Education Innovation : the leading event for learning technology : Manchester, 8/9 March

Keynote

Professor Alice Roberts

Alice Roberts is an anatomist, author and broadcaster. She is Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham. Best known for her BBC TV appearances, she has also appeared as an expert osteoarchaeologist on the Channel 4 television series Time Team. Visit her website at www.alice-roberts.co.uk.

Alice is speaking on Friday 8th March – 10:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Dr Tanya Byron

Author, broadcaster, clinician, journalist and chancellor of Edge Hill University, an institution committed to social inclusion and wider participation. The Presenter and on-screen expert for the series Little Angels, investigating emotional and behavioral problems in children.

Tanya is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 10:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Spencer Kelly

Presenter of the BBC’s Technology program Click, broadcast on BBC Worldwide and on BBC News, he previously worked on Five’s Gadget Show. He studied Computer Science at Cambridge for three years before moving into presenting.

Spencer is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 15:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Stephen Twigg MP

Labour & Co Op MP for Liverpool West Derby since May 2010. Became shadow education secretary in October 2011. Previously MP for Enfield Southgate (1997-2005) and Minister for Schools (2002-5). Stephen attended Southgate Comprehensive School and Balliol College, Oxford. He was previously president of the National Union of Students, general secretary of the Fabian Society and director of the Foreign Policy Centre. Website

Stephen is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 13:30pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Tim Rylands and Sarah Neild

Tim Rylands has been described as “an extremely gifted and inspirational teacher, with a love of the creative potential of technology and an excellent rapport with his pupils”. With over 25 years of classroom experience, in the UK, and beyond, including 4 years in West Africa, Tim is now much in demand for training days, conferences and seminars around the world, presenting the results of his work in an inspiring, practical and often humorous way. Observers have commented on his imaginative and encouraging style of teaching, which allows children to express their creativity and make significant gains in attainment.

He has received notable recognition for using computer games, and Web 2 technologies to inspire children’s creative confidence in many areas of the curriculum – writing, speaking and listening, music, thinking skills, collaboration, interaction and much more. Tim has received a vast amount of press coverage for his innovative use of ICT, and has featured on the BBC, ‘Teachers TV’, CNN, in The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, and many others. In 2005 he won the 2005 Becta ICT in Practice Award. In addition, Tim is also well known for the musicals he has written for children, which have been performed to great acclaim. Tim is a firm believer that ICT is about communication more than technology and that it should be FUN! Website

Sarah Neild is an award winning teacher with experience of inspiring schools with many creative uses of ICT. Sarah was awarded Advance Skills Teacher status in 2003 being described as an ‘exceptional teacher… teaching of the highest calibre, particularly in her dynamic use of ICT’. In 2004 Sarah was a finalist in Becta’s ICT in Practice Awards, where she was described as ‘an evangelist’ in her use of ICT.

Sarah was chosen as a Beacon School Teacher in a primary in the North West of England. She provided demonstration lessons in the use of ICT across the curriculum and supported colleagues, both in her own school and beyond, in developing their ICT skills. As part of her local authority’s ‘Hands on Support’ team, Sarah guided many schools in their development of ICT. She has presented at BETT on the use of interactive technologies and worked with teacher training colleges to bring learning alive.

Since 2008 Sarah has worked alongside Tim Rylands, developing imaginative ways of using ICT to enhance learning in schools across the country, and beyond.

Tim and Sarah are speaking on Saturday 9th March – 11:30am – Green Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Conference speakers

Alan O’Donohoe (Our Lady’s Catholic High School)

Alan O’Donohoe is the principal teacher of ICT at Our Lady’s High School, Preston. Alan campaigns on his mission to teach computing not secretarial skills. You can read more of his journey to raise the profile of computing in the curriculum on his blog. He is a proactive member of Computing at School organising hub meetings for North West teachers wishing to develop computing in their schools. Alan also offers Teach Computing training for those seeking to develop computing in their curriculum with particular emphasis on the use of Scratch and Python. Alan started Hack To The Future and Raspberry Jam to help inspire the digital creators of tomorrow. You can follow him on twitter at @teknoteacher and listen to his audioboo podcast.

Alan is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 10:30am – Blue Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Alasdair Smith (Anti-Academies Alliance)

Alasdair Smith is the Anti-Academies Alliance Secretary. The Anti Academies Alliance is a campaign composed of unions, parents, pupils, teachers, councillors and MPs who oppose the government’s Academies programme.

Alasdair is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 12:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Arran Smith (British Dyslexia Association)

Arran Smith (Membership and Project Officer) has been working as a volunteer for the BDA since 2008 and has worked closely to support the organisation and its members. Arran is severely dyslexic and understands the problems and barriers that dyslexic individuals face. Arran has known about his dyslexia since the age of nine and became a member of the Leicestershire Dyslexia Association, where he is now the Vice Chairman; a role which he is deeply passionate about.

Arran is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 14:00pm – Yellow Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Bill Watkin (SSAT)

Bill Watkin worked in several schools over 24 years, mostly in South London, before joining SSAT to look after its work with academies. While still a teacher, Bill worked with SSAT for 5 years as a consultant on curriculum design, vertical structures, student behaviour, 14-19 and data analysis. From September 2006, Bill has worked full-time on the academies programmes, working with all academies and their sponsors, identifying and brokering the support to meet their individual and collective needs.

Bill still looks after SSAT’s engagement with academies both old and new, both converter and sponsored, secondary, special and primary, as well as UTCs, Free Schools and Studio Schools. Bill is also responsible for The Academy Sponsors Network and liaises closely with sponsors, providers and operators. Since the summer, Bill has led SSAT’s work on the examination system and recent policy developments.

Bill is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 12:15pm – Central Hub Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Bob Harrison (Support for Education & Training – SET)

He has had extensive experience in schools and colleges as a teacher, senior manager, principal and governor. He has worked with head teachers and senior leaders in developing leadership skills for the National College and the Building Schools for the Future Leadership programme. Bob is also Vice Chair of Governors at a Beacon College and a governor and chair of a Trafford school. He has been Toshiba’s Education Adviser for 12 years and is a writer, presenter and researcher on mobile learning, digital technologies and next generation learning. Bob is a visiting scholar at Stanford University where he has researched and written about mobile, online and virtual learning at the Palo Alto campus. He is currently the Chair of the Teaching Schools New Technology Advisory Board, a HE/Industry/Schools/DfE/TDA group which aims to ensure that the next generation of teachers have the necessary skills to prepare children for their lives as workers and digital citizens in the 3rd Millenium.

