PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

Culture eats strategy for breakfast: power of EdTech

Workshop Leader: Craig Kemp,  CEO and Founder, EduSpark.World

We live in a world of constant change. As the world changes, grows and adapts we face many challenges both inside and outside our educational institutions. Many of which link to the use of technology and how it adds value to our everyday lives. In a world of constant change, enhanced by technology, how can we enable learners to be the best version of themselves? In this session, Craig will share stories about the current landscape of global education and the need to support learning in the Digital Age. Craig will explore how to change mindsets and empower learning through the effective and purposeful integration of technology, using case studies from his experience. In a world of constant change, the ability for educators to connect and be strategic to make change through the use of technology will ultimately empower the learning journey at our schools. Come along and be prepared to engage, learn and challenge your way of thinking.

Workshop participants will:

•  Identify contextual technology needs for your school and what cultures need to change

•  Choose tools that can help solve problems related to technology in your school 

•  Develop a start to a strategy for authentic and purposeful technology integration at your school

Intended Audience: All Early Years and K-12 educators and leaders

Harnessing technology for better metacognition

Workshop Leader: Kristie Chen,  Principal Consultant,  Bold Academy Pte. Ltd.

Conversations in the past three years surrounding education and technology have moved from topics of equal access to online teaching strategies, student attention as well as the impact of tech-mediated teaching. Having experimented (albeit compelled by circumstance) with various online and blended learning needs, we are now more than ever ready to revisit the perennial elephant(s) in the room that are now adorned with techie fairy lights - student metacognition, motivation and self-regulated learning.

In the days of pre-Covid, we struggled to find ways to successfully teach and infuse elements of metacognition and self-regulated learning in our lessons, believing that students will be motivated anyway to complete the tasks we set out for them. Now that we have found a new normal post-pandemic, the challenge remains and then some more - think distractions of screens and a new generation of learners who are only now beginning to [re]learn quality in-person communications. So how can we best approach metacognition in the post-Covid classroom? What is the relationship between metacognition, motivation and self-regulated learning and which should schools focus on as a first step to better learning in the classroom? What can technology do to best support metacognition? What are the observable metacognitive moves in the classroom? This workshop aims to explore the area where metacognition and technology meets and encourages participants to tap on their collective wisdom and experiences to confidently manage the new blended learning classroom.

Workshop participants will:

•  Understand how we may use a structured approach to curating technological platforms for blended lessons.

•  Appreciate how EduTech platforms can be harnessed to support metacognition.

•  Appreciate how metacognition may be taught successfully to encourage greater student learning agency.

Intended Audience: All K-12 teachers, curriculum leaders, teachers and professional development leaders.

Spice up SLS with AI-generated storylines, characters and settings

Workshop Leader: Ghazali Abdul Wahab,  Senior Teacher, Canberra Secondary School

Are you ready to take your online teaching game to the next level? Look no further than this workshop on AI in education! As we all know, the pandemic has forced us to embrace technology in new and exciting ways, and Learning Management Systems such as SLS have become a staple in many classrooms. But let's be honest, sometimes these systems can feel a bit dry and impersonal.

That's where AI comes in! In this workshop, you will learn how to use AI to inject some much-needed fun and engagement into your online teaching. Whether you're teaching a group of primary school students or a class of secondary school students, you'll learn practical strategies to keep your learners motivated and excited about their education by using AI tools to create a fantasy world that your students get to experience while caught up in an intriguing storyline full of magic and mystery.

Instead of lessons, your class now goes on an epic journey of adventure and discovery. In this workshop, we're not just talking about making online learning more interesting - we're taking it to a whole new level. Get ready to dive into a magical world full of mystery and intrigue, where your students are the heroes of the story.

With the help of AI tools, you'll be able to create an immersive and interactive experience that will capture your students' imaginations and keep them coming back for more. By the end of this workshop, you'll have all the tools you need to transport your students to a world of magic and wonder. So, what are you waiting for? Sign up today and get ready to take your teaching to the next level!"

Workshop participants will:

•  Learn to use AI tools to create storylines

•  Increase student engagement and motivation using AI (e.g.: creating fantasy characters using AI tools)

•  Integrate AI-generated elements into SLS or other LMS platforms

Intended Audience: All K-12 teachers, curriculum leaders, teachers and professional development leaders (especially those from MOE Singapore)

Making esports your own

Workshop Leader: Bronwyn Stuckey,  Director,  Innovative Educational Ideas

Schools, colleges, and universities are starting to leverage elite esports programs to offer modern curricular and career opportunities. There are, however, extensive benefits to be attained through the introduction of academic esports much earlier in the primary and middle school programs. This workshop will be a hands-on exploration of those benefits and how to reach them.

