What’s All the Fuss About AR and Why Should Educators Care? | The Better Mindset Podcast | Episode Nine

Podcast Transcript Podcast Below

Bex Rose: 0:00

Those thoughts that are constantly going through your head, those are the ones that you need to start noticing. There’s looking at what is fact and truth. So you need to ask yourself, is what I’m thinking right now? 100% truth? Is it like that you’ve got your job. Did you put in time and effort into this? Have you worked hard to get where you are today? Or is it that you need a really good look at it and actually don’t need to prove anything to anyone? Maybe I am good enough. You know, and I wonder, you know, those kinds of things, you need to work out what is the facts here? So challenge those negative thoughts do have this is a fun fact, you do have between 70 and 90,000 thoughts a day? The better mindset podcast.

Mark Herring: 0:43

Welcome to the better mindset Podcast, episode nine. I’m Mark. I’m Bex. conversations about leadership, learning and educational technologies. On today’s episode, Paul shares some real insights into the future of AR in all industries, and why schools should be thinking about engaging teachers and students with the skills to make the most of this emerging tech. We explore the first and a series of how tos on building community. And we’re going to start with building the benefits of using social media and big skits vulnerable on his struggles and strategies for overcoming something that all leaders and teachers faced impostor syndrome. And today’s making waves as new Beck’s What have you got for us today?

Bex Rose: 1:27

It is. So today, I’m going to get a little bit vulnerable. It’s something that has affected me throughout my whole career. But I want to bring it to the forefront because I think the more we talk about it, it’s one of those things that lots of people experience. So today, we’re going to talk about a circumstance that affects many people. But it’s actually quite misunderstood and not talked about enough in my opinion. And it’s been called impostor syndrome. So it’s Yeah, so it’s one of those things if you’ve ever felt like a fraud, or you don’t believe that you belong in your job or your position, and you’re just sort of pretending to be competent to this, or that you’ll be exposed as a fake worth, even though you’ve accomplishment a lot. And others seem to think highly of you. You don’t see this, or that you think, yeah, I just accidentally got to where I am today. That’s basically what impostor syndrome is.

Mark Herring: 2:23

It actually relates to have you heard of the Peters principle as well. And this is one of the reasons why imposter syndrome can be like, it can be quite a big thing in our head. But the Peters principle talks about the fact that everybody rises to their first level of incompetence. So we get really good at teaching. And then because we’re good at teaching, you get put into a lead role, the lead teacher or then you go into a DP role, but actually, you’re actually a really good teacher, you’re not a good lead teacher role. Yeah, I

Bex Rose: 2:48

was actually just having that conversation with the principal yesterday. And we had actually worked together as teachers, and then as team leaders, and then now he’s in a principal position, and I’m doing what I’m doing. And we have a turbine with each other go, how did this happen? Like it just yeah, just happens. And you go, Well, this is I might be shaky when I talk about this today, because it is something that I am still battling, I guess, and and I still it has stone still need to work or is a big work on for me, and it constantly is, but I’m gonna take you through some some ways that can support as well as sort of, yeah, a bit of a bit of a discussion around what impostor syndrome is. So I think the other thing is, is that you’re just as I touched on before, as well as that people that you look up to, and go with, I want to be like them in a leadership role. I want to be that VM in a classroom or they could potentially be facing this impostor syndrome as well, bone has, there was a study done and 80% of people have felt this way in some way, which way or form, so it is 100% Hallman thing? Yes, it’s generally when I’ve noticed are high, a lot of the high achieving individuals feeling not good enough. And their success is only due to luck or timing or other external factors that are bigger than their own abilities. So there are also some symptoms of imposter syndrome, which could be anxiety or self doubt, or feelings of inadequacy. And then that goes on to reluctance to take on new challenges or opportunities. So people might praise you and you’re sitting there thinking if only they knew the church, I slept on it and it I don’t know what to do to divide Yeah, and that whole saying fake it to your method. And yeah, I don’t want to I don’t want to keep pretending to fake it. So is this something that I really want to focus on and something that I really want to bring to the forefront? Yeah, it has made me really reflect them like her. Yeah. A bit of background I exactly what I was just say before just in teaching roles, and I was kind of just fell into a team leader role and then suddenly, I was my DP principal of a school and you know why I actually kept it a secret for a really long time? Because I was really nervous to tell people because I was really nervous that people would think, what the heck? Like, why did they do that job? Why had they put her in that role. So I didn’t do the big Facebook announcement, I didn’t do anything like that, obviously, the people at school knew community knew, but for my friends and family didn’t really know for quite a while. And so I went on this crusade of trying to upskill myself, so I would take on any new learning, I would try and listen to all the podcasts, I would enroll in all these different things, all the way through to trying to be available to my staff, 24/7 Because I thought, well, if I’m available, then I’m showing that I’m being a good leader, and, and just, yeah, in on this absolute crusade for probably for about two years. But within that two years, my 50 year old self got shingles about every two months. So I was putting myself under so much pressure and stress that my doctor was like, Bitch, this is not normal. You’re in your early 30s. And you’re getting shingles on every second month, what is going on? And it made me realize that yes, this was a massive aspect of it that might be impostor syndrome was eating meat from the inside out. Yeah, I think it was just I think it was stress to try and be this person that I felt like I was not to try and make sure that I could be a good leader to all my stuff, because I love my stance so much. And I felt like they were so much better than I was. And they I couldn’t give them anything. And so I was just trying to be available and help them all the time and do all this extra stuff on board. You know, like trying to organize all these cool events at schools that people go, Oh, she she thought she deserved that job. She’s doing all these events and doing all these exciting things. But I actually just completely wore myself out. Yeah, so I still actually because once tingles is in your body, you it’s dormant. So it just comes out if we need it, you know, sort of low or tired or things like that, something that I still kind of battle with, but it came from being in this in this SPIFe? Sorry, yeah, I might I always have always looked up to you and thought you’re an incredible leader has this been something that you, you’re like, not unsleep,

