EdTechSA Educator of the Year
This award is intended to recognise the importance of the work of South Australian teachers who are contributing to the use of ICTs in their schools.
2021: Kate Tyrwhitt
Kate Tyrwhitt is a specialist teacher of Visual Arts and Design at St Michael’s College Primary campus Kate has been the driving force behind a wide range of digital technologies used at our school. She has pioneered the use of Showbie and Green Screen both for and with teachers at the campus. She has presented at CEGSA since 2007, EdTechSA conferences, ACCE in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney and the National Art Gallery in Canberra to showcase students’ use of iPads in visual arts education. She has designed and conducted global design projects with educators in several countries. This has had a direct impact upon student engagement and motivation.
In her own practice she has utilized technologies so that all students can access their creative capabilities. These technologies include Augmented Reality, Laser cutting, Flipgrid, CoSpaces, 3D Design and Printing using Makers Empire and Tinkercad.
2020: Kelly Rivett
Kelly grew up tinkering and playing around on computers and digital technologies in rural South Australia before moving to Adelaide for university.
From university, Kelly went on to work professionally in the film and television industry but made the switch to teaching when the local industry went through a slump.
Kelly has been working in primary schools around Adelaide as a TRT and Contract Teacher for the past 10 years. She believes that digital technologies provide numerous opportunities for teachers and learners to develop their critical and creative thinking, collaboration and communication skills for future lifelong learning and success.
Kelly integrates a cooperative learning approach in her classroom where students are encouraged to teach each other and Kelly, what they know and mistakes, are celebrated as learning opportunities. Kelly enjoys helping colleagues explore how they can effectively integrate and understand the use of ICTS and Digital Technologies for their own classroom. The ability to use technologies in a pandemic saw Kelly’s school host a completely virtual whole school assembly, concurrently teach students at home and at school and make sure wellbeing was a priority.
2018: Fiona Clayton
Before joining Torrens Valley Christian School as Learning Coordinator and IT teacher, Fiona worked in the IT industry after gaining a degree in Computer and Information Science.
Fiona has radically changed the way ICT and Digital Technologies is taught at TVCS since joining the staff. She has increased the engagement of students, in particular girls, in IT and introduced SACE Stage 1 and 2 IT (now Digital Technologies) which has led to an increase in students enrolling in Digital Technologies
Fiona is committed to innovating to ensure that students have increased skills, particularly in programming. She has been asked by students to start a coding club at lunch times and has started a Year 5/6 STEM group where she works with 10 select students on robotics and coding in preparation for entry in the FIRST Lego League Competition. These students now see themselves as leaders of Digital Technology in their classes.
Whilst Fiona has regularly attends conferences and workshops, she has discovered there is not enough support available for Middle School and Senior School Digital Technologies teachers. To rectify this, she is committed to networking and sharing, and has been approached by several schools and individual Digital Technologies teachers to help them with their practice.
Fiona freely shares resources and ideas with teachers and schools and presents workshops for EdTechSA. Recently, she was approached by AISSA and the SACE Board to help run professional development, moderate and write sample material for the new Stage 2 Digital Technologies curriculum. The Digital Technologies Hub invited her to write sample material and share her digital technologies implementation journey. As a result, there is information on their website including teaching resources and curriculum outlines.
Fiona says, “The IT learning area has been an isolated one for many years, with teachers going it alone. This has to change; we need to work together and support each other if we are to navigate this ever-changing industry”. Fiona’s work exemplifies this.
2016: Jackie Chambers
The EdTechSA Educator of the Year award recognises the importance of the work of South Australian teachers who are contributing to the use of ICTs in their schools. This award focuses on recognising the efforts of classroom-based educators.
It is with great pleasure that we announce Jackie Chambers, Digital Technologies Lead Teacher, St Andrew’s School, Walkerville as EdTechSA Educator of the Year for 2016.
Jackie inspires educators to embed ICT and digital technology into engaging, purposeful classroom learning. Jackie has worked tirelessly to develop deep expertise in ICT and the new Digital Technology subject and combines this with well-grounded pedagogical content knowledge. Jackie is aspirational for young learners and their capacity to engage with digital technologies and she models the pedagogical approach and teaching strategies that create exciting, interactive learning that is aligned to the Australian Curriculum.