There is absolutely no reason that we must slavishly follow the formats and practices of the established elite or professional esports programs when implementing academic esports. Schools can and should make esports their own, to serve local curricular, social or equity needs. This workshop is for those educators who are ‘esports curious’ but have not quite envisaged how it might happen for their class, school, or district.

Participants will have first-hand experience of academic competition in several games using desktop and mobile devices, various tournament structures and judging alternatives.

We will explore the ways esports can become a curriculum elective, a club, or an extramural activity in your school, how to start esports clubs, who should be involved, how to maximise inclusion and diversity, how to support parent understanding, different types of tournament engagement as well as how to integrate STEM and STEAM learning through esports.

Bron will share a repository of practical templates, protocols and resources that can be directly applied and customised in schools and districts along with case stories of schools that have succeeded in making esports their own, and the benefits they have attained.

Workshop participants will:

•  Experience hands-on different games and competition structures used in academic esports

•  Understand how esports programs can be adapted and customised to suit local educational needs

•  Begin planning an academic esports program for their school and network with others in the workshop for ongoing community support

Intended Audience: All K-12 teachers, curriculum leaders, parents, and professional development leaders

Unlocking the power of AI in education

Workshop Leader: Professor  Rose Luckin,   UCL Knowledge Lab, London  and Founder , Educate Ventures Research

In this workshop, attendees will learn the basics of what artificial intelligence is, what it can do what it can’t do. They will learn how to make good decisions about whether and how to use AI within their educational practice.

The workshop will include practical activities aimed to help attendees identify where in their own institutions and practice, they might best embrace AI and how they might go about integrating some form of AI into their daily interactions with learners and colleagues.

The workshop will be framed around the seven steps of the AI. Readiness Framework an evidence-based approach that has been developed through decades of working with AI in an educational context. It will draw on the book AI for schoolteachers, written by the workshop speaker with her colleagues: headteacher Karine George and academic Dr Mutlu Cukurova.

The workshop and the book are not just aimed at school educators. Both are also applicable to educators across all sectors and useful for students too.

This workshop is all about helping people to get a practical understanding of what AI is and the implications that AI brings to their particular context. Through this increased understanding, attendees will be better able to leverage AI for their own and their students’ benefit and avoid some of the inherent risks associated with AI technologies.

Workshop participants will:

•  Increased understanding of what AI is and what it is not

•  Increased understanding of what AI can and cannot do

•  Identification of a way that AI can be used in each attendee's practice

Intended Audience: All teachers and administrators of K-12 schools and higher education institutions

Dancing on the fence: How to make the most of hybrid teaching

Workshop Leader: Dr. Maylyn Tan, Assistant Dean, Singapore Institute of Management, Laura Visser, Lead, Academic Development, Singapore Institute of Management, and Dr. Chong Fui Chin, Lead, Singapore Institute of Management

Simultaneous delivery of in-person and synchronous online learning requires seamless interactions across the virtual and physical spaces. Although technology has somewhat closed the divide between the two worlds, it does not automatically lead to equitable learning experiences. The quality of learning engagement is likely dependent on the following factors:

1. Effective integration technological infrastructure with space design
2. Virtual students’ access to acceptable hardware and connection requirements, and
3. The degree of multitasking (ie., dancing) expected of instructors as they move along the narrow fence separating the two group of students

Variation in these dimensions may compromise the teaching and learning experiences either in one or both spaces. In this workshop, a comparison of hybrid experiences between a standard lecturer theatre and that of a SMART classroom designed specifically for seamless cross-space interaction will be made. Based on results of a pilot study which include quantitative of survey data from students and faculty, lesson observations, as well as affordances of built-in features of the new space, this workshop highlights strategies to address multitasking demands faced by faculty members, the extent of curriculum adjustment to facilitate inclusive experiences, and best practices for institutions considering to implement hybrid delivery. Special focus will be placed on the systematic professional learning efforts to raising institutional capability to adopt hybrid pedagogy despite gaps in policy intention and execution.

Workshop participants will:

•  Identify personal, curriculum and institutional barriers to hybrid classes and strategies to address them

•  Apply the recommended technological infrastructure and classroom design principles to enable active and inclusive learning in a hybrid environment

•  Anticipate potential roadblocks in their own institution and plan for incremental adoption

Intended Audience: All teachers, administrators, and decision-makers in Higher Education institutes

Employing game-based learning to engage students for effective learning

Workshop Leaders: Shaun Tay, Loh Chi Yong, Poh Shufen and Moey Kok Keong, Lecturers, Republic Polytechnic

If you’ve ever found yourself struggling to convince students to engage in learning about difficult subjects or inculcating environmental values to enrich an existing programme, this workshop is for you.

