Manchester speakers

Below are the details of our speakers at the ICT for Education Conference 2010 in Manchester.

	Daniel Locke-Wheaton Daniel has been Assistant Head Teacher responsible for eLearning at one of the largest schools in the UK since September 2007. In this time, Great Barr has gone from a school with little ICT to a leading practice within 18 months. This has included building one of the largest Virtual Learning Environments, hosting prestigious visits from Microsoft, speaking on BETT stands and also receiving the ICT mark. His current work tackles the issues of transition through the implementation of new generation gaming platforms to bridging the gap between primary and secondary phases. Daniel will present Great Barr's story and share some of their more innovative practices, including their 'Big school' case study and how popular gaming technologies are being used to allay primary leavers' fears and fight the year 6-7 'dip' in academic and social success.

	Eamonn Duffy Formerly the Head of Education at St Johns C.H.E, the largest residential community home school in Birmingham, and Head of Learning Support at Frankley, Eamonn Duffy currently works for the ’Oaks Collegiate’ network of nine Birmingham secondary schools, co-ordinating and monitoring the placement of pupils within an alternative setting, often to avoid the possibility of exclusion from their named school. He will be speaking at the ICT for Education Conference in Birmingham about new ways of monitoring and safeguarding pupils and how ICT plays a key role. Alongside this work, Eamonn carries out research and delivers training on the uses of ICT, both in and out of the classroom, to promote positive behaviour. The effective use of ICT in the classroom can ensure the engagement of pupils who have previously displayed negative behaviour and improve learning and teaching for all.

	Tim Rylands Tim Rylands has been described as an extremely gifted and inspirational teacher, with a love of the creative potential of technology and an excellent rapport with his pupils. Tim has received a vast amount of press coverage around the world for his innovative use of ICT and is now much in demand for seminars, training days and conferences around the world, presenting the results of his work in an inspiring, practical and often humorous way. His imaginative and encouraging style of teaching allows children to express their creativity and make significant gains in attainment. With over 20 years of experience in schools from the West Country to West Africa, he has brought computer games into the classroom, using the Myst series to inspire children's creative confidence in many areas of such as creative writing, speaking and listening, music and art.