Foghlaim Feabhsaithe Teicneolaíochta

Student development and care is at the core of everything we do in GCL. As a ‘Digital School’, technology is embedded in learning but also plays a major role in their day to day experience of school life. Student voice is very strong in GCL with a very active Student Council guiding us through their needs.

We survey students regularly to get their feedback and we have a ticket system where students can log any issues that they may be having with technology.

We have leadership team of students called ‘Na Tiarnaí Teic’. The group focuses attentions on areas such as coding, animation, educational development with technology as well as running a student help desk for any queries. They help first year students to settle in with their new iPad devices and they also help teachers in class to support learning with technology.

Parents are provided with a comprehensive ‘Roadmap’ outlining why iPad is used in the school, and how it will be supported in ensuring that learning outcomes of pupils are achieved. We encourage parents and their children to talk about how technology is used in the school, and how it helps them to enrich their academic development.

We liaises closely with parents through discussions and surveys to ensure that they are fully appraised of the learning potential that iPad can offer to their children and they are briefed in the best-practice and principles of responsible use of technology in their child’s learning. Parents’ feedback is essential to how we work closely with parents, and conducting a survey with parents at the end of each year, helps us to get important information and views from parents to improve our service.

We host two nights every year for parents to attend in our school. On these evenings, we explain our vision, the expectations we have around the pupils’ use of iPad, what the school will do to enrich learning and clarify any areas of concern that parents may express. We send quarterly and regular updates to parents on a range of school-related matters, and there is a section devoted to iPad learning at the school. This ensures that parents are well briefed about how learning and teaching is conducted in the school.

We have a dedicated web-page on school website - www.gcluimnigh.ie. Our website is a very popular means of sharing information with our parents, staff and general public. This allows us to make all information regarding use of technology available to people, at anytime.

Teachers in GCL are respected as experts in the area of instruction and curriculum design, development and integration. Technology is central in their planning, peer collaboration, content creation and sharing as well as feedback and assessment of student learning.

Teachers create engaging and active opportunities for learners to express their creativity, engage in critical thinking while facing and solving real world problems such as environmental sustainability.

These teachers are educators who demonstrate leadership in their own subjects. This year the DLT has expanded with an increasing number of teachers keen to share their experience. The team continuously review our vision and ethos to grow with the pace of change in relation to learning with technology. This has also led to CPD being design for our teachers, by our teachers leading to rich collaboration and deep learning for both teachers and students.

Kevin Ó Raghallaigh places our learners at the centre of GCL to ensure a rich learning experience and provide 21st century skills

Kevin recognises that technology is the key to creativity and innovation. He prioritised the effective integration of technology into teaching and learning, supporting a core leadership team, collecting feedback, testing, reviewing and collaboratively implementing systems very incrementally.

Kevin seeks new ways to make the most out of technology to increase efficiency and therefore leaving more time to focus on teaching and learning.

At each of our Board of Management meetings, which includes parent representatives, Board Members are updated about the development of the vision for learning at the school. Members are also briefed on the the impact the transformation in learning is having on pupils. Student representatives from Student Council, also present to Members of the Board of Management at these meetings - giving Board Members first-hand information on how students are learning with the use of technology.

Ciara Ní Dhrisceoil

www.gcluimnigh.ie