MirandaNet: an International Fellowship
Innovation and Research in Education
TPEA Thinktank 
Meeting the edtech research challenge
BETT19 Friday 25th January 14:00 South Gallery Suite 12, ExCel
Coffee and snacks available. Room open from 13:00 for meetings.
If you have not registered for BETT19 register here
In our first edtech policy and practice Thinktank, MirandaNet and ITTE will be joining with Technology, Pedagogy and Education Association to offer solutions to Secretary of State Damian Hinds’ research challenge . The questions we are posing are:
- How do we develop a strong evidence base for the use of technology in education?
- How do we test and trial technology products?
- How can we showcase good practice in education?
Register for the Thinktank here
If you cannot attend this seminar we are also working with SMART on the same questions in their Thought Leader Series at BETT19 on Wednesday 23rd January at 1300 in the Platinum Suite. Here is the link to sign up: http://go.smarttech.com/bett_2019
Based on the responses of the participants in these seminars as well as submissions from our members, the Technology, Pedagogy and Education Association will be co-authoring a report to the DfE about how to progress research into the value of education technology.
Note: MirandaNet and ITTE members with a joint international membership of 1,500 are agreed on developing a partnership in 2019 called the Technology, Pedagogy and Education Association. Here are the draft details that will aim to influence policy and practice in the field of education technology.
BETT19
Out of this world experiences at Bett 2019
The education community is abuzz gearing up for Bett which won’t disappoint with its thrilling interactive experiences for teachers, technologists and decision makers. If you still need convincing here is a little taste of what you can expect at Bett, 23-26 January at Excel in London:
- Alef Education whose vision of developing future scientists and astronauts is brought to lift with an amazing hyper-realistic VR experience where you can travel into deep space on a Journey to Mars
- CBiS Education lands their BinaryBots Super STEAM Saucer with four tech zones for you to get hands on with robotics, engineering and coding, AR and VR
- Microsoft presents the BBC Earth and OCEANX film – Oceans: Our Blue Planet to see how this amazing footage brings the Microsoft STEM Experience to life. There’s also the Minecraft Classroom and learn coding in real-time with MakeCode. Leaders can take part in a transformation leadership forum and AI & Data Analytics workshop
- Dell Technologies travels back in time with their very own ‘Dippy the Dinosaur’ using natural history to inspire thinking, with interactive sessions for learners to get involved
- Robotix throw down the gauntlet with their Creative brick challenge and DIY papercraft with junior kit prizes for the most creative models built
- New for 2019, The Escape Room experience, brought to you by Tablet Academy, Primary Goal and Concero Technology Services, designed to pose a series of challenges for you to solve using the very technology you can deploy in your classroom. Challenges start every 15 minutes
- The Education Show is sitting alongside Bett so you can see practical demos and get your hands on the best products for your learners, from furniture and play equipment to school business tools and teaching materials from the likes of YPO, Playtime by Fawns, OCR, Staedtler, Coram Life, Kidzania, Edding, Pearson Education, Advanced Furniture and Bloomsbury
Register and find more information in the Official Bett Preview Guide if you register.
( Tracked link to registration form: https://lp.events.ascential.com/BETT-Update-Details.html?actioncode=PTR11 )
Exciting News!
Following the success of this year's conference ITTE and MirandaNet are working on a closer partnership in 2019 that will be called the Technology, Pedagogy and Education Association (TPEA). This is intended to strengthen our voice because the English school system is currently 8,000 computing teachers short. As a result too many of our children are not receiving adequate education in computer science, information technology and digital literacy to prepare them for life’s challenges.
Information Technology and Teacher Education Association, (ITTE founded in 1986) agreed to continue their long term partnership with the MirandaNet Fellowship (founded in 1992) under the new name Technology, Pedagogy and Education Association (TPEA). This restructured learned society, to be formally launched in 2019, aims to continue the work of the partners in influencing policy and practice in education technology. The TPEA name was chosen to align with ITTE’s well established international journal, Technology, Pedagogy and Education (https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rtpe20/current) published by Taylor Francis, and one of the top-ranked international journals in educational research. Together the two organisations publish widely in professional journals, newsletters and in the education press and write most of the standard course books used in teacher education published by Routledge.
You will be hearing more but this will not affect your membership of MirandaNet and your access to the information we share.
Influencing policy and practice in digital education
Professor Christina Preston, Chair of ITTE and founder of MirandaNet, about the history of our professional influence in policy and practice from the 1980s up to the current day.
Professional organisations stem from the tradition of medieval Trade Guilds and are still going strong. Wikipedia informs us that a guild is an association of artisans or merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as confraternities of tradesmen. They were organised in a manner something between a professional association, a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society. Read the complete article here.
MirandaNet extends its social media reach
MirandaNet is experimenting with a range of social media to increase engagement with our organisation. One such is an online ‘newspaper’. Please be aware that this is still an experiment but it allows the chance to bring to a new audience the work and thoughts of people this organisation admires and follows on Twitter.
The newspaper can be found here.
We also have a brand new blog. Visit it here.
Developing the Computing and presentation skills of FE students with learning difficulties and disabilities
Read this interesting report on how the 'Literacy from Scratch' project has been harnessed to enhance the learning of an under-represented group.
“Literacy from Scratch” is an international classroom project designed to develop computer coding skills (now a part of the new “Computing” curriculum in England) alongside literacy development, using the MIT visual coding language, Scratch.
Click here to read more and here to see more on Literacy from Python..