Bob is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 10:30am – Leaders Conference - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Brian Lightman (Association of School and College Leaders)

Brian Lightman became General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders on 1^st September 2010. He served as President of the Association in 2007-8, Honorary Treasurer from 2003-6, President of SHA Wales in 2003-4, Branch Secretary and ASCL Council member since 1998. Brian was Headteacher of St Cyres School – a large, mixed 11-18 comprehensive in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan from 1999-2010.
He taught Modern Foreign Languages for 16 years in three comprehensive schools in the South East of England before becoming Headteacher of Llantwit Major School in 1995. Brian‘s broad experience within the English and Welsh education systems includes, extensive representation on UK and Welsh Assembly Government Committees, being an external examiner and an Estyn inspector.

Brian is speaking on Friday 8th March – 11:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Carol Lawrenson (Spinney Ave Primary School)

I have been in teaching since 1976 and during that time have worked in every phase and in both mainstream and special schools.I have worked in four local authorities in my regional area.

I believe the thing to remember is the real reason why we have schools- to educate young minds. We can come at this from many angles but it is the same purpose.The key is finding the best starting point.

In Spinney we believe that the best start for educating young minds is to open the minds to the infinite possibilities of learning. We teach them to think. To think like learners and to think like creators. This is my passion!

Carol is speaking on Friday 8th March – 12:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Clive Beale (Raspberry Pi Foundation / Cambridge Assessment)

Clive Beale is a secondary school teacher with ten years’ experience of teaching Computing and ICT. Clive has been involved with the Raspberry Pi from early on – having spotted its potential for teaching and learning across the curriculum – and he currently administers the community forums and writes for the blog. He was part of the team who wrote the recently published Computing at School Raspberry Pi Educational Manual.

Clive has recently been appointed as the Educational Development Director for the Raspberry Pi Foundation and he will be doing this full time from February 2013.

Clive is speaking on Friday 8th March – 10:30am – Yellow Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Dan Hopper (Design Thinking Agency)

Dan Hopper is an educational graphic designer for Sunderland City Council, using design and new technology to improve teaching and learning for both teachers and students. He also runs ‘the design thinking agency’ an education focused graphic design company which provides bespoke educational resources to schools throughout the U.K.

Working with a range of schools he has created large whole school, cross curricular qr code projects, improved staff cpd experiences by introducing personal learning networks through the use of twitter and has developed interactive websites where students can leave feedback about their creative experiences throughout the school.

Dan is speaking on Friday 8th March – 13:00pm – Green Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Danny Bermant (Brainstorm Digital)

Danny Bermant founded Brainstorm Digital, an online marketing agency, in 2000. He helps clients develop online strategies to enable them to attract new business. He does this through social media training, SEO campaigns, pay-per-click marketing, email marketing, online PR and other methods of digital marketing. Danny regularly runs social media training courses in central London to help schools attract new pupils and improve the way they engage with parents.

Danny is providing a workshop on Friday 8th March – 15:00pm – Seminar Room 5 - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

David Baugh (Apple Distinguished Educator)

David Baugh is a primary trained teacher with classroom experience of teaching students aged 5 – 18. Local Authority Advisor for Denbighshire where he had responsibility for all aspects of ICT and eLearning in 65 schools.

He is an independent trainer, author and adviser of ICT, working for a wide range of organisations. He has been an Apple Distinguished Educator for 12 years and is an Apple Professional Development Consultant. David works with schools and organisations that want to deploy and integrate iOS devices and Apple technology into learning.

David is speaking on Friday 8th March – 11:30am – Purple Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

David Brown (Ofsted)

David Brown is the Ofsted national adviser for ICT. In this role David leads Ofsted’s work in ICT, coordinating 30 secondary and 30 primary ICT subject inspections each year and writing reports and articles for Ofsted on ICT, in addition to leading S5 and S8 school inspections. Before working for Ofsted David had over 25 years’ experience teaching in secondary schools, including 20 years as an ICT coordinator, and has for 15 years worked in senior management in secondary schools in several roles including designing school management information systems and supporting the use of ICT in partner primary and secondary schools.

David is speaking on Friday 8th March – 10:30am – Leaders Conference - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

David Frise (National Skills Academy)

David Frise has been head of sustainability at the Building & Engineering Services Association since 2010. He was also the first chairman of the M&E Sustainability campaign established to help building engineering services contractors take advantage of the business opportunities presented by the increasing demand for sustainable buildings. He is a director of the National Skills Academy and is chairman of the Specialist Engineering Contractors (SEC) Group BIM committee. David was formerly managing director of MS Frise and 3^rd Rock Energy, a leading sustainable systems supplier, designer and contractor based in Wiltshire. He is an expert on ground source heat pumps, solar water heating and underfloor heating and cooling.

David is speaking on Friday 8th March – 14:00pm – Blue Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

David Hughes (NIACE)

David became the Chief Executive of NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) in the summer of 2011. David Joined NIACE after 11 years working in the further education funding agencies, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA). At the SFA he was the Provider Services Director with national responsibility for all of the funding relationships with colleges and training organisations, ensuring that high quality skills and training are delivered across the country.

At the LSC David held a variety of senior roles in London, the East Midlands and nationally including working in a troubleshooting capacity. Before joining the LSC in 2000, David worked in the voluntary sector both in the UK and Australia in areas including co-operative housing, social enterprise, regeneration and adult education.

David is speaking on Friday 8th March – 14:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

David Mitchell (Heathfield Primary School)

David Mitchell is an multi award winning Deputy Head teacher at Heathfield Primary School in Bolton. Faced with the age old problem of getting his pupils to consider their audience, David built an audience of millions for his pupils to write for. SATs results in writing shot from 9% Level 5 to 60% Level 5 in just one year with each child in 2010 making on average two years progress, a feat that was subsequently matched by the 2011 Year 6 leavers and 2012 leavers.He is now on a mission to bring Blogging to as many teachers and pupils as possible through QuadBlogging which supports teachers and class blogs by providing an instant relevant global audience. David and his pupils regularly present about the impact blogging has had on learning and recently featured on BBC1 Breakfast TV and BBC Radio 5 Live. David’s Blog can be found at DeputyMitchell.com, and the Heathfield blogs can be found at heathfieldcps.net. You can find him on Twitter @DeputyMitchellDavid is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 10:30am – Yellow Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

David Way (National Apprenticeship Service)

Chief Executive of the National Apprenticeship Service, responsible for increasing the number of Apprenticeships available and ensuring more businesses benefit from employing Apprentices. He spent nearly four years as National Director of Skills at the Learning and Skills Council with a focus on delivering the Government’s skills strategy. He has also been a Governor of both the University of Wolverhampton and a Warwickshire primary school.

