Creativity And Innovation Conferance

I thoroughly enjoyed the creativity and innovation conference this year. I feel that there were many ideas that I could take from the conference and apply them to my own classroom. I felt it was an honor to take part in the conference and to share ideas that I took from my placement.

The theme of this year’s conference was Literacy and Numeracy. I felt reassured of the national literacy and numeracy skills as I learned that the state has consistently invested in a national strategy to improve this element of education. “Literacy and Numeracy for learning and Life. The National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and young people 2011-2020 - Literacy and Numeracy Strategy 2011 –2020 Interim Review of the Strategy and New Targets (2017-2020)” (Connolly, 2020). Following from the importance of literacy and numeracy (Connolly) went onto mentioning examples of how these key skills are required for many occupations. E.g. “Financial advisors use mathematical models to balance risk and return and to determine the value of intangible assets” (Connolly, 2020).

I was intrigued when (O'Sullivan) talked about examples of how literacy and numeracy skills can be integrated into the technical classroom. Examples included working drawing and how to encourage students to work out dimensions of the working drawing.

I thoroughly enjoyed the creativity and innovation conference this year. I feel that there were many ideas that I could take from the conference and apply them to my own classroom. I felt it was an honor to take part in the conference and to share ideas that I took from my placement.

The theme of this year’s conference was Literacy and Numeracy. I felt reassured of the national literacy and numeracy skills as I learned that the state has consistently invested in a national strategy to improve this element of education. “Literacy and Numeracy for learning and Life. The National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and young people 2011-2020 - Literacy and Numeracy Strategy 2011 –2020 Interim Review of the Strategy and New Targets (2017-2020)” (Connolly, 2020). Following from the importance of literacy and numeracy (Connolly) went onto mentioning examples of how these key skills are required for many occupations. E.g. “Financial advisors use mathematical models to balance risk and return and to determine the value of intangible assets” (Connolly, 2020).

I was intrigued when (O'Sullivan) talked about examples of how literacy and numeracy skills can be integrated into the technical classroom. Examples included working drawing and how to encourage students to work out dimensions of the working drawing.

(O'Sullivan, 2020)

The highlight of the conference for me was listening to (Sheppard) talk about how numeracy and literacy skills can be taught in correlation to other subjects such as Math and English. Very good examples where taken from the state examinations of how questions in Math can be very similar to exam questions of Technical subjects. Reference to this is made in the new discover graphics book which was also on show in the creation and innovative conference. I also learned from (Sheppard) the theoretical application of both cos and tan which are most commonly used in math. It was in fact pointed out that most people can indeed identify both cos and tan on the calculator but won’t be able to further explain how they are practically applied.

I was delighted to see some collaborative work brought into the conference by Patricia O Regan who got us working with our table members. I thought this worked very well as there was a mix in every table between different year groups, tutors and passed students. I found the group work very helpful in gathering a further understanding of literacy and numeracy along with noticing what everyone else’s understanding was of these key skills. “we can learn more efficiently when bouncing our ideas off one another” (Maye 2020).

The creative and innovative ideas I found interesting from the fourth years was the use of google classroom. This idea was presented by Diarmuid McNulty. I wasn’t sure of how google classroom worked but found I had a good idea of how to create a google classroom after the conference. It was explained that a code that will be generated by the creator can be shared to students for them to join.

(McNulty 2020)

I have always thought using software such as this is the modern way of communication so should be used in the education of students. I have always found that there was a stigma about using this type of software as the teacher and the students are linked closer outside of the classroom. My personal critique of this idea was that teachers and students won’t get a cutoff point where they finish work. Teachers can find that they are always on call and always receiving work notifications through their phones.

Bibliography

Connolly, C. & K. Sullivan (2020). Literacy & Numeracy in Post Primary Education, Keynote Address. Creativity & Innovation in the Classroom Conference 2020. Connaught Hotel. Galway: Department of Creative Education. GMIT Letterfrack.

Sullivan, K. O. (2020). Literacy & Numeracy in Post Primary Education, Keynote Address. Creativity & Innovation in the Classroom Conference 2020. Connaught Hotel. Galway: Department of Creative Education. GMIT Letterfrack.

Maye, K. (2020). Literacy & Numeracy in Post Primary Education, Keynote Address. Creativity & Innovation in the Classroom Conference 2020. Connaught Hotel. Galway: Department of Creative Education. GMIT Letterfrack.

Sheppard, T. (2020). Literacy & Numeracy in Post Primary Education, Keynote Address. Creativity & Innovation in the Classroom Conference 2020. Connaught Hotel. Galway: Department of Creative Education. GMIT Letterfrack.

McNulty, D. (2020, February 19). Google classroom. Literacy & Numeracy in Post Primary Education, Keynote Address. Creativity & Innovation in the Classroom Conference 2020. Connaught Hotel. Galway: Department of Creative Education. GMIT Letterfrack.