Category: Education

What I Wish My Teachers And Parents Knew When I Was In School

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It’s been almost 5 years since I’ve left high school and 4 years into working with BSD Education. As we mainly focus on helping educators bring technology education into classrooms (as a way to further prepare kids for the future with digital skills), I’ve been able to work with numerous educators, parents, business leaders, as well as students and kids. This has not only given me insights about the Education industry, teaching and student learning and experiences, it has also opened my eyes and shown me aspects that could have helped enhance my experience or any students’ experiences at school.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

To be honest, I wasn’t very “good” at school. I would usually just have passing grades and wouldn’t pay much attention during classes, thinking what I was learning wouldn’t be used in the real world and that it would be irrelevant for my desired future career paths. I thought that especially in Math class, and failed almost every year. “When am I ever going to need to solve a bunch of equations finding x’s, y’s and using formulas like trigonometry ratios (SOH CAH TOA)?”.

Though I did excel in subjects in Humanities, like History and Languages. Yes, it is pretty ironic that I would think Math was of less use to the real world than History, but what helped me excel in it was that it was easier to imagine various scenarios that took place – through my History Teacher’s storytelling. He made us role play and reenact scenes to test our reactions or behaviors to find similarities and differences in how it had been during the Cold War for example. I loved and enjoyed it so much, History classes felt like playtime.

Math class was just not the same. The way our whole class was taught was that you had to remember a number of formulas to solve equations they gave, which looked a lot like this:

Image by IB Survival

(Wow, this still looks scary to me…)

Even though I didn’t think it would be helpful for me, like any other kid I wanted to “succeed” and do well for my future. I tried my best to revise as many formulas as I could, but I still failed most of the time. 

It was easy for me to compare myself to my classmates with our grades. I felt I lacked the intelligence they had. I was demotivated, disengaged and most of all, I felt hopeless. I started hating school.

 

Presented Opportunities

Once every school year, my parents would be invited to visit school to attend a 10-minute Parent-Teacher’s meeting. They would discuss my grades for each subject and my general behavior in classes (Hey – I was still a good kid!). 

My grades for Math and Sciences would often be highlighted as ( F ) for Failed, I couldn’t tell you how many times they told my parents that all I needed were to get more exercise books to practice more at home until I could get better at it, pay more attention during class and stop doodling on my homework. 

My parents would agree to my teacher’s recommendations, and on the way back home would remind me how I’ve always been weak at Math and that I needed to improve on it for my future.  They weren’t very involved or engaged in my education, but it was because they were also very busy with work trying to make ends meet, which I understood. Neither would I have wanted them to anyway because I was also scared of giving them reasons to be disappointed in me.

I then would turn to my eldest sister to help me as a last resort. I remember her spending nights trying to get me to understand basic algebra and most of the times, I just wouldn’t get it. As she wanted to give up on one of the nights, she decided to take out a sketchbook. 

She drew out a building with multiple “apartment windows” where parts of an equation laid and told a story on how the different numbers and letters were neighbors and siblings, and how they “lived” and solved problems together – and I actually got it! I felt great for being able to really understand the story and solve the other similar equations she gave. 

I don’t have an original copy of the sketch she drew, but it looked a lot like this:

I thought I would love Math from then on.

Missed Opportunities

Looking back at it now, that learning approach was a sign that I could learn easier with pictures and stories. Maybe I wasn’t necessarily bad at school, It was just that I had a different learning approach, like many of us. If we were to base it on the 4 main learning approaches, I was (and still am) a visual learner. This meant that it was easier for me to understand concepts that I could visualize and illustrate relationships between ideas.

Image by Prezi

I didn’t know there were various learning approaches, finding this out after high school blew my mind and helped make sense of many things I’ve gone through in life. 

I wish my Math teacher knew to help me in an approach that worked for me, I needed help. But I couldn’t blame them for not realizing this because they weren’t just teaching me, they were teaching a whole class of 30-40 students. They used what worked for most and it just wouldn’t be feasible to cater to each and every one of us.

My sister and I thought the stories were merely just another fun way of learning Math for me, so this finding was never communicated back to my parents or teachers. Plus what would my teachers also think or say If I was making random stories of equations at school?

I tried making more stories anyway, on my own, but still needed guidance in making sense out of them. So unfortunately, the learning method didn’t stick. I continued to struggle in school overall, and with other reasons and pursuits (we’ll visit these next time!) – I decided to drop out.

Finding the Power of Communication and Collaboration, and Taking it into Action

You might think it was pretty weird for me to decide to work with an Education company that mainly works with schools after hating my experience and dropping out. But to me, the hardship that I went through was great enough that I developed a passion for Education and have made it my life purpose to do what I can to continue improving and enhancing it – so more kids won’t have to go through what I did.

