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If as Miguel de Cervantes suggests, ‘The pen is the tongue of the mind’, the role this humble implement plays in articulating internal thoughts through the medium of letterforms cannot be understated.  If what we say and how we say it impacts our chance of success (Gilbert, 2018), surely the same assertion can be levied at the written form.  In writing, our ability to communicate private interpretations through an instrument typically held between our thumb and index finger essentially becomes a reflection of ourselves on paper.  The artistry underpinning this process is one I often struggle to convey in my own [...]

Is innovation purely the preserve of Silicon Valley? How can innovation at community levels across the globe be harnessed to provide solutions to current and future challenges?  What is the role of education in helping all citizens to realise their creative potential?  DronePort Rwanda demonstrates a range of 21st century skills, which when harnessed in a collaborative manner, deliver for the community. On hearing Jonathan Ledgard talk about his pitch to Lord Norman Foster at the Design Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa conference in December 2016 at the London College of Fashion, I realised DronePort Rwanda had the potential to model a [...]

We all have ideas, but very few of us actually record or re-visit them and use them at a later date to create a piece of work. Yet recording our ideas is a critical component of the creative process.  It can take time to develop ideas and we need to start off with a reference point and then to take time to develop these ideas. This is a model I have adapted Pat Francis’ brilliant book, Taking a line for a walk. As a teacher and mobile content creator, most of my ideas are concerned with materials development and mobile learning, [...]

If technology is to add value to the entire learning experience, then it must function in both resource-rich as resource-limited contexts.  In order to determine how the Keywords Biology app could develop as a 21st century learning tool, we tested the concept with teachers working in rural schools, in Uganda. With ample evidence already collected from resource-rich contexts to indicate that the Keywords Biology app could support young people with the academic language of Biology and help improve learning outcomes, teachers in rural schools were selected to evaluate how such a methodology could work in their contexts.  To support Science teachers, I ran [...]