EDUCATION professionals from around the country are being offered the chance to develop their online skills at a major technology festival being staged by a leading North-East college.
As an increasingly locked down world struggles to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Darlington College finds itself at the forefront of a movement to help educators deliver effective learning over the Internet.
An official Government-designated ‘EdTech demonstrator college’, its staff have organised a free two-day online EdTech Festival bringing together a host of experts in the rapidly evolving field of education technology.
Darlington College’s project manager for Ed Tech Demonstrator Project and senior lecturer Wayne Hall said: “The event is designed to support educators in bringing technology into every aspect of their professional development as the ‘new normal’ for the delivery of education emerges.
“This is fantastic opportunity to hear from industry experts and high profile speakers, whose perspectives on learning technology are set to shape the future of education, along with CPD activities and demonstrations of EdTech in action. Together we will examine the challenges ahead and examine the shape of things to come.”
The events will be staged on October 22 and 23 from 9am to 5pm. Anyone interested in taking part should register at https://sites.google.com/darlington.ac.uk/edtech/ or visit www.darlington.ac.uk or https://edtech-demonstrator.lgfl.net/home, for the latest information.
The line-up of speakers currently includes: Social Purpose and Community Manager with ThingLink Louise Jones; David Wright, of Saferinternet; Academic Registrar at Teesside University Jonathan Eaton; freelance digital trainer and Google certified trainer and innovator Wendy Peskett; Vikki Liogier, Digital Capability Consultant and B DigiFab Director; ILT Manager at Bolton College Aftab Hussain; Head of Training at Vitalize IT Andrew Hartley; and Partnerships Lead with Google Education Jeminatu Alabi-isama.
Darlington College has cemented a national reputation for being at the forefront of technology and the field of online learning.
The vision of it senior leaders ensured that the impact of the pandemic on students’ education was minimal as teaching transferred to the Internet and they were able to remain engaged with their studies throughout COVID restrictions.
Darlington College was chosen by the Government to help other schools and colleges maximise their use of technology to teach students in their own homes.
Their work also won the college high praise from global leaders in IT Google for the way staff had embraced technology so effectively, placing them in the vanguard of remote learning.
Google awarded the college, the only one in the North East, the prestigious Google Reference College status, recognising staff’s expertise and the wide-spread use of their products including more than 500 Chromebooks.
Darlington College pioneered testing and developing on-line teaching platforms with journalism trainees and apprentices more than three years ago.
The journalism department has been working with the National Council for the Training of Journalists, using Google Meet and Google Classroom remote learning platforms, to train reporters.