As I wrote this article and recalled my past experiences, I realized many points in my experience that could have been opportunities or ways to help me in my learning, particularly in the way parents and teachers can communicate and collaborate to build a solid, learning support system for kids and students, which studies prove.

So here are the main takeaways on what teachers, parents and guardians can do to help their kid’s learning experiences, from a perspective of a past student. It may sound obvious, but it’s those things that we usually take for granted and forget:

Re-Defining “Learning” and Roles

It isn’t emphasized enough that learning doesn’t just happen within the 4 walls of a classroom, for only 6-8 hours of kids’ days. Learning and “education” happens at almost every point in our lives, and anywhere – be it at school, home or even the supermarket. This is where parents’ involvement becomes essential to kids’ learning and growth.

Both parents and teachers share equal responsibility in helping their kids learn and meet their development goals. When parents are involved or engaged with their kids learning, kids are encouraged to not just talk about their experiences at school to help parents find areas of improvement, but also work with their parents to apply what they learn in school in a different context and environment – allowing them to further understand concepts and see how it is applied in the real world. This helps kids develop a love for lifelong, limitless learning.

More and Encouraged Communication

Teachers are the experts in teaching, parents or guardians are the experts of their kids. 

In my case, you could find a few gaps in the communication between my teachers, parents and me.

Because my parents weren’t as involved or engaged in my learning, they were limited in finding ways to help my teachers help me. They didn’t know of what my sister and I found as the most effective learning approach for me. So this led them just accepting my teacher’s recommendations on what they thought best, rather than opening a two-way discussion on how to best help me achieve my educational goals.

Parents can support teachers anyway by providing more insights of their kid’s interests or behaviors as a way for teachers to leverage when they explore ways to effectively engage students for a smoother learning experience.

Teachers can also help parents be more involved by providing tips on how they can do so; from just talking to their kids more about how their school days went and opening conversations on what they love about it or areas they are struggling in, to doing homework with them. Here’s a great list we love of resources educators can use to enhance communication and collaboration with parents.

A way that can also help parents and teachers help their kids’ learning is to encourage them to open up. We need to avoid seeing kids’ struggles as “failures” and reprimanding them for it. Kids want to make their parents and teachers proud, and if we don’t offer them a positive environment to learn, fail, and try again, they will only be inclined to keep their struggles to themselves – which doesn’t help anyone in the end.

Holistic, More Frequent Feedback

The 10-minute Parent-Teacher meetings once every school year is just not enough. A student’s learning journey cannot be summarized into 10 minutes, neither can it be fully expressed through a bunch of grades and numbers. It’s not the same for every school, but there are ways we can improve how these meetings are run and what they usually cover.

Now more than ever has it been much easier for teachers or parents to reach out to each other with Technology, be it via email, phone or any other channels they agree to use. Teachers can help make these meetings more productive and actionable for example by sending report cards before the meeting, and discussing the kids’ overall interests, behaviors and attitudes in person on top of where kids have performed well, why certain grades have been and how else to improve it. This encourages an open conversation about the overall learning and development of the kids.

EdTech Tools Educators Should Try This School Year

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Undoubtedly, the learning and development of digital skills is a big focus in Education this next decade. At BSD Education, we’re working to prepare students for a technology-driven future as an EdTech tool.

We aim to help them be consumers of technology and media and have the tools and skills to become innovators or creators. 

One of the best ways to slowly start bringing Technology into your classrooms is using fun EdTech tools that will help you or your students boost learning or teaching experiences. Check out the top 10 we thought you should try this year!

1. Formative

Formative is a great web-based app that allows you to give assignments to students and provide personalized and real-time feedback. You can use ready-made “formatives” or create your own to share with your students. You can then view student progress and answers in real-time and assess their learning and progress as they go.

To sum it up: an easy-to-use tool that simplifies assessment in your classroom.

2. Equity Maps

Equity Maps is a great iPad EdTech tool that enhances collaboration, helps you keep track of which of your students participate in class discussion and how much they are experiencing.

All you have to do is tap your students’ icons as they engage in the discussion. In the end, you’ll get summary analytics of how often each class member participated and how many were active participants. The instant feedback helps participants reflect and enables you to ensure that your classroom discussions are equitable and inclusive.

To sum it up: a tool to encourage honest dialogue and broader collaboration in your classroom.

3. Geoguessr

Geoguessr is a fun game that develops students’ global awareness, problem-solving, and research skills. The game starts by dropping the player into a random location on Google Street view. The player then has to figure out where they have been lowered to the closest possible point. Finally, students have to think about different types of information within the map that they can use to solve a problem, use initiative, and demonstrate perseverance.

To sum it up: an excellent EdTech tool that can be used as a class filler to develop a range of skills.

4. ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid does what it says on the tin – it’s a tool that helps your students improve their writing assignments, but not just with spelling and grammar. This tool looks at everything from sentence variety to the use of clichĂ©!

