Category: Journal

EdExec Live, Herts

I recently had the opportunity to contribute to the EdExec live event in Hertfordshire.  Now I have contributed to EdExec Live events in the past but this is the first time I have done so in Hertfordshire.   I need to admit, as is all too common for me, travel to the event came complete with travel disasters, with me getting easily to London and across London but then subsequent trains being cancelled and delays, leading to an Uber and a total travel time of just over 6hrs.  But enough of my usual travel woes.

I think the first thing of note is my belief in the fact that education, teaching and learning in schools, takes a village.   It requires various people doing various roles.   This includes teachers in the classroom, teaching SLT members, IT staff supporting the IT setup as well as school business leaders and more.   Now am lucky to, as a teacher of many years, contribute to the teaching side of things, and as an ANME ambassador to contribute to the IT side of things, however the EdExec events allow me to contribute to the school business leader side of things.   As I have said many times before, collaboration and sharing is so important or as david Weinberger put it: “the smartest person in the room, is the room”.   As such it is so important that we share widely, including sharing beyond silos associated with specific roles.   So, I am therefore keen to share and be involved with discussion with educational professionals across the various roles which work towards ensuring schools operate and students succeed.

The conference was opened by Stephen Morales from the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) and so much he said aligned with some of my thinking.   Firstly, he mentioned the implications and impact of geopolitics on education.    This was something I heard only a few weeks earlier at an Information Security conference, where it was clear information security and cyber security of organisations, including schools was being impacted by geopolitical issues.     Stephen also mentioned the privilege divide, which refers to socioeconomic divides, and in turn has a direct impact on technology divides.    We clearly need to reduce divides where possible, building equity, however sometimes the easy “solutions” have unintended consequences in this complex world so we need to make sure our decisions are measured and considered.

Stephen referred to the need for collaboration and also to the need to consider technology.   Both of these are things I believe strongly in, believing there is a relationship between the two.   Given how tech changes and advances so quickly we cannot seek to stay up to date on our own so the best solution we have continues to be collective action, to be sharing and discussing and using the wealth of experience, thought and skills of the education sector as a whole.   He also referred to structures, processes, people and technology, and I think this is key, considering not just the technology but the people using it and the processes it is being used for.  This immediately got me thinking about teaching and the TPACK model.

He also mentioned AI which was the focus of the presentation I was giving immediately following his keynote.    You can access my slide here.    Some of my key points from the session where the fact that AI is here now and students are definitely using it, as are many staff.    We can’t put that genie back in the bottle.    As such we need to look to how we can harness AI, and that’s not just generative AI, but includes the various other branches of AI.   We need to look to it’s using in teaching, in helping teachers prepare content and in marking, in learning, putting AI in the hands of students, and also in the administrative aspects of schools, both in the classroom and in the wider school.     I made the point that this isn’t without risk, which was apt when the next session I attended, led brilliantly by Laura Williams, was specifically about risk management.    If we want to benefit from the potential of AI, we will need to deal with the risks.   If we don’t allow use of AI, if we ban it, we don’t need to deal with the risks of AI usage, although there are risks resulting from this, from not teaching about and not allowing AI use.   It’s the balance issue I often talk about.

My session talked about the need for an AI strategy which aligns with the technology strategy which in turn aligns with the school strategy.  They are inter-related.    I also mentioned the need for appropriate foundations, so we cant look at AI without good infrastructure, devices, support and training.    An Ai, and a tech strategy, as well as a school strategy, has to be built on solid foundations.    So chasing the next shiny AI tool, without the fundamentals in place just wont work.

In terms of risks, I mentioned bias and inaccuracies however also mentioned that humans are not short of these challenges either, albeit we don’t always appreciate them.   Data protection continues to be an issue, however Data protection in the world of Ai is often simply good data protection related to any online or technology service.   Obviously automated decision making needs a little more consideration, however how many of the online content platforms schools have been using years, and which recommend and direct students to learning content, aren’t fully transparent as to how their algorithms, their AI, make decisions.

Thinking back to Stephens presentation he mentioned about fears as to AI replacement of humans.    For me, as for Stephen, it is about AI and humans working together, rather than one replacing the other.

The conference was yet another opportunity to share my thoughts and to engage with others as to their thoughts, and some of the discussions I had over lunch were very interesting indeed.    Schools are clearly at different points, and with different contexts, and this for me is fine, however if we wish to move forward I continue to believe in the need to work collaboratively and to share.    I came away from the event with new thoughts and ideas, and I hope those who attended my session came away the same.

12 Years of Blogging

It was now 12 years yesterday that I posted my first ever blog post (see here).  Not sure where the time has gone but it has seen me move from the UAE and working with schools mainly in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, to working in Somerset at Millfield, but also working with the Digital Futures Group and Association of Network Managers in Education (ANME) trying to support schools across the UK and beyond.  

