, and the last one of November before we slide into December and start our countdown of "sleeps to go" before the holiday season. It's that time of year when I wish my children were 20 years younger and I could be "googling" for some cool new toys rather than aftershave and clothes ;)
Ooh and a big Happy Thanksgiving to all you lovely folks on the other side of "the pond"!
So this week has been another great week of learning and sharing, and hopefully in roughly equal measures. Monday I headed north to see Simon Smith and the lovely folks at The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP) they have invested heavily in a broad digital strategy and delivery of devices for all their staff and learners. We were able to talk through options to continue to refine their planning as well as ensure their infrastructure tracks alongside their teaching and learning expectations. Very impressive and most importantly, a really lovely group of Trust and school leaders.
On Wednesday I was invited to speak by the lovely folks at Gulf Conferences at their "3rd Middle East Education Thought Leadership Summit"- not only did they have a jam packed theatre of attendees but nearly 20,000 online registrations, now that's impressive. Big thanks to Abdelkhalig Osman W Mohamed for the invite. You won't be surprised to hear I was talking about moving the Digital Dial and how to select evidence informed #EdTech. Lovely to also meet Alaa Garad, SFHEA, FRSA, PhD and Ra'ed M. BenShams .
A quick shout out to the lovely Gemma Gwilliam who was at the #EdTechSummit on Wednesday (really annoyed i missed this one being in london), but being the super sharer that she is, she shared a plethora of books that had helped her team at the Portsmouth Education Partnership #DigitalCityProject journey.
I thought that was a great catalyst for me to share these with you folks; it's a great set of books. So here is the list Gemma Gwilliam shared, each book title is a link to Amazon in case any pique your interest #PayItforward
??My Secret #EdTech Diary by Al Kingsley (still waiting on my Booker prize nomination ??).
??The A to Z of EdTech by SJ White
If you already have any of these books, please take a minute and leave a review on Amazon for the author, it really helps visibility and future purchasers.
You might also like to download this free "guide to creating a digital strategy in Education" that I co-authored with Mark Anderson which is full of ideas, approaches and case studies for you to pick from .
Next week I will be visiting Professor Ross Renton and the amazing team at ARU Peterborough and then spending Thursday and Friday at the MAT Partnership Network (MATPN) Midlands event in Nottingham with NetSupport , really looking forward to catching up with some familiar faces including Lee J. and George Hayes and hopefully meeting plenty of new ones too. Please do come over and say hi.
Well, the above roundup took a bit longer to get added than I expected, so I need to crack on, or this won't be a "Saturday" newsletter ;)
#Education
?? A great share from Pete Read to kick things off from Forbes , and I hope this isn't a surprise to anyone "The Key To A Better Future For Students May Be Social-Emotional Growth, Not Standardized Test Scores". Have a read of this article here.
?? I had a lovely chat with Barry Cooper on the Leading Your International School podcast recently, we talked about #EdTech Integration with Confidence, all things Digital Strategy and moving forward. Have a listen here . ??
?? Another great listen for you, shared by Alex Gray "Unlocking the Power of High Performance Learning - A Conversation with Deborah Eyre " - you can scan the highlights and conclusion or buckle up and watch the conversation all from here . ??
?? This will make three great listens in a row this week, but this recording of a discussion between Rebecca Stott and the brilliant Caroline Allams on The Leaders Podcast is definitely worth a listen - think keeping children safe online and how technology can be used to teach children to be savvy online.?Listen here ??
?? How many times have we heard the discussion around suitable #ScreenTime for children. Well Melissa McBride ?? shared a great article (amongst many) "No evidence screen time is negative for children’s cognitive development and well-being: Oxford Study" from the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford - well worth a read here .
?? Always have huge regard for Jim Knight and hopefully, many will have seen the release of the Beyond Ofsted- Report, an inquiry into the future of school inspection, from the team at 英国伦敦大学学院 . It's a big read (104 pages), but if you don't have time for a full digest right now, then jump to page 10 and read their findings. I really hope the work conducted here will be taken on board by the government. Have a read here .