David is speaking on Friday 8th March – 14:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Dawn Jones (Science Learning Centre North West)

Dawn has taught Chemistry and Biology to ages 11-18 in a wide range of Secondary schools and was responsible for coordinating KS3 science in her last school. She left teaching in December 2001 to take up the post of National Strategy science consultant in Blackburn with Darwen. In Blackburn with Darwen she worked with all science departments to implement the KS3 National Strategy and then the Secondary Strategy for science.

In January 2009, she became an Assistant Director of the Science Learning Centre North West based at MMU in Didsbury. She delivers courses and bespoke workshops on a wide range of topics to enhance the teaching of science and continue the professional development of teachers.

Dawn is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 13:00pm – Yellow Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Doug Gowan (Association for Learning Technology)

Doug is honorary secretary of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) and a director of the Resilience Space.

He has been engaged in the development of educational technology in its broadest sense since the early 1970s, and is a leading exponent of active and collaborative learning. Throughout the 1980s he was national director of education at the TUC, also helping to design education programmes in Southern and West Africa.

In 1997 he co-founded the Open Learning Partnership (OLP), a charity dedicated to widening access to learning through intelligent use of technology. The charity set up community and workplace learning centres and online programmes. In 2006 Doug co-authored the influential LEX research report on the learner experience of elearning.

His main interests are in finding ways of using learning technology to reach out to people who are not engaged or find it difficult to access traditional forms of education.

Doug is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 14:00pm – Purple Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Dr Christina Preston (University of Bedfordshire)

Dr Christina Preston is an advocate of the application of digital technologies as a catalyst for enriching teaching and learning. Her research and practice in the design of continuing professional development programmes for teachers led to MirandaNet Fellowship, that she founded in 1992. This professional organisation is free to educators, who want to build and share professional knowledge informally. Her main research publications focus on: action research; building communities of practice with particular reference to industry education partnership; and, a form of democratic knowledge sharing called a MirandaMod, that depends on digital innovation.

The MirandaMod
In a MirandaMod event, professionals engage in an emerging mode of professional online communication that promotes knowledge creation and sharing. This mode of communication is a modification of the “unconference”: a democratic knowledge exchange where all participants are considered to have expertise, rather than just the invited speakers. This unconference derivative, designed by educators, is a themed debate where issues of practice and theory are raised on equal terms and access is open to all.

Christina is hosting the MirandaMod Workshop on Saturday 9th March – 11:30am – Central Seminar Room 8 - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Dr Jackie Carter (University of Manchester)

Jackie Carter leads on teaching and learning initiatives at Mimas, a Centre for Excellence based at the University of Manchester. In 2008 her team won an acclaimed international award for innovation, for mobile delivery of vocational content to teach hairdressing training. Jackie’s role enables her to engage with technology to support student learning, and she is active in a many educational technology projects. She also directs a national service for Open Educational Resources for colleges and universities . She is formerly a school teacher. Jackie will be talking about the SCARLET – Special Collections Using Augmented Reality to Enhance Learning and Teaching – project. SCARLET is a small project that has had a big impact through pioneering the use of Augmented Reality (AR) to engage students with rare and valuable materials held in libraries’ special collections. This innovative project has transformed the study of primary source materials by using mobile devices to augment learning, demonstrating the potential of AR in university teaching, and bringing Special Collections into the age of the app. The SCARLET AR toolkit developed will help others build on our learning.

Jackie is speaking on Friday 8th March – 10:30am – Blue Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Dr Joanne Smiles (Manchester Academy)

After having worked at GalaxoSmithKline as an analytical chemist, Joanne completed her PhD investigating breast cancer metastasis at Manchester University. She gained qualified teacher status in 2008 with TeachFirst, a programme which addresses educational disadvantage in urban schools and began working at Manchester Academy. In 2011 she was appointed as Head of Science in Manchester Academy and has successfully lead the team through curriculum changes, as demonstrated by the continuing improvement of GCSE results.

Joanne is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 13:00pm – Yellow Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Dr Kate Saunders (British Dyslexia Association)

Dr. Kate Saunders (Chief Executive) is the Education and Policy Director of the British Dyslexia Association. Kate has over 20 years of experience in the field of dyslexia and special educational needs, having worked as a Senior Specific Learning Difficulties/Dyslexia Advisory Teacher, Special Educational Needs Coordinator, chartered psychologist and lecturer. Kate has a Ph.D. in Education and is co-author of ‘How Dyslexics Learn’, published by PATOSS.

Kate is speaking on Friday 8th March – 12:00pm – Yellow Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Elaine Walton (Learning Pool)

Elaine Walton has worked in e-learning since 2003 across the healthcare, hospitality and telecommunications industries. In 2009 she became Product Manager of Modern Governor, e-learning for school governors, produced by Learning Pool. Under her leadership Modern Governor has become the leading provider of e-learning for school governors in the UK, used by more than 30,000 governors. Elaine works in partnership with local authorities and key governance organisations to deliver e-learning solutions that help governors to support schools.

Website: www.moderngovernor.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/moderngovernor and http://twitter.com/elainewalton
Facebook: http://facebook.com/moderngovernor

Elaine is running a workshop on Friday 8th March – 09:30am – Seminar Room 5 - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Emma Mulqueeny (Young Rewired State)

Emma Mulqueeny runs Rewired State and Young Rewired State: independent developer networks delivering change for industry and country. Rewired State is the largest independent developer network in the UK with over 600 software developers and designers, bringing about digital innovation and revolution through hack days. Young Rewired State is the only young developer network of UK kids aged 18 and under who have taught themselves how to code and is celebrated through an annual Festival of Code – this year welcoming 500 young coders from across the UK. Emma writes regularly for The Guardian and on her own blog and is best known for her campaign to ‘Teach our kids to code’, relentlessly pushing the potential of the UK digital industry.

Emma is speaking on Friday 8th March – 11:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

She is also speaking on Friday 8th March – 12:30pm – Purple Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Francis Gilbert (Writer and Author)

Francis Gilbert has taught for over twenty years in various state schools, but has also worked at certain points as a journalist, novelist and social commentator. He is the author of I’m A Teacher, Get Me Out Of Here!, Yob Nation, Parent Power, Working The System, and The Last Day Of Term. He is the co-founder, with Melissa Benn and Fiona Millar, of The Local Schools Network (www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk), a blog that celebrates non-selective state schools, and also has his own website, www.francisgilbert.co.uk and a Mumsnet blog, www.talesbehindtheclassroomdoor.co.uk. He has appeared numerous times on radio and TV and is known for his robust defence of his ideas.Francis is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 12:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Gareth Ritter (Willows High School)

My name is Gareth Ritter and I am a music teacher based in Cardiff. I graduated with a degree in Music in 2003 from the Royal Welsh College of Music. I am currently the Leader of Learning for Creative Arts at Willows High School, Cardiff where I oversee many faculties which include Music, Drama and Art.

