Today, after a rather long-winded and stressful journey to school (don't ask!🤦🏻♀️), I was firstly shown this delightful picture (you have to love good lighting!) of myself, my lecturer from USW Sallyann and our in-school mentor here in Doha, Wendy.
The picture, along with one of Hannah and her learners and a brief overview of the research project, will shortly be publicised by Doha College - to celebrate the blossoming partnership between USW and the school 👊🏼
Self indulgence aside, today has been an awesome day 👏🏼 Hannah and I met with the lovely Brian Kerr and Zoe Thomas, to discuss their vision for taking #digitallearning @Dohacollege forward.
Brian Kerr - Head of Digital Learning
Zoe Thomas - Digital Co-ordinator
It was a valuable opportunity for us to showcase how #digitalcompetence along with literacy and numeracy, is currently being woven into lessons across the curriculum, to encourage learners to apply previously learned skills in purposrful and relevant scenarios.
As student-teachers currently training in what is an exciting and innovative time for Welsh education, we realise bow that we all too often take for granted the benefits of a well-structured and thorough skills-based curriculum, which facilitates the transferral, applucation and consolidation of ICT skills - which ultimately will prepapre our children for life and work beyond the school gates. DC has a well-thought out and overarching Digital Learning Programme, with a type of 'wheel' diagram which displays the 8 capacities of digital learning that the digital leaders strive to develop and implement across the school.
Both Zoe and Brian agreed that, while it provides a useful anchor which teaching staff can plan for and incorporate the teaching of digital skills into their lessons, it could be a little more specific and that the concept of developing a bank of practical ideas on how lessons from each 'capacity' strand could look, would be most helpful for their staff to become even more engaged with the programme.
Confidence is key...
Engagement with the programme is somewhat of a challenge for the digital leadership team, due to there being limited #CPD opportunities for staff in Qatar, compared to the UK. Hence, confidence levels among staff in terms of the seamless implementation of digital learning is perhaps the biggest hurdle for Zoe and Brian to address.
In 2016, the University of South Wales arranged and facilitated a pilot digital competence project in a number of Welsh schools whom were keen to get a head start on tackling the digital confidence issue among staff, prior to the DCF becoming mandatory for schools in Wales in September 2018, (ooohhh not long to go!!! 🙈) I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of the first students to partic in this project -which was awesome for my own #CPS, as I barely knew how to switch an iPad on! So I know only too well the anxieties and reluctance some teachers feel towards this, as I've felt their pain! However, the project was a real turning point for me, as I progressed on my own digital journey as a result - how being an Apple Teacher and also choosing to focus on #flippedlearning using digital resources, for my final year action research. Whilst not everyone is quite as sponge-like as me when it comes to things digital, I'm an example at least of how taking that first step towards digital #CPD can open up a world of possibilities that you may have thought you'd never be capable of or interested in!
Groups of us students were placed in each school and, together with teaching staff, we planned a sequence of lessons around their currently topic, incorporating #digitalskills from the #DCF - to be delivered to learners. The success was remarkable and the confidence and skills improvements among staff led to the project being repeated on a bigger scale in the Summer of 2017 also! Brian and Zoe both are firm believers that if staff can be well-supported and given opportunities to share knowledge of best practice, that the digital journey of Doha College will go from strength to strength. Of course, we are super keen to assist in this in any way we can 😁 #sharingiscaring
Consequently, they are planning to make arrangements for regular #CPD sessions around this to be common-place, in time 👏🏼
Speaking of sharing best practice...
I also shared some of the key take -homes from my recent visit to the wonderful Clevedon School in Bristol, which is an Apple school and has fully integrated digital technology into teaching and learning - with 1:1 iPads and a robust #CPD programme. I shared the various books that Zoe Elder and others at CS have produced, to document their journey which has seen the school turn around magnificently in terms of standards and wellbeing levels of late. Whilst the DC digital team admit there is a way to go before those levels of intense commitment to the cause are rolled out across their school, things such as pupils creating learning journals using Keynote and Clips to document their work, to be celebrated on signage and screens around school, appeared particularly exciting to Brian 🙌🏼 He agrees that pupils taking control of their signage to share their proud moments, is a great way for them to emvrace the growth mindset of the High Performance Learning strategies DC adopts on a daily basis and to also foster a sense of self-esteem and peer-support. So I am super excited that this is one of the great things to have come out of the meeting today! It also involved a cheeky recommendation for my friend at Trilby TV, who currently provides the fab signage service at Clevedon - you are welcome!
The power of Twitter for #CPD in #education...
Since the digital project ignited my passion for all things innovative in learning, (and after being gently shoved in Twitter's direction by my delightful lecturer Mat), Twitter has been my 'go-to' place for super ideas, support, advice and research when it comes to teaching and learning. The contacts, recommendations, and links I have found on there have proved invaluable in both my teaching practice and studies to date and, especially for those who live in the metaphorical bubble of international school settings, this awesome tool is such a key resource for #CPD. It's no wonder that so many educational professionals are using it everyday...see! 👇🏼
Unsurprisingly, the recommendation to Zoe and Brian for DC staff to create a professional Twitter account and to engage in education-based chats and forums, was a key message we wanted them to take away from our meeting. I firmly believe that this one act could be a wealth of support for staff here, (as it is everywhere) and the network of professionals willing and able to share their pool of knowledge could really offer ways for DC staff to engage in and experiment with incorporating #digitallearning into their teaching and learning - as a matter of course. Here are a couple of fab examples of how my followers have helped to share in and shape my research so far...
Having a #growthmindset helps...
The school's HPL approach fosters an environment where staff and students are encouraged to strive and learn from their mistakes, so I am sure that using both Twitter and regular in-house #CPD to share ideas will really boosts confidence levels to make the Digital Learning Programme at DC a huge success going forward! ✅ The good news is, that we were preaching to the converted with Zoe and Brian, as they already see the huge benefits of Twitter for this use and are keen to capitalise on Hannah and my introduction of the topic in tomorrow's staff meeting (which we are leading.... aaggghh🙈), by looking to arrange a more in-depth session around this, hopefully this month 👍
So, all in all, a very productive day here in #Doha and it was great to have the opportunity to celebrate the excellent work that USW, Clevedon School and Doha College are doing to develop the digital leaders of the future! 👏🏼 Super pleased to be able to give something back to the school that has been so welcoming and supportive to us 😁
Thanks for reading my ramblings once again! You are amazing for that 👍 I will update you all on my #flippedlearning research and also how tomorrow's meeting goes in due-course 😁
As you can see, the Digital competence