Lyndsey Stuttard | Digital Teaching & Learning Specialist | ACS International Schools

 

Over the past 18 years I have taught in international schools in the UK, USA, Italy, and UAE with my Master’s in Early Childhood Education. I began working with technology in education in 2011, working at a technology academy, and have been enthralled with the potential ever since. I have been privileged to work at schools that have placed their trust in my knowledge and skills to guide their technology journeys forwards.

To date I have helped two international schools gain Apple Distinguished School recognition, as well as helping dozens of teachers become certified Apple Teachers.

When it comes to the classroom and teaching my students in Early Years, I enjoy allowing them the opportunity to push the bounds with technology, giving them the freedom to explore and discover. My lessons are established as part teaching, part coaching, so that when teachers bring their children for digital skills lessons, they take part alongside the students. This model has helped build teacher confidence with technology, and spark new ideas of how they might go back to their classrooms and incorporate what I demonstrated.

I have managed to help rewrite my current school’s curriculum to incorporate the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals into every unit, as long as ensuring students are given opportunities to explore and use a variety of technology (Productive, Creative, Innovative, Coding/Robotics). We see visible changes in how students and teachers now approach using their iPads in class, with students taking a very active role in choosing what tools best help them express their ideas and understanding. Creativity = Accessibility for us as a core belief in what we do.