My first post involved me sat on the bed in the evening on the 12th Feb 2013 posting my first thoughts.   I am now 550 further posts on and my blog has afforded me the opportunity to share my thoughts, but also has forced me to structure my thoughts in order to write them down and has allowed me to keep a permanent record of how my thinking has progressed and changed over the intervening 12 years.   I think sometimes we aren’t as conscious of how our own views and beliefs change and develop over time and with age and experience as we should be.

It has also been great to meet people and connect with people that actually have read some of my posts.   This includes meeting online with discussion via social media, but also meeting in person at events including events such as BETT or the Schools and Academies Show (SAAS).    I continue to believe that networking and sharing is important, and if we take into consideration the pace of technological change and the potential, or even requirement, for the use of technology in schools, it becomes all the more important.    I keep coming back to the David Weinberger quote, “the smartest person in the room, is the room”, so I can but hope my posts continue to contribute to the room of global educators sharing online.

Here’s to continuing to post, to share and to the year ahead.  And for those thinking about creating a blog or posting or sharing my advice is simple:  just do it!

BETT 2025: reflections part 2

Continuing on my reflections of the BETT conference from my previous post, I found sir Stephen Frys discussion with Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon to be quite interesting in the exploring “science reality” and how some things science fiction have come to pass, plus in looking at how Artificial Intelligence (AI) has actually been around for some time.    In terms of science reality, I did a presentation last year where I referenced an episode from Star Trek: The Next Generation, where it appears that captain Piccard is using a device very much like an iPad or other tablet device.     It is notable the episode aired in the 1980’s and focused on events from the 23rd century, when in fact the iPad made its appearance in 2010.   For me this highlights that science fiction sometimes presents us with novel and interesting ideas, that people then seek to make happen.   It also highlights that we are pretty crap at predicting the “when” of things with any real accuracy.

In terms of the longevity of AI, the concept has been discussed since the 1950’s with period of progress and then periods of quiet, with one particular quiet period known as the AI winter.    The reality is that the current progress of AI, as discussed by the sir Stephen and Dr Imafidon, is likely the juncture between increasing computing poor and increasing “oil fields of data”.    I found the point regarding how we “sleepwalked into the internet age” interesting, highlighting we cannot do the same with AI, but did we truly know what the impact of the internet was going to be, so can we truly know what the impact of AI might be?      I also found discuss of how social media focussed on “maximising engagement” to hit the nail of the head especially when this was expanded to include maximising bias, hatred and other negatives.   The term socio-technical skills as something we should possibly seek develop, was a new one on me, but I can see the point.

The discussion then progressed to education and assessment categorising the implications of ChatGPT for cheating as a minor issue brought about by the education system we currently have.    This aligns with some of my views on the need to reform education.    Education is not about tests or coursework, it is about learning.  It isn’t about grades.    I found the comment regarding our current system “testing for ignorance” and then pushing it, to be a particular telling and critical assessment of the world we consider to be education.    In the roundtable on assessment I took part in, that was one of our discussions regarding how coursework and exams are simply scalable for use across different schools, regions and countries, so we use them due to this scalability rather than because they are the best thing for education or for learning, or for our students.   

As the discussion moved back more towards AI there was an interesting discussion on AI development in terms of how we often describe AI as currently being the worst it will be, and that it is constantly improving.  This is fair to a point but sir Stephen referred to the internet as “filling with slop” and “contaminated” and if we assume that AI continues to use the AI in its training data then it too may become contaminated so it maybe possible to suggest that AI might be at its best now and only get worse as it becomes more contaminated by its own “slop”.    And who controls the AI and its development.  It was suggested that the three worst options might be the three groups most likely to lead the way on AI development, being countries, corporations and criminals.   In all three cases I can see the outcomes being far from positive and we can already see the internet being used to political and national ends, for pure commercialisation, consumerisation or profit, or for crime.   

I could likely write a whole series of blogs based on the session by sir Stephen and Dr Imafidon however rather than focussing on that I just want to share how they finished the discussion, on the need to find the “sweet spot”.   The need to find a balance between pessimism and optimism.   Now this aligns very much with my view of balance, in that most good things will have some balancing drawbacks or challenges.   We need to try and find our way and find the best middle group, the “sweet spot”.

The next session I watched before hitting the BETT conference floor was a session titled “Education in the AI era”.   Again I could write a lot about what was said as I found it to be very interesting indeed but am going to avoid doing that.    One key comment mentioned 30% of teachers not using AI;  My sense is this figure is lower than the reality.   The data came from TeacherTapp which I think is great, but I also think that the subset of teachers using TeacherTapp are likely to be those who are a little more tech savvy and therefore likely to use AI, and that a greater proportion of those who don’t use AI will also not be using TeacherTapp.  The bigger and possibly more important question is why some teachers who know of AI aren’t using it;  Is it they don’t know they are using AI, but are, that they don’t have access, lack training, lack confidence or something else?    In terms of access, this session also mentioned access to technology and affordance, which to me links to the concept of digital divides.

