Organised by the Learning Technology Team of the Catholic Schools Office, the event attracted educators from across all three sectors and from K to tertiary.
The keynote speaker for the evening was Liz Burd (Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Learning and Teaching, University of Newcastle), who spoke to the concept of re-imagining education on the face of constant technological change. She bore witness to the changes in the tertiary environment to these changes, and in particular how this is playing out in learning space design. She was followed by 11 other presenters on a range of topics. Presenters had either 4, 8 or 12 minutes to share their idea. Presenters included:
Lynette Barker (St Therese’s New Lambton) – Collaborative programming in OneNote
Michelle Murphie (Paxton Public School) – STEM in primary schools
Kimbalee Hodges (Hunter River High) – Innovative technology for differentiation in the GATs classroom
Craig and Mel Lennard (3D Printers Plus) – STEM projects and 3D printing
Marc Hattam and Stephanie Colvin (St Joseph’s Primary Merewether) – Technology in the early years
Ross Johnson (Head Teacher IT, Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College) – Microsoft Snip and flipped learning
Jess Moulder (St Aloysius Chisholm) and Cathy Curk (St Patrick’s Primary Swansea) – BreakoutEDU and gamifying the classroom
Shane Abell (St Mary’s High School) – Choose your own Adventures with Google Forms + STEM
Joe Hamilton (Holy Family Primary Merewether Beach) – Adventures in BYOD.
The evening was a huge success with one principal remarking, “I was so inspired by the variety of presentations, the exciting initiatives happening in our schools and the enthusiasm of these gun teachers.”
The organisers look forward to seeing everyone at the next TeachMeet on 18 May 2017 at a location yet to be determined.