Mark Herring: 7:17

I find that funny because we know whenever somebody says something like that, it’s exactly the same favorite, I’ve totally felt like that, like constantly all the way through my career. I mean, I trained as a teacher a little bit late. So I kind of I went through Teacher’s College as a, what a semi mature, I think I was 27 when I went into Tico, and came out as a teacher at 30. So I was always a little bit older. And I think maybe people just expected a bit more of me, because I was a bit older. But then when you get into that leadership space, and you start to put yourself out there and try to you know, make those steps. I mean, I was offered a team leader role was behind the scenes, a team leader role very early on. But people on in the, in the school that I was working with, weren’t that keen for me to step into that role. And I always kind of look back on that and thought, wow, that that’s actually like, they didn’t have any belief in me or, you know, there was something about that. So, you know, little little moments like that can kind of follow you around, and this little voice in the back of your head, that tells you you’re not ready to step up. But every time that you do that, like it’s it’s like kind of leaning into a cold shower or getting out of your comfort zone. You know, whenever you see somebody take a risk and apply for another position or, you know, step into a new role that they’ve never done before. That’s like taking a step of kind of faith in yourself. But then other people don’t see what’s going on inside your head. They don’t see all that self doubt in the back of your mind.

Bex Rose: 8:40

It’s hardly and so I think we’ve established that it is normal. And it is it is okay to feel this way. So I’m going to I’m going to talk through a couple of steps, three, three things that we’re going to do to help combat this. It’s not a guaranteed going to fix everything because it’s something that I think if you’re susceptible to it, he’s gonna you’re gonna get it all the time. I mean, I got I got another I just recently have been on I’ve been I got voted on to a massive High School Board of Trustees. And I felt sitting above couldn’t believe it because I thought, oh my gosh, I got voted by all these people. And I got the top votes. And I was like, What is going on? Like, why do these people think I could do this? I cannot do this. And then I read the first meeting. And I was so nervous, like I was literally sweaty and like Lou, why not? I’m not like all these professional, incredible career driven people and then there’s me, why do they want being on this? But and I still do feel like that every now and then by I know that I can add value to that because I’ve got an educational lens and I think it’s really important on board trustees to have an edge. But yeah, it’s obviously something that I’m going to continue battling with And I’m going to learn, I’m going to say these strategies, and I’m going to keep thinking about the strategies when it hits me too. So we’ll get through this together, Raul navabi, together, to the things that we’re going to talk about. One is noticing and acknowledging thoughts. The second one is looking at what is fact and what is truth. And the third one is increasing your self worth. So number one, do looking, noticing and acknowledging your thoughts. So this is mindfulness 101, and we have become way better at teaching our kids about noticing your thoughts. So beings, being calm, being still, and actually sitting there with your own thoughts. And this is something that once you start noticing them, you can really start acting on. So there’s this nice already talked about this, there’s little voice that’s constantly in your head, you have a choice to accept it and take it as truth or you have the choice to ignore it and redirect your thoughts. So the first part is just noticing your thoughts. So what is actually going through my head right now? What am I thinking about? Because you just do you know, I hope you found yourself, sometimes. Don’t tell the bosses that but when I’m on meetings, I’m sitting there on the floor like this, and I’m listening earlier Taylor, like this handle in my brain is going Bientot. And I’m thinking of all these other things, and all this other stuff going on somebody they go fix you how you felt about that. And I’m like, but all those thoughts that are constantly going through your head, those are the ones that you need to start noticing. The second one is looking at what is fact and truth. So you need to ask yourself, is what I’m thinking right now? 100%? Truth? Is it like that you’ve got your job? Did you put time and effort into this? Have you worked hard to get where you are today? Or is it that you need a really good look at it and actually don’t need to prove anything to anyone? So maybe I am good enough? You know, and onerous, you know, those kinds of things, you need to work out what is the facts here? So I challenge those negative thoughts. And do have this is the fun fact you do have between 70 and 90,000 thoughts a day. And this is part of you. Your unconscious thoughts are the ones that I was talking about before when you’re sitting there and suddenly you realize that you’re thinking about breakfast four weeks ago, you know, like that. These are unconscious thoughts, you have 1000s of word thoughts. And when this imposter syndrome is triggered, you’ll go down this rabbit hole. So suddenly, something triggers your imposter syndrome. Someone asks you a question. And I’ve had this so many times, but not because I’ve started within this, this I’ve been, you know, here for a year. But in the beginning, there were all these acronyms. And I was lying, you were putting heat does that mean and then I said, You shouldn’t be in this job, because you don’t even know he doesn’t even know what that word means. And blah, blah, blah. And so as soon as that impostor syndrome is triggered, you go down this rabbit hole, so that at that moment, you have to go okay, stop noticing my thoughts. Pay attention to what you’re thinking and decide what you are thinking and believing because you have the choice. So choose and different thoughts. So when you become conscious with what you’re thinking, it is a game changer, and it’s actually a life changes. And you’ll be no open and aware to praise and take it on board. And I’m not saying this is easy, it does take effort to notice your thoughts, but can also be a habit. So once you become more conscious and more aware of what you’re thinking and become edit, that becomes a habit. And then the easier it becomes that within

Mark Herring: 13:37

journaling. But well, yeah, well journaling can help with that. I do that in the mornings. And often I’ll write down things that I’m thinking or you know, things that I’m struggling through. I mean, I’ve got a fate so there’s a prayer element to that as well. But have you heard of Mel Robbins, she has a Melbourne he has a countdown 5432 Just as a circuit breaker for that negative thinking. So as soon as you start thinking that negative thought and listening to yourself, rather than talking to yourself, she goes, right, just count down five and get to one. And then what that does is it stops that thought. And then you can replace it with what you know is true, or what should be something that you’re thinking about sort of stopping listening and actually talk to yourself,

