I’m really proud to have been able to associate myself with Frog Education in recent years. When I first started teaching in 1997 I certainly didn’t think I’d be doing the job I do now.

At an early age, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher and work in a way that helped others, especially young people. As I grew in my career I realised that in a leadership role I could help even more people and started to use and share my work on social media, the same was true here too. My values drove me to share, to support colleagues beyond my school and so ICT Evangelist was born.

The journey to my current position came from a variety of activities for a number of different roles in schools across my 20+ years in the classroom. I certainly didn’t think I would be running my own business nor did I think I would be the Head of Education in a large education technology company either. It was certainly never in my career plan!

Nevertheless, here I am, but my mission is still the same.

My work now sees me working in three main areas - supporting teachers and school leaders, working with edtechs, particularly in my role as Head of Education at NetSupport, and a fair amount of resource and course creation. All of these activities are still guided by the same values -to help others, improve conditions for teachers so ultimately we can better help and serve the young people we all work with.

It was this shared vision and values that first drew me to Frog when I came across them many years ago at BETT and got speaking with Frog's Chief Customer Officer, Lucy Evans.

Over the years I grew to learn more and more about Frog and  have engaged in a number of different activities with them. Through everything I have seen, those values shine through with all of the people I speak to and work with within the business. Whether it’s the customer-facing team helping and supporting schools, the technical and graphic wizardry or curators who share all of the amazing work being done by schools using Frog, they all have that same mission, to help children and teachers.

One of the best things about working with a company such as Frog is getting to hear the fantastic stories of how schools around the world are making a difference in the lives of the young people they serve, whilst using Frog’s tools.

The thing that has been really clear to me by attending Frog events over the years has been how much of a family feel there is around the company. As educators we know the real importance of strong relationships with young people and the families and communities we serve and this is mirrored in the strong relationships I have been privy to.

This was why, following reading and hearing about the #RWL or ‘Real World Learning’ series of stories curated by the team at Frog, and then learning of their desire to hold a celebration of the work of these schools, I just had to get involved and the timing was perfect. As the world starts to slowly return to some semblance of normality, now is the right time to celebrate and recognise the huge effort and difference that educators have made to the lives of young people, all supported by the various solutions offered by Frog.

Luckily, the team were looking for an independent person, who shared their values and who they could trust to be fair and adjudicate the awards, to pick out the winners in the various categories for their 2021 Real World Learning Awards. And so, it gives me immense pleasure and pride to be able to attend the “RWL Recognition Awards” on Tuesday, 2 March where I will be announcing the winners from the five shortlisted categories of:

• Great Examples of Online Learning
• Great Creative Examples
• Great Engagement with Remote Learners
• Great Examples of Sharing
• Most Changed Schools (of the last 12 months)

VISIT THE RWL AWARDS:

WRITTEN BY

Mark Anderson
ICT Evangelist

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