#125 – Geoff Barton, the General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders
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This episode features an interview recorded at GESF. This episode is sponsored by Cool Initiatives, RocketFund and features part two of our mini-series with Canvas by Instructure.
Did you know The Edtech Podcast Festival is coming up? Tickets are available here.
What’s in this episode?
This week’s episode features my conversation with Geoff Barton, the General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders. We talk about what the top priorities are for education leaders, in which situations technology can be a useful leadership tool, and why podcasts are flipping brilliant. This interview was recorded at the Global Education and Skills Forum. This episode also features part two of our mini-series feature on digital transformation with Kenny Nicholl from Canvas. I kick off by asking him about moving on from his VP role to take on the title of GM for EMEA and all that entails. A huge thank you to our guests, listeners and sponsors!
People
- Sophie Bailey is the Founder and Presenter of The Edtech Podcast | Twitter: @podcastedtech
- Geoff Barton, the General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders | Twitter: @RealGeoffBarton @ASCL_UK
- Kenny Nicholl, GM, EMEA, Canvas by Instructure | Twitter: @kennynicholl @CanvasLMS
Feedback
We’d love to hear your thoughts, comments, and questions! Record a quick free voicemail via speakpipe for inclusion in the next episode. Or you can post your thoughts or follow-on links via twitter @podcastedtech or via The Edtech Podcast Facebook page or Instagram. Don’t be afraid to reach out and talk to us on any of our social media platforms.
Quotes from this episode
Geoff Barton
Kenny Nicholl
References
Cool Initiatives
RocketFund
Global Education & Skills Forum
Guardian Politics Weekly Podcast
Duncan Baldwin, Technology Director
Dr Mary Aiken The Cyber Effect
UNESCO annual international EdTech Conference, titled Transforming Education Conference for Humanity (TECH), will be held on November 15 – 17 in Andhra Pradesh, India – accepting submissions
Quest for a co-founder via a listener. Contact us if you’d like to find out more.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Cool Initiatives is seeking to support, develop and invest in ideas or EdTech businesses that will help schools and teachers to operate more efficiently and effectively.
As you are listening to the Ed-tech podcast, you may well have a great idea or know someone else who has an idea that you think would help schools and teachers to do this, and we’d be delighted to talk to you.
We’re very happy to discuss administrative tools as well as learning technologies, or you may have a non-digital product or other service that you think would be useful.
Cool Initiatives already works with over 12,000 schools every day, with 20 years experience of building and sustaining a profitable business, we want to be able to use that experience to support others at the very start of their journey and build something great together.
So, you may have already started a business and want to take it to the next stage, or just have an idea and don’t really know how to turn it into a business. You may not know your CAC from your LTV, your IP from your MVP or your burn rate from your churn rate, don’t worry – Buzz-Word Bingo is not our game! We’re want to help turn a great idea into a flourishing business.
To find out more about our investment approach, take a look at our website coolinitiatives.com and please, just get in touch. We would love to hear more about your ideas and how they could support education.
Rocket Fund is a crowdfunding platform designed to help schools try the latest technology.
So far we have helped 200 schools raise £185,000.
Our Mission
To enhance education for all, by enabling all students to access technology and finding out what works.
What we do
Rocket Fund empowers teachers to buy the latest technology, by raising money from businesses and their community. We provide support through the whole process, from pitch creation, to fundraising, to sourcing the best suppliers for teachers to buy from when they hit their target.
How it works for Teachers
You create a pitch describing what technology you want to buy for your class
You share it with your contacts and community
People donate
You hit your target (woohoo!) we collect the donations and send the money directly to your school
You send thanks to donors and review the products to help other teachers in the future
Is there any tech you’d like to buy?
Great! Start creating a project here. We’ll support you through the process.
This episode features an interview forming part of our mini-series on digital transformation co-curated by Canvas by Instructure.
Instructure Inc. is the software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company that makes software that makes people smarter. With a vision to help maximise the potential of people through technology, Canvas by Instructure enables organisations everywhere to easily develop, deliver and manage engaging face-to-face and online learning experiences. To date, Instructure has connected millions of teachers and learners at more than 1,600 educational institutions and corporations throughout the world.
As a listener to The Edtech Podcast Festival. You are invited to Canvas Con in October. More details here:
https://events.bizzabo.com/canvasconeurope
The Edtech Podcast Festival, 22nd September, Plexal, London – are you registered yet?
Join us at The Edtech Podcast Festival to improve the dialogue between “ed” and “tech” for better innovation and impact!
We have been working on the festival for over a year! What does your golden ticket give you access to?
- A LIVE Podcast stream with LIVE podcast recordings including Schools Week LIVE reviewing the week’s news, the Teacher Toolkit podcast in conversation with Laura Mcinerney, NAHT and a local Deputy Head on saving Teacher’s Time, and Bloomsberg Tech and the Webby Award nominated Tech’sMessage podcast host Nate Lanxon talking with experts on AI and blockchain on technologies which are set to change the way we learn.
- An educator workshop stream with senior leaders in education across school and Universities talking about “the Do’s and Don’ts of edtech”, experts on edtech in Maths, Science, English. Plus a head of e-learning running a help session on digital leadership and how you can get involved, and local primary leads on the importance of oracy.
- An edtech workshop stream featuring sessions on learner experience design, funding, international edtech, marketing and data.
- A makers yard with hands on creative sessions and lesson ideas around design thinking and learning by making, plus a makers yard stage with more talks and workshops from educators.
- A pop-up book shop run by the Wellcome Collection Gift Shop and Blackwell’s featuring referenced authors on the podcast.
- A corridor of (lifelong) learning with exhibitors and sign-up sessions including Educate, Century Tech, now > press > play, London Legacy Development Corporation, Hackney Council, Education Media Centre and Primary CPD from Aureus School.
- A lunchtime sign up session (limited places) including caneoing on the river lea cut, mindfulness practices in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Edu film cinema, Visits to a local 3D printing org. and meet the authors.
- An estimated 6 CPD points with all opt-in attendees having their certificate of attendence on the blockchain. (The content was developed with edu CPD leads and focuses on practical implementation to support priorities around strategic improvement, training, and improving learner outcomes.
- A programme of 3 x meet-ups on the festival day to bolster your personal support network and achieve your goals for the forthcoming year.
- Access to our pitching session with x10 entrants and parents and students among our judging community.
- A delicious line-up of coffee, lunch, and evening treats with a final wrap party to say thank you for attending. (The hope is very much that you benefit from sharing knowledge with one another and supporting each other in your aims.)
- Over 170 people are already registered and we want you to come and join and share your wealth of knowledge to get motivated for the year ahead. Join TeachFirst, Imperial College London, CenturyTech, NAHT, LSE, Eedi, and many more engaged in supporting new ideas around teaching and learning.
A few tickets remain! We hope to see you on the 22nd!
Join us!
Register here.
