Dan Roberts is sleepless in Seattle at Microsoft's Partners in Learning Institute
Picture the scene. There is a huge global TeachMeet going on in a large room, with 50 teachers from 31 different countries presenting their work to a packed audience of the most innovative American teachers – and to top it all the venue is the Microsoft headguarters in Seattle, USA.
If you are an education technology ‘geek’ like me then it doesn’t get better than this – like being a kid in a sweet shop!
In the Microsoft superstore on the company's Redmond campus you can buy a ‘Geek’ tee-shirt. How do I know this? Because I bought one and on the back it defines what a ‘Geek’ is:
“(‘gek), noun. Obsessive Computer User: Somebody who enjoys or takes pride in using computers or other technology, often to what others consider an excessive degree. Someone with greater than normal computer skills."
So was this global TeachMeet full of geeks? Well I guess it was if you use the definition above, but I was so pleased to be in there with them. I was extremely honoured and fortunate to be selected to attend Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Institute where 50 top educators from all over the world attended a week’s training with Microsoft and had the opportunity to share good practice and develop future collaborative projects together. Fellow Microsoft Innovative Teacher Jan Webb and I were the only teachers representing the UK at the global event. At this massive event there were also more than 100 top US teachers taking part in Microsoft’s annual United States Innovative Education Forum running alongside.
What were the highlights of such an amazing experience? It is really difficult to choose, but the first has to be the global TeachMeet. It was such a privilege and an amazing experience to work alongside such wonderful teachers from a variety of backgrounds, it was energising to talk with like-minded people and humbling to hear their stories. It was also reassuring to hear that teachers all over the world encounter the same types of challenges.
The TeachMeet was the pinnacle of this as I sat there and listened to all 50 teachers. Every single one gave me an idea of an innovative use of technology that I had never thought of. This relatively short event was one of the best professional development experiences I have had in education.
It soon became time for my own TeachMeet presentation and I had the ambitious plan of getting every teacher present to join me in doing what I believe was the first global TeachMeet rap, demonstrating how to use Microsoft’s Songsmith software, which is a brilliant tool for learning.
As I encouraged the audience to take part I joked that this had been a dream of mine. But as I watched them participate the smiles really did light up the room. This is what these events are about: making connections through the creativity and love of learning, brand new relationships are forged that will grow and impact on classrooms all over the world. It's magic!
The second highlight which left a considerable impression on me is about looking to the future. How will technology be used in education in ten years’ time? What will it look like? What experiences will teachers and children be having in the classroom? As part of my tour at Microsoft I was giving a real behind the scenes look at the latest things they are working on, most of which were fully functioning or at least at the prototype stage.
I would love nothing more to talk about these and explain how they worked – the only word that describes what I witnessed is "Wow!" – but I had to sign a waiver that forbids me from discussing any details of the experience. However there is a video that Microsoft has produced to show its vision for 2019 (see below) which may give some idea of the types of technology we experienced.
If you watch the video it really does make you think about the phenomenal rate at which technology is advancing, and I think about the potential of what I will see in my lifetime. When I was at secondary school myself there were no computers, no mobile phones – I didn’t use either until I got to University in 1998. That isn’t so long ago and look where we are now. I then think to my son Max who is 18 months old, and wonder what technology will be like within his lifetime? Will it have a positive or negative impact on our lives?
Dan Roberts is deputy headteacher at Saltash.net Community School in Cornwall, and is a Microsoft education evangelist. You can follow him on Twitter (@chickensaltash).
You can find out more about what he got up to in Seattle in a substantial series of blog posts entitled 'Microsoft Magical Mystery Tour'.
You can join Microsoft’s 4 million-strong Partners in Learning Network, which includes teachers from 107 countries, and free downloads of resources, by signing up here.
You can also catch up with tweets from the conference and the follow up reflective blogs by checking out the #msftpil hashtag on Twitter.
Songsmith is a free tool from Microsoft – for more information visit Dan’s blog.
You can watch and listen to the Teachmeet Songsmith here.
