Finnberry does Ed-Tech

The last few weeks at work have been very exciting! After what feels like months of planning, the first phase of my project, the replacement of our IT infrastructure, has actually happened. There were moments when I thought it wouldn't happen, or that something would go seriously wrong, but all the planning paid off and the actual installation went really well. Promethean ActivPanels This isn't the whole thing but one of the most exciting bits of this new kit, for me, is the replacement of our various makes and models of interactive whiteboards with these modern ActivPanels. I can't wait to deliver the training sessions for our tutors and other staff in a couple of weeks, as I'm sure everyone will love the ease of use and the look and feel of these. I've used Promethean products for years now but have largely stuck to ActivInspire as my preferred software. I remember being very excited a few years ago, when my eldest son won a set of 32 ActivExpressions (vo...

A bit of personal history In 2001, I started working at a school in Calderdale, where two or three SmartBoards had just been installed as part of the first interactive whiteboard pilot. We had a teacher there, at that time, who was really into ICT for learning and she opened up training opportunities for me, that have impacted my whole career. I benefitted from some excellent SmartBoard training, which led to other ICT initiatives, which later led to me becoming an Advanced Skills Teacher (AST), specialising in ICT for learning. In 2004, I moved to a Kirklees school, where I introduced interactive whiteboards and started working with Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs). As an AST, I did quite a lot of cross-authority work, embedding new technologies into learning, using them to engage reluctant learners, address behaviour issues and generally make learning more relevant and fun. I had a kind-of career plan but that got side-stepped when we suddenly decided to move to Finland. I ...