Youth are bombarded with holistic education messages and current affairs topics throughout their schooling. Because of this constant exposure, some have formed the impression that such topics are dull and of little relevance. What can teachers to do support teaching topics students have already formed preconditioned notions about, such as National Education issues and values?

This workshop presents a solution that is working for us. “Diplomats… in Space!” is an innovative card game that is designed to change this impression by immersing students in strategic and thought-provoking Game-Based Learning experience. This learning resource supports students interacting with game elements and gaining insights into how their decisions affect outcomes. These outcomes mirror scenarios and events in the real world, as well as illustrate national and international initiatives and frameworks. First conceived and designed for Institute of Higher Learning students, this versatile experience, which can accommodate up to 40 players, is also suitable for Secondary and Post-Secondary students.

Over the course of 2-hours, participants will get to experience how Game-Based Learning helps students understand complex issues e.g., gains vs. trade-offs, exercise strategic decision-making, e.g., pursuing short-term gains at the expense of long-term interests, as well as experience global citizenship. The designers will share their experience in designing the game from concept to delivery such as key considerations and challenges faced in making National Education and current affairs fun and relatable for students.

Workshop participants will:

•  Identify areas where Game-Based Learning can be implemented to enhance learner engagement and knowledge retention

•  Describe how Game-Based Learning can be applied to teach complex concepts in a classroom setting

•  Articulate how Game-Based Learning can mirror real-world scenarios, while providing a safe learning environment

Intended Audience: All teachers and administrators of K-12 schools and higher education institutions

Student-driven inquiry learning

Workshop Leader: Paul Staniscia, Deputy Head of Primary, Southern Cross Grammar School

Student voice and agency is developed through the routines we have in our classrooms. That voice and agency is enhanced by the culture created in these classrooms. So what are the routines that everyone is aware of in our classrooms and what culture have we created to ensure students feel safe and invited?

Through this workshop, participants will explore the skills and dispositions needed to be an effective learner and the strategies and tools teachers can use to unpack them with their students. They will engage in routines that not only gain student voice but also allow for students to take ownership of their own learning and assessment. Participants will identify how they can create a culture of learning that builds teacher clarity and an inquiry approach that shifts the ownership of learning from the teacher to the student.

This collection of resources and ideas, or ‘toolkit,’ will allow participants to explore ways they can develop thinking in their classrooms and schools. This toolkit can be unpacked in a classroom, within a year level or at a whole school level, as a way to not only engage in thinking but ways we can encourage students to be the drivers of their own inquiry.

Workshop participants will:

•  Identify the dispositions needed to be an effective learner

•  Design learning opportunities that support student voice and interest

•  Support students to find what provokes them to take action

Intended Audience: All K-12 teachers, curriculum leaders, and school leaders.

Fuelling minds for future-focused learning

Workshop Leader: Craig Kemp,  CEO and Founder, EduSpark.World

In this workshop, Craig will talk about his experience using technology as a tool to engage students in learning and connect them with the world. He will share case studies from schools across the globe, data from global studies to give punchy reasons WHY we need to grow, change and adapt and give practical tips and advice on how to support effective technology integration in your school to create a positive and engaging learning environment in what is the fastest changing environment the world has ever seen. Learn new t ools, have time to play and explore with them and identify your own learning goals and your own WHY so you can go back and take action – The fourth industrial revolution starts here!

Workshop participants will: 

•  Learn new tools for connecting and learning

•  Share your WHY and be able to identify next steps in learning

•  Learn how to implement new tools back in your context

Intended Audience: All Early Years and K-12 educators and leaders

Using AI for effective teaching and learning

Workshop Leaders: Justyn Olby,  Teaching Fellow, Singapore Management University and Venky Shankararaman,  Vice Provost (Education), Singapore Management University

This workshop is designed to introduce AI writing to teachers and higher education administrators. The session will cover the basics of artificial intelligence and how it is challenging education. Participants will learn about the latest AI writing tools and how to use them in the classroom. The session will be interactive and include hands-on activities to help teachers get started with AI in their classrooms. The goal of the workshop is to empower teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to manage the use of AI in their curriculum. (Introduction adapted from writing produced by ChatGPT)

The audience will get to experience the use of AI writing tools and explore how to use them for meaningful and engaging pedagogy. The primary focus will be on the use of AI in writing and communication.

Workshop participants will: 

•  Understand the current state of AI tools for education.

