The CREATE Connect platform aims to provide the bridge between technology and teachers. One of the biggest problems with new technology in education is educators not being able to connect with other people who have successfully integrated new technologies into the classroom for advice and support or even experts in the industry for help and resources. This platform solves this problem by offering an open platform that educators at all levels, industry partners and educational leaders can interact with each other, discuss common issues and create solutions for integrating technology into their classrooms, labs and makerspaces. This in turn facilitates every student having the opportunity to access, experience and learn about groundbreaking technology and educators can realise the learning benefits technology provides with confidence.
Education is fundamentally about sharing knowledge and the education community should have their own dedicated space to discuss things related to their interests, be able to connect with other like minded people and facilitate peer to peer development. Currently educators are having to use other platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc), blurring lines between professional and personal, being bombarded with advertising, with more and more users concerned about privacy and usage of their data. By providing this solution, we can ensure our community aren’t subject to content unrelated to them such as political posts, adult content and other distractions. No data will be sold to third party organisations and the negative behaviour that is increasingly associated with the big platforms will not be tolerated. All the benefits of digital connections without the concerns!
The CREATE Connect platform has a Groups feature that allows people to join and create groups, which can be public or private, so the discussion is always relevant and involves the people you want to share with. There is also the ability to upload files such as images, documents, audio and videos making the dissemination of content painless and (if required) private. Users will also be able to create their own groups which can be private or public. This feature is useful perhaps where a group of local schools are collaborating on a specific project or if you want to connect and communicate with other educators about a specific topic or subject area. Users are also able to browse and join other groups of STEAM educators who are also active on the platform.
Please note: the platform is not intended for use by groups of children you are working with, all community members must be 18 or over.