All you need to do is write directly on ProWritingAid or upload a document, and you’ll get a summary report giving the strengths and weaknesses of the piece. You can then discuss this with your students.

To sum it up: a handy tool to help you give in-depth and personalized feedback on your students’ writing.

5. Creaza

Creaza is a tool that can be used to create presentations, mind maps, cartoons, and videos. Students can collaborate on their projects in real-time.

6. Thunkable


Mobile Apps have been a rage for over a decade now, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Thunkable is a free and easy-to-use online tool for building mobile apps using a simple drag and drop code builder. As you create, you can test the app in real-time on an iOS or Android device and tweak it as you go. In addition, less experienced students can choose to “remix” an existing app instead of starting from scratch.

6. Roblox


Creating games is a great way to learn a wide range of real-world digital skills, like storytelling, art, design, programming, maths, etc. Roblox is an online platform for creating and playing multiplayer online games. As a teacher, you can take your students on a journey of creating their favorite online games. They can learn to develop games using Roblox Studio, test them with their peers, and publish them online for users to play on a computer, mobile device, or even Xbox. They can also choose to publish the game for free on the Roblox platform or charge them “Robux ”, the digital currency of Roblox. To support teachers, Roblox publishes resources like how to start guides and lessons.

7. Thinglink


Boost your classroom engagement by creating visual and interactive resources for your students. Thinglink makes it very easy for you to augment images, videos, and online tours with extra information using simple-to-use hyperlinks. Create an educational treasure hunt for students or mix it up and let them create visual learning journeys for their peers.

8. MindMeister


Mind maps are a tried and tested method for people to take notes or brainstorm ideas effectively. MindMeister is an excellent EdTech tool that takes this further by making mind mapping a collaborative exercise. Students can collaborate with peers in real-time in the classroom while a teacher explains concepts or works virtually from home when creating a group project.

9. Smiling Mind


Students (and all of us) can face a series of social and emotional challenges. To help them cope with these, they must be aware of their mental well-being and learn practical ways to be mindful. Smiling Mind is a free, not-for-profit app that encourages mindfulness and better mental being in schools. It is specifically built for students and teachers and breaks down activities for 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, and adults. In addition, it comes with Professional Development training for teachers, classroom resources, and student workshops. 

10. Bonus – BSD Online


Of course, we would love it if you tried our online learning platform, BSD Online. Through scaffolded guided exercises, BSD Online makes the teaching and learning of digital skills and coding easy, fun, and engaging. We suggest our Hour of Code Project – Life Under Water if you’re wondering where to start.

We’d love to learn what other apps or EdTech tools you’d like to try this year!! Feel free to share by tweeting us at @Educationbsd or tagging us on Instagram at @BSDEducation. We look forward to hearing from you!

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The Evolution of Technology and Education – Full

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Technology has become ubiquitous and intrinsic to every aspect of life. However, rather than the demands of what we need to create, it is the impact of what has been created that is driving change. Automation is the singularly most defining influence of technology in the workforce moving forward over the next 50 years. In this article I am not going to further define the potential stages of automation and its relationship with the evolution of machine intelligence and beyond. Simply put, automation is the means through which roles traditionally undertaken by humans have the potential to be replaced by technology. In theory, we will have the technological capability to replace all roles, but this is diminished in terms of both time and realization when you simultaneously consider implementation and validation, economics, and socio-political considerations.

What we are seeing now and will continue to witness in the coming decade is that automation is replacing the most sequenceable and repetitive tasks and is therefore changing the relationship of the person doing that job with their industry. This means that if the person does not evolve their skill set, then their value to the economy is diminished.

At the same time, we are seeing that roles requiring significant managerial, judgement and interpretation capacities are furthest from the sphere of automation so in essence are becoming increasingly valued. The breadth of data interpretation and implementation of technology that has to be  overseen and led at a managerial level is, however, dramatically increasing the necessary digital skill set requirements of this group.

Existing roles in the workplace, having been pushed up and down have left behind a need for workers to take on enhanced roles with different skill sets. My illustrative situation here is a manual laborer, previously working on a production line whose manual role has been replaced by a robot. The laborer, however, has a wealth of experience as to how the production line works and how different issues that occur on the production line will have an interdependent effect on other areas of the production process. The laborer now oversees a group of machines that do his / her former role monitoring data and information, making adjustments to production and communicating with the humans in other parts of the process to be aware that all the machines are operating in the optimal fashion to facilitate production. 

Whilst the laborer’s work is still based upon the knowledge of production, the skills through which the laborer now works involve data analysis and interpretation, critical thinking, and communication and collaboration with coworkers. This example is deliberately simple in this situation in reference to a single laborer. As we progress up the scale of seniority in companies, we will find that the range of technical capabilities held by an individual or understood by and individual as being present within their broader team will become increasingly demanding.

Aligning to this, McKinsey’s study from May 2018 illustrated the effect that skill shifts will have in the way that people use skills during their working time.

