The Apple Distinguished Educators Global Institute - Reflections of an Englishman

The 2018 Global Apple Institute took place last week in Austin, Texas. It was my 5th Institute and lived up to the hype as a truly global experience with 40 countries represented by some of the most innovative, creative and inspirational people at the event. However, the true global nature was represented even further online, with social networking amassing an incredible 60 million impressions during the 4 days.

All this meant that Apple Distinguished Educators had a voice like never before.

My own tweets during the Institute have gathered over 180,000 impressions to date. They were a mixture of animated sketch notes (using Keynote), keynote animations of bats and Banksy images and a live TeachMeet section (more on that in a while). When you consider that the role of an ADE is to be an author, an advocate, an advisor and an ambassador for the use of Apple technology in Education, social networks are really helping to reach a global audience.
I left the Institute early on Friday morning tackling an epic 30 hours of travelling to ensure that I made it back to the UK for my son's 7th birthday party. It was a great reminder that there are three families in my life: my own special family in London, my Anson family and my ADE family. As Pamela Algie pointed out to me during the week, the Class of 2017 (welcomed in EMEIA at Windsor) was a small event; 2 and half days of networking. To that class, the Global Institute must have been huge, intense and often overwhelming. In family terms, the regional events were for the immediate local family, the global event included all the cousins, second cousins and long lost relatives.

It's a great opportunity to connect. When I ran the Keynote Film Festival back in 2016, the first person to send me student examples was April Requard. She had been using Keynote as a storytelling tool and written The Key(note) of Storytelling - the first of a series of innovative uses of Keynote. To someone who had been using Keynote as an animation tool since 2012, exploring magic moves, motion paths and character creation, I had found a global equivalent, someone else who embraced the possibilities of storytelling using the application. To finally meet April, in person, was wonderful. She continues to inspire and pulled off a brilliant workshop with Wes Molyneaux (and Benjamin Mountz). The family is global.

The last time I saw Jodie Deinhammer was in Berlin airport as we left the 2016 Institute. Here, with Julie Garcia (Battlemania genius) she ran a brilliant Numbers session which demonstrated a great workflow using the app, backed up by Kurt Klynen later in the week during a deeper learning moment. Again, seeing these amazing educators again was a great opportunity to see the commonalities across nations that join us together.

EMEIA was well represented too with Class of 2013 (best class that year) well represented. It was great to plot and plan with Mat Pullen and Daniel Edwards about how we can raise the impact of the UK ADEs and plans are afoot with Rachel Smith, Martin Coutts, Claire Jones, Eoin Hughes and Deborah Ní Cheallaigh to make that happen. EMEIA were also well represented in workshops and deeper learning with Miriam Walsh, Nathan Ashman, Catherine Mangan and Stuart Hammersley.

I myself took the stage to share the work we've been doing at Anson with the new drawing tools in the Everyone Can Create program. The feedback was amazing (see below). During the last night John Danty approached me at The Salt Lick and said, "I'm going to say something that makes you uncomfortable as an Englishman. I thought your presentation was excellent". This took me back for a moment - partly because I am an Englishman and find taking compliments hard - but also because it was John who said it. He stole the week for me with an incredibly engaging and innovative session of GarageBand that made everyone laugh, sing and believe they could do it too! I was lost for words.
My three minutes finished off round one of the Showcases on Tuesday. They are always a highlight and give me goosebumps. This year Alicia Bankhofer blew me away with her visual storytelling, Paul Hamilton really hit the nail on the head with his struggle for a voice, Katie Morrow was better than Hamilton and Angela Norman was sensational with her rendition of a Dr. Seuss classic. I've always loved showcases. I once presented following Jessica Herring - whose showcase was so good that I forgot to get up and into position for mine. She was so engaging that I only made it to the stage with seconds to spare. I don't think I've spoken to Jessica since. Some people impress me so much I find it hard to know what to say to them without the fear of sounding like a complete fraud. Jessica is one such person. Awesome. Inspirational. She makes me want to push myself further. The ADE Program is full of people like that. So, yes, I found praise from John Danty particularly hard to hear, as an Englishman, and was lost for words.

There was so much on offer this week from accessibility to chickens in Keynote, the chance to me people like John Shoemaker, Pat Burton, Sonya terBorg, Tammy Moroney, and Elizabeth Reale and engage on projects and creative tasks. It was a chance to spend time with great friends and make new ones. Catherine Jessey, Claire Jones, Pamela Algie and Lyndsey Balfe made the week special and created a lot of laughs.

It was a chance to share the work of others. My live tweeting during the Teach Meet helped to give an audience to some amazing people, who had a story to tell. Plus, I learned some top tips from Michael Mills and Adam Torrens in the best event ever - BattleMania. And for about 20 minutes Claire Jones, Catherine Jessey and myself were top of the leaderboard in the ADE Playground (presented by Christine Klynen, Kurt Klynen et al) having amassed 5000 chips.

By the end, I always leave an Institute buzzing! I have so many ideas, so many ways to improve teaching and learning, plus so many new friends. Maxx Judd, Peter Ford, Jeff Vardy, Matt Baier, AP Caddy, Ivey Strunk and the whole of the team deserve a lot of credit. It's been a crazy few months with the education launch in Chicago, the interaction at ISTE and the ADE Institute to plan. To do three huge events one after the other should mean that one of the events suffers. In the end all three have had a global impact and were equally as impressive. It's a mark of their hard work and dedication and makes me very proud and very fortunate to be part of the family.

If I ever get the chance to apply again, I will. To be part of this huge global family is special and I want to be at every celebration the family has together.
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