Sentral Station

If the thought of doing maths makes you feel a bit uneasy, and concepts like combinatorics and graphical relationships sound like another language altogether, then you're definitely not alone. But thankfully, my guest today is doing his bit to help the world understand complex mathematics more easily. Steve Howard comes from a long line of teachers, and loves to spend his time at the complex end of maths, helping to prepare students for the jump to university. But he also loves to help teachers, and is a presenter of teacher pd courses for TTA, or Teacher Training Australia. Now, I don't mind maths, and kind of enjoyed it at school, although I did have to work hard at it. And this is something that Steve spends a lot of his time convincing his students of as well... they need to work hard at it. I started by asking Steve something that wouldn't frighten me too much, like... what is a real mathematician anyway.

To find out more about Steve's courses with TTA, visit the TTA website, and search for Steve Howard.

http://www.tta.edu.au

This podcast is brought to you by Sentral. For information on Sentral's proven web-based school management platform, visit http://www.sentral.com.au

Professional development, or PD, has now become a mandatory part of just about any industry you can think of. And of course education is no exception. My guest today is Miles Campbell, founder of Teacher Training Australia, or TTA, which is an organisation that collects insight and skill from Australia's best teachers, and makes that available through courses both face to face and online. Over the years, this has given Miles unique insight into what really makes good PD, how to measure what makes it good, and how to keep improving in a world that keeps demanding more flexibility and delivery options. In my discussion with Miles, one thing became very clear....Australia has many excellent teachers who are passionate about sharing their desire to help improve teaching and learning.

For more information about teacher PD, and courses offered by TTA, visit

http://www.tta.edu.au

This podcast is brought to you by Sentral. For information on Sentral's proven web-based management platform, visit

http://www.sentral.com.au

Have you ever considered how much you check your email? I've given it some thought, but my guest today has made me give the idea a big rethink. Monica Wulff is a technology entrepreneur, and the host of the Digital Love podcast. She's got a great tagline in her email signature that says quite simply, "I check my email at 10am and 3pm each day. If it's urgent give me a call." This resonated with me straight away, and so I've started to try it. And guess what.... It's really difficult. I was surprised at just how much attention I was giving to it. I started to wonder if this was a source of my technology exhaustion, and why I hadn't acted on it sooner. Could some kind of tech addiction be the problem? In my conversation with Monica, she shares how she's been able to navigate this path, and how she uses her experiences to help others.

This podcast is brought to you by Sentral. For information on proven web-based school management software, visit http://www.sentral.com.au

Managing a school's administration system can be a tough job. Especially if the school runs over multiple campuses with literally thousands of students to manage. My guest today is David Summerville who has exactly that job at Callaghan College, in Newcastle, north of Sydney. Over the last 20 years he's seen plenty of changes in the way technology has made its way into schools, from the bad old days of standalone computers and floppy disks, to fully integrated systems hosted in the cloud. David says the improvements have changed his life...for the better of course. He's been using Sentral for a long time now, and I caught up with him at the Wallsend Campus where he shared his story with me....

This podcast is brought to you by Sentral. For information on proven web-based school management software, visit http://www.sentral.com.au

Brad Fuller is the music director at Northern Beaches Christian School, in Sydney and is also a PhD candidate at Sydney University. In his career as a music educator, he was there when computers made their first real entry into mainstream education. Although the ride hasn't always been that easy, the evolution of technology has made things possible now that we could have only dreamed of in years past. It's not just new technology, but new types of music as well. And really, when it comes to technology, did any of us know what to expect?

This podcast is brought to you by Sentral.

For more information on proven web-based school management software for your school, visit

http://www.sentral.com.au

The use of computers in classrooms seems to be an endless question, dilemma, opportunity, and source of success and frustration. What was once new and special, now seems to be ubiquitous, at least in most situations. But are students actually using computers effectively in classrooms? Nicola Johnson is an associate professor of education at Edith Cowan university in Perth, who has spent some time studying this very question. I was really keen to find out more about this concept, but as we started talking, I found I was equally as keen to know about her next research projects, which focus on why we so quickly go for our mobile devices when our social situations get a little....awkward.

This podcast is brought to you by Sentral. For information on proven web-based student management software for your school, visit http://www.sentral.com.au

If you made it to EduTECH 2019 in Sydney this year, you'll appreciate how big the event was, and how much there was to see. Over 250 exhibitors and 20 seminars kept everyone busy with some amazing new technologies, programs, products and approaches to learning.

In case you missed it, here's part 4 of our series of highlights from EduTECH 2019.

Canvas

http://www.canvaslms.com.au

Soundtrap

http://www.soundtrap.com

Mud Kitchen

http://www.mudkitchen.com.au

Mumble by Design

http://www.mumblebydesign.com.au

This podcast is brought to you by Sentral. For information on proven web-based school management software, visit http://www.sentral.com.au

If you think that robots that look like toys, are really just toys; then you might like to think again. Or if your school is considering investing in robots as part of a STEM program...well, the potential is mind blowing. My guest today is Sam Kingsley, from the Brainary which develops and supplies a variety of educational technologies that go far beyond what you might simply describe as... a toy. What I thought was going to be a conversation mainly around the social robot dog called Miro, turned out to be much more, including humanoids, androids, assistive technologies, programming... and how those things impact things like wellbeing, mental health, people living with autism, educational outcomes, and even aged care. This is truly a fascinating space. I caught up with Sam whilst he was attending the 2019 Queensland Association of Special Education Leaders conference at the Brisbane Hilton.

For more information, visit

www.thebrainary.com

This podcast is brought to you by Sentral. For information on proven web-based student management software solutions for your school, visit www.sentral.com.au

If you made it to EduTECH 2019 in Sydney this year, you'll appreciate how big the event was, and how much there was to see. Over 250 exhibitors and 20 seminars kept everyone busy with some amazing new technologies, programs, products and approaches to learning.

In case you missed it, here's part 3 of our series of highlights from EduTECH 2019.

Think You Know

http://www.thinkuknow.org.au

enhanceTV

http://www.enhancetv.com.au

SpaceTalk

http://www.spacetalk.com.au

Turnitin

http://www.turnitin.com

This podcast is brought to you by Sentral. For information about proven web-based school management software, visit http://www.sentral.com.au

Richard Andrew had a career as a maths teacher spanning several decades. In recent years he's been helping other teachers by developing online professional development courses covering maths teaching and student engagement. Like for many teachers, the first few years were really tough, and it was only after many years that Richard discovered the value of teacher transparency in the classroom. It's not about being see-through, but more about being a real person with the desired effect of reducing stress, defusing reactive situations and improving learning outcomes. It's a serious subject, with a lighter side, and Richard was kind enough to share a few of those experiences.

To get in touch with Richard, visit the website

http://www.learnimplementshare.com

or send him an email

For information about proven web-based school management software for your school, visit

http://www.sentral.com.au