2nd EXCITED Digital Learning Festival successfully concludes at Dublin Castle

By @SimonCocking

The second EXCITED Digital Learning Festival concluded on Saturday. There was a great range of speakers, with some important topics covered. Special mention also the speakers from secondary and primary school, including the following.

Some really important issues were addressed, and even better the speakers supplied lots of great case studies to help illustrate and reinforce the points they were making. These were some of the key issues focused on.

·      how local schools can achieve global reach

·      the use of gamification

·      possibilities of educational technology tools

·      view of students from the Digital Youth Council

·      how to shape the the digital future

·      coding and creativity in schools

The Excited Digital Learning Festival is an independent and not for profit initiative.    The Excited Digital Learning Festival is supported by Science Foundation Ireland through the 2014 SFI Discover Programme Funding Call, the Department of Education & Skills, the Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources and SAP.

About Excited

EXCITED provides a unique opportunity, the first of its kind, for those with an interest in Irish education at all levels to engage directly with teachers, student representatives, enterprise leaders, academics and policy makers at a senior level.

EXCITED creates an opportunity for students to clearly articulate to decision makers their opinions on learning and how they wish to see technology embedded in their educational experience.  It gives trailblazing teachers and students a platform to showcase their work and to robustly engage with numerous other professionals directly involved in education; more specifically, those who see technology as an enabling tool to be used in the classroom and home.  It gives leading academics and entrepreneurs an opportunity to speak about global innovation in education and in particular how Ireland can lead the way in the digital learning revolution.

About the EXCITED Movement:

The Excited Movement began in 2014 with the two-day EXCITED Digital Learning Festival in Dublin Castle.  As an independent entity it has the unique ability to bring together the diverse interests of students, teachers, industry and Government in a safe, non agenda environment with the single vision of improving the role of technology in education.

The EXCITED Movement is unique in that it utilises its centralised position to add scale and delivery mechanism to new and existing programmes.  As a result ideas from industry (individual and companies) can be rapidly deployed through to teachers and students while representative voices of students can be channelled back to organisations and government.

EXCITED has established channels to ensure ideas can be delivered into tangible projects and actions such as EU Code Week, The Hour of Code, The Digital Youth Council, Africa Code Week and initiatives in Robotics. 

Connecting: We are building a national network of groups and individuals with a common vision for education and a desire to be powerful advocates for change.

Championing: We seek out trailblazing teachers and students across Ireland and encourage others to be inspired by their work and follow in their footsteps.

Creating: We are collaborating with education and industry leaders to create a world-class digital learning ecosystem where innovation is nurtured and facilitated.