Caroline Derbyshire also shared her perspectives in Schools Week "Thinking beyond Ofsted is now mainstream and success beckons" which you can read here .
?? I think we all agree we never have enough money for all the resources and activities we would like in our schools, and sadly I can't share a link to a magic money tree, but this article from Sarah Finnemore is a start "Empowering Schools with Effective Procurement: How do you ensure savings, efficiencies and compliance". It was actually shared a few months ago, but as I discovered it this week, it counts as my "new" news ;) Have a read here .
?? This isn't a normal one for my newsletter, but a reminder for schools in England you can apply for a free framed Portrait of His Majesty the King for your school. Who knew? You can apply using this link .
?? Monica Burns, Ed.D is always sharing great resources, if you haven't come across ClassTechTips before, then you should have ;) Her latest blog is "10 study Tips for Students using Technology" which you can read here .
?? The fab Nic Ponsford FRSA FIESE ?? and the Global Equality Collective have released a new "guide for parents and carers on how we can teach consent to younger and older children." Always loads of great and relevant resources on their website, and you can read this one here . #ConsentMatters
?? A nice #SEMH piece on EdSurge "Emotions Come and Go in Waves. We Can Teach Our Students How to Surf Them." laying out the pros and cons of eight different emotion regulation strategies. Take a look here .
?? We all want to support Social Action in our schools, so I really enjoyed this discussion between Kat Cauchi and Keren Mitchell from SuperKind where they discuss the value of social action in schools. Have a watch / listen here .
?? If you are focused on #CPD and Digital training in your schools then you should check out Louise Salmon and Primary Goal . I will be seeing Louise speaking at the MATPN conference I mentioned earlier, next week, but as they shared "we have secured over ￡7.8m to provide digital training as part of MAT and individual school digital strategies, across England. Upskilling current staff in primary and secondary education, to be able to implement and embed the MAT or school, digital vision for now and the future. " Take a look at their website here .
?? Talking of #Digital, the fab Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth shared a great article on Edutopia - George Lucas Educational Foundation "Developing Students’ Digital Citizenship Skills" focused on teaching students to develop an awareness of data security, online etiquette, and cyberbullying helps them make better decisions online. Short and sweet and worth a read.
?? And finally for this section, an utterly brilliant article (I may be exaggerating ??) by the fabulous Al Kingsley - yup, little old me with an article shared for GESS Dubai "Taking charge of change". "Sometimes, change happens, and we simply roll with it – like getting a new car when the old one has had its day or moving house for a new job. At other times, when we have specific goals in mind, we take charge of change and channel it in the right direction to get us to where we need to be". Hopefully a succinct and easy read here .
#Ai
and not a mention of Sam Altman anywhere ;)
?? I have to apologise, as i don't recall who shared this, but "someone" put this handy resource on my radar of "140+ AI Tools for Educators" by Wooclap , I always have my trusty summary from Dan Fitzpatrick but this looks another handy place to find something new. Take a look and see what you think .
?? Saw this post from Sharad Agarwal on VentureBeat "Innovative technology from Typecast allows generative AI to transfer human emotion". We all know emotion is not #Ai's strongest point, but this work is on adding emotion into synthetic voices and videos, i found it really interesting and shows how each technology step delivers a more authentic representation of human interaction .
?? Lots of #Ai sharing this week, including some handy starter lists from Niall Statham including their platform library, a skills matrix and some key terminology explained. Have a read of his post here .
?? Yup, we are heading into the festive season????, so we shouldn't be surprised at all, it's almost a tradition now that Mark Anderson FCCT will be releasing an advent calendar of sorts. Previous years have seen a variety of #Appvent calendars, but this year we are expecting a new #24daysOfAi. Keep your eye out on December 1st.