I also liked the discussion on banning and blocking AI where they compared it to knives in food tech.   Why would we ban AI in some or all subjects when we know knives can be dangerous, yet don’t ban them?    Now I know that this is a very simplistic and flawed analogy and that it was likely used for effect rather than accuracy, but I think the point is valid;  How often has prohibition of anything ever been beneficial or effective?   It just tends to make people do it more, but do it in secret.

This session finished on the big question, which had also been raised the previous night at the Edufuturists event, in terms of what the purpose of education is?     In terms of what we measure, tests, coursework, grades, are these what truly matters?   And if not, what does matter, and how might we measure it, assuming we need to?

That’s some pretty deep questions to end this post on, but that’s where I found myself and I was still in the morning of day 1 of BETT.   The afternoon would see me getting around the event and doing the networking side of things, which for me is one of the main benefits of BETT, but the sessions from the morning, and some of the other sessions I attended across the conference were also very beneficial in stimulating thoughts and ideas, and in some places in confirming or challenging some of my thinking.    Next BETT post to follow soon……….

BETT 2025: reflections part 1

Last week was the BETT conference and the annual pilgrimage for EdTech peeps the world over, to London.   Its 3 days of tech conference complete with some excellent speakers, trade stands, events and meetings.   For me, this meant three and a half days non-stop with a lot of learning, a lot of sharing and a lot of networking.    As I write this on the train home my social battery is very much depleted but the train ride does provide me an opportunity to reflect, albeit I suspect if I were to stop and relax I would be asleep in seconds.  And I just wish my laptop was working properly, however it seems to be suffering from BETTLag leaving me trying to write this on an iPad but without a keyboard as I opted for the lighter case rather than the heavier one with integral keyboard.  Doh!

So where to start?   I suppose the best place to start is with my usual travel woes.   Am not sure why I seem incapable of a trip out without some sort of issue however this time was no different.   Basically, I arrived at the train station to park my car and get the train to London to find there were no available spaces.    With less than10 minutes until the train this didn’t allow for much searching for an alternative place to park the car leaving me no option but to park it on the road, but outside someone’s house next to the station.    Am hoping they weren’t too annoyed by my parking where I suspect they would normally park however the lack of spaces, and this is despite me having already paid, left me no real choices.    Thankfully after this my journey was reasonably without any further drama except for google maps seeming to indicate I was walking backwards as I navigated from my hotel to the Canva and Edufuturists event on Tuesday night.  

The main thing which struck me from the Edufuturists event was the discussion in relation to culture, and its importance.   This is something I have thought to be true for some time and actually something I presented on when interviewed for the post I now hold.   The required topic for the presentation, from what I can remember, related to developing a technology strategy and culture, however in my presentation I talked at length about strategy, before bringing it back to culture and how culture underpins everything.    A good plan with a weak culture, will remain a good plan but is likely to be poorly implemented, but a poor plan within a strong culture will likely see the plan improved on, driven and developed to positive ends.  Culture eats strategy for breakfast.     I will note that the Edufuturists event felt a little bit strange being in the nice clean professional offices of Canva, whereas my last Edufuturists event, the UpRising event, was held in a slightly different style of venue.   That said, it may also have felt a bit strange as I was to be seen wearing jeans rather than my usual suited and booted look, something that at least one person pointed out to me.   I was however equipped with Irn-Bru as normal, so at least some things never change.

Another thing which struck me in relation to the EduFuturists event was the engagement of those in attendance who all were eager to learn and share, and to do whatever they could to try and drive and support education in its many forms.    My phrase of choice is the David Weinberger quote, “the smartest person in the room is the room”, and in the room with the EduFuturists, I felt we were all that much smarter together, and the collaborative culture made for some really interesting and thought provoking conversations.   These included discussions on the need for continual learning, on personalisation, on accessibility and more.

Wednesday saw the first day of the BETT conference and I loved the phrase David Verry used in referring to AI as a “weapon of mass production”.    The question we then have from that is what such mass production means for us in termly of how it shapes the news, how it shapes our beliefs and identity, what it means for something to be original and much more.   

The Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson, the secretary of state for education was next up and it was nice to hear how she emphasised the “power of tech”.    There has long been great potential available through technology however to date the situation varies significantly across schools in terms of access to technology, support, training and the other prerequisites needed before we get to actually using technology in lessons.    It was therefore nice to hear reference to the need to “close the digital divide” although personally I prefer to refer to “divides” rather than a singular divide given there are so many factors which impact on the disparity in relation to tech in schools.    AI was obviously a fair part of her speech, as it was for many others across BETT this year as AI continues to be the shiny new thing being talked about.    For me here there is a risk that we are speaking so much more about AI that we are not speaking about some other things such as the basic infrastructure, data protection, training and culture.      I also noted a sense that the discussion was very much about AI and teachers, where this is achievable with limited tech in schools, rather than AI with students, and the need for 1:1 devices, where this would require significant investment in devices but also in infrastructure.     She also talked about seeking to address an “absence epidemic” however for me, the key here was when she talked about “belonging”, as this links back potentially to the Edufuturists discussion in relation to culture, and for me is likely something significantly bigger than just the education sector, extending into wider society as a whole.    I wonder if social media, globalisation, increasing migration for work, etc, are meaning that on average people are feeling a lesser sense of belonging than they might have done in the past?    Is the social fibre, the communities of the past, breaking down or at least changing?

