This year's Hornby School , held at Coral Gardens, Hikkaduwa, was a chance for teachers and trainers from all around Sri Lanka to get together and learn how technology fits into the needs of their daily practice. Together with trainers Gavin Dudeney, Seamus Harkin and Gary O'Connor, everyone spent a pleasant week by the sea learning twenty-first century skills for teaching.
It was a perfect venue out of season, though we all spent much too much time cooped up in a dark room staring at screens and not enough out enjoying ourselves in the sun and the sea! Everyone was well looked-after at the hotel and the food was truly excellent, as was the hospitality. The temporary computer lab built by British Council technical staff from the Colombo and Kandy centres worked to perfection for the five days and everyone was able to get plenty of hands-on experience with the different technologies. On top of all the hard work we also enjoyed an outdoor barbecue and a trip in a glass-bottomed boat to check out the local fish life and coral reefs.
The course itself covered various ways of integrating technology into teaching, from using YouTube video clips to creative uses of digital images, audio recording software and other ways of engaging today's learners through digital media and new technologies. At the end of the week participants returned home to work with heavy hearts, but also laden with new ideas and tricks to try out. Everyone will be taking what they learnt at the school and applying an action plan in their local context to use these skills, hopefully to the benefit of their learners. Watch this space for more on that later in the year
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