•  Understand the limitations and value of AI tools in the classroom.

•  Experience use of ChatGPT

•  Develop classroom activities for the use of AI in teaching and learning.

Intended Audience: All Higher Education educators and leaders

Breaking boundaries through inclusion

Workshop Leader: Dr. Jeremy A. Cruz, School Principal III, Legazpi City National High School

The challenges encountered by the students with special needs especially in the new normal, are part of the reality countries are facing these days. Learners with disability who are exposed to the same challenging situations have to adapt to the new normal with the support of the institution, teachers, family members, and friends. Understanding the challenges these learners are going through can lead to the implementation of necessary interventions which are beneficial to both the learners, teachers, and parents.

The two-hour activity will expose the participants to the humongous challenges in the delivery of effective, responsive, and inclusive instruction among learners with disabilities.

To help them in coping with the challenges, instructional and curricular accommodation, modifications and adaptations shall be substantially discussed.

To give meaning to the activity practical and lived experiences in the implementation of mainstream and transition-vocational program will be shared.

Workshop participants will:

•  Discuss the differences among Instructional Accommodation, Curricular Modifications and Instructional Adaptations

•  Be familiar with the Individual Educational Plan Evaluation Process

•  Share best practices on Inclusive Education

Intended Audience: All teachers and administrators of K-12 schools and higher education institutions

Engagement by Design: How to use AI tools and Google apps to create exciting and engaging online lessons that students will love

Workshop Leader: Ghazali Abdul Wahab,  Senior Teacher, Canberra Secondary School

Are you ready to take your online teaching game to the next level? Look no further than this workshop on AI in education! As we all know, the pandemic has forced us to embrace technology in new and exciting ways, and Learning Management Systems such as SLS have become a staple in many classrooms. But let's be honest, sometimes these systems can feel a bit dry and impersonal.

This workshop is the one guide you need to learn how to use technology to create a truly immersive online learning experience for your students. By incorporating AI tools and Google apps, you'll be able to create lessons that not only educate but also excite and engage your students. The use of AI tools will create visually appealing and interactive content that immerses your students into a fantasy world that they've never seen before. You'll also learn how to use Google apps to create collaborative and engaging assignments that will keep your students motivated and connected through online station rotation lesson design and even an Escape Room themed lesson. By putting together the power of Google apps and AI tools, you can create a dynamic and interactive learning environment that will keep your students engaged and motivated throughout the entire lesson. With the combination of AI tools and Google apps, you can do that and much more! This powerful duo has the potential to revolutionize the way we teach, providing a wealth of resources and opportunities for teachers to create a dynamic and immersive learning experience for their students.

The use of AI tools can take your online lessons to the next level, to create collaborative assignments and interactive activities that encourage students to work together and learn from one another. They can do this from the comfort of their own homes. You don't even need an LMS platform. You will create the awesome lesson and put it up online for your students to access directly! Yes, all this is possible in this 2 hour workshop. The only limitation is your imagination. So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for ""Engagement by Design: How to Use AI tools and Google apps to Create Exciting and Engaging Online Lessons That Students Love"" and take your teaching to the next level!

Workshop participants will:

•  Learn to use AI tools to create interactive storylines, characters and fantasy settings

•  Use Google apps to create learning activities (e.g.: online escape room)

•  Integrate everything into an online web-based lesson resource

Intended Audience: All K-12 teachers, curriculum leaders, teachers and professional development leaders

Applying the science of learning to become a strategic learner

Workshop Leader: Robert Kamei, Professor, Duke-NUS Medical School

Our modern classrooms have implemented very few lessons gained from the considerable research done on how people best learn. One of the main reasons for this is that many of these findings are counterintuitive. Educators who understand the truth behind these myths can help their students learn better.

Using my unique perspective as an educator and physician, I will provide insights on learning and provide examples of how you can help your students use this knowledge for optimal learning.

Workshop participants will: 

•  Identify examples of the counter-intuitive nature of how people best learn, and why we often employ the wrong strategies to learning optimally

•  Illustrate the many influences on how we learn and understand why a holistic approach to learning is needed

•  Summarize the differences between knowing about strategies on learning versus knowing how to implement these strategies

Intended Audience: All teachers and administrators of higher education institutions

Cross-disciplinary Extended Reality adoption: The XR Onboarding Program (XROPE)

Workshop Leader: Dr. Charles Sharma Naidu, Director, VORTEX XR Lab, Taylor's University and Faisal Athar XR Specialist, VORTEX XR Lab Taylor's University

XR tech involving VR, AR and MR have gained momentum in recent years and there are countless uses and applications of XR technology in education. However, there is still a huge disparity between those who are technologically savvy and those who are new to this technology. As educators, how do we find the purpose and the need to adopt such technology in teaching and learning? This workshop is a sharing session of XR adoption experience and also an explorative session to discuss the best solutions for specific pedagogical scenarios.