I am also a teaching and learning couch, working with my colleagues to help them improve the teaching and learning experience in their classroom. I have always been interested in the use of ICT in music and over the past 6 years I have created technology-rich learning and teaching resources.

I have delivered inset to many schools on the use of ICT in the classroom. I regularly deliver workshops in education on how to implement technology into the classroom. In 2011 I was an award winner at the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum in Washington.

Gareth is speaking on Friday 8th March – 14:00pm – Green Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Gemma Cameron (Manchester Girl Geeks)

@ruby_gem is a senior software developer at LateRooms.com in Manchester, founder of Manchester Girl Geek Dinners, Barcamp Blackpool and Barcamp Nottingham. Graduating from Salford University in 2005 with a degree in Computer Science she joined BAE SYSTEMS, working on exciting projects for Apache Helicopters, Eurofighter Typhoon and Unmanned Autonomous Systems. More recently she has worked in a cutting edge agile software team at Esendex, a premium SMS provider in Nottingham until her current role. Gemma ignites local tech communities by continuing to attend, speak and organise events to improve the technical skills of herself and those around her.

Gemma is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 11:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Genevieve Smith-Nunes (Sussex Downs College)

A Computing and Software Development teacher at Sussex Downs College. Genevieve values the experience and knowledge gained from working with professionals across all phases of education and industry. She is an advocate for including programming in the curriculum and believes you are never too young to learn about Computer Science. She has volunteered in a number of local primary schools, teaching programming to 6yr olds. Genevieve is working with professionals to give access to young computer scientist. Working with Artist David Blandy to create a Unity3D game for his latest work Anjin 1600.

Genevieve is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 12:00pm – Yellow Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

She is also speaking on Saturday 9th March – 14:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Guyda Armstrong (University of Manchester)

Guyda Armstrong is Senior Lecturer in Italian Studies at the University of Manchester. She specializes in medieval Italian literature, especially Boccaccio, and its diffusion and reception across languages and cultures from the medieval period to the present day. She now works primarily in the field of the history (and future) of the book, with an interdisciplinary approach which combines textual and material studies, with translation and the digital humanities.

Guyda has a long-standing research interest in the digital humanities and their application to literary studies. She was lead academic on the award-winning JISC-funded SCARLET project (Special Collections using Augmented Reality to Enhance Learning and Teaching), a joint project with Mimas and the John Rylands Library of the University of Manchester which developed a mobile app to allow students to integrate iconic material from the University’s special collections into their learning and teaching.

From 2001-03 she was Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Early Modern Italian and New Media at Brown University, USA, working on the NEH-funded Decameron Web website <www.brown.edu/decameron <http://www.brown.edu/decameron> > and its successor, the Virtual Humanities Lab <http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/vhl_new/>. She is the Principal Investigator for the Manchester Digital Dante project <http:manchesterdante.wordpress.blog>, a British Academy Project which has digitized culturally significant incunable editions of Dante’s Divine Comedy held in the University of Manchester’s Special Collections.

Guyda is speaking on Friday 8th March – 10:30am – Blue Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Helen Mulley (Teach Secondary)

Helen Mulley has been the editor of Teach Secondary magazine from its successful launch in March 2012, and is also the literary reviewer for Teach Primary and Teach Nursery magazines.

Helen is chairing on Saturday 9th March – 11:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Helen Wollaston (WISE Campaign & UKRC)

Helen takes of leadership on the UKRC-WISE from June 2012. Helen brings a wealth of experience promoting opportunities for women and girls, as former Director of Campaigns at the Equal Opportunities Commission, through her own equality consultancy business and as Chair of Platform 51, a charity which supports women and girls to achieve their potential.

Her achievements include Moving on up, a national investigation into the experiences of black and minority ethnic women in the workplace, Our Choices, a role models roadshow inspiring Muslim girls to consider a wider range of jobs and careers including science and engineering and setting up an industry-led task force for the North West Development Agency to address the lack of women in leadership roles across all sectors of the economy. Helen is excited about this chance to work with UKRC-WISE to promote women in science, engineering and technology.

Helen is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 14:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Iris Lanny (Oracle)

Having worked in the industry for more than 30 years, many at a senior level, Iris Lanny joined Oracle Corporation to manage Oracle Academy UK two years ago. The Oracle Academy offers access to world-class software, Java development environments, curriculum, faculty training, certification preparation, and more – all designed to help you increase the relevance of your academic programs and easily expand your course offerings. Prepare your students for university-level CS studies and equip them with the IT skills they need to compete in today’s job market.

Iris is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 12:30pm – Blue Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

James Penny (European Electronique)

James has been working in education for thirty years. He has worked as a teacher, has been a director in a large multi academy trust and worked as part of the leadership team for the largest group Independent schools in the UK.

James also spent eight years working for IBM as a global education strategist, travelling extensively looking at education systems around the world. Recently he designed and implemented a leading cloud based ICT solution that drastically reduced costs whilst allowing for sophisticated sharing across a group of nineteen academies. He now works as Solutions Director for European Electronique, a leading provider of ICT solutions to the education sector.

James is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 12:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Jamie Munro (Inclusive Technology)

Jamie became involved in special needs in the mid 1980s when, through a personal connection, he began developing computer systems for adults with spinal injuries in conjunction with Stoke Mandeville Spinal Injuries Unit. His company was one of the first to develop access products for users with physical disabilities for the Apple Macintosh computer platform.

Jamie became Managing Director of Don Johnston Inc.’s UK operations in 1995, distributing their products throughout the UK, supporting pupils struggling with reading and writing. When Don Johnston’s UK office became part of Inclusive Technology in February 2009, Jamie became Manager of the Information Team, with his area of special interest being supporting literacy for pupils with additional needs, such as dyslexia.

At Inclusive Technology he was involved with the Accessible Materials Project, a DFES scheme looking at providing pupils who are print disabled text books in electronic format and the tools to access them. Jamie worked directly with schools involved, helping them with training and implementation.

Jamie is speaking on Friday 8th March – 13:30pm – Purple Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Jane Delfino (Manchester Academy)

Jane has held a variety of leadership roles in multi cultural inner city secondary schools. She holds the post of Director of Enterprise and Internationalism for United Learning.