So what does all of this mean for schools and broader educational institutions in their capacity as organisations that contribute pivotally in preparing people to join the world of work? It means that the development of social and emotional skills and technology skills is a critical part of learning for students. It is simply not possible to continue to consider that educational needs of people are being met where traditional systems of education are failing to prepare students with technology and social emotional readiness as a forefront consideration in the ongoing development of educational programs. 

Considering the real world implementation of these skill sets as illustrated above, where educational institutions focus on implementing educational technology and technology education programs across schools they should be doing it with the development of “digital skills” in mind. So what does this mean?

I see digital skills as a more broadly defined skill set than hard technology skills alone encompassing technical skills, soft skills and values in a combined model as below. The world of technology is colossal and evolving quickly and is therefore becoming exponentially more complex than an individual can grasp on an ongoing basis by themselves. The technical skills a student learns at schools won’t be the same required 20 years into their careers which is why it is important to focus on transferable skills and values. 

It is really important that educators allow a range of experiences for learners to find the area of technology that is their strength and their passion, something that they will have a willingness to follow, be curious about and learn resiliently for the rest of their lives as it continually evolves. At the same time, developing the empathy to recognise the strengths in others that students can collaborate with, and valuing where they cover the gaps in what students themselves lack will be critical to be adaptable to challenges that arise.

It is important to note here that there really isn’t a right answer when it comes to selecting particular technologies like programming languages or software a learner will be exposed to. There are always a number of technologies available, the merits of which can be argued for or against. What I have recognized in observing what students achieve and how they apply what they have learned around the world is that the ability to create content, understand design and user experience, and analyze and interpret data really become the key abilities that are most critical to nurture.

My final comment on the evolving role of technology education revolves around the planning of the learning journey. So much of digital skills education is implemented on a piecemeal basis – short activities off the shelf without progression or interdisciplinary relationships properly considered. This would not be the case in the teaching and learning of mathematics or science and so should not be the case for digital skills. It does pose a greater challenge to educators as an area of learning that is not as well understood as the learning of more traditional subjects and enquiries. However, given that the world of work will not wait, technology is evolving ever faster and not to become any simpler, the longer that such effort is delayed and addressed, the higher the mountain to climb will become.

Whether introducing a young child to learning with and about technology for the first time, or re-skilling an adult learner, you must initially build confidence and self-awareness. I refer to this as the “primary” phase, although it is age agnostic, as all learners are generally coming to the learning of digital skills for the first time. This is the phase to experiment and discover interests, as broad a range of applications of technology as possible and a tool kit of projects that the learner is confident and able to re-use regularly.

The second, “middle” phase is the time to deepen understanding of both the learner’s own skills and abilities that have become most refined and interesting, as well as those of the peer group around them. It is notable that for community based learners, the library commons movement is promoting the capability of library spaces as enablers of circulation of individuals within them. The practice of networking amongst people is an excellent key to communication.

The final phase, that I call the “higher” phase, is really the point in learning at which the portfolio of work begins to turn towards demonstrating capability in relation to real or fictitious scenarios of the world of work. 

As digital skills are largely uncertified and untested, they are most effectively demonstrated by sharing what you can create within a portfolio of work. This gives everyone an incredible opportunity to show their skills as value is placed on what you can do rather than where the skills were learned or how the person performed on one test. 

Technology is driving the changing state of the workforce and the skill shifts across industries that are accompanying this. The change is already here which should compel educational systems to robustly and immediately implement digital skills learning that will prepare people at all career stages to be successful because of change not incase of it. 

Whilst job automation might appear daunting, and will certainly require adaptation at all levels, it by no means tolls a deathly bell for humans in the workforce. Economically and socially, countries need the humans and the machines producing side by side.

The learning process for digital skills requires reflection on, understanding of, and empathy for others. The judgements, considerations and interactions that define us most strongly and clearly as humans are what will most enduringly be of greatest value to us in an automated world. So perhaps in light of all of this, the greatest impact of technology in both the world of work and of education will eventually simply be to make us focus on and value what it is that makes us most human after all.

How Schools Are Encouraging Students Be Career-Ready

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During the 2019-20 academic year, any high school will likely discuss students’ career-ready IT skills. Hundreds of teachers say connecting digital projects to real-world results and career-ready skills is an important rising trend in education.

As educators, we understand that real-world application is a key factor for engaging students with any course material. We‘ve observed that students who can demonstrate critical thinking and technical skills through real-world outcomes are more likely to succeed when applying to higher education or an important entry-level role within the workforce. 

So how can schools deliver real-world experiences to students in a classroom setting? Let’s take a look at some of the ways BSD’s partner schools are achieving this today.