Bex Rose: 14:17

totally. And so that’s also making you notice what you’re thinking because you’re actually actively making a choice to stop it and move on. The 54321 method is such an incredible method. Actually, let’s do a podcast about that whole thing, Mike, because it’s gonna total and the third is actually really similar to what you just said. So focusing on your past successes and accomplishments and increasing your self worth. So looking at your past successes is a great way to reframe your negative thoughts. Instead of focusing on your perceived shortcomings or failures. I tried to focus on your strengths and accomplishment. The way to do this is to make a list of your achievements and remind yourself of them when you’re feeling self doubt or anxiety. So write them down. A sitemap was saying journal them down. And it really helps you once you see it on paper, the things that have led you to the way you are today, it can develop a more self positive image and boost your confidence. So it is actually treating yourself with the same kindness and understanding that you would offer your friend. Like, that’s why I always think I thought so good. Would you talk to yourself? Would you talk to them, like my best friend and say how terrible that they’re doing in their career? You know, there’s no way that I would ever do that to my friend. So why the heck am I doing it to myself, you know, like, and my friends fantastic. Like they are my cheerleader squads. And they always but I find it we’re going to take effect next week, we’re really cringey, although my love languages activations, but it’s still find that hard to, to take on. So it gives you a chance that once you’ve written it down to look back on your career, well moments where you felt proud of what you’ve achieved. And those are the moments that have led you where you are today. So it’s it’s a really neat way to be able to reframe those thoughts and turn those negative self doubt thoughts into Elementor positive. So I guess just to wrap it up, is that I think you have to accept that feelings of impostor syndrome may never go away fully. So instead of trying and eliminate the feelings, learning to manage them and use them as motivation to continue growing and learning the is the way to sort of combat it. So I think remembering that everyone experiences self-doubt, and then it’s okay to ask for help when you need it. So might I might come to you and be like, Hey, Matt, feeling a little bit of imposter syndrome here. They’ll be up and give me all the things. I even tell younger, lame Andy and, you know, those things are the ones that you need to go back to remember when you’re feeling like you’re in this space. So yeah, I need to take my own advice as well. I know. But that is a work in progress. But I think if you’re listening to this podcast, you’re actively seeking ways to improve. And that is an incredible way to to learn and grow as well. And to help you in moments like this

Mark Herring: 17:08

contest. So thanks. Thanks, that’s really cool. picks up a little bit excited about this, because I think what we’ve got for today’s handy how to is quite a lot of really good ideas. Between the two of us, we’re just gonna come up with some ideas for how you can build community. And we’re hoping that this is the start of a series in a roundabout, maybe three or four different episodes, we’ll be covering how you can build community with your, with your school, connecting with your wider community, not only the parents, but obviously the wider community, and also an international community as well, we might dive into that. But on this episode, what we’d like to do is talk about the reasons why a school would use social media to be able to build that community. So let’s make a theme around that. And then actually dive into some of the ways that you and I have experienced at working and some of the things that we see happening now because when I first started teaching, there was no such thing as tick tock will be thankfully back on those days, but wasn’t actually that long ago, it was only like 2008 or something. But let’s start off. Why don’t we talk about why schools would use social media because you and I see some schools that are absolutely killing it in this space. They’re doing amazing stuff and doing amazing work. And then there are other schools that have just, you know, it’s not even on their radar, whether they’ve decided not to do it, and they’re gonna stick with their paper newsletters, they might email but that’s about all. So I want to give you a four reasons why school, why I think schools would use social media and tell me what you think. And if there’s anything I’ve missed, number one, the number one reason to use social media is to build a bridge with your community. Because for a lot of parents, this is what I’ve seen for a lot of parents, they still have a perception of your school as being the administration area, the front of your classroom, and maybe your teacher only day where you’re a teacher parent interview, where a parent will come in, but really that the perception that they have of school is what it was like when they went to school and that could have been the 80s 90s or heaven forbid the beginning of the 2000s their worldview about what scholars really hasn’t changed since then. So if you can build a bridge between what you’re doing now and show them little glimpses, little selected snippets, you don’t show all of the all the things you know behind the scenes, you don’t want to show like you kind of rushing to get assessments done on the last minute of report week or something like that. And you’re going to show the highlight reel that’s what social media is good at. And then sharing the learning sharing the events providing live links to events you know, like an Instagram Live at the sports day where you’re getting kids to, you know, interview, you know students with before they do the 100 meter or you know, those types of things. There are ways that you can provide connection that people are quite keen to jump on. They’ve all got phones, there at work, you know, a little notification comes up that my son or my daughter’s school is providing a live link, I can jump on it. So that’s number one, build a bridge and a connection number two. I’ve found over the years that social media is a great way of you archiving your school’s history. because one of the things I love looking back to my days in the classroom is I can go back to that blog and see the things that I was doing in like 2012. You know, like, that’s, that’s amazing, because one of the sad things about a lot of school history is that it’s sort of an inner photo album book, because we just didn’t have the technology back then to do anything different. But they were in a cupboard and people would Greg, drag them out and blow the dust off. And you know, or accidentally, they get thrown on the skirt, I

Bex Rose: 20:25

would go through at the end of each year on our one, and that was that created our school magazine. So I went through all of the photos throughout the year, and then used on Snapfish, or something like that online and created a movie, magazine. And it was so uncool that kids love looking through all the photos, and it was she at least have a job than what it could have been because I’d taken the photos throughout the whole year. So it was yeah, it was neat. And a rhythm that was a really good space to archive. And you’re right, that’s a great, great, great point.

