[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Shane,

Welcome to the course and thank you for your contribution around Ehigie’s paper here. Your use of the term ‘responsible global citizens’ is one that I think hits the nail on the head – through equipping children with knowledge and understanding around these development education themes at an early age, we can only hope that they will be able to make informed decisions and actions when faced with these issues in their own lives and communities. The subsequent modules will all look at specific development education themes and how this can be developed throughout the school.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Edwina,

Thank you for your detailed and comprehensive post here, where you have raised a number of very interesting points around gender stereotyping. Play choices is a place where I would have also experienced a lot of this with junior classes, and this can then be carried through to games and activities that happen in the classroom or on the yard in later years. Your point around bringing development education in straight away in the junior classes, with a focus on looking at gender roles is so important in stifling this before it becomes a larger issue as they get older.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi David,

Welcome to the course. Thank you for your post here. You have accurately pointed out how AI can be just one tool in effective teaching and the creation of engaging learning experiences for the children in our classes. The coming modules will outline how specific AI tools can be used to achieve this, as well as prompting some thought around ethical considerations when it comes to AI use for and with our pupils.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Norma,

Thank you for your post here and for your engagement throughout the course. The reality is that Google (and Microsoft for that matter) have so many useful tools in their suite of projects that we all feel like we are not utilising them to their full capacity. Hopefully this course has provided some ideas on how one or two additional Google tools can be used to enhance your teaching and administration next year. Setting up personal Google accounts is an important step in achieving this and opens up many possibilities, including the use of Classroom and potentially the development of digital portfolios.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Harriet,

Thank you for your post here and for sharing the world being carried out by this organisation in Finglas. Reading this forum is heartening when you see the generosity and goodwill that exists in communities up and down the country in terms of making those fleeing war and conflict welcome. The community partnerships that could be forged here, including the hosting of guest speakers, is a great idea to raise awareness of the work being done and could strengthen the sense of social justice in the school and community that is focused on upholding the rights of all.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Daniel,

Thank you for your post here and for sharing this engaging resource with us all. Big books and animated film can be such an effective tool for engaging children in a conversation around certain development education topics. While deforestation might not be something they can tangibly see the effects of in our own communities, the use of a resource like this allows us to see the real effects it can have on local communities and the knock-on effect for us all in our own homes and communities in Ireland.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us here and your experience of using AI enhanced tools with your class. You have raised an excellent point around the barrier of effective CPD for all teachers in this field. What makes this especially difficult is the rapidly evolving nature of AI and AI tools in education. CPD needs to be centred on equipping teachers with a core set of skills and knowledge that can be adaptable and responsive to any future changes related to the evolution of AI.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Jimmy,

Welcome to the course and thanks for your contribution to the discussion here. It is certainly a universally held view on this forum that AI tools can enhance our productivity as teachers and contribute to a reduced workload. Thanks for sharing your experience of using Read Theory in your classroom. Whilst I note you have said that you have yet to use Immersive Reader with your class, it will certainly be complementary of your current practice if you do decide to use it in the coming year.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Emma,

Welcome to the course and thank you for your post here. It is wonderful to have such variety in school and classroom settings on the course, where we can all take tips and tricks of what is working. The Dictate function that is now available within most AI tools adds another layer of accessibility for promoting student use and engagement with these tools. Being able to tailor content and instruction around the interests of the children is huge and AI can really help us to tailor generic content to meet these interests.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Anna,

Welcome to the course and thank you for contributing to the discussion here. It is so true that assumptions around gender roles are embedded in young children from an early age. The reference you made to all children drawing a make scientist is very similar to an experience I had this year when children were asked to draw an engineer. These assumptions and stereotypes are often a reflection of what our children experience within society. As you have said, development education provides the ideal platform to challenge some of these and ask children to think about the various assumptions that might be made around who should be taking certain jobs, roles, etc.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Fiona,

Thank you for you post and for sharing your thoughts with us here. AI tools within programmes such as Diffit and Microsoft can be transformational in terms of accessibility and really lend themselves to a UDL approach in classrooms. They are constantly evolving and new features are being added and tailored on a monthly basis. Immersive Reader offers huge functionality within Microsoft, but recent Co-Pilot updates offer huge scope for accessibility to be prioritised within the 365 apps.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Fiona,

Thank you for you post and for sharing your thoughts with us here. AI tools within programmes such as Diffit and Microsoft can be transformational in terms of accessibility and really lend themselves to a UDL approach in classrooms. They are constantly evolving and new features are being added and tailored on a monthly basis. Immersive Reader offers huge functionality within Microsoft, but recent Co-Pilot updates offer huge scope for accessibility to be prioritised within the 365 apps.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Valerie,

Thank your for post post here and for sharing your insights here, specially related to the use of Scratch. Like many of the other applications mentioned in the module, Scratch has huge potential for use in a cross-curricular fashion, with a problem-solving focus at its core. The final point you made in the lesson sequence is noteworthy and one which we should probably give more credence too. Having the opportunity to showcase their work to others can be an important motivating factor for many children. Often, this is not facilitated as the ‘learning/production’ phase of the lesson takes too long but it is certainly something to be considered for all lessons.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Norma,

Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your insights here on Google Classroom as a tool for enabling a flipped classroom approach. You have raised a number of very important points here around self-paced learning and the way in which active learning can be enabled through this approach. I’m sure that you will find this becoming more seamless to use when you have Chromebooks to use in September. The ability to mix between individual and collaborative tasks allows us to keep the child at the centre of the decision making process when selecting the learning experiences that will be most effective in this regard.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Mary,

Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights here. The SETT model is excellent for prompting us to consider the tools that may best meet the needs of the children in our class – when linked with knowledge of the children and pedagogical knowledge, it can be an especially powerful tool. There really are a myriad of resources when it comes to assistive technology, and it is for us to consider the individual needs of the children we teach to choose what would be most effective. The subsequent modules in this course may help with identifying key metrics for these choices.

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