EXCITED – The Digital Learning Festival, the first event organised by the movement of the same name, has been proclaimed a resounding success by its organisers and the hundreds who attended the two day event in Dublin Castle this weekend.
Mayo teacher Evelyn O’Connor was one of the key speakers at the event and her presentation was very well received by all in attendance. Mayo was also represented by prize winning students from St Gerald’s College in Castlebar at the big event in Dublin Castle.
Following two productive days of thought provoking presentations, talks, discussions, and workshops the organisers were happy that they had sufficient qualitative feedback gathered to take this movement on to the second stage of its journey. Tricia Kelleher, one of the keynote speakers at the event, said: “I knew this event would be different when I was invited by Minister Ciaran Cannon via Twitter.”
The 500 people who attended EXCITED were impressed, engaged, and challenged by the opinions given and questions asked by panellists ranging from young award winning students and teachers through to guest speakers such as inventor, Marty Cooper, and "Ireland’s Digital Champion" Lord Puttnam. Over and over the importance of the student voice and listening to that voice was acknowledged and the role which EXCITED was playing in doing this was widely recognised, with Lord Puttnam saying: "Our role is to create the most resilient generation there has ever been. What EXCITED has achieved here this weekend is remarkable".
The website, ww.excited.ie which streamed the event live received unprecedented traffic and the festival was trending on Twitter all weekend as attendees and non-attendees joined in the conversation topics of the moment. For further information about EXCITED, The digital learning movement and future EXCITED events, log on to www.excited.ie
