Teacher of the Year 2024
Donna Hay Award for Impact 2024: Recognising the impact of outstanding educators
Teacher of the Year Award 2024
This year's award goes to Fraser Christie from St Paul's RC Academy in Dundee!
Fraser is an active member of our Fellows community and attends regular events, sharing feedback on the impact of our courses on his learners. He supported Apps for Good earlier this year by taking part in our 'Meet the Teacher' Lunch and Learn Webinar. He has continued to work with Dr Emma Posey, our Senior Learning Manager, as our regional curriculum consultant for Scotland and went from delivering Apps for Good to a small group last year to a whole class in 2023/24. We look forward to continuing to work with Fraser to support students to develop digital and essential skills!
Q&A with Fraser Christie
What do you see as the main benefits of Apps for Good?
Students are able to develop their technical skills and essential skills such as teamwork and communication on a project or idea that matters to them. Students can se their idea take shape by making an actual prototype that works on their devices and gain valuable feedback from real world experts in the field of technology.
As a teacher, the programme provides high quality teaching resources fully mapped to our curriculum that require very little preparation on my part but which give me a solid foundation upon which to keep my own subject knowledge and skills current and relevant. The course materials are appealing to the students and clear and easy to follow.
How do you think Apps for Good supports young people with the skills required to succeed in life and work?
Apps for Good scaffolds the students' learning, giving them a clear route map to follow including great exercises to help with the tricky part of coming up with an idea, relevant guides to creating ideas all the way through to actually coding an accessible prototype. The confidence builder of having the opportunity to pitch as a team to a panel of experts can’t be understated.
Can you share an example of where you have witnessed the Apps for Good experience having a positive impact on a student?
The team of students that made it through to the Showcase really blossomed through the process, they built a strong friendship and gained a better appreciation of each other’s unique skills all of which were required on the day for the pitch. At the beginning of the course the girls started off as quiet, shy and self-deprecating but by pitch day they and ended up a confident and enthusiastic team. As a teacher the course allowed me to step back and notice skills in the team that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.
Tell us about how your students respond when they’re working on something that matters to them.
When the teams hit upon an idea that matters to them, they start to learn on the fly, they are so focussed on their goals and the possibility of turning their concept into a working prototype that they lose track of time.
What would you say to other teachers looking for new ways to teach computing?
The Apps for Good courses are a great way to refresh an area of your curriculum that might be tired or unpopular with something new exciting, professional, engaging and relevant.