Students as In-House Tech Support

Several school partners have revealed that student-led teams are presently servicing some of their IT needs this academic year. At Barringer STEAM Academy, a cohort of seniors are becoming career-ready in their free time. The self-proclaimed “Geek Squad” spend designated class periods updating printer drivers, troubleshooting Smart Boards, and administering tablets. As a result, these students gain real-world experience while freeing up their IT staff to focus on critical services.

To help reduce the IT department’s workload, one school set up a student-monitored online ticketing system for school employees. In addition, the BSD team is presently working with two more schools to create online ticketing systems using the BSD Online Platform. These projects empower students to use the technical skills they learn in class to solve real problems for others.

Business Partnerships

Another approach to this trend that has been gaining momentum is developing partnerships between schools and local businesses. Of course, these relationships can vary from school to school, but we’ve seen success in a couple of specific forms:

One method is to help students find new talent for internships and full-time careers by providing tools. For example, ask a medium to big technology companies nearby if they have a community service program for their employees. Employees can mentor high school students who may not be aware of local employment prospects.

An authentic collaboration between students and local businesses is a BSD partner school connecting students with local small businesses to offer essential digital services. For example, teams of students helped build and maintain basic websites for small businesses with limited resources to reach customers online. Not only are they solving a real problem for small businesses, but students are also building a portfolio of career-ready work for post-high-school success.

Students in Leadership Roles

A school-based leadership program can give chances for students who lack access to real-world corporate partnerships. For example, two of BSD’s partner schools, String Theory Schools and the Pathway School, operate student-run cafes. This teaches students business skills, from customer service to handling payment, sourcing the raw material, and managing the online presence.

Teachers at Downey High School in California have found a new way to provide seniors leadership experience. This year, they’ve launched a unique enrichment program. A team of seniors is empowered to teach coding skills to younger students through a Video Game Development course. This format put students in the teacher’s role and was a  great way to build confidence and communication skills that prepare them for life.

Directly Transferable Technology Skills

Finally, you can prepare students for career opportunities by teaching technology skills directly transferable to the workplace. BSD’s curriculum uses text-based coding languages from website developers and software engineers to data scientists and app designers. As a result, our students’ projects are based in the real world, and students can apply their conclusions to real-world challenges.

Are you a teacher or school administrator that would like to ensure that your students have the technology skills they need to be college and career-ready? Then, feel free to reach out to BSD Education. We’ll help you prepare your students for the ever-changing challenges of tomorrow and help them build digital portfolios that will follow them into their future ambitions.

Introducing Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom

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Growing up when sci-fi ruled the world with fictional narratives of intergalactic space travel, robots, and Artificial Intelligence; my 12 year old self would be disappointed that we can’t be served breakfast by AI robots in a biodome on Mars by now. While science hasn’t quite delivered those sci-fi dreams, the emergence of AI has definitely arrived and left us wondering, “what now?”  Artificial Intelligence is a booming field of study with lots of controversy and confusion; especially for educators and schools. Questions that we have heard from schools and educators are:

  • Should we even teach AI?
  • How do we get started with AI?
  • How can we install JavaScript libraries for neural networks (like ML5)?
  • How can we ensure security and privacy with AI deployments?

As you can tell from the questions, there are varying groups from users that know quite a bit about AI, to those that are just interested in learning more. Let’s break it down in an easy-to-understand way and answer these questions so you can make informed choices about implementing AI for your students and schools.

AI is here, whether we like it or not. Our philosophy at BSD Education is to empower learners with the skills and knowledge to make AI technology solutions that also respect users by reflecting on empathy and ethical concerns of AI development. We do this by providing students with real AI software to work with in guided projects that teach students how to, for example: install JavaScript libraries (like ML5) for Natural Language Processing or how to set up an AI system that can make predictive sounds with a drum machine. Lessons that we teach are coupled with classroom activities on topics about the critical issues of bias in AI algorithms, security, privacy, current research in the field of AI and more. 

We strongly feel that adding the ethical implications and empathy of understanding how AI is being used is vital to prepare students for the not-so-distant future of advanced AI robots and intergalactic space travel. This is a message that we purposefully weave into our curriculum because we value the teaching of empathy as a critical skill needed to prepare conscious global citizens who will be charged with building the future while using technologies like AI.

Don’t know where to start with AI at your school? That’s okay, it’s a complex subject that requires careful consideration and understanding. To answer the first question “should we even teach AI?”, I think that students should be taught about AI, and then, when ready, how to use AI and how to program using AI tools.

If you are looking for a great intro to AI and the ethics of AI, try this free and open-source resource from MIT that teaches middle school students about algorithms and how sites like YouTube, Spotify and Netflix use those algorithms to suggest new content to users. This could be a great starting point for a discussion about AI in your classrooms that can be easily implemented and taught.

If you want to dig deeper into the ethics of AI and current research on bias in algorithms, check out the work of the Algorithmic Justice League and start by watching this video about racial bias in AI facial recognition. It is important for students to understand the harmful side effects of some AI software that are currently in use.

