CertMatters.Live, Prodigy Learning’s inaugural educator professional development event was held on June 22, 2018 at Design Museum London. 

CertMatters.Live brought together educators to listen, learn and collaborate with peers who share a passion for digital skills and certifications to improve education and student outcomes.  It was an inspiring day with impactful keynotes, three fantastic customer showcase sessions, Centre of Excellence awards and much more.

Keynote

Opening the day, a thought provoking keynote was delivered by Ian Fordham (Director of Education, Microsoft UK). Ian shared how the Microsoft UK Education team are delivering on their mission to “Empower every educator and every learner on the planet to achieve more”. Better learning outcomes, saving educators and leaders time and creating impactful, accessible technology will prepare students with skills they need to succeed in future.

Minecraft:EE STEAM Pathway

A standout highlight of CertMatters.Live was the exciting official announcement of Prodigy Learning’s new Coding in Minecraft:EE Ofqual-regulated credentials.  These three exciting new credentials at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 are structured as a Transition Programme, starting learners on a computer science journey from 9yrs through to 14yrs and form a pathway for students to progress to Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) certifications in Programming thereafter.

London Grid for Learning has been announced as the launch partner for this programme, which will be rolled out to thousands of pupils in 100 primary, secondary and special schools across London from September, supported by Prodigy Learning’s Minecraft Global Mentors.

“We are so excited about this game-changing partnership which will get 100 London schools & 1000s of students across the capital using Minecraft:EE and developing future ready 21st Century Skills” said Ian Fordham (Director of Education, Microsoft UK).

Andrew Flood (CEO, Prodigy Learning) announced that Prodigy Learning would be completing a full STEAM Pathway of similar credentials:

“Minecraft:EE can get young learners interested in coding and computer science at an early age.  We are proud to be working on this world first programme with Microsoft to bring credentials in coding and other STEAM subject areas through Minecraft:EE.  It will be exciting to see this programme roll out in London from September and look forward to extending it to schools around the UK and beyond.”

Customer Showcase Sessions

CertMatters.Live featured 3 showcase sessions delivered by customers highlighting best practices delivering Adobe, Autodesk and Microsoft certifications in secondary, further and higher education across the UK & Ireland.

• The Schools Showcase Session, sponsored by GMetrix, was delivered by Rhondda Cynon Taf Borough Council (RCT) and The Leigh UTC who discussed and shared their unique success stories.

• The Further Education Showcase Session, sponsored by Practice Labs, was delivered by Microsoft UK, The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London, and Belfast Metropolitan who discussed the importance and value of Microsoft Certified Educator certification for professional development of educators in FE.

• The Higher Education Showcase Session, sponsored by LearnKey, was delivered by Cardiff Metropolitan University, Sheffield Hallam University and Coventry University who shared tips and best practices in successfully implementing Adobe, MOS, MTA and Autodesk certification programs.

MOS Four Nations & ACA UK & Ireland Championship

Parallel to CertMatters.Live, the MOS4N and ACA UK & Ireland Championship 2018 Finals also took place in the Design Museum. These culminated with the crowning of 3 MOS Champions and the ACA Champion who each won the trip of a lifetime to represent UK & Ireland in the MOS and ACA World Championship Finals in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Orlando, Florida in July 2018.  MOS Four Nations and Adobe ACA UK & Ireland Champions beat hundreds of thousands of students across the UK & Ireland, proving they have the best digital skills in their respective program categories.

The MOS4N UK & Ireland Champions are as follows:

• PowerPoint: Michaela Habartova, University of St Andrews, Scotland

• Word: Adam Drummond, St Ninian’s High School, Isle of Man

• Excel: Christopher Doyle, University College Dublin, Ireland

Learn more about the MOS Four Nations Championship Final Day.

The Adobe ACA UK & Ireland Champion is:

• Taylor Sharpe, Coventry University, England.

Learn more about the ACA UK & Ireland Championship Final Day.

Prodigy Learning would like to thank each speaker, customer, educator, sponsor and student for helping to make CertMatters.Live a huge success and, most importantly, congratulate our student Champions who will represent the UK & Ireland at the World Championships this summer!

We are already looking forward to next year.  See you in London in June 2019!

CertMatters.Live Photo Albums & Social Conversation

For a full selection of images from CertMatters.Live please click here.

There were many highlights throughout the day and huge social engagement with CertMatters.Live attendees using #CMLive18 This has been collated and is in our Twitter Moment collection.