Mark Anderson
"The secret of great teaching is you always do your best for your learners – that’s it!"
It has to be said, the controversy that still rages over whether the use of technology in our classrooms can improve teaching and learning is all a bit of a red herring. After all, as Mark Anderson, the self-styled ICT Evangelist, will show you, it’s not what you’ve got that’s the issue but what you do with what you’ve got.
At its heart, the debate boils down to one question – what does teaching look like in the 21st century?
It’s through answering such a question in way that combines classroom experience, practical common sense and a breath-taking awareness of what’s possible that has helped make Mark such an important figure on the world stage.
He first came to our attention when he was working with Independent Thinking Associate Jim – The Lazy Teacher - Smith and was involved in the introduction of various technological innovations and projects across the school.
It wasn’t an easy task and Mark soon learned that the challenge isn’t so much in teaching teachers how to use the new technology as in teaching them how to challenge the classroom habits that have been with us since a teacher from Scotland started writing on a large piece of slate hung on the wall where everyone could see it in 1801.
Which is where Mark is in his element – showing classroom practitioners the many benefits of learning technology once they have started to reflect on the very nature of what teaching and learning looks like.
Which makes the work of the technologically-savvy 21st century teacher very exciting indeed.
As you might expect from someone with Mark’s knowledge and experience, he is a prolific blogger with various awards to his name and is also an Apple Distinguished Educator, a Google Certified Innovator and a Microsoft Certified Educator. He is also an Apple Book Creator Ambassador with a number of titles to his name along with, in the ‘real world’ a book for fellow Associate Jackie Beere’s Perfect series under his belt, The Perfect ICT Lesson.
Despite such an enviable grasp when it comes to all things technological in the classroom, Mark is very much a practitioner and never lets the shiny and the new get in the way of implementing the right strategy at the right time for the class in front of him, regardless whether technology is involved or not. It’s an approach to the effective use of learning technologies that will save a lot of schools a great deal of time and money.
For an understanding of using the learning technologies to bring the best out of children and students by knowing what to use and how – and what not to use and what to do instead – Mark Anderson is very much the speaker you need.
Mark Anderson In His Own Words
“My philosophy with ICT has always been that I firmly believe that our lives can be made better with it” - Perfect ICT Every Lesson
- Mark has been with Independent Thinking since October 2013
- You'll find Mark's work in our Teaching and Learning topic area
- You can watch a conversation with Mark, Roy Leighton and Ian Gilbert in 2020 here
- You might also want to consider Nina Jackson or Ian Gilbert
- Ask us about Mark's prices and current availability and for details on how to save money when you book, click here.
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