Mark Herring: 20:54

And you’re you know, every photo that you put on Facebook, or Instagram or some other websites that you might use, those are usually your best one. So it’s kind of like your filtering, rather than going into your camera roll and sifting through hundreds and hundreds of photos, you’ve actually done that as you’ve gone through. So it’s a really nice way to archive and then create something for the future as well. Number three, I’ve always found that social media is a fantastic way to start conversations in the in the family home, you know, at the dinner table in the TV, lounge dinner, if you’re a TV with dinner person, the opportunity for a parent to say to a student, what are you to do at school today? And then usually to say something like, Oh, nothing or you know, ate my lunch, actually, for a parent to say, well, I saw a blog post about this that you did tell what were you doing when you blocked that volcano? What were you you know, I saw that you did some some really interesting PE stuff with hockey sticks and chase each other around. And, you know, tell me about that. So what it does is it creates that window to start that conversation. And then everything can kind of go from there. I’ve always had parents come and say to me, not every parent would engage with my social media feeds. But the ones that did, and were really interested really appreciated having that window. And number four, this is this is probably the biggest reason I think from a leadership perspective, why it’s important for you to be engaging with social media, is that it dispels the myths about the things that might be or might not be happening out in the community. And so every leader knows about this thing called a carpark conversation or a street front conversation, you know, where those parents get together and they talk line Did you see what happened and Johnny’s homework, oh, my goodness, you know, there’s all of this conversation and then it like grows. And then it becomes this thing where the there are some parents who think that, you know, the students don’t do any math, they just sort of go on games all day. Whereas if you’re able to share what’s happening in the maths program, and I used to be quite strategic about this, I kind of hear whispers or rumors. And then I’d sort of strategically post something that was like a little bit of a threat of something that we were doing in maths, and this is what I mess looks like and, you know, ask your student about the thing that they did, you know, you’re actually being intentional about the things that you’re showing, it’s kind of connected with the saying that mold grows in the dark. And there’s nothing like a bit of sunlight to use a bit of disinfect that. So the more that you can show strategically than that conversation will will just kind of get dispelled. And, you know, put on the backburner. What do you think that I’m missing out?

Bex Rose: 23:15

In? No, I just love your analogy. So Mark is like the king of analogies that evolved with a job or discovered nowhere, they just go,

Mark Herring: 23:24

Oh, I was just gonna say usually my analogies about our about hot, they’re either about hiking, sports, or cars, those are the two those three,

Bex Rose: 23:33

ie a title. So we set up a pretty successful social media campaign at our school and into that pain, we were seeming rural, so we would actually lose power, you know, quite regularly. So having the social media display should be another way to be honest. If there was no power off, and we still had data on our phones, we could connect with the community if we had no phone lines, or we had no things like that. So actually having a really consistent following. And parents knowing that that was a port of call was actually health and safety purposes for us, because it was the only way we can connect and I’ve got school flooded and all the all the power went out, we could still use our data to put on the Facebook page that you know, kids are all okay, that is another app. So that is another way that I’m going to move into the house now. So what we did was survey the school on what social media platforms and most use in the community. So is it Instagram is at baseball because it Twitter and get just a really sort of clear indication on which one was the most preferred platform and just roll with that one. If you have more than one, it becomes confusing, and it also becomes more. It’s just too hard to make sure that it’s consistent across all the platforms. So choose, choose one and enroll with that. So yeah, yeah, totally so so we used Facebook, or that was the most powerful For your platform for for our community, then we can build a following. So this means posting consistently. So one pot of one off posts here and there, that they’ll drop off the feeds of your community. So they won’t see what’s coming up. So making sure that you’re posting consistently, you know, this was, once you get in the habit of it, well, it’s really quite easy. So I would be sitting in my office sometimes and looked down on that, see the five year olds doing this epic play based learning thing, you know, one was, you know, building a hat out of twigs, and another one was, you know, storing of a piece of wood and creating an aeroplane and I go, this is so cold. So I’d go out and my dad to take some photos, or just jump on a live and I’d let the teachers know, hey, I’m just jumping on alive. So you know, be careful. And I go, Hey, and then I’d say, Look, I’m just literally this is this is one off in city office. Like, as soon as epic stuff going on, let’s take a look at here are some of the kids so that was a really, it was really easy to start posting. Consistently. The other things were like making sure that I always had photos of the kids getting their certificates at the end of the week at assembly. So the parents would know, on a Friday, every day to look every Friday to look and have a look at who’s getting their certificate. And this following not only established our you know, immediate fondo. But it was actually grandparents that were in England and grandparents that were in South Africa and China. And there was parent grandparents that were like some of the biggest followers that we just got to see and will think to be kids authentically engaging in school. And that was what really made my heart the same. Because I remember, just a bit of a side note was we when we were in COVID. And and I would do a Facebook Live on our judging. So I’d be doing some children or I would all the kids will be joining on and the end period grandparents all over the world were jumping on and, and they just felt so connected on a time that we were so disconnected. So yeah, so that was really cool. So building that following by posting regularly. And the next thing is also to make sure you have one to two main social media content creators. So choose people who had the gras Cassidy and also the skills to make sure that regular content has been created and added. So I was one of them off the DP. So I sort of had a little bit more time and make sure that that was something that was on my cadence. I was always doing that every week. But also, until a young gun. There’s just called Deadly diarrhea on the fire. Did it know that there was something cool going on in the classroom? So yeah, the big cool math experiment or aside the spirits or math program going on, or even just down to group teaching, because just what you were talking about before mark, they’d be like, Oh, my, my child hasn’t done math. Well, there’s both of them doing brickbats today that might have not looked or felt like maths for them, because it was pretty fun. But that’s wasn’t so you know. So just through making, making sure that that kind of stuff was being documented and popped up. There are big things like the principal and I would announce events coming up, and we’d get together and do a video together and then pop it on a Facebook Live, and then they concede it authentic engagement, us building the authentic homeschool partnership with the community, you know, we hear we’re not just sitting behind desks, you know, we’re in the classes, we’re doing this. Yeah. And the other thing we actually posted quite often was, you know, when you go to say, like, zone sports events, or even just school, school, sports events, and parents can’t get to them all the time they work. Reality is the majority of us are working nowadays. So it’s really hard to get to a bean. So when my stepmom and my son was at another school, my daughter’s another school saying, you know, their name pop up, and they came to sit in telegram at the school. Oh, yeah, they can seek it. And in that real life straightaway, I knew exactly how they were doing. So yeah, it’s a really important part of school. And the one thing to really make sure, though, isn’t, you need to make sure and get permission for kids to be photographed. So I decided, I was going to mention all permission to shoot Yes, shoot in classrooms or events and make sure that you’re well aware of the children who do not have permission because they will be sanded. And so that would be something that all the staff need to be across it if they’re, if they’re in the photos, that they just have a little harder with the face or, or they’re just out of the shot in general, that is really wanted to get that progression, because there are still there, there are people out there that I’m not keen on hitting the kids photographed.