Caroline Wright from BESA was up next and her comments regarding the need to focus on the basics, things like infrastructure, training, funding, etc, rather than the “shiniest new thing” struck a cord with me.    I continue to be a big fan of the potential for AI to assist teachers, and for it to help reform education for the better of our students and their future, but I also worry that it is the current shiny thing which everyone is talking about meaning we are speaking less about some of the basics we need if we are to truly see the potential benefits.

I then stayed to listed to Sir Stephen Fry before making my way onto the floor of the main BETT show and beginning my meetings, networking, etc, but for now I will leave that for a future post to be shared shortly.    My step count to this point was reasonably low but it was never going to stay that way.

2024, a little photo review

Have been a little light on the posts recently having enjoyed the festive period and more recently been trying to get back up to speed with things.    That and have also been struggling with a bit of a winter cold over the festive period, with this lingering into the start of the new year.   But normal service is starting to resume, so let’s start with a quick photo review of 2024.

Its always difficult picking photos for this as I have so many photos of events, meetings and other things so apologies to those I missed out from the above.    2024 was likely my busiest year in terms of the things I got involved in.    That said I have done my best to try and pick some of the highlights which includes BETT 2024, which for me felt like my best BETT yet;  With that I look forward to BETT 2025 and actually doing a bit of speaking at the event for the first time.    2024 also included my trip to speak at Futureshots in Venice, complete with the unforgettable (although I try!) Gondola ride.   I had my first visit to the EduFuturists Uprising event in 2024, plus ran the ANME Southwest meeting in “The Castle”, as well as attending the Google summit and Schools and Academies Show in Birmingham.   I spoke at a KeyNote event, speaking on AI in education, and at the ISBA national conference on digital strategy.   And that’s just some of the events I attended or contributed to.   

On a more personal level, I achieved my plan to run 500km across the year, albeit not being as consistent with this as I would like, plus I actually attended BETT 2024 with my son, who was there in relation to Esports, which he is currently studying at college.   It was nice to have him seeing what I do, but also allowing me to support him in his interests.    Following a difficult start to the year the second half of the year saw things improve significantly with the support of my new partner, seeing me get away to the sun but also visiting Ibrox for a tour of the stadium, in less sunning conditions.   And this supported me to see the return of my Christmas madness involving a number of members of my team and inflatable festive outfits.

 2024 was definitely a varied year with ups and downs, so both positive and less than positive memories.   It was certainly a journey.    So 2025……I wonder what the journey might look like when I look back at this time next year?

Pledges – A review of 2024

And so 2024 draws to a close.  Where has the year gone?    Although I note I suspect I say that every year, and at the end of each term and half term….Is it an age thing or related to the frenzied pace rushing from one half term, term, academic year or calendar year to the next; I am not sure.    But as 2024 draws to its close I think its about time for that little bit of annual reflection and a look back on my pledges which I set out in January (Read more here).

Doom Scrolling

This was something I worried about at the start of the year, that I was spending too much time mindlessly flicking through my phone.   The end of 2023 did find me feeling a bit lost with social media being a welcome distraction, albeit not a positive one.   2024 saw me install and delete TikTok on a number of occasions in relation to this, while also seeing me removing Facebook also as I made little use of it other than to consume content, and doom scroll.   Looking at quantitative figures, in late December 2023 I was on my phone around 3hrs 20mins per week however half way through December 2024 my average had dropped to 2hr 38mins based on a 5wk rolling average, so that suggests a reduction albeit it’s a little higher than the 2hr 30mins I was looking to achieve.    In terms of increased real social interactions I mentioned, am not sure whether I managed this or not.  I certainly have been out and about a bit more recently plus professionally 2024 has seen me involved in a number of groups and projects.   Maybe my ideal view of what I think I should be doing is different from what might be possible in the digital world we now live in?   Maybe I need to manage my expectations better here?

Fitness

I managed my target of running 500km this year, with a couple of weeks to spare however I didn’t manage the longer runs or a social run as I had set myself.   I did find it challenging this year, never really building up any real momentum with my running and being quite erratic at times, but sometimes it is pushing through and succeeding when things are difficult which matters.    I suspect I will relax on fitness for next year just to give my body a bit of a breather after a couple of years of 500km+ per year of running.   Again, the issue of social activities comes up as something I fell short on, but is that as I am more of an introvert and self-motivated rather than someone who really enjoys doing activities, including fitness related activities, with a group?   With a bit of OCD, do I prefer the assuredness and ease of doing things solo, versus the messiness and complexity where it involves other humans being?    Do I need to be happier in my own solo fitness efforts rather than looking towards others?

