My Twitterversary
I’ve been using Twitter for a while now and am about to tweet for the 1,000th time. Whenever you near some sort of milestone in your life, you tend to reflect a little bit. While I realise reflecting on the number of Twitter messages I’ve written confirms me as a complete geek, I wanted to […]
What have the Teaching Council ever done for us?
Have recently discovered Inside Education on 103.2 Dublin City FM. Simon introduced me to it via twitter. I have enjoyed the shows that I managed to listen to including the recent one where Simon was interviewed! A couple of weeks ago, they interviewed Aine Lawlor, the Director of the Teaching Council. You can find this […]
Why IPPN works
I’m reading a fascinating book at the moment about how the net generation think, (Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott). Most of you will be able to identify with who the net generation are. They’re the ones who seem to have iPod earplugs in their ears constantly while simultaneously texting, tweeting and browsing the web. […]
The brains of Spain are mainly very sane
I was sent a press release from Promethean Ireland entitled “Promethean Wins Major Spanish Tender.” In normal circumstances, I wouldn’t be interested in a headline like this. However, Spain, like Ireland, is going through some serious economic problems. The news that 4,550 interactive whiteboards are to be installed in Andalucia in an education technology roll-out […]
Talkin’ ’bout iGeneration
I’m a big fan of Conor Galvin, from UCD’s school of education. I have got to know him well over the last 5-6 years through our mutual involvement with the Computers in Education Society of Ireland (CESI). I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Conor speak twice and today I was able to listen to one […]
Technical Support in Schools (Irish Style)
We all know that primary schools are underfunded. We all know that the government pays for about 60% of the actual costs of running primary schools through capitation and ancillary grants. We all know that parents have to make up the rest of the costs of schooling their children through cake sales and voluntary contributions. […]
Inspire ourselves.
IPPN heroes by Rozz Lewis. Well, I’m on a downer and a contradictory high after my second IPPN conference, which was moved to the CityWest conference centre this year. My verdict? Excellent. My inspiration levels are at an alltime high. My heroes? 1. Sean Cotrell- An amazing speech maker and public speaker, he speaks from […]
Video-conferencing impossible in many Irish schools
The NCTE have not installed broadband in my school yet. Since my school opened in September 2008, we have been paying Eircom €30 per month for a service we should be getting free. However, after trying to set up a video conference with another school on the broadband scheme, perhaps it might be just as […]
I object to Framework companies advertising in schools
I received an email from a company offering me a complete package to fulfil the NCTE’s procurement framework. The company are called IT Systems and they are a HP partner. This means that because HP were one of the chosen few companies that we are allowed to buy from under this restrictive scheme, we can […]
The power of online petitions
Rage Against the Machine were the first non X-Factor Christmas number one in the UK charts for years thanks to an online petition on Facebook. Millions of people are being petitioned to help the victims of the Haitian disaster this week through the use of social media. In a much smaller and local way, an […]