Sharing Excellent Practice in Learning and Teaching through ICT

About

Aberdeenshire Authority’s Microsoft Innovative Teacher Initiative aims to - 

• embed interactive technologies, where appropriate, in every day teaching and learning.
• greatly enhance the teaching and learning experience for our young people in schools across Aberdeenshire to meet the requirements of 21^st Century education 
• establish, develop and sustain a dynamic community of innovative practitioners at an Authority wide level who will inspire, motivate and encourage others to share.
• share good practice and innovative Smartboard techniques.
• populate an Authority VLE with quality assured, copyright free content.
• have Smartboard expertise within every school.
• offer every individual a high standard of training which is standardised and modularised.
• provide schools with accurate advice and competitive prices for interactive whiteboards bundles. 

A launch conference was held on Saturday 24th Feb at Meldrum Academy.  There was a fantastic reponse and around 150 delegates attended.  The conference offered delegates a mixture of keynote and seminar presentations, an exhibition area and networking opportunties.  Bruce Robertson OBE, Aberdeenshire’s new Director of Education, opened the conference, setting the scene and sharing his clear and strong vision for ICT in the Authority.   A motivational start, this was followed by a brilliant keynote presentation from Derek Robertson, New Technologies Development Officer for Learning and Teaching Scotland.  Derek invited delegates to enter the ‘games and learning debate’ as he shared his use of computer games as tools for learning.  Evaluation returns clearly intimated that Derek’s motivating and dynamic keynote would inspire pedagogical shift.