Stephen Whitaker has always been passionate about technology. In the 1990s, he was working as a middle school teacher in London and noticed that there were computers appearing in classrooms but that staff weren’t using them. At that time, nobody knew what they could do with computers - the potential for technology-use in education was yet to be unlocked.
Stephen saw the potential of leveraging technology in the classroom to accelerate students’ learning. “Tech doesn’t have to be complicated, one of my favourite examples of simple impactful tech is a student who on paper cannot express themselves; however, you give them a microphone and they can talk around the concepts in tremendous depth. Add video as well and voila! If it's something they've designed or created, they can easily talk about it for 20 minutes and explain all of the intricacies and their intentions. Whereas without the microphone, video or the tech all of those ideas would just be locked inside the student and the teacher wouldn't get to them.”
“All of those ideas just be locked inside the student and the teacher wouldn't get to them at all.”
Following his interest, he eventually became the ICT coordinator of the school. By 1999, he moved to Bangladesh to set up the IT department at a new international school. Soon after, he moved to Mexico and eventually became the Director of Technology at 2 international schools in Mexico City.
Now, with the influx of AI usage in schools, Stephen whilst excited about its possibilities sees the same cycles repeating, “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity but of course with every new technology that comes along there are issues with its implementation. My biggest concern is that we don’t repeat issues of the past, because I’ve seen the entire cycle of exciting new tech run-through before.”
With every new technology, it is important that educators understand how it can be used to improve learning in their classroom so that they can use it to their students benefit. Too often teachers either adopt a ban it attitude, or a laissez faire one. Teachers need to choose the middle ground and be the guide students need and teach students to think critically when using AI. Only this way will it impact learning in the way it should.
"I just find them so refreshing. To find all of these great ideas going on around the world and people improving education."
Keeping up to date with fresh new innovations in education is also part of why he has been reviewing HundrED innovations for the last eight years. “I just find them (HundrEd innovations) so refreshing. To find all of these great ideas going on around the world and people improving education. Every year there are at least half a dozen that I review and I’m just completely blindsided by how amazing they are,” he shares.
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