?? Another #Ai app I stumbled across this week is called #Moonvalley. It's in beta but is a new text-to-video generative AI model - it looks really good and maybe a handy addition if you want some moving images in your presentations. Do let me know how you get on. https://moonvalley.ai/
??Clearly i have been in "stumbling" mode a lot this week as I also came across a handy summary of the "Best ChatGPT PDF Plugins for Teachers and Students" curated by Med Kharbach on Educators Technology , it's got quite a few handy suggestions that you might find useful. Have a read here .
?? As you were probably expecting about now, it's an obligatory #AertsAlert with another share from Carla Aerts this time an article from Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) on "Designing Natural Language Processing Tools for Teachers" . I loved this quote "It’s not about thinking, how do we raise the ceiling of educational tech, but how do we raise the floor of education with these tools?” You can find it here.
??Some Sage advice and actions for Embracing #Ai in Education were shared by Phillip Alcock with very much a focus on the need for collective effort. You can find it here .
?? If you have access, Jane Basnett and the folks at Downe House Digital created a ChatGPT - Academic Prompter, I had a play ( best way to learn after all) and thought it had some great potential. I know there are many out there now, but I am sure this will prompt some ideas if you plan to create your own.
?? Serial sharer Darren Coxon made the free #Ai Literacy Curriculum for years 4-9 created by Study Hall Ltd available on a linkedin post, which you can read here; worth a look!
?? I saw a great share on 'X' last week from Matt Miller that caught the eye, with 15 ways to use #Ai to enhance existing lessons. See what you think.
?? Matt Woodruff shared an update around the availability of Microsoft Fabric and a short article by Open Education AI explaining how it might benefit your MAT to improve data informed decision making. You can read it here .
?? I seem to have lots of images to share this week, I saw a post from the genuinely lovely Ben Whitaker "The Ideas Guy" where he shared his initial thoughts on "How can we prepare students for the future whilst ensuring authentic assessment?" (for post compulsory phase) - He is developing these and keen for feedback, so do reach out to him .
?? It's always good to have those counter-discussions to temper our #Ai enthusiasm and be mindful of the challenges. Top man James Garnett shared a great article "The Darker Side of AI: Can we learn from the past." It's an excellent read (as always) and well worth a click here.
?? A nice thought piece from Steve Cull on "Gen AI, why is it so divisive?" with a focus on Governance, Risk and Compliance #GRC. Take a look here .
?? Matthew Wemyss consistently shares loads of great content while he is on his journey as the #AiGuy at his school. He's a great person to follow and check out his weekly highlights for ideas.
?? Prepare yourself for a big read, Sharad Agarwal shared a great resource from Medium "An AI Engineer’s Guide to Machine Learning and Generative AI" presented as "Everything you need to know about the underlying ideas, scientific innovations, & technologies that are powering modern Ai Applications and Agents" it's a big read, probably 30+ mins, but there is loads in this, so one to bookmark and dip into when time allows. Have a look here .
#Wellbeing
??? I always love to include an amazing resource from Dr Pooky Knightsmith and with the nights drawing in and a lack of sunshine, what better time to share here advice on "How to Get Active When Your Mood is Low". You can watch her excellent YouTube Video here .
And just because I can, a shout out to Emma Shorrock who massively helps my #wellbeing and keeps me so organised. ????
#Contribute
??A call for insights, shared by Carla Aerts - If you are involved in #EdTech or #AiEd and #Ai for teaching and learning? The Global Science of Learning Education Network would love to hear from you and is keen to find out how #EdTech companies are utilising #AIED are engaging with the science of learning- have a look here and if you can, share your experiences.
#ForVendors
I always like to try and #PayItForward, so if you are an #EdTech vendor and looking for support with these strands below, here are a few people you could connect with who I know are good people and more than able to help.
?? Marketing / Media - Mark Anderson FCCT / Jodie Lopez / Jay Ashcroft / Bryan Plumb / Anna Pedroza
?? Business / Sales Support - Steve Whitley / Ian Hunter / Finnemore Consulting Ltd ( Sarah Finnemore & Nick Finnemore ) / The Wisdom Partnership ( Stuart Abrahams )
???????? Community & the above - Join the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) or reach out to Caroline Wright & Julia Garvey .
