Telford pupils get taste of technology at free event
Schools from Telford attended a successful education event for the second year running.
Special guest speakers from Google and the University of West England gave students an insight into the tech world at The Telford Education Schools Show at Enginuity.
The free event was packed with more than 30 inspirational speakers, exhibitors, workshops and activities, all aimed at inspiring the teaching and learning of technology within schools.
All of the council’s trusted partners and suppliers were present to ensure schools get the most out of the ICT services provided to them.
Taking place in Coalbrookdale, three keynote guest speakers from Google and The University of West England attended, giving talks on how students can use technology to enhance their learning.
Jeminatu Alabi-isama, regional education manager from Google, leads UK education initiatives and spoke about ways young people can develop skills to enhance their learning through technology.
Jeminatu has managed the Google student ambassador program in Sub-Saharan Africa and launched the Google educator group communities in South Africa.
Employability
The second keynote speaker was Ben Carpenter, who is associate lead for talent and outreach programs.
Also from Google, Ben works on developing the next generation, ensuring students have the necessary skills, abilities and knowledge to improve their employability.
Joining them was Harriet Shortt, associate professor in organisation studies from the University of West England.
She discussed how students are working and studying in collaborative spaces, how co-working spaces are impacting staff and student relationships and considered how non-traditional study spaces, such as incubator business hubs, impact learning and teaching.
New to the event this year were the escape rooms, where students were presented with a scenario and a set time limit in which to complete a series of challenges using technologies such as Minecraft, virtual reality and robotics.
Requiring critical thinking skills, teamwork and patience to solve, each school went head to head to get the fastest escape time.
Kirsty King, service delivery manager organising the event, said: "The day was absolutely packed full of inspirational speakers and hands-on activities giving schools a great opportunity to enhance their learning using technology.
"The feedback we had was really positive and the children that took part in the day found it both challenging and fun, and we hope they got a lot out of it.
"We decided to do the event for a second year due to the success of the first one and we're looking forward to running it again in years to come."
