EPisodes: Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age

In today's special episode Education Perfect's UAE Teacher Consultant, Mel Musgrove and Dubai based Contractor Teacher Consultant, Ravi Sekhon discuss the 2021 Education Perfect Language Championships which took place across 7 days in March this year.

Over 118 million questions were answered by over 200,000 students across the globe! An incredible event!

"Students love a good competition! Who doesn't want to be the global leader, or have the title of the best school in the world against 1,300 other schools that are competing in the competition?"

STEM teacher and educator Lauren Pugh discusses with Jimmy Bowens her background, education and the way in which developing a curiosity mindset, Kiwi ingenuity and building confidence through the unpacking of answers has enabled her to become a successful woman in STEM.  

Lauren talks about the way in which assessment driven outcomes can hinder women or girls in STEM and can create a negative experience for early learners in the field, curiosity and exploration should be the priority as opposed to overall outcome. She explores how communicating how to be confident and have a growth mindset through the traditionally challenging environment of online learning requires project based learning experiences, the weaving of educational objectives with a personal journey, and the proactive fostering of a go-getter attitude in girls.

"I never call STEM Science Technology and Maths. I say it’s a problem-solving mindset, a curiosity mindset. Being in STEM is more about how you think about things, and not necessarily about skills in those areas."

"We need to change our perspective of what success means in learning. Students also need to be told that it is okay to fail, that it is about the progression of your knowledge building and that we’re in this together!"

Ben Hilliam, Jimmy Bowens and Philippa Kruger reflect on the last year. The highs and the lows of remote teaching and learning and how teachers around the world have coped with the stress of COVID-19. They also explore the ongoing impact of the global pandemic on our society and on the future of education.

Philippa Kruger talks to William Connor, a producer of the animated series Lifeswap, a series of short animated Skype conversations between two young men Jörg, 27 from Münster, Germany and Duncan, 27 from Wellington, New Zealand. William works on the Lifeswap episodes with his husband, animator Steffan Kreft.  In this episode William discusses what goes on behind the scenes with Lifeswap and also gives some advice for us at the end of what has been a crazy year.

"As Language Teachers, [or] any kind of teacher, our job is to provide bridges for people to walk away from themselves, walk away from their narrow perspective and see themselves and their cultures and their languages, from the other side of a divide."

Ben Hilliam talks to Ian Stevens, the CEO and founder of Maths Adventures, a NZ based company that supports Maths teachers from primary to secondary schools. Ian has vast experience in Maths education, having been both a primary and secondary teacher, a lecturer, a Principal and the Team Leader of Numeracy at the Ministry of Education. Together they discuss the strategies around improving numeracy across all years of primary and secondary school, and the impact and limits of technology in aiding this process.

Jimmy chats to Edwin McRae, LitRPG author, narrative designer and narrative paramedic for the video games industry. Edwin has been a screenwriter and story designer for over 13 years now. After four years of writing for television, he started with Grinding Gear Games in 2010 and became lead writer on the creative team that took their online RPG, Path of Exile, from 80,000 players to 20 million players. Together, Jimmy and Edwin discuss how to nurture creativity and expression in students, communicating and maintaining relationships online, and what it means to be a narrative designer.

In this EPisode, Jimmy chats with Mitch Center, a highly experienced educational leader. Mitch is the founder of Center Educational Consulting. Together they explore his experience working with educational leaders to support, evaluate and empower teachers.

Mitch's song recommendation = Lose Yourself by Eminem
You can contact Mitch at [email protected]

To continue the conversation, join our Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age group on LinkedIn or Facebook.

In this EPisode, Ben chats with Alexandra Tselios, founder and CEO of The Big Smoke Media Group. Together, they take a deep dive into the current abundance of conspiracy theories, how to deal with them when discussing them with students, the importance of education, and how robots are influencing education.

To continue the conversation, join our Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age group on LinkedIn or Facebook.

In this EPisode, Jimmy chats with Cara Varian, Executive Director at the Harding Miller Education Foundation. The Foundation provides a unique scholarship program for high potential girls from low socioeconomic circumstances. "When you educate a girl you break the vicious cycle of poverty. Girls supported with equipment, money for resources and tutoring and coaching will be much more likely to complete high school and undertake further education after school." Scholarship application 2022 scholarships will open in July 2021

Cara's song recommendation = I wish I was a punk rocker by Sandi Thom

To continue the conversation, join our Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age group on LinkedIn or Facebook.

In this EPisode, Jimmy talks with Wren Gillett, student voice advocate at Pivot. "In order to be able to speak on behalf of others, you need to recognise that you have a voice yourself." Wren was part of VicSRC’s executive committee for close to three years, and chaired the executive team within this time. She has a been a youth champion for charitable organisations and has spoken at multiple conferences and events across Australia. Wren is currently in her first year of university majoring in journalism, and continues to be a passionate spokesperson for young people. Together, Jimmy and Wren chat about the power and significance of student voice, agency, and empowerment.

To continue the conversation, join our Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age group on LinkedIn or Facebook.