Mark Herring: 29:20

And sometimes that can be for legal reasons. You know, like, I know, there have been those, you know, custody issues, legally, those types of things. But there are there are parents that if you just have a conversation with them and just to allay their fears, you know, like, like a lot of people have this concern that you know, my child’s details are going to be connected with your face and that someone nefarious out there might use that to manipulate them and those types of things. If you’re having a conversation with a parent like that, and just reassure them that we never put you know, full names with students. You know, those types of things. I’ve always found this issue really interesting because I used to find that there were parents who were you know, anti anything going on Facebook or anything that, but as soon as the newspaper came out and the newspaper camera came out, then they were quite happy to have their name and age where they live to. So other favorite hobby was of all 100 newspapers. So it’s kind of a little bit of a tricky one, you just have to navigate carefully on a case by case basis.

Bex Rose: 30:16

Yeah, for sure. But I’m yeah, just just circling back, I’m a massive fan of engaging with the community in authentic ways. I think it also brings down those barriers of what you were saying before, you know, like, there’s still people out there, and I know, I’ve got friends who had terrible experiences at school. So stepping onto school grounds, there’s two minute life, like, yeah, it’s too late for them. And they don’t, they don’t want to be going into classes all the time. And this isn’t like going to pure entities might scare them, because they had such a horrible time themselves. So opening it up in this non threatening way of being able to really explore what their kids are doing. And really getting a clearer understanding of the child’s diet at school is just so special for, for parents. And, and yeah, and not only that, it’s a really quick way of getting information out to parents, you know, like, I remember, we had, we go back to being semi rural, we were on quite a main road, we had horrendous car accident outside our school, and we had to, we had to shut the school essentially, and get the kids out. And, and getting the information out to parents through Facebook was so quick, you know, the parents were like, bummed. And you know, because it was, like, they like don’t have to wait for an email or messaging me to phone everyone, you know, that kind of thing. So it’s a really awesome tool to be able to communicate with your community, and showcase what you’re doing all the awesome things that you’re doing at school,

Mark Herring: 31:43

especially if you’ve got a parent evening, at the start of the year for new parents and people that are just joining your school, if you’re able to show them that this is where a lot of our communication comes, we still email you, we still have a weekly newsletter that goes out, you know, those types of things. But we also have a social media feed, if it’s Facebook, we show people how to get it set up, if they haven’t got it set up, let them know and show them how they can use things that they don’t want to see. You know, a lot of people are kind of anti Facebook, and anti Instagram and all those types of things, because well, it’s full of all sorts of rubbish, but you can actually show them how to filter that down. Or, yeah, that’s another topic for another day. But you can create a feed in your social media platform, as a user, that is totally only the things that you want. And so you can only get notifications from certain things. So if you show a parent, how to get a notification turned on from the school, that’s life for them, you know, like they filmed and it did, if it hasn’t hung them on their phone, then there’s nothing that they need to worry about. I think a couple of other things that come to mind when you’re creating content for those social media platforms is to just think for all it doesn’t need to be polished as it it can just be you know, like you were saying just hit a button, go live, walk around your camera, you know, be aware of things, but it doesn’t need to be like a whole iMovie production. That’s something for a different reason. But it does need to be just done, you know, run and gun they call it and the best camera you’ve got is the one in your pocket, or whatever you’ve got with you. So just use your phone use your phone is a really powerful teaching tool. I think that’s a really, really good tip for people. One school that I think would be really good to go and check out if you’re interested in seeing what an authentic, engaging community-building social media channel looks like is manually intermediate in Auckland. If you go and look at the YouTube link, there’ll be a link in the show notes, you can see what they do. They have I think it was the DP but he’s gone on to be a principal of another school. And I think other teachers are picking that up now. But he does a lot of that content. So he would just have us a mobile phone on a gimbal that you can buy for about two or $300. And he would walk around and he would film that. And I think students helped him out as well. But you know, basketball games are school assemblies, they sing chants that it’s incredible, you get a real feel of the school. And if I was a parent of that school, that would be a really nice way of me seeing the window into what they’re doing. So I hope that was helpful in terms of what a school can do to build a community using social media. We’re going to keep adding to this as a series and look at different ways that you can build community, with the community that you serve. Everyone just wanted to take a quick break to tell you about something that we think you’re going to love if you’re listening to this episode and enjoying the lives of conversation. Or maybe there have been past episodes where we talk about effective change getting in front of the disruption that’s coming to education. And you’ve thought it just kind of feels like we’re skimming the surface. I wish that we could go deeper into these big issues. Wow, have we got the event for you? UTB team has been hard at work behind the scenes putting together a brand new education event that’s unlike anything that you’ve seen or we’ve seen for school leaders out there. Our New Zealand future now Leadership Summit is being held in Auckland this April 19 to 21st is the second week of the school term here in New Zealand of the holidays. And it’s something that you’re going to not want to miss Bix, you want to tell us about what we’ll be doing there in the way of fun.