Exploring

Not sure I really did much exploring this year, although I did venture once more to Tenerife, and maybe explored Fareham and surrounding areas a little bit.   Oh and who could forget the trauma of my visit to Venice and the Grand Canal.   This is definitely an area where I have fallen short this year, but where at least some progress was made and something I need to consider for next year.    That being said, exploring and travel requires a number of pre-requisites such as time and money, both of which I have struggled at times with during 2024.

Happiness and adapting

2024 for me was very much about adapting to changes which started at the end of 2023.  It has been a difficult year with some definite dark and bright spots, with the tail end of the year starting to show signs of promise.   I think one of the challenges for me has been, being happiest when I am busy but feeling a little lost when I am less busy and should be relaxing; This is something I need to resolve, possibly in finding a better balance between work and personal life, which is something I feel I started to in the 2nd half of 2024. It is with this thought that I want to see in the new year and start 2025, hopefully growing the things that have made me happiest over the recent months.

Achievements

This year has been really busy in terms of engaging with various EdTech events with my involvement in over 20 different events, including an event in Venice.   I was also close to getting back out to the Middle East and contributing to an event out there, after almost 10 years since I was last out there however this proved a bit costly so I had to give it a miss;  Maybe something for next year!    I have repeatedly found myself referring to David Weinberger’s, “the smartest person in the room is the room” this year, so am grateful for so many opportunities to contribute to various rooms and to hear from so many amazing educational and IT professionals who are equally sharing their thoughts, knowledge and expertise.   In an increasingly frantic world, with the significant pace of technological change, our best chance continues to be to share with others and work collaboratively.  If acknowledging anyone the ANME and the Digital Futures Group are of particular note, as are my colleagues on the ISC Digital Advisory Group, who have all provided me so much help, advice and much more throughout 2024.

Conclusion

2024 is almost at an end, and my reflection rather than providing me answers has provided me more questions.   That reminds me of a quote I saw recently which said “the problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts and the stupid ones are full of confidence”.   Now am not saying I am intelligent, but I definitely have had and continue to have my doubts in many areas of my life, being it about my fitness, my career and work, my family and more, but maybe these doubts are normal.   Maybe seeking the answers is an eternal struggle, but where no answers will ever be found, and in which case maybe I need to be happy with the journey.    So maybe that’s a good way to leave this review of 2024, in saying its been a bit of a journey, with an unknown destination, but at least the weather here, where I am now compared to where I was in Dec 2023, is better!

SAAS Birmingham 2024

The schools and academies show and co-hosted EdTech Summit are marked in my calendar as an annual event to attend, so it was with this that I made my way over the Birmingham NEC for this years event.  

As always the key benefit of the event is the networking which is provides with so many great people to meet up with and share ideas with.  

The Digital Futures Group, including Gemma Gwilliam, Emma Darcey, James Garnett, Jonny Wathen and Abid Patel were all in attendance, and with Abid bringing a Bru, albeit the wrong one.  

Additionally I met up with Osi Ejiofor and Georgina Dean and Nicola Pondsford.    Some of the ISC Digital Advisory Group were around including the chair, David Horton, and Neelam Parmar as well.    And the event is never complete without the ANMEs presence, the stand complete with the ambassadors avatars, myself included, and a chance to chat with Rick Cowell, Jase Caul and Terry Dignam.      I am so thankfully for such a wonderful group of people who are so keen to share their thoughts and wisdom.   Every time I meet up with these people I come away feeling more optimistic as to EdTech in schools, plus more developed in my thinking. The smartest person in the room is the room, so I am gratefully to be in the same room as all these great people.

So this years event had a fair amount of Gemma keeping me on the straight and narrow, including guiding me through Birmingham airport buildings to our chosen hotel, where I suspect had I been doing this on my own I would have got badly lost. My geographical and directional skills are not very reliable and I am convinced the Google Maps app is bent on sending me in the wrong direction.

As I write this blog, and seek to share some thoughts, I must note my Schools and Academies badge as supplied by Rick and ANME.    The notable thing about it was that it didn’t list me as a visitor, a speaker (I wasn’t speaking) but as “Press”.    Now sadly I suspect this was an administrative error rather than this blog now reaching sufficient people that I can now be considered a member of the associated press.    But who knows what the future holds 😉  Maybe next year I need to walk around with a microphone and see what reaction that gets?

So what were my main takeaways from the event?     As mentioned above I think a key takeaway of this and other conferences and events is simply the need to network and share.  Technology moves fast, and all schools differ in context so no-one in schools is in a position to resolve the resultant challenges on their own, so our best chance is simply to approach the problems and challenges collectively, to share and work together.    The ANME, the ISC Digital Advisory Group and the Digital Futures Group (DFG) are all key to me in this, plus events like the schools and academic show provide opportunities to meet further people.