Starting conversations with students about the social implications of AI leads to a better understanding of the subject and allows room for critical conversations about the future of technologies like AI.  By inviting students to explore ethical concerns and dilemmas, we are opening the door for conversations to be about humanity just as much as it is about the technology.

So whether you are just dipping your toes in the water with AI or you’re ready to start a project with AI libraries and pre-trained neural networks, it is best to approach the issue by painting the full picture of the technology and the social implications of AI by exploring these topics with fellow educators and students. Want to learn more and join the conversation? Join the #AIEthics chat on Twitter and catch up with what you have missed so far, here. 

If you are interested in learning more about our AI curriculum offerings from BSD Education, please reach out to us here or reach out to me at mb@bsd.education.

5 Things We Learned From Running Our Own Makerspaces

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The interest in educational makerspaces has seen an explosive growth over the past few years; you can now find them all over the world: in schools, museums, libraries and even in local garages. As a makerspace educator I can testify that these unique spaces provide transformational opportunities for students to get hands-on with learning while picking up new skills. If you are thinking of starting one, or already have one, I have some great advice from my experience. Here are the top five lessons I’ve learned from my experience in designing, maintaining and teaching in makerspaces.

  • Define Your Purpose

When I work with schools that want to start a new makerspace, we start with a school team to help them define a vision and purpose of the makerspace. Some schools want a fully integrated curriculum-driven space, some want an afterschool space, and others just want to focus on robotics. Once you define the purpose of the space, you can start to think about the tools, materials and physical layout of the space. There is no right or wrong way, you just have to design for what is best for your school. If you don’t know where to start, then I would suggest to visit a few makerspaces and look at different spaces. You can even visit professional makerspaces and hackerspaces. Here is another article that I wrote about defining the purpose of your makerspace.

  • Tools not Toys

Once you define the purpose of your space, you will need to think about what tools will be needed. I have found that a wide variety of hand tools and basic tools are more essential than big expensive equipment like laser cutters and 3D printers.  In order to facilitate a safe space with your chosen tools, it is vitally important to stress a safety protocol with tool usage that includes safety demonstrations and tool practice time. In my space, we allowed grade 1-4 students to start using full size hand saws, cordless drills and hammers after tool training and safety demonstrations. Our motto was always to treat materials and equipment like tools, not toys to create a safe space for all.

  • Accessibility

The school that I worked with in Hong Kong was an inclusive school that hosted learners with a wide range of skills, ability and height. Make sure to think about accessibility for all of your students as you design your space, keeping in mind things like table height, loud tools in one area and ease of movement around the space. Also, make sure to have a range of different sized protective gear like goggles, gloves and aprons.

  • Sustainability

A makerspace will need many different types of raw materials to work with, from wood, pvc, cardboard, plastic, sheet metal, styrofoam and others. Try to find a local vendor who can supply your material needs that can hopefully provide bulk orders and delivery to your campus as a bonus. The cost of restocking materials can start to add up quickly, so I recommend that you re-use as much as you can. When we would design something like a large wooden scale model, I would always ask the students to design it in a way that we can repurpose, use forever or disassemble and use the parts for another project.

  • Purposeful Play 

The Lego Foundation has been publishing research on constructionism-based play-pedagogy for years and I find it to be absolutely essential reading material for any makerspace teacher. I think that a makerspace can be a valuable space to bring learning to life that is curriculum driven, and at the same time fosters exploration, creativity and fun in learning,  as long as they are safe with the tools. This goes for the adults and teachers who are in the space as well, sometimes you’ll just want to play!

No matter what kind of makerspace you have or what kind of tools and materials you have, these lessons learned are sure to spark a conversation with your team. If you have any tips or lessons learned, we would love to hear those too!

Bonus:

Here are 2 invaluable resources that I highly recommend for any makerspace:

Fab Foundation Lesson Plans, classroom-ready lessons designed by makerspace teachers all over the world

Meaningful Making Books -free pdf download that includes lessons designed by k-12 FabLearn Fellows

Passionate Teaching: How to Inspire Students

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What do you remember most about the teachers you encountered in your school days? There might have been the one joke your philosophy teacher made about Immanuel Kant in Grade 11 that still makes you laugh decades after. Or your English teacher who encouraged your Grade 12 class to get through some challenging literature pieces by allowing you to take a chance to connect with it through culturally relevant comparisons. Maybe your Grade 7 science teacher started their lesson by engaging the class in reviewing a recent sci-fi movie. These three teachers are linked by how they care about students’ success in their subject area. They can see the relevance in enhancing their lives – they want students to care genuinely! As a result, these teachers usually like to listen closely too because their passion is infectious.

What makes a passionate teacher?

Effective and memorable teachers are keen to spread positivity and genuinely enjoy teaching and engaging with students. In addition, they are reflective, open to change, and always welcome new ideas. But with all these great qualities, there is one joint driving force behind it – the passion for what they do. 

