Digital Natives in FE

In today’s episode we are discussing something we overlooked… digital well-being! How can we utilise tech for good in and outside the classroom to help our students live better and learn more? Is digital overtaking our lives as teachers as well? In this three way conversation, we discuss it all. I am joined by Scott Hayden of Basingstoke College of Technology and Steph who is a new ESOL teacher in the community. If you have any questions or comments please write to me. If you’d like to be on the podcast please get in touch!

In this episode I am chatting with Sean McLaughlin who is a forestry lecturer. We met through the MIEE (Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert) community. We chat about how being part of the community helps improve your well-being and can improve your practice. Sean also gives us some great ideas on how he’s using EdTech in the forestry classroom using Minecraft and Flipgrid, and how the use of new tools from Microsoft, Immersive Reader and Reading Progress is helping to support our students with additional needs.

In this week’s episode I am back from a summer holiday and I am chatting with my friend Kasia who is a friend and colleague of mine who teaches ESOL. She talks about embracing new EdTech tools after changing her mindset and how this has made her teaching experience better and helped her learners learn more both during lockdowns and in the classroom. Which of these tips will you try?

This week’s episode is JAM-PACKED. I’m speaking to my fellow digital and blended learning champion Stacey Foy. We discuss our findings from the project we worked on and also our favorite edtech tools and how we use it in teaching, and also how we do staff development. Our chat draws us to using Microsoft Class Notebook for paperless teaching; using Wakelet, Triptico, a discussion on Century Tech, Bolton College’s Ada and First Pass platform; and how you can take a nosey in on how other teachers use digital and blended learning without observing their classes at all! All views are our own.

In this episode I'll be introducing you to the podcast, giving you an edtech and pedagogy tip of the week on how to engage your students with walk-in activities and discussing who are digital natives? There’s also a funny story about how my students fooled me on April Fools' Day and an interview with me, your host, about my background and research on digital and blended learning and how to design your virtual learning environments so that learners can quickly and easily find what they’re looking for without giving up!