A second take away relates to AI.   This continues to be a hot topic in educational circles but I sometimes feel this is a small number of individuals and schools rather than the masses.   AI has such potential but we need to be pragmatic about it and how we encourage people to try and to experiment but to be safe.    To this end I liked Chris Goodalls presentation where we talked about the low barrier to entry in relation to staff using AI;   It is simply about getting people trying it, typing in the text box and submitting their prompt.    He also pointed to the possibly unnecessary language used making AI sound difficult, such as “prompt engineering”;   If we look at generative AI as a chat bot and as involving a dialogue, then isn’t it something that everyone can do, assuming we can simply convince them to give it a try.   And as to remaining safe, we proposed the need for a DBS, or the need to consider Data privacy, Bias and Safety;   Such a simple acronym.

My third take away related to strategy and a few discussions on AI.   AI may be great thing to consider and maybe something which is a hot topic, but you cant experiment with AI without infrastructure, bandwidth, devices, training and more.    There needs to be a plan, a strategy, and only once you have this and seek to implement it can you then potentially look at using AI.     Related to this I also had a number of discussions on digital divides where the existence of a strategy, the availability of reliable infrastructure, and of client devices for staff and students, plus now, engagement in AI, all represent different divides which can impact on schools, teachers and students.  

Now I was only going to list three takeaways but as I sit on this train there was one other takeaway I need to share and it came from the drinks reception which occurred prior to the SAAS event.    Schools and teachers now have such a list of things that need to be done, so many compliance and other required tasks which are done because we have to.   I have commented on this in the past.    But what about doing the things we want, or even love to do?    Don’t we want teachers that love to teach, and student that as a result love to come to school and engage.    Is the increasing requirements, tasks, compliance and workload eroding the love for teaching and love for learning?   I suspect it is but how can we redress this balance.    This isn’t an easy question, and relates to some of my previous posts on focussing on what matters.   I suspect this will continue to grow as something which schools, school leaders, governments, inspection regimes and other education related organisations need to stop and think about, and hopefully sooner rather than later.

So that’s the Schools and Academic 2024, Birmingham show finished for another year.   The next significant event on the calendar is BETT and I must say, after last year I am so looking forward to it.   I will note that I didn’t do a great job of planning my visit to the schools and academies show, so this is something I will need to make sure and correct for BETT.   And also, maybe this year I may finally heed the common advice regarding comfy shoes.   Or maybe Ill rock up in a suit as normal!

ANME South West Meeting

It was great to lead the ANME southwest meeting on Tuesday last week at the amazing offices of CoreToCloud.   There aren’t many IT companies that I know of that can claim to have the address “The Castle” but CoreToCloud call it home.  Now as is the case with me and travel, the travel to this event wasn’t without issue with the M5 being closed following a sad and tragic loss of life.   And so my day started off with a good period of time in a car park, or at least that’s how the road seemed to me, before getting to the event later than planned, with a later kick off for the meeting as a result.

As always the key aim of ANME meetings is to provide a network for school IT professionals to share thoughts, ideas and issues and this meeting provided for that.    There were two great presentations from ANME members firstly looking at how apprentices can be a key part of IT staffing, and how to ensure apprentices are properly developed to become an effective part of a school IT team.    This presentation was made all the more powerful through the contributions of a current school IT staff member who was an apprentice but now runs a school site.    Now I myself have seen the benefits of apprentice students being supported however I also understand the time required to do this.   The issue of time for training of apprentices and other new, possibly young staff, often gets me thinking of the Richard Branson quote regarding the cost of training people up and them leaving when compared with the cost of not training someone up and them staying.   But it does also raise the usual challenge of the finite nature of time when compared with the frenetic nature of IT roles in schools.

The event also included a few cyber security presentations from IT vendors with tools around detecting and isolating ransomware, from a data point of view rather than an endpoint based detection point of view, and on automated penetration testing.   These presentations were very useful in providing IT staff with possible solutions they can consider as part of a layered approach to cyber security.   Sadly, as is often the case, one of the challenges here continues to be that of budget and also of recognition as to the potential risk.     How do you convince those with budgetary power of spending money, which could be spent directly and immediately on teaching and learning, on preventing a possible, future cyber incident, which may then impact on teaching and learning plus school operation. 

The second of the ANME member presentations was on going cloud and was one I identified with, including discussion of the sudden surge towards the cloud as associated with remote learning being brought in during the pandemic.    The presentation touched on the challenges of change management as well as on resource management.  It also presented how internal charging for IT services in a multi-school trust might be a useful vehicle in establishing the value of IT staff involvement and services.    I was particularly interested in the discussion of professional development and professional education for IT staff in schools, as this is something I consider to be important but also something which can be difficult in terms of finding appropriate training content, cost of content and also finding the relevant time to allow it to occur.   I have myself allocated time in the past for staff to do this  however found it difficult to protect this time.  This is definitely something I need to revisit in the future, possibly looking to allocate time but allow for staff members to arrange it themselves but with some sort of line management process to ensure the time is used and that the outcomes are meaningful and add value.