Bex Rose: 34:58

Oh my goodness, I I’m so excited for this. So up in Cleveland or down in Cleveland is there’s a beautiful venue that is the most Instagrammy than you’ve ever seen. It overlooks all of Auckland, it’s called Cody boy Bo rockets and pleaded. Now the first afternoon is a real chance to network with like minded educators. So while doing that, you get to have a we do have some flavors shooting, we’ll hold one goal and whiskey tasting a wine tasty, and then a wee little pleasure and walk around and chatting to people and hearing their stories. And it’s a really important part. I think all the others being able to network with like minded other educators. Now the second day is the day with the learning. So do you want to jump into that part? Mark?

Mark Herring: 35:43

Yeah, absolutely. And all of that fun. And you know, all of those events sounds so good, don’t they? It’s funny, I’ve talked to leaders, some sometimes they say, Oh, it’s just the x throwing event. Why was differently more than that? Yes, there has got to be extra time. But we’ve also got some hugely influential speakers who are experts in the field of educational technology change and how to effectively lead your team through this challenging fee them. So listen, as a small event, we do have limited numbers, and we just don’t want you to miss out. So tickets for the full three days. That’s Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, only 590 New Zealand dollars. And that covers your transport, your food, entertainment, and all of the kief speakers, discussion groups and all of the content that you can handle. And if you’re not in New Zealand, and we do have some people coming from overseas, which is fantastic, we do want you to come anyway, flights are getting cheaper, and we’d love to have you there with us. So all you have to do is go to UTB dot FYI Ford slash FNS For more information, and you can register there or contact us if you’d like to have any more questions that is UTB dot FYI, Ford slash F is. All right on the good to know section, we’ve got Paul, one of our trainers on the Sunshine Coast. And Paul’s a bit of an HR expert. And we thought we’d get you on today, Paul, just to talk about some of the background behind behind AR and not so much the tool specific because I know that that’s something that you do a lot of with schools and with teachers and you know, diving into how it’s used in the classroom. But one of the first things I’d love to know, is just a little bit of the background behind AR You might even need to explain to some of us what AR stands for?

Paul Hamilton: 37:22

Yeah, so good to see you. Thanks. And Mark, it’s so it basically stands for augmented reality. It’s been around for a while now. So when we talk about kind of emerging tech, I don’t really put it in that category anymore, because it’s hit the mainstream. Now. It’s not like it’s something that people are just playing with. I can talk about how it’s been used in a minute. But basically, it’s that layering of digital content in the real world. So when we talk about augmented reality, I often think about what does that look like. So basically, we know that when we go shopping, and that for furniture, or something for our house, the best way to see if it actually fits, and it’s going to work is to place it in the actual house itself. So if I went to the IKEA app, obviously is a really good example, I can test out what the furniture is going to look like. And if it’s going to fit in my actual location. So for me, that’s the best kind of example of what AR is. And it’s been used across industry all across the world, which is really, really great to see that being used in a really authentic context.

Mark Herring: 38:30

Yep. And just sort of it’s taking it out of your imagination, isn’t it? Because most of us for years have had to kind of imagine in our heads what it might look like. And so now it becomes reality. Why do you think a kind of hasn’t caught on really until now? What’s the thing that’s been holding you back? Because I’d imagine that the software is there has been there or the programs have been there to do it for a long time. And it’s probably been in movies that we haven’t even realized why is it not really taking off at this stage yet?

Paul Hamilton: 38:57

Yeah. So when you say it hasn’t taken off? I’d say it has because my whole work? And it actually is based around it. But you’re right. It hasn’t probably become as mainstream in education. Yeah, as quickly as quickly as we thought it might do. So one of the things is obviously hardware, you’re absolutely right mod. So we need mobile devices for this. So the greater the push towards laptops, and Chromebooks and so forth just does not run AR so for us as teachers, we want our students creating an AR and actually building their own prototypes, but actually viewing it is the really magical aspects. So when we’ve got hardware that doesn’t, is not capable of visualizing AR, then obviously it’s not going to it’s not going to have momentum in schools. Is it because we basically can’t see it and we can kind of experience that magic?

Mark Herring: 39:48

Yeah. And it’s getting that connection between the virtual world and the real world, I think is where that you know that the two worlds can come together and really make a big impact. So you’re telling me that a lot of the schools that we work in have got chrome So they’ve got iPads that they bought, you know, 10 years ago. So iPad two, so neither of those two devices, well, iPad,

Paul Hamilton: 40:06

yeah, iPads pretty good, because I’m a little bit biased because I work in it. But iPad has been built for AR. So it’s got the rear camera, the cameras are decent. And all of the stuff that’s happening in the background has been built for AR. So AR with Apple has really been a big investment, obviously, going forward. So even the older some of the early generation ones will run AR successfully, which is which is really good in regard to I would imagine 99.9% of schools that have got iPads sitting there, even the older ones will be able to run AI, which is pretty cool.

Mark Herring: 40:43

Let’s come Yeah, so they say your leader in the school, and Becks, you know, somebody who’s across curriculum design, and you’re trying to get a lot of planning in place, and you’re trying to look a little bit down the future for what your students might need. Why would I as a leader care about AR get my students? Why is it something I want to get into?

