We recently delivered the Greater Manchester Digital Innovation in Education conference 2024, which brought together representation from the Local Skills Improvement Fund’s (LSIF) collaborative partners, including senior leaders and innovators, to explore the latest trends and advancements in technology and how these could be used to address key challenges identified in the Local Skills Improvement Plan. This event provided a platform for networking, knowledge-sharing and collaboration across the region.
Hosted at University Academy 92 (UA92) in Manchester, the group of esteemed delegates included Teaching and Learning Leads, Senior Ed Tech, Vice Principals, Directors of Quality and Assistant Principals from across our nine Further Education Colleges – Wigan and Leigh College, Oldham College, Trafford College, Tameside College, Bury College, Bolton College, Hopwood Hall College, Bolton VI Form, The Manchester College and London based, Ada National College for Digital Skills.
The conference’s keynote speaker was Aaron Saxton, a Disruptive Education Leader, and previous Director of Education at Manchester based tech giant, UKFast. Aaron shared his journey to date with delegates including digital strategy and use of technologies to enhance teaching, learning and assessment and his vision for the future.
Deborah Millar, Executive Director of Digital Transformation at Hull College also delivered a thought provoking talk. Deborah shared her expertise on supporting staff with the right tools to engage learners with technology in the classroom, providing students with the skills and confidence to reach their potential and delivering a blended curriculum that enables students to develop the skills they will be using in industry.
Our delegates were also given access to the UA92 CAVE showcase and tour and given time to share best practice and network to discuss the opportunities and challenges of digitisation. Other topics and sessions throughout the event covered the future of learning – Zeducation, effective use of AI in education, addressing the key challenges identified in the LSIP and identifying key actions and commitments to be taken back and implemented within delegates’ organisations.
