7 must-attend conferences for ed tech teachers
Here’s a round-up of forthcoming conferences that may be of interest to teachers who use education technology, or teach ICT or Computing. They are listed in chronological order. (Unfortunately, they are all in England. My newsletter, Digital Education, often features conferences in other parts of the world though.)
Future of the teaching profession in England: recruitment, workload, standards and professional development
Tuesday 10th May 2016
London
This conference isn't aimed at ed tech teachers specifically, but I think it looks very interesting and useful.
Link: http://www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/forums/event.php?eid=1143
The Assistive Technology Conference
Tuesday 17th May 2016
Oxford
For further info, please see this article by Sal McKeown: The Assistive Technology Conference
Link: ATEC.
Education innovation and pupil achievement through practice-based research
Saturday 21st May 2016
Leicester
Information:
A workshop for teachers, school leaders, education product developers to plan research and development strategies. Teachers will be talking about their strategies for developing ed tech across the school, including practice based research in the merits of digital media studies vs computing, games for learning, parental engagement, pupil attainment, digital tools for disability, e-coaching in CPD, digital media curriculum and tools for collaboration.
Numbers are limited so sign up soon. All the details are here:
Link: http://mirandanet.ac.uk/education-innovation-pupil-achievement-practice-based-research/
Diversity & Inclusion in Computing Education Conference 2016
Saturday 11th June 2016
Manchester
Information:
"... our aim is to bring together the teaching expertise of classroom teachers with the knowledge and experience of industry professionals and academics to create opportunities for all to learn practical strategies to teach children Computing from across our five strands of Gender, Ethnicity, Disability, Socio-Economic Status and SEN."
Sounds like a great idea to me.
Link: Diversity in Computing
Roehampton Festival of Computing
Friday 17th June 2016
Roehampton
Information:
This looks like a very interesting day, with lots of sessions about computing and related topics (eg robotics). I’m giving a talk myself, on the way educational research is reported in the press (summary: badly!), why it happens, and how we can protect ourselves from it.
Link: Festival of Computing
Exabytes
Thursday 23rd June 2016
Bradford
Information:
Organised by Alan O’Donohoe, this is part ordinary conference and part unconference/impromptu meetings. Some years ago when I was more heavily involved with Naace I introduced an option for delegates to write on a board what they would like to talk about, thereby facilitating sessions that hadn’t been planned. I saw a similar idea used to brilliant effect at the ISTE conference some years ago too. Definitely an idea with great potential.
Further information: https://teachcomputing.wordpress.com/2016/05/01/31waysinmay/
Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exabytes-technology-in-education-conference-tickets-24284712228
Please note: I added the following, which makes this article contain information about 6 conferences, not 5. However, I have kept the original link so that people's bookmarks won't be rendered useless.
Difficult to teach? SEND and the Computing Curriculum
1 st July 2016
London
Information:
A one day conference for anyone working to meet the challenge of teaching the revised Computing Curriculum to learners with complex and challenging special educational needs. The greater emphasis on computer science, programming and coding, along with a greater recognition of the need for safeguarding online raises issues about what to teach, how to teach it, and what resources we might use. This conference will address these.
Link: http://ictandinclusion.edublogs.org/send-and- computing-conference
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