At St Peters, learning extends beyond the classroom, not only for our students, but for our teaching staff too. We pride ourselves on having a highly intelligent team of teachers across our St Peters Indooroopilly and St Peters Springfield campuses. Our teachers actively seek out learning opportunities and always ensure that they are the best that they can be at their jobs.
This attitude of ‘Plus Ultra’ (aiming ever higher), was definitely on display in 2018—from Pioneer Teachers, like Springfield’s Caitlin Knight, using WiDi in her classroom; to St Peters Indooroopilly’s Christina Wheeler and Rachael Yates, Writing the Future with a PETAA grant. On our blog we’ve showcased how our teachers have been helping students in Prep, how they’ve been preparing children for NAPLAN and how they’ve been assisting EAL/D students learn beyond language barriers. Our news stories have told of teachers who have ‘flipped’ their classrooms to incorporate a range of emerging technologies; teachers who have committed to improving the physical skills of students via the Perceptual Motor Program; and so much more!
The commitment and passion of our teaching staff has flourished throughout the year. Our teachers sought out new skills right up until the end of the term. One of the ways they did this was through LearnChats.
What is LearnChats?
LearnChats was a program held throughout 2018, organised by Digital Learning Coach (ICT Trainer), Jonathan Nalder. The final meetup for the year was held at St Peters Indooroopilly.
Who attended?
Eight adventurous teachers attended the final LearnChats for the year. At it, they enjoyed hands-on time with tools like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), the 360-degree camera and IOT Environmental Sensors. Many teachers mentioned that they may trial these tools in their classrooms in 2019, which is very exciting for our College and our students.
The benefit of LearnChats…
Across the year, there’s been 20 pf these informal pop-up Professional Development sessions held at St Peters. All of which have been organised by IT and eLearning, with aim of supporting teachers as they set about building on St Peters’ great digital foundations.
Teachers in attendance have been from a range of year levels, including those in Lower and Upper Primary, Junior High and the Senior School. All have been able to take away skills and tips on how to incorporate new technologies in their lessons, ultimately enhancing the experiences had by their students.
The sheer number and interest of those who’ve attended LearnChats in 2018 is very positive. It is a great sign of what might be achieved with a cross-pollination of ideas in 2019!