Jane believes in the ‘outward facing school’ and sees employer engagement and partnerships with higher education and professional groups as vital in adding value to the curriculum. The engaging and relevant enterprise education programmes at Manchester Academy encourage young people at risk to aspire and achieve.

Jane was the first individual to receive The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion; she was made a Sinnott Fellow. In June 2011 she received an MBE for services to education.

Jane is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 11:30am – Purple Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Janet Murray (The Guardian & Other Nationals)

Janet is an education journalist with over a decade’s experience writing for the Guardian and other national and trade titles. She is an experienced commissioning editor, and fills in for the Education Guardian editor on a regular basis. She is also a media consultant, trainer and founder of www.lastwordgroup.com.

Prior to training in journalism, Janet worked as a secondary school teacher in Kent and is now a visiting lecturer in journalism at a number of UK universities including Goldsmiths, University of London. She tweets as @jan_murray.

Janet is speaking on Friday 8th March – 14:00pm – Leaders Conference - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Jan Webb (NAACE)

Jan Webb is a teacher with over 20 years secondary and primary experience, currently working with NAACE as a Professional Officer. She was an ICT coordinator and award-winning classroom teacher and has experience as a lead teacher and local authority consultant, as well as experience with Microsoft and the TES. She has particular interests in online collaboration tools to enhance teaching, learning and professional development, in emerging pedagogies and in ICT curriculum development.

Naace is the ICT association. We are a community of educators, technologists and policy makers who share a vision for the role of technology in advancing education. Our members include teachers, school leaders, advisors and consultants working within and across all phases of UK education. As a professional association, we represent the voice of the UK education technology community in the schools sector at a national and international level, as well as supporting one another across the sector through conferences, courses and the dissemination of resources, research and reflection. We play a key role in both members’ professional development, through the challenge and support of a community of practice, and the development of the profession as a whole, through the sharing of innovation and expertise.

Jan is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 13:30pm – Purple Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Jennifer Begg (Social Media Consultant)

Digital Media Consultant & Trainer and founder of JaniesSchool.org. She is passionate about girl’s education in the developing world and it’s impact on equality and development. She teaches part time at Quest Professional business training college and spent more than six years working for Education Guardian’s commercial team. She loves technology and is excited to see the impact digital media can have on creativity, learning and communication.

Jennifer is speaking on Friday 8th March – 12:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

She is also speaking on Friday 8th March – 14:00pm – Yellow Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Jenny Goy (Bacup and Rawenstall Grammar School)

Jenny Goy is a School Business Manager at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School in the Rossendale Valley. Jenny began her working life as an Accountancy Apprentice at Blackburn Council. While there she worked in the audit team, auditing local schools. It was during this time that Jenny decided she would love to work in a school because she loved the variety, fast pace and the opportunity to improve the learning environment for pupils. Three years ago she got a job in a school, firstly as a Finance Manager and then School Business Manager. She is currently studying towards the Diploma in School Business Management

Jenny is speaking on Friday 8th March – 12:00pm – Leaders Conference - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Jill Stokoe (ATL)

Jill is education policy adviser for FE at ATL and is responsible for developing policy for apprenticeships, FE professionalism, funding and the ICT skills curriculum. Jill was an FE lecturer and manager for over 15 years, until she moved to the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (latterly the Qualification and Curriculum Development Agency), where she worked for 10 years as a senior programme manager leading the development of skills standards and qualifications, and then as senior policy manager for skills qualifications.

Jill is speaking on Friday 8th March – 12:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Jodie Collins (Getting into Literacy)

Jodie Collins, winner of the 2010 Becta Award for Next Generation Learning in London and the South East, sees opportunities in all types of technology for 21st century learning. Jodie has devised many ingenious and innovative ways of using games and group work to inspire and consolidate learning. Jodie is on a mission to show that ICT is not a gimmick in the classroom but a very tangible and authentic learning resource which can have a direct impact on results across the curriculum.

Jodie is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 12:30pm – Purple Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Jonn Elledge (Education Investor)

Editor of EducationInvestor, a business magazine for companies in the education and training sector, since November 2009. He has worked as a journalist covering business and the public sector for eight years, and has written about education for titles including the Guardian, the New Statesman and the First Post. He also volunteers as a tutor and press consultant for The Access Project, a charity that aims to help inner city school children win places at top universities.

Jonn is chairing on Saturday 9th March – 12:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Judy Bateman (Bowland High Academy Trust)

As part of the senior leadership team at Bowland High Academy Trust –Judy provided strategic vision and focus, ensuring Bowland converted successfully to an academy in August 2011. She has 17 years finance & facilities management experience in primary & secondary education and also uses skills developed in previous careers within the banking and manufacturing industries to deal effectively with the resourcing challenges of providing more with less. The academies conversion programme has created new opportunities for independent enterprise and Judy now provides business management support for school facing the challenges of academy conversion and increased financial accountability.

Judy is speaking on Friday 8th March – 12:00pm – Leaders Conference - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Julia Dennison (Education Executive Magazine)

Julia Dennison is editor of Education Executive and Independent Executive magazines, monthly titles that focus on the business of running state and independent schools in the UK. Alongside these roles, she is also editor of health titles Practice Business and Commissioning Success, as well as managing editor of Dealer Support and Olé magazines. She has worked as a writer and journalist, specialising in the subjects of education, health, IT and gender, for the better part of the last decade.

Julia is chairing on Saturday 9th March – 14:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Karen McCann

Karen McCann is a Strategic Business and Financial Management consultant working with a range of schools, free schools, academies and children’s centres across the North West. Prior to establishing her business in 2011 Karen’s career included 5 years as a school business manager and 10 years undertaking various corporate management roles for Lancashire County Council, including Lead Officer for the Children’s Centre and Neighbourhood Nursery initiatives and Corporate Business Transformation Manager for the council-wide Customer Access Strategy. Karen sits on the board of a Children’s Centre and is an active member of the LASBM committee (Lancashire Association of School Business Managers.

For more information visit her website

Karen is speaking on Friday 8th March – 12:00pm – Leaders Conference - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Khawer Ishtiaq (Teaching Leaders)

Since completing his PGCSE in 2000, Khawer has worked as a middle and senior leader in three schools serving challenging communities across London and Manchester. He currently works at Shuttleworth College in Lancashire as Curriculum Leader of ICT and Business. It is here he’s undertaken Teaching Leaders selective and intensive flagship programme aimed at empowering high potential middle leaders from schools in challenging contexts to achieve a dramatic impact on student results. In just one year (half way through the programme) he has already increased students’ predicted grades from E- to C- at GCSE through an innovative blogging based ‘Impact Initiative’.

