Week 1 introduction

Hi, I’m Hannah Tyreman and I’m Head of Online Learning and Community at the Chartered College of Teaching. I’ll be one of your hosts for this course. As well as introducing each module, I’ll be joining in discussions and sharing my thoughts in the comments. This week, we’ll begin to explore what makes for an effective digital strategy in school. It can often be difficult, whether we’re a classroom teacher or school leader, when faced with new and ever-changing education technologies to resist the temptation to try everything all at once. All of the staff in a school can be helped to navigate the shiny world of education technologies with a clear strategy and well-communicated vision that aligns with the school’s wider priorities.

Having a clear purpose for the use of technology in a classroom or indeed elsewhere in the school can help to ensure that it has a direct impact on pupil outcomes or the efficiency of school processes. Taking the time to carefully consider this strategy means that we can also plan how we’ll communicate our vision effectively with colleagues. Each of you will be working in different roles, in different schools, in a variety of contexts. It is this context that will directly affect your strategy the most. As you work through this week’s content, you’ll be prompted to think about the pupils you work with, the curriculum you have, and the nature of where you work.

Each of these elements will inform the decisions you make and what may have worked in our case study schools may not work in your own. It’s important to use the course’s content as stimulus for thinking in action back in your own context where you’ll take your learning to discuss with your colleagues. We look forward to learning with you all this week.