The ANME meetings continue to be a valuable space for IT staff in schools to get together and share what works, the challenges and also the things that don’t work.  I continue to believe that in a world of fast paced tech change and increasing use of tech in schools, and in classrooms, there are no school leaders, technology leaders or other staff in schools who can handle things on their own.   It is therefore critical to network and to share.   As I often say, “the smartest person in the room is the room” (David Weinberger), so the more people we can get in the room, including the ANME meeting room, the smarter we all are collectively.   

I cant wait until the new ANME South West meeting, and I hope that it sees yet more new faces joining and sharing their thoughts and ideas.

Half term and wellbeing

So the 2nd half of the half term begins and I spent my half term finding some time for myself including a bit of a holiday with some excellent company, but with a little bit of an intrusion from work.   I went through some traumatic travel situations, as I often do, some poolside trauma and have had a difficult family issue arise.   All this in a half term.   So it got me thinking about wellbeing, which made me put fingers to the old keyboard and put this post together as I started the journey on my second of four trains for the day.

Wellbeing?

One of my first thoughts on wellbeing is simply the complexity of it.   It’s a simple word and its easy to say your wellbeing is ok or not, or for wellbeing to be put on the agenda for weekly meetings, but what is wellbeing?   Now am not going to say I have done any real research on this but for me there are a number of aspects including our physical fitness, our mental wellbeing, a spiritual element and well as elements related to stress, both positive and negative, agency, purpose, family and much more.   It’s a bit of a complex soup of things yet I feel that often when organisations look at wellbeing they look for simple solutions where none really exist.

Work and wellbeing

I think this area is particularly complex.   As mentioned in the intro, work intruded a little in my holiday abroad, through email notifications I saw on my phone which led me to feel the need to act and respond.   I also had an emotional response to the message which had an impact where I had to that point being getting quite relaxed and very much in holiday mode.   Now it is important to note that there was no explicit need in the emails for my response but I felt the need to respond.   I had the agency to respond or not to respond, and had the agency to disable notifications had I wished.   There was a lot in my control.   But equally I feel there is an increasing narrative around the need to be efficient, to be effective, and therefore having identified an issue via a notification I felt a partially intrinsic but partially extrinsic need to act, independent of being on holiday or not.   Technology facilitates many benefits but putting these notifications in front of me, may be the flipside, and negative side of this.

Stress

The word stress often brings with it a negative image.   With the M5 closed, and being my main route to the airport, with all surrounding roads clogging up as everyone else, like me, sought to find alternatives, it certainly wasn’t positive stress I was experiencing and it wasn’t how I anticipated my holiday to begin.      But equally the November ahead of me and the number of events which I will be contributing to, equally represents stress but I see it more as a positive challenge, challenging me to better prioritise, to network, to us resources at my disposal and to grow professionally.    As I write this it gets me thinking of “desirable difficulty”.   It therefore worries me that we seek convenience, ease and the status quo all too often.   There is negative and avoidable stress that we should rightly seek to avoid.   But equally there is a lot of stress which we should seek to embrace.    From my holiday one such stress was my irrational fear of bodies of water, where my gondola ride in Feb caused some distress, and where this time it was a pool by the apartment.   Like with the gondola, I once again embraced the stress in the hope of growing, this time entering the pool, albeit in the shallow end.   That’s the first time I’ve been in a pool in over 20 years, and I hope is another step in trying to grow personally and get comfortable with that which makes me uncomfortable, and which stresses me out.    I think this also links back to my previous comment on agency, in that I can control this stress and how I engage with it.    I feel a lot of the stress in our lives, we can either control or at least control how we respond, and that it the key, to avoid the emotional hijacking which often arises from stress.   Maybe if I had avoided such a hijacking I may not have responded to the email notifications, and may have left it for others to pick up or for me to pick up on my return.   Who know how that may have turned out?

Wellbeing initiatives

I have a particular view on wellbeing initiatives in that I feel they are largely ineffective.   They often represent activities which can be accessed and sometimes, unfortunately, which are made compulsory.   These simplistic measures don’t do much to address the complexity of individual wellbeing.   I will however note, taken at a macro level, they may have a positive average impact on a wider staff body, but I write this from the point of view of an individual.    The initiatives I have seen so far fail to deal with the complexity of wellbeing.  For myself, at the moment, the family issue which has recently arisen is definitely not going to be addressed by any activity my school can put on or arrange.   It can however be addressed by a strong open and warm organisational culture, complete with appropriate line management structures.    It does make me think that we should spend less time on wellbeing discussions and initiatives and more time going back to the basics of leadership and management, and making sure staff feel supported, positive challenged and engaged, fell they have agency, etc.    If there is one other thing that I think schools and colleges need to do it is to provide the time to stop and reflect as this long train ride is providing me on this Sunday afternoon.

