D&T Summer School @ Loughborough Design School

Published 15th July 2014

After a crazy few months of planning, our exciting new D&T Summer School ran on the 11^th & 12^th July 2014 at Loughborough University Design School. Over 160 teachers attended from across the country, and from as far afield as Hong Kong. The event was very well received by all those involved including staff from the D&T Association and the very helpful and generous University staff.

The feedback has been excellent. The workshop sessions provided some inspirational, practical and valuable D&T resources and developed delegates’ skills. The success of the event gives us cause to be optimistic for repeating in the future ..

Friday kicked off with a keynote from our Executive team: Richard Green, Andy Mitchell and Lead Primary Consultant Gareth Pimley who focussed on implementation of the new D&T programmes of study and also provided a ‘heads up’ with respect to changes at GCSE and GCE. This was followed by a range of workshops covering areas including Textiles, Food, CAD, 3D Printing, Electronics’ and much more. The day concluded off nicely with delegates networking with exhibitors and presenters over wine and canapés. Saturday got off to an excellent start with a challenging keynote provided by James Pitt, representing the Ellen McArtthur Foundation. The presentation concentrated on rethinking the system behind product consumption and design for a circular economy. This was again followed by a range of different workshops.

As I visited different workshops, what struck me was the level of engagement between presenter and delegates. Teachers walked into some of the sessions with a level of apprehension, about what they were about to engage with and learn. The smiling faces that walked out of each workshop were fantastic to see. An example was the session on robotics run by Pete Maguire, one of the James Dyson Innovation Group. He wowed everyone with his Lego robots and inspired others to get involved with the systems and control aspect of D&T and the use of computing. Then, to top it off, he brought out his Gangnam style dancing NAO Robot who captured everyone’s hearts and minds.

One of the aims of the event was to provide an opportunity for interaction between delegates. This, we believe we achieved, through the interactive workshops being led by highly experienced consultants and teachers possessing many years of experience working within D&T.

The feedback forms are currently being analysed and we will use this information to ensure that we deliver an even better event next year. But in the meantime, if you attended or if you would have liked to attend, but were unable to, please feel free to offer us any feedback in the comments section below or get in touch with us by phone or email.

We would like to thank all the sponsors and exhibitors: Autodesk, Data Harves, TechSoft, Technology Supplies, mindsets, Brother, Boxford. For a full list of exhibitors click here. Also a really big thankyou to our presenters, delegates and Loughborough University Design School for being part of the 2014 D&T Summer School as without you all, this event would not have been possible.

Hopefully this will be the first of many more D&T Summer Schools, we look forward to seeing you all next year.

Tell us your thoughts and give us your feedback in the comments section, below.