Press release: Launch of The Edtech Podcast Festival

The iTunes new and noteworthy weekly podcast showcasing global education innovation, today announced the launch of its inaugural festival taking place in London in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in September 2018.   

The one-day Festival takes place on Saturday, September 22nd and will be attended by a mix of 200 educators, education leaders, policy makers, technologists, investors, learners and media. Like the podcast itself, the aim of the festival is “to improve the dialogue between “ed” and “tech” for better innovation and impact, through storytelling.”

Some of the features announced include;

• A LIVE podcast programme featuring a community of edu podcasters including TeacherToolkit, DebateMate & Six Formers from School 21 showcasing their real world learning podcast project
• A pop-up book shop run by the Wellcome Collection and featuring book signings and chats from authors including Global Teacher Prize Nominees, and learning design specialists
• A series of educator workshops run by past @podcastedtech guests including everything from top tips for saving teacher time and supporting your school improvement plan, to oracy, flipped classroom and the latest guidance on using digital technologies in the classroom from the Education Endowment Fund
• A series of edtech workshops including everything from a clinic to assess how efficacious your product is, what legal problems you should worry about, how to get your service out there, and how to co-create with teachers and put learner centred design at the heart of what you do
• A Makers Yard including hands on learning experiences including coding, making 3D printing, and design thinking. Come here to get involved with the Imperial College pop up maker space
• A high street of innovation featuring new takes on solving real problems in teaching and learning, from early years to higher education and beyond into the world of work
• A series of meet ups to increase your personal learning network, including intros to communities across Government, International Edtech, Teacher CPD and the new cultural park partners (UCL, Here East, LLDC, and more)
• Lunchtime mindfulness walks and networking for educators and entrepreneurs around the beautiful Queen Elizabeth Oiympic Park, our host venue
• A final festival party to end the day

The Edtech Podcast Festival has been developed after extensive conversations with school CPD leads and Festival partners. The Festival is delighted to count among its supporters the following organisations: Here East, LLDC, Educate, UCISA, Research Schools Network, Bethnal Green Ventures, Emerge Education, United Learning, WomenEd and WomenEdtech, Association for Learning Technology and many others.

The Edtech Podcast Festival will be hosted at Plexal, an award-winning innovation centre within the HereEast complex in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Sophie Bailey, Founder, The Edtech Podcast says:

“The first three episodes of The Edtech Podcast looked at how education and technology had changed in Hackney, London over the past 20 years to become a centre of excellence. Now, at over 100 episodes in, I am delighted to be launching our festival back here, home to such a diverse community of edtech companies, schools, Universities and cultural institutions, to explore how learning is changing and how we can support that change.”

Jasel Nandha, Education Community Manager, Here East says:

“With Here East’s focus on technology and digital innovation, we’re creating an environment where unique relationships are forged to cut through traditional industry norms. Plexal, houses an interesting mix of innovators and digital makers, making it the perfect venue for the Ed Tech Podcast Festival. The event will bring together an exciting mix of companies based at Here East, providing a great opportunity for young East Londoners by linking industry to education.”

Hannah Barnett, Programme Lead for Real World Learning, School21 says:

“At School 21 we are committed to providing students with opportunities the learn from the real world. All students in Years 10 and 11 complete a real world learning project, which is our take on traditional work experience, with students working on an authentic project for a real employer. We are delighted that The Ed Tech Podcast is one of our employers and we can’t wait to see what our students have been working on to support set-up of this event!”

Listen to our feature podcast episode on the festival:

End Announcement

Notes to editors:

The Edtech Podcast

Sophie Bailey is the founder of the iTunes new and noteworthy, The Edtech Podcast. The mission statement of The Edtech Podcast is to improve the dialogue between ‘ed’ and ‘tech’ through storytelling, for better innovation and impact. The main audience are global education leaders, with a secondary audience of start ups, bluechips, investors, Government and media. The podcast has 1500+ downloads each week from 143 countries, with the UK, US and Australia forming the top 3. 

Previous and upcoming speakers on The Edtech Podcast include: 

• Hanan Al Hroub, Past Global Teacher Prize Winner (K-12)
• Tom Andriola, CIO and Vice President at the University of California Office of the President (HE)
• Paul Feldman, CEO, JISC (HE)
• Anant Agarwal, CEO, edX
• Ian Dunn, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience), Coventry University
• Dominic Norrish, Group Technology Director, United Learning (K-12)
• Andrew Harper, Head of Innovation, UNHCR (GOV/NGO)
• Andreas Schleicher, Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, OECD (GOV/NGO)
• Danny Pan. Head of Education Technology and Higher Education, Department for International Trade. China
• Justin van Fleet, Chief of Staff to Rt. Honourable Gordon Brown, Office of the UN Special Envoy for Global Education (GOV/NGO)
• Deborah Quazzo, Edtech Investor, GSV Partners (Investment)
• Imogen Heap, Award-winning tech-enthusiast musician and collaborator (Lifelong Learning)
• Alex Waters, Lead for Edtech Policy, Department for Education, UK
• Sharon Leu, Sr Policy Advisor, Higher Education, US Department of Education

I am both a listener and a past interviewee on The Edtech Podcast and I can’t recommend it highly enough: it’s an excellent resource.
Prof. Rose Luckin, Professor of Learner Centred Design, UCL Knowledge Lab

The Edtech Podcast is independent and available on iTunes and Spotify and is free to subscribe due to the generous support of our partners. Follow the conversation on Twitter @podcastedtech, Instagram @podcastedtech and Facebook, The Edtech Podcast.  

The Edtech Podcast Festival: http://www.theedtechpodcast.com/festival