Conclusion

Wellbeing isn’t simple.   It’s a bit of a soup of factors.    As I sit at my 2nd last station of this leg of my trip I wonder whether I would benefit from a bit of a force analysis of the internal and external factors which impact my wellbeing and about what I or other can do to support my wellbeing.   Might that help to unpick things?  I also wonder if thinking about wellbeing when discussions of wellbeing and stress are often framed in a negative fashion, may bias me towards more negative views as to my own personal wellbeing.   I am not sure, although if there is one thing I am sure of it is that an analysis would take some time, and if there is one thing that would positively impact my wellbeing it is to have the time to stop and reflect.   

Now how do we build that into the school programme and how do we support all to stop and reflect?  

And also how do we manage the narrative around wellbeing to reduce the largely negative framing which I feel currently exists?

InTec IT innovation in education

This week saw me taking a trip to Mercedes World to speak at the InTec IT Innovation in Education event in relation to esports and also to host a little esports round table.   Now as usual my travels weren’t without their issues which started from the outset with the car park at the station being full, so no spaces, and then was promptly followed by a delayed train meaning I missed my connection.    I do sometimes wonder why I continue getting the train however I suspect, if I drove instead, there would just be significant traffic jams plus I wouldn’t be able to work or have a beer in the process of travelling.   As it was the already long journey took just over 5 hours to complete.

So as to the event itself.    The first topic covered was AI in education and in particular Microsoft’s Co-Pilot.   Now this session focussed on the paid version of Co-Pilot where it exists in Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc, rather than the free version.   The capabilities are impressive as was evidenced by the demo video which was worked through however two challenges currently exist in schools.   One is that of cost, with a cost of around £25 per user per month the scalability of CoPilot in its paid form across whole school staff bodies is rather limited.   That said it could be issued to key users.   The other issue is that of data protection and data security in relation to how CoPilot may surface data which it shouldn’t but where permissions and labelling of data has been historically poor.    Now an example I used here, and experienced recently albeit not actually involving copilot, involved a poorly configured MS Team with data pertaining to a trip.   Permissions made the team available to all within the organisation, including students.   Now in the past this wouldn’t have been a problem as students would either need to find the link or get very lucky in stumbling across the Team however in this case the AI in office 365 which tries to predict what might be useful, surfaced some files from this team following a number of staff accessing said files.    Office 365 was just presenting “this file might be of interest” however surfaced information which wasn’t meant to be available to students.    In a world of CoPilot this is likely to happen all the more often and present significant potential risk.

Next up was a discussion on cyber security and safeguarding.   I liked the strong linking here between safeguarding, which is rightly viewed as critical, and cyber security, which is often shown lesser consideration.    It may be that the best way forward in terms of schools and cyber security is to view it as an aspect of safeguarding in keeping student and staff data safe and secure, and through this protecting them from potential harms.   And isn’t protecting student from harm exactly what safeguarding is about?

During the lunch break I got my hands on a very nice Sim racing rig and got to do a bit of racing.  To start with I didn’t do too well, treating the pedals like an Xbox controller, with a brake and accelerator pedal with an up and down position and nothing else.  Cue, spinning off the course and missing corners.  I joked with one of the Mercedes staff that I was driving a lawnmower given the amount of time I was spending on the grass.    Later I started to get a better feel for things and for being more careful with my acceleration and braking, at which point I started to make gradual improvements, eventually getting my lap time down below 1 minute and eventually coming 5th on the leader board.

After lunch there were sessions on infrastructure and IT planning.   I think the key messages were the importance of a modern infrastructure to support the increasing number and differing types of devices, including VR headsets and 3D printers among many other items.  Also, the need to plan and plan early.   This always makes me think of failing to plan as planning to fail, however in this case its not just about planning but about planning early to allow time for those things we cant predict.

My session was largely on esports, talking about how easy it is for schools to get involved with esports plus about the potential benefits in terms of soft skills development but also in terms of the potential career pathways which esports, and the soft skills it helps develop, might open for our students.   I still sense that esports continues to be adopted more by the Further Education colleges than it does within schools, and I feel this continues to be a shame as the benefits are not limited to those 16+ year old. 

My session also had a second topic being the ISBA Technology Survey.   Now I led on the development of the 2024 survey and resultant report, picking up from the work of Alan Hodgin and Ian Philips who developed the 2018 survey.     I continue to feel that technology changes so fast that no school or staff in a single school can effectively adapt and therefore we need to seek collective solutions.   To that end the ISBA Technology survey is about gathering data and presenting baseline information to schools on how technology is being used across schools, to help in comparison and in planning.   

Conclusion

The event was very enjoyable and the Mercedes World venue was perfect, especially given the opportunity to get some Sim racing done before then presenting on esports.   It was also a great opportunity, like so many other similar events, to network and share thoughts and ideas, including getting to catch up with a few colleagues from other schools where I haven’t seen them in person for a number of years now.

AI does continue to be a common topic in education circles at the moment, and this event was no different, however I am increasingly seeing discussions of esports;  This is something I find very heartening and something which I hope continues.   It would be great to see more and more schools get involved in esports, helping students develop the soft skills which esports support, plus introducing them to the many career paths which esports links to.