Workshop participants will:

•  Discuss the needs and requirements for XR technology in the classroom

•  Understand the importance of an onboarding process and the need to embrace new technology

•  Select the right XR technology which would be relevant to their teaching practice

Intended Audience: All teachers and administrators of higher education institutions

Make learning fun again

Workshop Leader: Liu Yijie, Educator, School of Science and Technology

As we strive to incorporate various pedagogies, frameworks and lesson maps into our teaching plans, we sometimes lose sight of the big picture and how learning was meant to be engaging and meaningful for the learner.

How might we design our future classrooms to develop intrinsically motivated learners? In this session, we will investigate and adapt innovative pedagogies so as not to overburden teachers’ current workloads.

Implementing game elements is one of the hottest new topics in education, but what exactly does it look like in a classroom? Learn about the various categories available, how we can assess their effectiveness, and how it can be optimised to engage learners.

Borderless classrooms allow learning to take place anytime, anywhere. However, they are challenging to design, expensive to implement and challenging to align with lesson objectives.

Find out more about available effective workarounds that can achieve the same objectives too. Providing timely feedback is crucial for assessment literacy, so we will look at various platforms that can allow for instantaneous customised comments.

These techniques, platforms and pedagogies can hopefully help educators develop a more streamlined and engaging ecosystem for teaching and learning.

Workshop participants will:

•  Learn about ludology and the various ways to gamify learning within different subject disciplines

•  Learn to design borderless classrooms for students to learn anytime, anywhere

•  Pick up various methods of customising and differentiating feedback which can be instantaneously delivered to learners

Intended Audience: All K-12 teachers, curriculum leaders, and professional development leaders

The role of ICT in pedagogical activities and its impact on achievement motivation: Scientific evidence and practical applications

Workshop Leader: Emmanuel Bernet, Educational Technology Advisor, International French School

With home-based learning, the techno-pedagogical skills of teachers at all levels have improved exponentially. The question that now arises is how to capitalize on it in the classroom in order to enhance the quality of teaching, learning and assessment situations with technologies and to bring real added value to student motivation and success. After presenting a brief problematic on the use of technologies in education, the concept of achievement motivation and the impact of ICT use on it will be closely examined. Then, through the planning of a pedagogical situation, participants will see how to align their technological, pedagogical and content knowledge in order to maximize the motivational and learning potential of ICT on students. The discussion will be based on the most recent educational research and on the experience of teachers in the room and from the International French School of Singapore. Practical recommendations will also be presented for you and your colleagues. Be there!

Workshop participants will:

•  Understand the psychological process of achievement motivation through the Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (SEVT), and the impact of ICT educative usage on it

•  Understand the rolee of technologies in pedagogical situations with the SAMR model, and the importance of good Technological Pedagogical and Concent Knowledge (TPACK) in their ICT educative usage

•  Plan and evaluate a pedagogical situation for their students by combining the TPACK, SAMR and SEVT models

Intended Audience: All K-12 teachers, curriculum leaders, and school leaders

Data dashboards in schools - Making meaningful insights with data

Workshop Leader: Chris Smith, Academic Data Specialist, Singapore American School

As educators, we collect a lot of data. But do we really know what to do with it? Do we know how to use this data to guide effective decision-making that leads to insights and student success? Spreadsheets are great, but they are not good to use for decision-making in school. Leverage the power of good data visualization through exploratory dashboards.

This two-hour hands-on workshop will introduce participants to basic data literacy skills and the process of building a data culture in schools. We will explore and discuss a few examples of interactive data dashboards. Participants will learn some basic principles behind designing effective data dashboards. With a shared sample data set, participants will work collaboratively to generate ideas for designing their own dashboards.

Finally, we will use Google Looker Studio to create an interactive dashboard with our sample data set based on the design ideas from the participants. This is a hands-on, interactive workshop. Participants are expected to bring a laptop and have access to Google Sheets and Google Looker Studio (both web-based, free platforms). The workshop will provide valuable insights into dashboard implementation in education technology, promoting collaboration and idea sharing.

Workshop participants will:

•  Develop an understanding of data literacy and data culture

•  Learn key ideas behind good data dashboards

•  Create an interactive dashboard with a sample data set

Intended Audience: All department heads, administrators, curriculum coordinators, directors of technology, directors of learning, and teachers interested in Data, in K-12 Schools