Welcome! Our newsletter aims to provide digital technology news and information to Principals, ICT or Digital Learning Coordinators and Teams, teachers and all those involved in education.
Beannachtaí na Nollag
All at Oide Technology in Education would like to wish you a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year.
Is mian le gach duine in Oide Technology in Education Nollaig agus Bliain Nua shona, shíochánta a ghuí oraibh uile.
Online Courses
Podcasting and the Primary Language Curriculum
The role of podcasting in daily life has expanded significantly in recent times. But has the use of podcasting in the classroom also expanded? Primary teachers are invited to consider engaging in our free online course on Creating Podcasts for the Primary Language Curriculum. This short (1.5 hour) self-paced online course is provided free of charge to teachers.
School leaders looking to build leadership capacity among their teaching staff could consider supporting emerging leaders in developing their competency in digital learning leadership and encourage them to complete our free online courses during Croke Park hours. We have three courses that broadly fall into the leadership category: Leading Digital Learning, the Digital Learning planning course (below) and the new AI for Schools course.
Whether you are working on a digital learning plan for your school or a dedicated digital learning plan for your own classroom, school leaders and teachers will find support and guidance through the online course on Developing a Digital Learning Plan for your School. This four-hour online course will guide you through the process of updating an existing plan or developing a new one from scratch.
In this video, teacher Sarah Crehan discusses how she uses iPads and iPad Mini AAC devices with two different apps, TD Snaps and Grid, to give pre-verbal pupils in her class their ‘voice’.
Leading Digital Learning Series: Digital Technology Infrastructure Overview
In this video from our Leading Digital Learning series, Tom Lonergan, National Coordinator of Digital Technology Infrastructure, and Deirdre Redmond, Project Officer, outline two main areas their team focuses on.
The Webwise Digital Citizenship Champions (DCC) programme is designed to equip primary teachers with essential knowledge, skills, and resources to effectively teach digital citizenship. Two new workshops will be offered via your local Education Centre for term two: • Being Online: Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy • Wellbeing Online – Navigating the Digital World with Wellbeing in Mind
A variety of face-to-face or webinar options are available. Please contact your local Education Centre via the link below for further details.
In terms of school websites being accessible, schools are subject to the ‘Website Accessibility Directive’. The National Disability Authority (NDA) is both the expert organisation and the responsible state authority in this area. Information on how websites can comply with relevant accessibility requirements can be found on the NDA site.
Teacher Sarah O Neill has created resources for English teachers in the area of AI. These resources are highly transferable across a range of subjects.
Check out the full range of resources on Scoilnet via the link below.
Is your school interested in free access to an innovative tool that helps students (ages 12–19) develop media literacy and democratic skills while creating their own digital content? Let your students create and publish stories with peers from across Europe and beyond. The Mobile Stories tool can be integrated into any subject and is perfect for cross-curricular or eTwinning projects.
Enjoy a revamped user experience with improved navigation, engaging new interactives and even a new Open Dyslexic font option to improve accessibility. Find out more through Scoilnet via the link below.
Planning to mark Safer Internet Day? Thousands of people in Ireland will be joining in the celebrations on Tuesday, February 11th.
Register your event and be included on the interactive Safer Internet Day map, which highlights all the great activities taking place across the country. Webwise will also send out free wristbands for everyone taking part.
The theme for Safer Internet Day 2025 is Prepare/Protect/Thrive - Navigating algorithms and influencers. The aim is to encourage parents, schools, educators, young people and stakeholders to reflect on role of influencers and algorithms in children and young people’s lives.
Webwise has a range of resources and information for Primary and Post-Primary level to explore this, and other key online safety topics.
Looking for ideas for how to get involved in Safer Internet Day? From poster competitions to quizzes, we have lots of useful ideas and activities that students and schools can use to celebrate Safer Internet Day 2025.
Oide Technology in Education recently collaborated with European Schoolnet in its 2024 Case Studies publication, showcasing how 15 schools across Europe are fostering student digital competences and embedding digital learning. Thanks to the staff and students of Dominican College, Griffith Avenue and St Nessan's Primary School, Limerick for participating in this project.
Well done to all of the schools who participated in EU Code Week, who helped to place Ireland place 10th overall on the scoreboard with 696 activities logged on the map!
We are delighted to announce that these schools won prizes this year for pinning their EU Code Week activities: • Caim NS, Enniscorthy Co. Wexford • Scoil Barra Naofa, Monkstown, Co. Cork • St. Benedict’s Ongar, Co. Dublin
Check with your local Education Centre to see if there are any upcoming coding and computational thinking workshops running. Activities can still be logged throughout the year on the EU Code Week map.
CESI Conference 2025: Navigating Digital Futures 2.0
The 2025 annual conference of the Computers in Education Society of Ireland will take place on Saturday 1st March in Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh. Continuing to build on the previous theme, ‘Navigating Digital Futures’, consider this in 2025 to be a 2.0 programme!
The call for presentation and workshop proposals is now open through 13th December 2024.