#Events
?? Organised by the one and only Dave Smith and the team at the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) , the LearnED: Education in Action??series of events are hitting Birmingham and Leeds in the new year with a focus on "Showcasing best practice to improve school outcomes". You can find out more and grab a ticket here .
?? Next Thursday (30th) from 9.30-10.45 GMT, why not join the lovely folks at The Foundation for Education Development online for a collaborative session with Innovate-Ed as they explore how to revolutionise education, and reshape it to create a learning system that helps best manage innovation ??. Sign up here.
?? I may have mentioned Bett Global and the January #BettShow a few times recently. I've not been asked to present this year sadly (perhaps my profile pic below put them off ??), but I have been asked to chair a panel on "Why multi-school groups need a robust digital strategy to grow" on the Thursday at 15:15. I have a pretty easy task for this panel with such an amazing lineup of Dr Neelam Parmar FCCT , Laura Knight and Janice Ross. Hopefully, some of you will be attending and will come and join the conversation.
As an aside, you can also follow the build-up to bett this year with their "on the road to Bett" series of podcasts hosted by "Mr.Bett" himself Russell Prue - have a listen to their latest episode here . It features Louisa Hunter , Michael Forshaw and James Garnett .
#GoldenTicket
?? I know I share this every week, but don't let familiarity provide a chance to miss a great opportunity; I now have 46 Education Suppliers who have all agreed to support my Golden Ticket voucher and provide you with a discount on products or services. No cost to take part, just ?? lots of savings ?? to make, and it's good to support our UK EdTech sector. Click here to find out more.
That's it from me, this ended up being a lot longer than I originally expected. It has been another fun week of learning, a fair bit of driving, and quite a few traffic jams. There is so much sharing from lots of lovely folks across education, so as always, I encourage you to be part of the conversation. Share articles with me, reach out, and of course, give my newsletter a share across your school or organisation (please).
Anyway, be healthy, be happy and see you next week ;)
Al.
I do try and keep my newsletters very agnostic, but of course, I am proud of my printed musings, so if you have time please take a look at these handy #CPD resources for your school ... they are really jolly good (honest). If you have one or all already, and liked (of course you did) then please leave a nice review on Amazon for me. ??
??2023 EduFuturist of the Year
??2023 Outstanding Achievement winner - Educational Resources Awards (ERA) Awards
??2023 Inspiring Leader winner - British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) Awards
Happy Saturday! ?? Your weekly roundup sounds fantastic, an enriching blend that mirrors the words of Nelson Mandela: "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." ?? Keep sharing those updates and recommendations; they are invaluable to the continuum of learning and connecting. ????
4x Founder | Passionate about EdTech | ex-MAT COO
12 个月Thanks for the shoutout Al Kingsley. Happy to hear that people are finding my EdTech insights useful over at www.theedtechforum.com
Director of Digital Learning at Downe House School
12 个月Thank you so much Al Kingsley for mentioning my first attempt at creating my own GPT: Academic Prompter. It still needs fine tuning but it has potential, I think. Thanks for all the other resources.
Director @ Finnemore Consulting, focused on Edtech, Business Development and AI │ Strategic Planning │ Product │Thought Leadership │ Marketing│ Future Proofing
12 个月Another great newsletter Al, I always read the stuff about AI with interest. With so many generative tools out there, how ARE educators seeing the wood for the trees and identifying which to use and when? Genuine question as it feels like it could be overwhelming ?? Thanks also for the shout-out re. my blog on the far less glamorous topic of procurement! Maybe I need to write about using AI to make the procurement process easier as it's a painful area for schools, MATS, LAs and suppliers :-(
Full-time Teacher & Consultant | Author|Attorney|Keynote Speaker| Expertise: Artificial Intelligence Strategist, AI and the Law, AR/VR, Cybersecurity, STEM, PD & Coaching, | ISTE Certified Educator|
1 年Thank you for your great resources and the inclusion of my recent article for Edutopia - George Lucas Educational Foundation