On Wednesday 31st March, three year 11 students accompanied by Mr Roberts travelled by train to Birmingham to take part in a QCDA conference on ‘How we use technology in our learning’. The day started at 5 am, ready to catch a train from Plymouth at 6:25.After a 3 hour train ride to Birmingham New Street station, we caught a taxi to the Think Tank Science facility at the Millennium Point. As we walked into the building it was like a massive modern railway station! Not only was it the home of the science facility, but also an iMax cinema and parts of the Birmingham University, including an iMac suit for media, a fashion school and a facility for the performing arts!
Once we found our way to the conference room we did a quick meet and greet with the organisers and then started to set up for our presentation later that morning. After that, it was time for what we had been waiting for all morning… BACON BUTTIESS!!!!!!
The greetings and welcomes started at 11:00am. Soon after the presentations began. Oakdale Primary school started them off with a presentation about using gaming technology in primary learning. This included using Nintendo DS games like brain training! Secondly a presentation from The Blue Coat School which was a secondary school in Oldham. Along with examples of social networking and how the school uses Moodle effectively as a VLE they talked about how they overcame the severe weather conditions over the Christmas period and January with the school having to close due to large amounts of snow making it impossible for any travelling and lessons to continue. Finally it was our turn. We started off slowly, where the nerves were showing. This wasn’t made any easier by our video deciding not to work properly with the link whilst in the middle of our presentation. We soon got into the swing of things and started throwing in witty jokes and a comedy vibe!
After our presentation was over, time started flying by. Lunch was a delicious spread of savoury finger food followed by a wide variety of fresh fruit and cakes. This also gave us the chance to do a bit of networking with the other teachers, Head teachers and other educational organisations like Becta and the QCDA. This was also a chance for Mr Roberts to chat to some of his fellow tweeters!
During the lunch break we snuck off to have a look around the Think Tank science facility. The exhibits were all very interactive and busy giving us not much time to experience them fully. We soon rejoined the conference for the afternoon presentation from Becta which involved lots of opportunities to voice our views.
The conference officially finished at 3 pm leaving time for us to say our goodbyes and get ourselves ready to travel back to the train station to catch the train home. On departure we secured some new links with other schools across the UK including Oakdale Junior School in London.
Highlights of the day
Alex: Trying coffee in new ways and gaining more confidence in presenting and learning new things about how the government is helping education.
Lewis: Meeting new people, improved confidence and presentation skills… and of course a very nice, free lunch!
Adam: Being quoted as saying “If you give us rules we will break em” and making very successful links with other schools. We liked the way that everyone wanted to talk to us and hear our views and opinions.
Mr Roberts: Watching a very professional and humorous presentation with a powerful message from our students.
Here are some of the quotes about our presentation on the day that were communicated to us and on things like twitter and facebook:
“Great presentation from Saltash.net students with loads of humour and some fantastic ideas! Brilliant!” Michael – Headteacher from Blackpool
“Students so right! Saying don’t block things educate us to use them properly. Great stuff! – Chris – Headteacher.
“The saltash.net students did a fantastic job – a great bunch of responsible, confident learners with a great sense of humour ;)” Dawn, Primary Teacher.
By Adam, Lewis and Alex Year 11
This is a superb example of an experience that these young people will never forget and one which will surely help them on their journey to ‘adulthood’. How often do we give young people such an opportunity to describe to their peers, or other adults (particularly those who are neither their parents nor their teachers)? Not very often would be my guess, which is why i think that as much as increased access to creative and innovartive ICT tools is important for young people these days, so is the need for them to be able to speak publicly (or at least be involved with a team making a presentation). I feel such a skill is as important (ie. how to present oneself) for the future as described in ‘Shift Happens’ that awaits today’s young people.
Bravo and well done to you and your students for being involved in what seems like a fantastic and unforgettable day.