Paul Hamilton: 41:00

So this is the million-dollar question. This is the why which we need to do a lot more critically in education. So, Dylan, William says everything fits somewhere, but nothing did everywhere. So for me, it’s about where does AR fit? So where does it have the greatest impact? So AR is spatial. So whenever you’re dealing in school spatial concepts, like I’m designing some furniture, or I’m about to do some artwork in the school, and I want to see what it looks like on the wall before I actually paint. So that kind of design thinking aspect, has anything to do with spatial concepts, even right down to 3d shapes. Anything that involves 3d, that would be better, visualized, as a 3d object in the real world is better than just on a flat screen. So yeah, I always say, start with the arts and start with the creative start with how we might be able to reimagine artwork and be able to walk through the Photoshop layers and all that kind of aspect. Because for me that spatial, that that ability to walk through, turn around, look at different directions. And the other thing I think you need to think about is you’re going to use AR and I’m certainly not one to use it for just AR’s sake, we need to find the right fit is we need to think about the connection with the real world. So for example, if it doesn’t connect, if the digital thing that I’m layering in the real world does it connect somehow, then what’s the point, you might go back to the IKEA example, it’s got a really strong connection, this is where I’m going to place it, I haven’t got time to go down and bring it and deliver it and see if it fits. That’s just not doable. But it’s got a connection with my real life. It’s almost like our students are preparing artwork at school, they’re doing some awesome, say paintings and all that sort of thing. before it goes home, take a photo of it, put a frame around it, and see what it looks like in the house before you actually bring it home. So if we’re doing that with art galleries in industry, wouldn’t it make sense to do that in the school newsletter that goes home, where I can visualize my students artwork in my house before it comes home? Like? So we’re looking? It’s almost like looking at case studies. Where does it fit well, where it’s going to work for your context, because it’s not going to work everywhere. But it is going to be really impactful in certain areas. And I think that’s the magic is finding where it fits.

Bex Rose: 43:23

Yeah, Paul, I saw on your Instagram at Spyfall. Hamilton, by the way, it’s one of one to follow, I tell you right now, and then something every time you post, and you post it out this epic, it was the Colin Paul. So yes, you can see how everything was working. And I’m such a kinesthetic learner, I need to see how things work in order to understand. And I thought, when I saw that, I thought, Gosh, how awesome would this have been in my science class? Or how awesome would this have been in my engineering class, rather than having to look at diagrams that might work moving that will just you know, to D or writes things down of how they worked? No velocity times, whatever, all those kinds of things and see it in action, you would definitely pick up those learners that would sit there with this velocity law, if they can actually see it happens. I just think it’s absolutely magical. So

Paul Hamilton: 44:15

they’re planning, I think this was a really good one. Yeah, it was a really good one. So what we did is we didn’t lay out a 3d model of a car in the driveway. And then what I did is I applied a little sound around the fan belt where it was kind of making this kind of sound, but my car was making to kind of identify it. And it does a couple of things in learning back. Sure. Absolutely. Right. It’s more than the engagement. It’s a car is spatial. It’s got sign Dale through it. So doesn’t it make sense for me to walk around it and actually replicate what it would be in real life? It’s not real, but it’s closer than it wouldn’t be me looking at a YouTube clip. So the ability to accelerate round Yeah. And the other cool thing is, is when we applied the same And in the motor or near the fan belt. It’s called spatial audio. So as I get closer to it, the sound gets louder. And as I walk away, so I can almost do a treasure hunt with sounds just by listening with my headphones on. So how cool. Are

Bex Rose: 45:15

they for an authentic assessment as well, you know, imagine if there was an assessment and an a, you know, like an actual assessment there. There are automotive classes, right, and so measured. Yeah, it was the assessment rather than having to read screeds, where it’d be bunch of kids that do that kind of thing that actually readings, a barrier, you know, so it wasn’t having that as an opportunity for them to go and say, Hey, this, the fan bouts making this noise, there are a lot and actually having to fix it through AR like it would just be so much more authentic and relevant for those kids.

Paul Hamilton: 45:44

So there’s three ways we’re looking at Bex isn’t it, there’s that I’m explicitly teaching a concept or a problem. So I’m giving that AR to the kids, which is brave. But then there’s the other flip side, where it becomes an assessment task, where I’m designing an AR model with the sounds and everything, and I’m actually teaching someone else about it. So if we flip that assessment, I’m not just giving AR to teach a concept. But I’m actually getting my kids to develop skills in 3d modeling, and all these kinds of computer concepts as well, to actually demonstrate a concept in the curriculum itself. So it’s not an both of those, which is powerful.

Mark Herring: 46:24

I keep having this picture of a volcano in my head, you know, if you’re wanting to do a field trip, or understand how volcanoes work, or that kind of thing that you can actually go visit a real life volcano, but if you’re actually looking inside it, and being able to, you know, transport down, and all of those types of things and see the different elements of it, it really does bring a whole nother connection to the outside world that you just wouldn’t have otherwise

Paul Hamilton: 46:44

salutely I always think of it like what is AR giving the learner or the user that they wouldn’t get looking at a screen and a YouTube during relation online, if you can distinguish and say it’s giving me this, this than this, then you’ve got the why about why you might utilize it in the classroom, but if it’s not giving you extra, and that’s why I think we’ve moved away from videos in AR. In the old days, we used to have an app called Aurasma. And you used to be able to kind of scan something and up pop the video and it was I remember they popular at the time. But what it was actually doing wasn’t spatial, it was actually amazing, just kind of scan a barcode and have the picture next to it, it didn’t have a really strong connection with spatial concepts. And that’s why we’ve moved away from it, as well as the technical of being able to run high resolution video in an AR setting is really quite taxing on the device itself. So yeah, it’s interesting how we’ve developed and we’ve gone from that kind of just replicating what’s on my laptop to actually something that’s more 3d and spatial and kind of on walking around and making use of mobile, because AR in the real world is all about phones. So our iPhones and our phones have got these amazing cameras on the back of them. And so that’s where iPad excels is is kind of replicating how we’re using it in our lives.

Mark Herring: 48:08

All right, can you give us some examples, I know you’ve worked with some schools overseas, you know, to develop some AR projects, what would be something like a little highlight spotlight that you’re using it,

Paul Hamilton: 48:17

it’s always good. You guys know this in regards to starting with a problem or starting your design thinking or product development with a problem or with empathy, which is a great way of looking at it. I had a student in Chicago who, whose mom had a Chinese restaurant in Chicago. And she wanted to create some ale he wanted to create some AR for her. And he basically scanned all of their meals. So as he brought out the meals, he would scan them with his phone. And he would create little AR menus that you could put on the on the menu itself, where people could scan and actually see the size of the portions before I even started them. And so what he was doing is what we call an AR It’s kind of the capture phase where he’s actually using his phone to capture using a lidar scan and actually capturing the real world and then digitizing it and then putting it back into the real world so it’s kind of like have to do something with it and then show and what that does is it’s now attached to her menus the mom’s menu then the Chinese restaurant and people people can scan and actually see what the portion sizes are before they order so it’s so good it’s about scale be a game

Bex Rose: 49:30

changer because that will be guaranteed because you know how like you order and then your partner gets the other meal and you like Pathak food for an hour like I showed her on Monday. Yeah, there’ll be advice.

