At the conference held in Bedford , I outlined the educational resources being created to support students in the development of their abilities and achievements. The resources are based on the life stories of more than 500 amazing people, such as Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Harriet Tubman and others that I have reviewed.
Teachers had confirmed that given the increasing focus on character education and wellbeing in schools, it would be helpful to have exemplars for students to study. Therefore, with colleagues, I have developed the Amazing People Schools Network.
Since the conference, there has been a lot of action and a lot of learning. Here are some of the key points.
Teamwork — To produce the resources, a team of talents has been assembled. In addition to teachers, the members include editors, software writers, audio and video producers, accountants, marketing coordinators, and many more. Finding the people with the right skills is one aspect, and enabling them to work together on a virtual basis, is another.
Finance — A major project like this requires a lot of cash and investors are reluctant to put money at risk until they see sales, so I have had to find ways of funding the costs.
Technology — The rapid advance of edtech, as it is widely called, has demanded continual assessment of the way in which we are delivering the resources. The design of the website has to be adapted on a regular basis. This is a major action learning project.
Marketing - It is a very competitive market with more suppliers arriving each month to present to teachers, who are trying to deliver lessons while assessing new processes. We have learned that traditional information sharing is not sufficient. Involvement of teachers in the pilot tests has proved very helpful, but gaining sign ups is more difficult.
On a personal level, my action learning continues each week. Above all, I am learning that persistence and patience are required. I am trying to apply the principles I have gained from studying the entrepreneurial efforts of people like Disney, Edison, Nightingale and modern innovators also. As Milton Hershey, the founder of the major USA chocolate company said ‘If you do good, you will do well.’ I am trying to follow that maximum.
About The Author
Dr Charles Margerison, resident of Australia and founder of Amazing People Worldwide, is a Psychologist. He has consulted widely for major organisations in the fields of organisational and educational psychology. He was previously Professor of Management at Cranfield University, UK, and the University of Queensland, Australia. He founded Amazing People Worldwide in 2006 and is supported by a dedicated global team. He previously co-founded Emerald Insights, and Team Management Systems and has authored more than 30 books.