He believes his experience of working in schools from challenging contexts has helped shape his mission to ensure all students achieve to the best of their abilities. He does this by providing them with engaging learning experiences through online tools.

Khawer is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 13:00pm – Green Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Louise Jaggs & Dr Tim Dunn (On Tap Communications)

Louise is director of On Tap Communications and group managing director of the On Tap group of companies. She has specialised in marketing and communications within the education and skills sector for over 14 years. During that time she developed a keen interest in the use of new communications channels – including social, digital, and self-published media – to help open up dialogue between teachers, students, parents and other stakeholders.

Dr Tim Dunn heads up the team of developers at On Tap Digital Media, who are making Louise’s vision a reality. They draw on free software widely used by UK government departments and available via the Open Source community to develop highly cost-effective, bespoke, internal and external communications systems for schools, colleges and universities.

Louise and Tim are speaking on Friday 8th March – 10:30am – Purple Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Lucy Neale (DigitalMe)

Lucy has extensive experience in developing and managing award winning national and international projects which give young people real world experiences and develop 21st century skills. Partners include LOCOG, The Youth Sports Trust, The Imperial War Museum and The Children’s Society. Lucy is leading DigitalMe’s Open Badge project, working directly with schools and partners to develop practical examples of how Badges can add value, develop and recognise employability skills, and unlock new opportunities for young people.

Lucy is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 10:30am – Purple Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Lynne Sedgmore CBE (157 Group)

Lynne is Executive Director of the 157 Group of FE Colleges and advises Whitehall on projects including leadership, innovation, vocational education and community/interfaith cohesion. Lynne was Chief Executive of the Centre for Excellence in Leadership – the national leadership college for vocational education from 2004 to 2008.

Previous roles include Principal of Guildford College, Vice Principal of Croydon College and Head of Croydon Business School. Lynne is an experienced board member and has held 15 non-executive posts since 1984. She is a Director of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. Lynne has an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies and was awarded the CBE in 2004. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a fellow of the Institute of Directors and is a Chartered Marketer.

She has chaired numerous national and Ministerial public sector committees and advisory groups and has presented in over 15 countries as part of her vocational international work.

Lynne is speaking on Friday 8th March – 14:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Maggie Philbin

Maggie Philbin has worked in television and radio for over 30 years. Best known for her science and technology reporting, she gave the first live demonstration of sat nav, the digital camera and even the electric blanket that knew where your hot bits were. She is still a BBC reporter but in 2008 co -founded TeenTech which is a lively, interactive event showcasing the real opportunities in STEM to teenagers and their teachers.

The event runs across the UK and from October the TeenTech Awards will cross continents as young people work together to find ways of making life “better simpler and easier”. Maggie is committed to helping young people gain the right skills to compete on the global stage. In 2012 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by De Montfort University and has also been nominated for the UKRC/WISE Women of Outstanding Achievement Award for Communication and Outreach.

Maggie is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 11:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Martin Doel (Association of Colleges – AoC)

Martin Doel has been Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC) since 2008, after a successful career in the Royal Air Force. The AoC’s role is to represent and support the interests of Further Education, Sixth Form and Specialist Colleges and to provide them with a range of support services.

Martin is speaking on Friday 8th March – 14:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Martin Latham (Robinswood Primary School)

Martin has been head of Robinswood Primary School since 1998, having previously been a head of schools in Herefordshire and Portsmouth. Robinswood is a large urban primary school on the edge of Gloucester and converted to Academy status on 1^st April 2011, having previously been a GM, Foundation and then a Trust School. It is also a National Support School. The school is forming a multi-academy trust, in partnership with the Place Group and RIO to include the building of a new school from Sept 2013 as part of a unique project commissioned by Gloucestershire LA. Martin has also been an Ofsted inspector, Performance Management Consultant and SIP. He is a member of the FASNA executive committee, a member of the EFA advisory board and more recently worked with the DfE within various groups related to funding, autonomy, curriculum and supporting schools looking at Academy status.

Martin is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 12:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Mary Farmer (Apple Distinguished Educator)

Mary has worked at The Cedars Primary School, a special school for children with severe social, emotional and behaviour problems in Hounslow since 2001. She is the ICT co-ordinator there and teaches ICT throughout the school. Mary is an Apple Distinguished Educator and has been shortlisted for the Naace Impact Awards last year as well as being shortlisted for a Learning Without Frontiers Innovation award in 2011.

This year Mary has focussed on improving the ICT curriculum and provision in her school as well as introducing the use of iPod touch devices and iPads to all the classes to engage and motivate the children in learning and literacy.

In addition to mobile devices, Mary has successfully used a range of technology and web tools to support learning in all areas of the primary curriculum. Her enthusiasm for the subject is evident in all she does for the staff and children. Mary tweets as @ebd35

Mary is speaking on Friday 8th March – 12:30pm – Blue Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Michael Shaw (Times Education Supplement – TES)

Michael is deputy editor of The Times Educational Supplement (TES)

He joined TES as a news reporter in 2002 and in 2012 launched its weekly TESpro supplement on innovative teaching practice from around the world. His other employers have included the Cartoon Network and the Bristol Evening Post, and he is one of the organisers of the London Festival of Education. He has also been widely blamed for helping to introduce the phrase “happy slapping”.

Michael is chairing on Friday 8th March – 11:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Natalie Evans (New Schools Network)

Natalie is director of the New Schools Network. Prior to joining NSN she was Deputy Director of Policy Exchange, responsible for the output and strategic direction of their research team. Her previous roles include Head of Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce and Deputy Director at the Conservative Research Department.

Natalie is speaking on Friday 8th March – 13:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Nick Linford (FE Week)

Nick Linford is a leading expert on the post-16 further education funding system in England. He was Director of Planning and Performance at Lewisham College for six years, in which time he was a member of the Learning & Skills Council Technical Funding Advisory Group, and established a popular workshop and conference programme.

In 2009 Nick joined Pearson Plc to set-up their education think-tank, leaving in 2011 to establish Learning & Skills Events Consultancy and Training Ltd (Lsect), which also publishes FE Week, the only newspaper in England dedicated to further education.

Nick is author of the Hands-on guide to post-16 funding and the Hands-on guide to post-16 performance and data (both published by Pearson). InSeptember 2012 he published The complete guide to funding apprenticeships.

Nick is chairing on Friday 8th March – 14:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Nicki Harman (RM Education)

Nicki Harman is a Senior Education Manager with RM Education, the leading supplier of ICT to education since 1973. Nicki has over 15 years’ teaching and management experience with secondary schools in the UK. Her management role at RM is all about drawing on that experience to ensure the company provides solutions that can genuinely enhance teaching and learning. Her expertise in delivering educational consultancy and training to all sectors enables her to ensure that RM are also helping teachers to be equipped with the right skills to make effective use of their investment in ICT.

