Dia dhaoibh a gcairde,
Bheul, go raibh míle as ucht na trácht inné. Inniu táim ag an Excel do BETT Technology Conference. Can you work out how I got here from Liverpool Street station?
Thank you for your help yesterday with getting from Cardinal place (Microsoft HQ) back to Liverpool Street.
This was my view on my walk to the station this morning. Do you know what this building is called? Can you find out any information about the building? Who designed it? When was it built? What do you think of its shape?
At BETT Sir Bob Geldof was the opening keynote speaker. He spoke of the power of education to transform lives and how important it is to ensure that girls across the world are educated.
Next the English Secretary of State for Education, the RT Honourable Nicky Morgan, MP spoke.
Nicky Morgan grew up in Surrey. She has been MP for Loughborough since 2010 and lives there with her husband, Jonathan, an architect and Loughborough councillor. They have one son, Alex, who is six.
She studied law at Oxford University before becoming a solicitor, specialising in Corporate Law. Before replacing Michael Gove as Secretary of State for Education and becoming Minister for Women and Equalities, she previously served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Minister for Women (2014), Economic Secretary to the Treasury (2013 – 14), an Assistant Government Whip (2012 – 13) and the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to David Willetts, Cabinet Minister for Universities and Science (2010 – 12). (Info from the BETT app)
Next I went straight to the LEGO stand. They have some exciting news for this year. There is a beta app of the EV3 software in production at the moment and it will be released to the general public in April. Check it out here.
They also have a new Maths product for the younger student called MoretoMath. Mrs. Murray tried out the software and it looks great. There are brilliant lesson plans for teachers with lots of fun problem solving opportunities. We met Matt Parkes while we were there and he gave Mrs. Murray some presents to bring back to you the students in Clontuskert.
Next we went to visit the Microsoft stand. While there we met Barry Corrigan who is the Microsoft Expert Educator Fellow for Northern Ireland. He is doing amazing work in his school, Millennium Integrated Primary. Read all about it here: www.milleniumips.org
At the Microsoft stand we saw Julia Kenyon; BBC Earth marketing director for the new film Enchanted Kingdom. This film will be out in the cinemas soon. It is narrated by Idris Elba and is a 3D film of the amazing naturescapes of Africa. The crew broke many boundaries of film and in fact are the
first ever to do 3D filming under water. A primary school in England called Broadclyst were involved in developing project based learning resources to go with the film. These are available for free to download on the Windows App Store. We will have to check that out when we get home.
Amazingly you can also book a Skype call with the directors from the film at
Education.skype.com
Scan this QR code to find out more.
What do you think of the Minecraft set at the Microsoft stand? Amazing!
We saw this cool new tech that works with any projector to make ANY surface interactive. The product is called Bird. They are hoping to be in mass production soon. How we would love to try it out!
We also saw these cool balls called SPRK. You can program them to move or use a remote control with them. Can you imagine the fun in class with them?!
Next we heard Anthony Saltico at the BETT arena. As vice president of education for Microsoft Corp.’s Worldwide Public Sector organization, Anthony Salcito works with education institutions and partners globally to embrace technology to optimize learning environments and student achievement.
Salcito is the author of several education focused blogs, including Daily Edventures (http://dailyedventures.com/) which highlights the inspiring stories of many education thought leaders, school leaders and educators from around the world. The blog has been recognized with several education industry awards, including ‘2013 Dean’s List: 50 Must Read Higher Education Technology Blogs’ and ‘TEACH 100’. Salcito is also the author of the Education Insights blog acknowledging technology in Education and Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to learning. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoftuseducation/.
Mrs. Murray is wondering if it would be a good idea to get this in Clontuskert? It’s a bike that powers the photocopier when it is cycled! What do you think?
We will finish our post with some pictures from outside the BETT arena:
Mrs. Murray loved meeting her old friends, Tom Jackson, Kirsten Panton, Kevin Marshall, Steven Duggan and hearing Kirsten Wetherby yesterday. She also enjoyed meeting Microsoft Expert Educator, Gareth Shaw and Microsoft Expert Educator Fellpw, Barry Corrigan. She looks forward to lots more adventures in education in the future!
Mrs. Murray and I are in Stansted now waiting for our flight. Can you work out what flight we are getting? Is there more than one option to get home to Galway?
We are looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!
Le gach dea ghuí,
Larry agus Mrs. Murray.
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