Paul Hamilton: 49:42

And you know, there was always those jobs in sorry for New Zealand dodgy not good. There was always gotten fired off menus that never really captured what the meal actually look like. 100% logical kind of thought with scanning. It’s kind of like you’re capturing the real thing. Real meal, right, so you’re gonna get really close to that as well, which is interesting.

Mark Herring: 50:04

So that was a school that I was working with, I’m just sort of relating it to experiences I’ve had. And I’m thinking, oh, man, it would have been so good to do that. So you know you’re in. So let’s say you’re in a school and you want to capture some of the history of the school, I was working with a school last year, with this exact scenario, this school had been there for 150 years or something. And they had, you know, these were where the trees used to be. And this was where the original schoolhouse was, you could actually, obviously, you know, what would you do in that scenario? How would you help that School tell this story to people who are visiting?

Paul Hamilton: 50:31

Yes. So there’s a whole lot of kind of technical aspects to the AR thing. So one of the things you’re talking about Mark is kind of geolocation where I’m kind of scanning places. And it’s picking up where I am in the world like you Google Maps or Apple Maps. And it’s kind of layering the content over the top. But schools, that’s not really doable yet that that tech is not kind of really foolproof in any viewer, good experience. But what we could do, because I always think about, we don’t want take to be the obstacle or the hurdle. So we actually want it working well for visitors, and we want it working well. So for me, one of the things that I would do is to suggest the old QR codes where I’ve got a code that I just scan, let’s say it’s outside the sides building of the school. And then what comes up is the user can place what that building used to look like right next to it and Marina in a spot next to it. So instead of layering over the top, it would be good to be able to do that, that at the moment, we want take that really still has the wow factor that words, though, I would actually have to either a picture or a 3d model of the old building, or the old trees, maybe in black and white to give it that kind of effect of now and then. And actually, just scan it and actually have it there. So I think we should always use the stock word. So we know QR codes work really well. So being able to layer that content, quickly scanning and then placing, it’s an extra step. But it’s still gonna work, which is what we want in schools. Yeah,

Mark Herring: 52:03

the scrap that’s perfect. So if somebody was keen to find out more, and they wanted to connect with the grateful Hamilton and get some training around this woman we do.

Paul Hamilton: 52:12

Yeah, just so just reach out, obviously, UTP. We’re all over on the internet. And you can find us really, really quickly. And it’d be just the case of what you did there, Mark, you might have an idea. Or you might say, Hey, we’ve got these devices poor, we’re not really using them to their full extent here to their potential. What are some of the things that you’re doing in schools that might align with the New Zealand curriculum or the Australian Curriculum? Because I’m a really big believer in use what you’ve got. So for example, if you’ve already got something like procreate, and your kids are doing great artwork and procreate, how about they do t shirt design, or hoodie designs or shoe designs, where they’re drawing on the 3d objects, and then visualizing what they would look like in a retail store? Like then instead of what we’d certainly do, let’s, let’s take it up a level, let’s let’s kind of update of that. And we will get more and may then replicate how business and industry are using it, because it’s also giving the kids the skills on their resume to say, hey, look what I’ve done. And some businesses haven’t even done that yet. So it’s kind of really giving them those important skills going forward, I think as well. So just so

Mark Herring: 53:21

people can reach out,

Bex Rose: 53:22

oh, sorry, sorry, I was just gonna say one thing, before we go is that, don’t be scared of it like that. It doesn’t have to be big and new. And it can just enhance what you’re already doing. Like don’t, don’t not give it a go. Because it’s something seems so big and massive like, as Paul just said, it can just enhance what you’re already doing. Like he’d make it better, make it more authentic, make it more relevant for your kids.

Paul Hamilton: 53:43

If you’ve got some content that the kids are doing on their technology, and you want to visualize it in the real world if you want to make it come off the screen. And actually input into the world of the students and the teachers. Think of it like that, think about kind of grabbing and reaching into the screen and kind of bringing it out in for the world to see in their context. It’s a good way of thinking about it. I

Mark Herring: 54:06

think so good for thanks for joining us, I think you might have won a few people around and it’s definitely going to be a space to keep an eye out as it develops. And you know, the hardware and the software sits keeps getting better and better. So thanks for thanks for sharing. Thanks, guys as well. All right, final thoughts from Beck’s All right, well, what

Bex Rose: 54:25

an episode I in education is something that we cannot ignore. It’s a tool that can really enhance learning experiences for our students and I will improve student engagement across all aspects of the curriculum. So go give it a go just just start playing around with that Oregon. I hope you do take something away from the making wave segments this week and and one thing that you could do to start and start writing down those achievements that you’ve had over your career and have a list on your notes to go back to refer when you start feeling that imposter syndrome creeping in and finally, if you will On any help with setting up your social media channels for school will want to talk to us more in person about how we can support building your homeschool partnership. Send me an email Biggs at using technology better.com. And we’re more than happy to help you.

Mark Herring: 55:12

Awesome if you’re after some of the links or resources that we’ve mentioned today, including them how to how to get in touch with us have a look at the show notes and make sure that you subscribe to our podcast episodes go live every single Wednesday, barring some major disaster like a cyclone. If you know someone who would get value from these episodes, hit the share button and let them know and lastly, as always, if you’ve got any questions or anything share with us, email us at the team at time at using technology better.com We’d love to hear from you. See you next week.