Robert Fried defines passionate teaching in his book The Passionate Teacher: A Practical Guide (2001) as “someone in love with a field of knowledge, deeply stirred by issues and ideas that challenge our world, drawn to the dilemmas and potentials of the young people who come into class each day — or captivated by all of these.” 

In Alfred Thompson’s post “Why Passion is Important for Teachers” (2007), he observed how a teacher’s passion is a powerful driver of student outcome and performance in the class. Thompson followed the progression of a mathematics teacher assigned to teach a computer science class. The teacher was experienced, but the lack of enthusiasm in computer science dampened the course’s learning. Thompson also mentions that passion is not something we can fake. 

Then what can educators do if assigned to teach something they’re less passionate about in class? Luckily, passion is something that educators can cultivate.

Just get started – be inspired!

Passionate teaching might be difficult but try starting with simple things such as searching about a topic area. You might be surprised and find something you connect with. You can also watch some Ted Talk videos or podcasts about the subject area to get inspired. 

Find a community

Talk to teachers who are enthusiastic about the subject you are trying to get passionate about. It is helpful to see the subject through another teacher’s eyes. This technique is powerful, as you will find new approaches to passionate teaching that you can try in your classroom. In addition, you can try to see how the teacher sees their subject as relevant to the students’ future. You may also find great communities online in Facebook Groups and especially Twitter under #edchat!

Try new approaches in your own professional development

It is unnecessary to reinvent the wheel when teaching a new subject that you are unfamiliar with. Many educators in your local community share tried and tested classroom approaches. Additionally, you can find relevant workshops, events, or social gatherings organized for teachers through a simple Google search. These resources allow educators to exchange ideas in new teaching areas such as Tech and Computer Science.

These are just a few ideas to get you started. Hopefully, they will also get you excited about the new challenges that may be ahead this coming academic year!  Follow us on social media to see upcoming teacher events, ideas, and tips to enhance your classroom. 

If you have any ideas, recommendations,  thoughts, or questions, please get in touch with us at ey@bsd.education, and I would love to speak more about Passionate Teaching.

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EdTech Tools for the Classroom

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In today’s digital age, an increasing number of schools are recognizing the value of introducing non-traditional learning tools in the classroom – namely, digital and “educational technology” (EdTech) tools. This list includes online learning platforms, mobile devices, web services, even AR (augmented reality)/VR (virtual reality), and more! 

Introducing EdTech in the classroom doesn’t mean relying on technology to teach a lesson for you. Rather, it is incorporating them in such a way that allows you to deliver lessons that enhance student learning and engagement. EdTech also helps students foster valuable, career-ready digital skills, all while learning at school. Embracing technology as a learning tool opens up a vast array of possibilities, especially when teaching curriculum and organizing classroom activities. For example, some students may struggle with the traditional, lecture-based classroom structure. Still, technology offers various approaches to teaching course material and helps to create more fun, dynamic, and social learning environment. 

Let’s look at a few popular examples of EdTech tools used in the classroom.

Gamifying Student Learning

Gamification uses game design and mechanics to promote student engagement and participation.

EdTech tools like Classcraft, GradeCraft, and Rezzly transform your lesson material into a class-wide adventure game. Your students can create their characters and work with their classmates to complete quests! Instead of earning grades such as “A” or “C,” students can earn experience points and badges to level up. Instead of traditional assignments, teachers can transform classroom tasks into “quests” that help students gain experience points and badges.

Using gamification EdTech software means that set-up, management, and assessment are taken care of for you. As a result, you can avoid the headache of creating every element you would need for gamifying your classrooms, such as quests, rewards, challenges, leveling, and progress-tracking.

Game-based Learning

Not to be used with gamification, game-based learning uses games as a direct source of learning material. We recommend embracing games as an EdTech tool by using them as a direct source of course material.

Tools such as Kahoot, Quizizz, and Socrative allow teachers to create interactive trivia games to reinforce or revise course material. After making a game, teachers can use quizzes as a classroom activity by displaying the game questions on a display. Students can use any device to “sign in” to the game to choose their answer and compete against their classmates.

Teachers will visualize, display, and track analytics in real-time, such as the number of participants, high score, question time, and live progress. In addition to trivia games, many game-based EdTech tools also allow teachers to create interactive questionnaires, discussions, and surveys. 

Creation and Collaboration

Brainstorming, collaboration, and communication can all be made more accessible with tools such as Padlet and Buncee. These EdTech tools are like virtual “bulletin boards” where students can create various projects, such as a storyboard, mindmap, flowchart, bulletin board, scrapbook, newspaper, discussion forum, and more! Additionally, students can add text, multimedia (e.g., videos, images, music, etc.) and invite others to collaborate on a project together.

Other ideas include hosting a live collaboration lesson where students can add their comments to your board in real-time or brainstorming ideas for a group project together.

