WHAT IS YOUR ROLE IN THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN DIGITAL EDUCATION?
I am the new Project Officer on the Data Education in Schools (DES) Project. This is a Scottish Government-funded project to develop an interdisciplinary data education curriculum for Scotland and a set of engaging real world data science teaching materials for primary and secondary school teachers. Over the next two years, I will be working with Kate Farrell (Director of Curriculum Development and Professional Learning) to develop and promote teaching resources and professional learning opportunities for teachers, as well as working together with the rest of the Data Education in Schools team to help solidify the long-term strategy of the project. We will also be working directly with learners, trialling resources in schools and supporting work experience placements.
Data Education in Schools website
HOW DO YOU SEE DIGITAL EDUCATION AND WHY DO YOU THINK IT’S IMPORTANT?
These days, digital technology and data are ubiquitous, and this is only becoming increasingly true for those in younger generations. The speed at which digital technology (and the role it plays in our lives) is developing and changing, has far outpaced the speed at which our educational systems have changed. Therefore we're left with a situation where our mainstream educational institutions (from early years through to tertiary) are not fully equipped to provide learners with all the skills they need to safely, ethically, and effectively navigate the increasingly digital world around them. Places like the Centre for Research in Digital Education are crucial to the effort to continuously critique and update and how we educate learners in a rapidly changing world -- I'm very excited to be here!
WHAT PIECE OF WORK ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF (TO DATE)?
I am most proud of my teaching. The feeling of satisfaction and pride I've experienced after delivering a successful lesson far exceeds any pride I've felt from publishing an academic paper! Over the years, I've worked as a private tutor, a Kumon teacher, a student teacher in a secondary school, a graduate teaching assistant leading 'sections' and tutorials for undergraduates in various universities, and a supervisor of research projects for secondary through to postgraduate students. As someone who cares very much about making positive change in the world, I feel there is no better way (for me, at least!) to effect change than by interacting with people directly and being a part of them learning a new way of doing or seeing something.
IF YOU HAD A TIME MACHINE FOR A DAY WHEN WOULD YOU VISIT AND WHY?
This one's easy! I've always been hugely into sci-fi, so I would definitely visit the future, perhaps several hundred (or thousand?) years from now to see how humanity has dealt with the climate crisis. Will we still be around? What will society look like? Will we have finally discovered life elsewhere in the Universe? I'm desperate to know!