Specialist CPD Research

Helen Boulton, Helen Caldwell and Christina Preston addressed the issues below with BETT18 delegates from France on 25th January. They very much enjoyed meeting colleagues from France and felt that the session and discussions were very useful and productive. References were also supplied by Professor Sarah Younie who is also an expert in edutech CPD.

  • UK context and policy regarding Teacher training and CPD (other international examples welcome) including recent developments and trends
  • Approaches to integration of ICT (as a tool and also as a subject) in Teacher Training and CPD, impact, best practices, lesson learned …
  • Impact of ICT integration on trainers of trainers and teachers training and CPD institutions

Click on the links below to see the presentations:
Technology to understand and change the world (Helen Caldwell)
Technology to understand etc (French translation)
UK context and policy regarding teacher training and CPD (Helen Boulton)
UK context and policy etc (French translation)
Teachers as co-researchers: using practice based research in the classroom to increase attainment and to improve digital literacy and citizenship (Christina Preston)
Teachers as co-researchers: etc (French translation)

All the presentations were translated for us by Irene Daumur from British Council.

For more detail, particularly with regard to Christina’s work, see Preston, C. (2004). Learning to use ICT in Classrooms: teachers’ and trainers’ perspectives: an evaluation of the English NOF ICT teacher training programme (1999-2003): summary, full evaluation report and emergent trends for teacher educators and staff-trainers. London, funded by the Teacher Training Agency. Find the paper here. http://www.mirandanet.org.uk/tta/

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Helen Boulton
Helen Boulton

Helen Boulton

Dr Helen Boulton is an Associate Professor at Nottingham Trent University. Helen has 10 years teaching experience as Head of ICT and Computing in secondary education. Helen is a National Teaching Fellow. Her research is focused on using new technologies in learning and teaching and she has co-authored several books focussing on learning and teaching in secondary education. Chair of the Association for Information Technology and Teacher Education, Regional Co-ordinator for Computing at School, she is also a member of several national committees. Helen has been involved in the use of digital technologies in education with UK government agencies, including the Training and Development Agency HEA and JISC. Helen’s work is published nationally and internationally.

Dr Boulton is currently managing the Regional Centre for Computing at School(CAS), providing support and training for primary and secondary teachers in developing Computing. Helen has been course leader for the Post-Graduate Certificate in ICT, and is currently Course Leader for the Doctorate in Education. Helen is also a co-investigator for two European Horizon 2020 bids: No-one Left Behind, and Managing Affective-learning Through Intelligent Atoms and Smart Interactions. Helen is also a co-investigator for an Erasmus + research project: Mobile Pedagogical Assistant to develop meaningful pathways to personalised learning.

For more detailed profiles see https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/education/helen-boulton and https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/person/dr-helen-boulton

Helen Caldwell
Helen Caldwell

Helen Caldwell

A Senior Lecturer in Education (ITE – ICT) at Northampton University, Helen has over 15 years teaching experience and held an ICT Co-ordinator role for nine years, working across a group of schools to develop their capability with ICT. She was an assistive technology advisor for Milton Keynes Council and a regional and web portal manager for the Open University Vital CPD programme.

Helen’s university teaching and CPD work covers the use of technology across primary school subjects, implementing the computing curriculum and assistive technologies for SEND. She is a member of the Primary National Curriculum for Computing in ITT Expert Group supporting tutors and trainees in ITT in preparing for the new curriculum and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Her research interests include eLearning and social networking in Higher Education, and computing and digital literacy in Primary Education. She currently co-leads the Erasmus+ project: Digital Learning across Boundaries.

Christina Preston
Christina Preston

Christina Preston

Professor Christina Preston has been at the forefront of education and technology for over 25 years. She is associate Professor of Education at De Montfort University in the new Institute for Education Futures. The MirandaNet Fellowship that she founded in 1992 has become a global thought leader in edtech with over 1,000 members in 80 countries and an outreach of more than 80,000 website visitors a year who read up to 10 screens. At the core of the members’’ philosophy is the sharing of knowledge and change management based on grassroots evidence. The members research into the impact of technology and learning in classrooms and report on their findings for the global community. They also run practice-based research professional development programmes in schools when the practitioners become co-researchers.

Christina has won 5 international awards for her contribution to education innovation and community of practice development. She is also the Chair of Trustees of World Ecitizens charity established by the MirandaNet Fellows in 2002 after the events of 9/11 in New York. This charity provides a web space where learners across the world can publish for an international audience.

Sarah Younie
Dr Sarah Younie

Dr Sarah Younie

Dr Sarah Younie is Professor of Education Innovation, and Co-Director of the ‘Institute for Education Futures’ at De Montfort University. She has been involved in international research and teaching for over twenty-five years, covering digital technologies in educational settings for UNESCO, EU, UK Government Agencies, Local Authorities, educational charities and other funders. As the UK Chair of the national subject association of IT in Teacher Education (ITTE) she has conducted research for submission of evidence for the Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry into Education.

Having published widely on educational technologies, she is currently the Editor-in-Chief for the international Journal of ‘Technology, Pedagogy and Education’. Prof Younie’s books include ‘Teaching with Technology: the essential guide’; ‘Debates in Computing and ICT’; ‘Teaching and Learning with ICT in the Primary School’. Prof. Younie is a founder member of MESH (Mapping Education Specialist knowhow) and the Director of Research for Mirandanet.


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