Implementing EdTech tools in the classroom helps increase students’ digital literacy and fosters valuable digital skills like computational thinking. These tools help them prepare for the future and are all high in demand in today’s job market.

Integrating technology into the classroom can impact student learning in many ways. Echoed wholeheartedly in this article by Top Hat, this sentiment argues that technology has its limits. However, integrating it into the classroom increases learning outcomes, student engagement opens up education beyond the confines of a classroom. It offers many ways for students to interact with course material.

If you’d like to find out more about non-traditional learning tools, you can email us at info@bsd.education.

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Engage Your Students in Reading and Writing in the month of April

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How can I engage my students?

Internationally, people celebrate and recognize the power of books. Reading holds creativity and information from the past and future, allowing people to share ideas and learn new things. But how does this effectively fit into educational technology? With tools like Kindles and iPads, students have access to thousands of books that they can take anywhere with them – an entire library on the go! In addition, the use of technology increases the reading experience by allowing students to explore further with a simple search.

How does technology fit into this?

The rapid development of technology has enabled us to provide more scaffolding in the classroom, such as better personalized learning (platforms and apps that recommend books according to learner reading ability) and gamified learning experiences (achieve a badge for completing a book).

Technology can also provide new ways for students to discover interests they have never considered before.

Consider trying these activities with your class:

  • Challenge students to keep a reading blog to share and reflect on a book of their choice.
  • Encourage students to practice giving constructive feedback and recommendations by keeping an unplugged reading review forum on your class bulletin. Teachers can suggest books and post them on the board. This will encourage students to post their ratings when they have read the book!
  • Have students collaborate by choosing chapter from a book and to create their own version by making a video.

If you’ve tried these activities with your students or have a question, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us! Please send us an email at info@bsd.education, and our team will get back to you ASAP!

Student Agency in Educational Technology Integrations

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Earlier this month I was invited to present at the ACAMIS Spring Leadership Conference on Student Agency in Educational Technology Integrations. This article summarizes the key points from my presentation – definition and importance of student agency, concrete examples of student agency in action with teachers taking a lead in enabling this; and some tips school leaders can take back to school.

As Head of Learning Experience at BSD, a huge part of my job is to deliver professional development and coach teachers, as well as observe a wide variety of classroom settings.  During coaching and classroom observations, I get the opportunity to see a wide variety of student agency in action.

But what is student agency? Eric Sheninger’s definition in his article, Student Agency: Moving from Talk to Action, captures the essence of what it’s about – “Student agency is about empowering kids to own their learning (and school) through greater autonomy. It is driven by choice, voice, and advocacy.”

Access to Internet-enabled devices in and outside the classroom has encouraged and allowed students to take control of their own learning. As educators, it’s now up to us to help students take responsible ownership of their learning as well as provide the right environment and support to nurture this.

In my visits to schools, I have observed that those which best promote student agency in technology settings have these common traits:

  1. They invest time and resources to develop clear and strong objectives and outcomes for teachers and students. After this is defined, choosing the right devices, infrastructure and software become easy.
  2. The school leadership supports the decisions made by the teachers and promotes buy-in from the teaching community. Developing agency in students is, in fact, starts with giving the same autonomy to teachers to make their own decision.
  3. They promote interdepartmental collaboration. Bringing together teachers with a wide range of skill sets and from different backgrounds helps bring out and inspires the best in everyone.
  4. They listen to the student and parent community and involve them in the decision making process.

Now, if you are a teacher who uses technology in the classroom and wants to develop agency in your students here are some handy tips:

  1. Give up control: When you bring in technology and the internet in the classroom you open the world of new possibilities. This makes it impossible for you to plan every detail of your lesson plan so I recommend carving in ample time for exploration and tinkering.  
  2. Let students decide: It’s time for the end of term project presentations? Encourage students to be creative and let them choose what they want to do – shoot a video, create a website, even enact it or just stick to a slideshow – the choice is entirely up to them!  Doing so helps build confidence and bring out students’ hidden interests and skills.
  3. Engage your students by asking for suggestions and feedback: Ask students to peer review their work by giving each other “three stars and a wish” – three things you liked about your colleagues’ work and one thing you wish they would do next time.
  4. Solve open ended problems: Ask big questions to solve big problems. Questions like – “how would you decrease traffic congestion in X city?”, “how would you improve the food and water distribute chain so everyone gets equal access to it?”, “how would you incentivise people to pay their taxes?”, etc. Asking such questions opens the doors to a series of follow up questions encourages students to gain a deeper understanding of how complex systems work, which in turn helps them to potentially discover the root cause of the problem.
  5. Be a coach or facilitator for learning: When it comes to technology, students need a supportive and experienced adult to guide them. They also need an environment where trying, learning-by-doing, and not being afraid to make mistakes is encouraged.

If you would like to see my entire presentation and would like me to share it with you, get in touch with me at mq@bsd.education.

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