One of the most noteworthy things about Jackie is her generosity in sharing her skills and knowledge with other educators through workshops with EdTechSA, the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia and DECD. Jackie is open to answering all questions from educators who are keen to learn from her, and she has a gentle, respectful manner which invites conversation and genuine learning.
2014: Jacqui Knipe
Jacqui joined the EdTechSA (formerly the Computers in Education Group of South Australia – CEGSA) Management Committee in 2006 and has been an active member of this professional association for 9 years. Jacqui started her time on this committee working as part of the publications team, designing covers for the association journal RAMpage. As time went on, Jacqui took on a greater role in this area and was responsible for the transition to our current digital publications and emailed “shoutouts”. Jacqui has been the “voice” of EdTechSA for the past few years, representing the association in a variety of social media forums such as Facebook and Twitter, and has represented EdTechSA at conferences including DECD ConnectED, ACEC2012 and ISTE2013 in San Antonio. Jacqui was also the Marketing Co-ordinator for ACEC2014: Now IT’s Personal, the successful national conference recently hosted by EdTechSA.
For the last 4 years Jacqui has been the ICT specialist teacher at Modbury West School, providing a wide range of educational programs for students from Reception to Year 7. She has also been responsible for the creation and management of the school’s blog, a resource valued by the school’s staff and students. This year Jacqui has returned to the classroom, teaching a year 3/4 class, and is enjoying sharing with them the skills of communicating their learning with the wider school community. Jacqui is a regular presenter for EdTechSA, both at Spotlight Sessions and state conferences and is looking forward to sharing this latest stage of her learning journey at upcoming professional learning events.
Jacqui Knipe is a most worthy recipient of EdTechSA’s 2014 Educator of the Year award. EdTechSA is honoured to endorse her nomination to the Australian Council for Computers in Education, as the 2015 Educator of the Year.
2013: Kim Martin
It is with great pleasure that EdTechSA announces Kim Martin as our Educator of the Year for 2013.
Kim is currently employed as the Digital Learning Coordinator at Star of the Sea School, and Senior Assistive Technology Coordinator and Client Services Manager at CanDo4Kids.
In her Coordinator role at Star of the Sea School since 2011, Kim has supported student engagement through curriculum and pedagogical change with educational technology. In these three years, she has worked collaboratively with others to transform the learning landscape to include a 1:1 MacBook program in years 5-7; 1:2 iPad program in R-4 (moving to 1:1 in 2014/15); a green-screen film lab, flexible learning spaces in the middle school, and the integration of online learning management tools and sharing of resources via Edmodo, Scootle, Twitter and blogs. Kim’s role in facilitating pedagogical change has involved hosting regular parent and community technology sessions led by students and herself. One of the highlights of her work has been student participation in the Federal Government Youth Advisory Committee on Cyber Safety for the past two years where several students each year have been selected to attend and present at the annual summit.
In her role with CanDo4Kids, Kim works with families, students and colleagues statewide, helping them to develop inclusive learning environments with differentiated curriculum offerings and personalized learning opportunities with the assistance of technology. She has spoken at conferences about how to engage students with significant disabilities and worked with students with additional physical, intellectual and/or sensory impairments to enhance their learning opportunities through the use of robotics, stop animation, movie making, eBooks, gaming, music production and iPads.
EdTechSA is proud to have nominated Kim Martin as South Australia’s representative to the Australian Council for Computer’s in Education national Educator of the Year Award.
Congratulations Kim!
2012: Christine Haynes
The CEGSA Educator of the Year award recognises those within the South Australian educational community who have contributed to the leadership and implementation of best practice in learning with ICT across the curriculum and about IT as a discipline. Christine successfully met the criteria for the award through her impressive work in technology education and the positive impact she has made in this area. She has facilitated workshops and presented sessions locally, nationally and internationally.
Christine has also demonstrated leadership qualities in her ICT Coordinator’s position at Immanuel primary school, as an Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) and in her position as the CEGSA Professional Development Convenor, strategically planning and developing procedures for successful PD Events including raising the bar by introducing and coordinating international level Masterclasses.
Overall, Christine is most worthy in being named CEGSA Educator of the Year 2012.
Twitter – @canhaynes
Blog: Innovation Portfolio
About Me: http://about.me/christinehaynes
2011: Tina Photakis
2010: Cherie Pickering
2008: Sue Urban
Went on to win the ACCE Award and the ISTE Outstanding Educator