Nicki is speaking on Friday 8th March – 11:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Niel McLean (National Foundation of Educational Research)

After 15 years in teaching, LEA advisory work and consultancy work for a number of curriculum and assessment projects, Niel joined the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority where he developed the original IT National Curriculum. He continued to be responsible for the IT curriculum at QCA.

Niel joined Becta in 1998 where he led on its curriculum, LEA support and inclusion work. He also established Becta’s Evidence and Practice directorate as a focus for educational research on ICT and good practice. As Becta’s Executive Director for Children and families, he led the development of the self review framework for ICT and the ICT mark, and the previous government’s home access programme. Recently, Niel worked in the private sector as Director of Business Development for Digital Products at TSL Education, home of the TES.

He now leads the Futurelab Research Centre at NFER, which is committed to developing creative and innovative approaches to education to inspire, challenge and engage young people and equip them with the essential skills and attitudes for life, learning and work in the 21st Century. He is a member of UKCCIS, a trustee of the e-Learning Foundation and FutureVersity, and a fellow of the RSA.

Niel is speaking on Friday 8th March – 12:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Niel is also speaking on Saturday 9th March – 14:00pm – Green Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Pat Jefferson (National Education Trust)

Pat Jefferson is an education consultant with extensive experience of working with schools, partners and local authorities. Her work has crossed all phases of school provision and includes a significant range of multi-agency work in the public sector. Her experience extends to work with Ofsted as an inspector and as an accredited trainer of inspectors. Following a successful career in schools and with local authorities, Pat joined national government as a senior adviser on educational policy and practice with the Standards and Effectiveness Unit. Pat has a particular interest in primary education and recently served on the Advisory Committee for the Cambridge Review of Primary Education [2006-2009].

She has held a number of senior posts in local authorities including that of Director of Education and more recently, Executive Director for Children and Young People in Lancashire. Pat has recently completed work as a consultant with a London Borough, developing their response to the London Challenge programme and re-structuring the school improvement service to address local and national priorities. Pat is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Pat is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 14:00pm – Blue Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Pete Henshaw (SecEd)

Pete Henshaw has been an education journalist for almost seven years. He edits the secondary education newspaper SecEd and also a primary education magazine called Headteacher Update. Before discovering the world of education, he worked for several years on local newspapers across England, including in Cheshire, Essex and London.

Pete is chairing on Friday 8th March – 12:15pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

He is also speaking on Friday 8th March – 14:00pm – Leaders Conference - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Peter Tinson (UCISA)

Peter Tinson is the Executive Secretary of UCISA, the professional body for IT staff in universities and colleges. As Executive Secretary, Peter is regularly invited to join advisory boards and steering groups to give the sector viewpoint on particular issues. Peter writes a blog and contributes articles occasionally to the Guardian Higher Education Network.

Peter is speaking on Friday 8th March – 11:30am – Blue Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Rachel Jones (British Council for School Environments)

Rachel is the chair of the British Council for School Environments. She has extensive knowledge and experience of educational building programmes and design of effective learning environments. She is a passionate believer in the role of ICT in empowering learning and improving the effectiveness of teaching, and spent six years in the technologies industry leading Steljes’ education strategy. From a background in headship and inspection, and in her current role as Education Director at the Elliot Foundation Academies Trust she has a high level of expertise across all aspects of the current UK education agenda with a particular focus on policy, change management & school improvement.

Rachel is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 11:30am – Blue Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Rosalyn Sands (Triple Science Support Programme)

Rosalyn has over 10 years experience as a project manager within the education sector, focusing particularly on 14-19 developments and the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Graduating in 2004 with a BSc in Social Policy she then went on to manage projects which linked business and education including managing the local STEMPOINT and a 14-19 partnership in rural North Yorkshire. Since moving to the National Science Learning Centre in 2008, Rosalyn has worked on a range science education projects delivered through the regional Science Learning Centres. She also completed a MA in Education in 2011.

Rosalyn is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 13:00pm – Yellow Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Ruth Amos (StairSteady)

Ruth Amos was Young Engineer for Britain 2006, with her idea, The StairSteady. The StairSteady is an aid to enable people with limited mobility to use their stairs confidently and safely. The StairSteady was designed as part of her GCSE resistant materials project as a response to a teacher’s challenge to design an aid to enable people with limited mobility to use their stairs. Ruth now runs StairSteady Ltd full time and organises the distribution and fitting of the product across the UK, she is looking at distributing abroad in the near future.

Ruth is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 11:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Saul Nasse (BBC Learning)

Saul Nassé is Controller of BBC Learning. The department he runs is at the heart of the BBC’s overall mission to inform, educate and entertain. The aim of BBC Learning to inspire a life full of learning for all audiences and connect, create and magnify powerful opportunities for learning across the entire BBC. Recent content produced by the department includes Stargazing Live, Bang Goes the Theory, Britain in a Day, Free Speech and Secrets and Words.

Saul was first inspired by the power of science through the BBC and Tomorrow’s World. From the age of seven he watched Raymond Baxter tell stories and conduct incredible experiments and it inspired him to study science at school and eventually take a degree in materials science. Saul broke off his PhD to join the BBC Science department and in 1997 took over as editor of Tomorrow’s World.

In 2006, Saul held the post of Creative Head of Development for the BBC’s specialist factual department. From 2007 to 2009 Saul was based in Mumbai where he was General Manager and Creative Head of BBC Worldwide Productions India, producing the Indian version of Strictly Come Dancing and the popular and critically acclaimed India and Pakistan season in 2007.

Saul moved with his wife and two year old daughter to Buxton, Derbyshire in June 2011, as BBC Learning relocated to the BBC’s new northern studio complex at MediaCityUK, Salford.

Saul is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 10:30am – Green Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Saul is also speaking on Saturday 9th March – 11:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Scott Parkin (Early Essence)

Scott is a teacher with more than a decade of experience, including four years at senior level, with key responsibility for data management and analysis. Scott has been praised by Ofsted for his work in the development of data tracking tools. Early Essence to Primary Essence, developed and launched by Scott, is a new online, live data tracking and reporting tool for nurseries and schools. The system allows nursery providers, teachers, parents and pupils to work together to follow progress, development and attainment of children from birth to 11 years, driving efficiency, flexibility, engagement and collaboration across the whole school community.

