Teachers bring touch of Silicon Valley to Shannonside school
Rushton Hurley, a leading speaker on education technology, has been invited to address students at Salesian Secondary School, Fernbank.
Mr Hurley, from California, has worked and studied on three continents as a principal of an online high school, a professional development consultant, a Japanese language teacher and as a motivational speaker.
His visit also coincides with the annual Rotary District Conference for the 32 counties of Ireland, which takes place this week in the Strand Hotel.
Mr Hurley says he hopes to help the teachers of Salesian to see what technology can do to make professional and educational experiences more engaging and effective.
“It’s an exciting time, in that truly powerful software tools are freely available to us,” he said.
“I will show the teachers and describe possibilities with a dozen or so software resources. There is every chance that one or two of these software tools will appeal to each person in the room.
“In the US, teachers want to use technology more and more in the classroom, but often don’t know where to start, and find the dizzying array of seemingly constantly changing sites intimidating.
“I try to give teachers greater confidence that they are in a much better position to explore all this than they think.”
Mr Hurley founded and is executive director of the non-profit Next Vista for Learning, a free library of videos by and for teachers and students.
“There are all kinds of free collaborative and digital media tools and resources that we can use to tell the stories of those who make their communities better, of communities around the world, and of ways to help kids understand the possibilities for their futures. My hope is that the exploration of such tools will be both productive for their clubs generally and fun for the members personally, though I know for many they will need to see that in action,” he added.
* www.nextvista.org
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