Scott is speaking on Friday 8th March – 11:30am – Green Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Simon Humphreys (Computing At School – CAS)

Simon is the National Coordinator for the Computing At School working (www.computingatschool.org.uk), which roughly translates to managing the day-to-day activities of the CAS group!. Simon taught music before a hearing impairment forced a change in direction and he went back to university. Having graduated with a first-class degree he taught A Level Computing in Cambridge. He has worked for the CAS group for four years and has overseen, with colleagues, its development from a small group of 20 to an organisation of nearly 2000 members.

Simon is speaking on Friday 8th March – 11:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Simon Rowlands (Sale Grammar School)

Simon Rowlands is ICT Manager at Sale Grammar School and has a renowned reputation as an expert in utilising technology to Evolve School Communications with Parents. He regularly assists schools around the country in providing vision on what he has achieved at Sale Grammar School. Simon has previously presented at the BETT show by invitation from Capita who wished to use his extensive experience in highlighting the best practice of a schools use in the SIMS Learning Gateway.
Simon is speaking on Friday 8th March – 13:00pm – Yellow Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Stuart Ball (Microsoft UK)

Stuart Ball manages the Microsoft UK Partners in Learning Programme. He is a former Primary School Deputy Hedteacher and ICT Adviser. He has written a number of books for teachers and currently co-authors the Microsoft UK Teachers blog. In 2005 he won a Microsoft Innovative Teacher Award and attended the first ever Innovative Education Forum in Seattle. He has developed an expertise in the use of technology to support learning and challenges how we think about everyday software. He is passionate about teaching and learning and all things Welsh.
Stuart is speaking on Friday 8th March – 11:00am – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Sue Edwards (Lancashire Association of School Business Managers)

Sue Edwards is founder member and chair of the Lancashire Association of School Business Managers (LASBM), a 200-strong professional networking group for SBMs. She has nearly 20 years’ experience of working in secondary education business management and is currently the Director of Finance and Administration at Ripley St Thomas CE Academy. Sue is also the northwest representative and vice-chair on the National Association of School Business Management board of trustees. Her previous experience includes RAF service in finance and personnel, driving instruction and public house management.

Sue is speaking on Friday 8th March – 12:00pm – Leaders Conference - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Sue Nieland (E-Skills UK)

Sue was a secondary school teacher, ICT Coordinator and Head of Department for five years, and a lecturer in psychology in HE for seven years. She has undertaken several research projects in education, with a focus on technology, IT and science. She is experienced in writing curriculum materials and training packs for teachers in a range of different subject areas, including IT and psychology. Sue joined e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for Business and IT, in 2004 and has since been involved in writing student-facing online materials and teacher support content for Computer Clubs for Girls (CC4G) and the Diploma in IT. Sue is now Director of Education and leads the Behind the Screen programme, designing a new curriculum for Key Stage 4 IT/Computing, at e-skills UK.

Sue is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 14:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Tim Riches (DigitalMe)

Tim is the CEO of DigitalMe, a social enterprise which helps educators to use the web to make learning engaging, relevant and fun.

He is currently working with the team at DigitalMe to develop ‘S2R Medals’ – a sports reporting programme which provides new ways of recognising skills online using Mozilla Open Badges. The programme aims to better understand how we design systems which encourage regular learning engagement by using the web and mobile.

Tim’s background is in leading teams to develop social learning platforms. He has worked in the field over the past ten years on projects including the multi-award winning Makewav.es and NUMU.org.uk

Tim is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 10:30am – Purple Seminar Room - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Tom Wilson (Unionlearn)

Director of unionlearn since July 2009, having previously been head of the TUC’s Organisation and Services department for 6 years. Before the TUC he was head of NATFHE’s Universities Department for five years, having before that been Head of Research and then Assistant General Secretary at the Association of University Teachers from 1988. His other experience includes two years in employment research. He was the National Trade Union Liaison Officer for the Labour Party between 1986-1988. A Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development, he has written on unions, education and industrial relations for newspapers, magazines and academic publications.

Tom is speaking on Friday 8th March – 14:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Tony Sheppard (Edugeek)

I’ve always been a strong proponent of working with communities of people. As an individual it is sometimes hard for a technician to have an impact on a large group of learners so you sometimes have to set you sites a little wider, supporting projects that make a difference, supporting enthusiastic teachers and helping those seeking to use technology as an agent for improvement and change. Within Northamptonshire, I have been able to work closely with schools throughout the development of many community-led projects or convert them to becoming community-led. Whether this has been through grass-roots projects with innovative teachers or supporting the local IT support community, the goal has been to avoid the high priest model of doling out knowledge but to help others build and share it themselves.

Having been an active member of a number of online communities and mailing lists (ranging from Pratchett fandom to the Becta collaboration forums) I was overjoyed to take part in the fledgling community for IT Staff, created by Chris Byers.

I soon became an active evangelist for the site, running conferences, organising a stand for BETT (shamelessly using Drew Buddie’s “help us get to BETT” model), and helping get members more actively involved in shaping decision making about technology in schools, either directly in their schools or via steering groups with Becta, SSAT, the BETT show and more. A community is only made up of its members and I am proud to have been able to feed from and give back a range of advice and guidance to shape technology in schools.

As an Educational Technologist who is not a classroom practitioner it is sometime hard to demonstrate the benefit you can give when sharing practices and ideas with the rest of the education community. Within the SoMe and TM environment I try to show the importance of sharing and collaborating as a means to a goal … a better understanding about the appropriate use of technology as a tool. That might simply be as a facilitator to bring together 2 or 3 people with similar ideas, or it might be as a commentator / reporter on the discussions in general. No matter which way, the important thing is to help others share, whether it is all hands to the pumps as we muck in to get rooms ready or helping people break the ice and become more relaxed when mixing in these circles for the first time.

Tony is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 14:00pm – Central Debate Area - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Vanessa Pittard (Department for Education)

Vanessa leads the Department for Education’s work on science, technology and mathematics education and holds responsibility for technology in teaching and learning. Prior to her role in the Department, Vanessa was a Director at Becta, leading partnership strategy and Becta’s research, evaluation and innovation programme. Before joining the government sector in 2002, Vanessa had a career as a university academic at Sheffield Hallam University with a focus on technology, literacy and communication.

Vanessa is speaking on Saturday 9th March – 14.00pm – Leaders Conference - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Yvonne Baker (Myscience)

Yvonne Baker is Chief Executive of Myscience, a company owned by the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam and York, and which exists to support teachers and students in the STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Myscience does this in several ways, including managing the National Science Learning Centre for teachers in York and nine Regional Science Learning Centres across England, managing the National STEM Centre and eLibrary which is open to everyone interested in STEM, and supporting triple science in schools. www.sciencelearningcentres www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk