Becoming a MirandaNet Associate

Since 1992 MirandaNet has worked in associateship with a range of small and medium companies as well as key multinationals in educational technologies. We like to involve our company associates in our events as equal partners in the exchange of information.  Face to face and online conferences and seminars provide a valuable showcase for products and services and research projects develop the relationships between developers and educators to mutual benefit.

Networking and dissemination opportunities can be as frequent as our associates wish as they have equal opportunities to plan the MirandaNet programmes and topics for  professional knowledge exchange. Our conference events in 2013/2014/2015 in association with the EU  are:

• Symposium and poster session at the 10th IFIP World Conference on Computers in Education: WCCE13 Torun, Poland, July 2-5, 2013
• 3 Symposia and a MirandaMod at Teacher Educators in IT (ITTE), Bedford, 8, 9,10th July 2013, University of Bedfordshire;
• Keynote, The development of IT courses with international partners- especially the design and implementation of the K-12 IT courses. Annual conference Committee of Information Technology Education in K-12,  National Educational Technology Society,  Shenyang, China, July 28th  to July 30th 2013;
• 4th Annual International Conference in Education, Research and Development, 4-8 September (Sunny Beach Resort, Bulgaria). Organised by the Science & Education Foundation, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Union of Scientists of Bulgaria
• Innovation Forum: European Foundation for Quality in Elearning (EFQUEL) September 25th -27th Barcelona;
• MirandaMods and presentations in the MirandaNet Lounge, BETT14, Excel Centre, London 22nd – 25th January  2014;
• Keynote and MirandaMod, Education Innovation Show, Manchester 8-9th March 2014;
• Annual Teacher Educators in IT (ITTE), July 2014 (place and dates to be confirmed)
• Keynote and MirandaMod in Slovenia, November (dates to be confirmed);
• MirandaNet Lounge, BETT15, Excel Centre, London, January(dates to be confirmed)

All our associates’ logos will be on the leaflets, press releases and web spaces as well as  opportunities to speak at these events. Other kinds of sponsorship might be drinks receptions, conference bags, pull-ups and leaflet distribution.  We welcome copy in our quarterly newsletter and our associate companies are mentioned in Fellows’ UK based and international speaking tours which in 2013/14 will be in Australia, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands.

MirandaNet consultants are keen to partner proposals that are underway and we offer partnerships in proposals we are planning. We also invite associates to join us when we are commissioned to do research, development and dissemination projects by  international government agencies and charities.

We have long associations with many of our associates and hold quarterly networking dinners. Some company colleagues have been awarded a MirandaNet Fellowship for the programmes they have designed with us and others follow other accredited programmes as part of the associateship.

Contact Dr Christina Preston, Professor of Education Innovation, for more details and fee scales: christina@mirandanet.ac.uk

What is the value of being a MirandaNet Associate?

The most important element of being a MirandaNet Associate is the opportunity to network with educators as an equal with an important contribution to make to improving teaching and learning. Associates have brainstormed on some of the benefits of events, projects and networking that are designed to suit their needs. What is offered is opportunities to:

• market company policy and practice as an important element in school improvement;
• market company policy and practice as an important element in government policy;
• explain the policies, practice and products of the company to a wide range of education professionals through presentations, networking and hands on research;
• advertise and market the company’s products and services with more than 750 members in 80 countries as well as good targeted visitor statistics;
• MirandaNet comes high on the front page in any browser search.
• network with members and publish news in the journal and newsletters;
• access new channels through all the key digital technologies professional organisations in conference presentations and through the professional journals;
• develop a new showcase for existing company research and case studies;
• talk to  teacher educators and academics in informal surroundings;
• build relationships with experts in digital technologies in learning and their institutions;
• improve knowledge about how digital technologies might support product research and continuing professional development programmes;
• introduce  to new modes of informal knowledge creation and sharing that are widely used outside school in the MirandaMod;
• organise a MirandaMod or conference on a company theme;
• contribute to the resources created in a  MirandaMods.
• share in the design of professional development programmes for educators:
• undertake professional accreditation for associates in action research doing a Diploma, Masters or a doctorate. The work would also provide in-depth marketing copy and case studies for the company.

A channel to market

The MirandaNet Fellowship is a portal to market with nearly 800 members in 80 countries. The website, the internal debating spaces and newsletter provide a cost effective marketing channel for targeting influencers and taste makers in schools as well as at local, national and international level. The membership includes teachers, senior managers, advisers, teacher educators, researchers and policy makers who are often account holders.  MirandaNet Fellows  have an influential voice at national level on issues concerning digital technologies and meet regularly with government Think Tanks and key members of government as well as important figures in the research field and teacher education, many of whom are members of MirandaNet. We are also well connected with influential national organisations in the use of digital technologies in education such as ITTE, Naace, ICTRN, BCS, IFIT, UNESCO and several University Special Interest Groups.

The website is well indexed and features prominently in Google searches. The site is well patronised and on average 1,300 pages are viewed each day. In detail, during 2012 the MirandaNet site had almost 68,000 unique visitors, with an average of 2 visits each, downloading slightly less than 7.5 pages per visit. In addition, web crawlers visited the site almost 1.8 million times, with an average of 13.5 hits per visit – which is one reason that MirandaNet appears high in most web searches of ICT, education, curriculum change and teacher CPD.

The team

Dr Christina Preston, Professor of Educational Innovation at Bedfordshire University, founded MirandaNet in 1992,leads the consultancy team.  She can include associates in relevant  publications in internal professional journals as in the UK Nationals, the Times Higher, the Times Educational Supplement and the UK quality national newspapers. Her pieces are also syndicated in Holland and Russia. Dr Preston also works with working with 500 schools across the University of Bedfordshire region with training rooms in Luton, Putteridge Bury and Bedford that can be used by associates. MirandaNet companies can be involved in the design of  professional development programmes for these schools with  ideas about learning to use products and services effectively and developing action research around these elements. 

Marketing at conferences

MirandaNet Senior Fellows give keynotes and papers at international conferences throughout the year. in 2013 we will be presenting in Australia, Catalonia, Poland, Slovenia and New Zealand. This Fellowship activity has been supported in the past by small and medium sized companies like 2Simple and Inspiration and by multinationals like Apple, Toshiba, Steljes and Oracle. Over the years many companies have undertaken a range of projects as listed below.

The MirandaNet services

The MirandaNet Consultancy offers standard and bespoke Associateship Support Packages designed to accommodate the different needs of our clients. If you are an individual, a school, a regional group or any other group with an interest in innovative research and continuing professional development please contact Dr Christina Preston.

Our core products are:

The MirandaNet Fellowship – a portal to market with access to influencers. Please ask for our web statistics.  In the education market and practitioners who are willing to engage as co-researchers in product evaluation and research into educational practice

Etopia – research and evaluation where advisers and practitioners investigate products and service and provide research reports and marketing copy on our Publications pages and in our Research Exchange section.

iCatalyst - accredited practice-based programme about digital technologies including programmes on  key products . Company representatives can also be accredited for their involvement in designing, implementing and following programmes. See the iCatalyst pages for more information.

Braided Learning – Seminar and events management including publishing targeted resource banks badged by sponsors at MirandaMod events. The emergent theory of online Braided Learning can be found in our Research Exchange section.

World Ecitizens – an international web publication and exchange service for schools that includes the Peace Room: www.worldecitizens.net.

STANDARD ANNUAL PARTNERSHIP PACKAGE  2012

The MirandaNet Fellowship is a not-for-profit organisation. There are three tiers of subscription that help to pay the MirandaNet Fellowship overheads. The prices are negotiable based on turnover:

• a logo on the splash page
• a MN page in the Associates section, and links to your web site;

Standard

all of the above, plus

• the permissions to  upload case studies;
• 3 entries within the MirandaNet newsletter focused on good practice, product launches and free opportunities for members

Premium

basic + standard plus

• a presence at all our events
• costings for setting up, resources and publishing a MirandaNet Action Research project and/or a MirandaMod for dissemination (exclusive of participant expenses).

Other benefits for discussion

• Representation at the full international MirandaMod programme throughout the year
• Update reports about educational reforms and ICT programmes across the globe
• Business and schools networking throughout the year
• Opportunities to contribute to MirandaNet responses to Government policy and consultation documents
• Chances to publish in the MirandaNet e-journals
• Access to debate and opportunities to share ideas and issues with MirandaNet members who are often account holders
• Logo, promotional materials, lead speaking places at all MirandaMods
• Logo contained within all MirandaNet promotional material also including company references within relevant presentations and publications

Bespoke Associateship packages

In addition to our standard packages we also offer bespoke packages to our partners.  These are made from a selection of our most popular services and dependent on individual discussion of requirements and marketing targets:

• Supervising an accredited Certificate, Masters or Doctoral programme at the University of Bedfordshire for company representatives and groups of teachers selected by the company
• Developing and writing up reports and case studies on the uses of products and services in education
• Hosting of a seminar / focus meeting on a key topic of your choice
• Web questionnaire providing business relevant research data relating to the actual use of your products and services by practitioners
• Networking suppers and private dinners
• Privileged access to city functions

Bespoke consultancy services

Many more of our services are listed on the website but here are a few:

• Product evaluation, development and marketing for the education market
• Designing and creating websites for communities
• Facilitating and advising on optimization of approach to the education marketplace
• Evaluating and accrediting tailored professional development programmes for the workforce to embed systemic change
• Business interpretation of key policy consultations and white papers
• Assessment, understanding of government initiatives and how to work together in a smarter way and to the greater good of the community
• Building collaborative community knowledge and creating theory online with direct focus on your products and services
• Optimising use of learning platforms
• Evaluating ICT CPD programmes against the school’s targets

Project design

Below is a comprehensive list of the kind of projects MirandaNet consultants undertake.

Research and Development
Industry, Government and education research partnership
ICT professional development and training models
Data collection and analysis
Case studies and interviews
Product investigation and development

Web-based Ideas
Dynamic Web Environments for international, national and local web-based learning communities
Use of elearning for the conflict resolution, problem solving, thinking skills and international citizenship
Developing ebooks and expert knowledge bases

Change Management and Leadership Programmes
Planning and negotiation
Implementation
Dissemination
Accreditation
Evaluation

Organising Seminars, Forums, Focus Groups, Conference and Training Programmes (face to face and online)
Planning, organisation
Programme development
Dissemination
Running related courses

Papers, ebooks and online Publications
Finding appropriate publishers
Joint authoring
Web versions of paper publications
Camera ready copy
Publicity and conference papers

Some selected projects are listed below:

1998-2002 EU TEMPUS – 4 years

Working with Finland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic on digital technologies in schools

2000-2010 Oracle Think.com-

Learning platform development for children

2002-2007 EU SEN-NET – 3 years

Working on a learning platform for European SAGES

2002-2004 Teacher Training Agency

Evaluation of the National Opportunities Fund ICT CPD training programme 1999-2004

2005 – 2007 E-LAPA –

Developing a learning community in Free State Province, South Africa

with the British Education Suppliers Association and the British Embassy

2005-2008 Promethean

Interactive Whiteboard action research evaluation in England, Mexico, China and South Africa

2009 – 2011 Podar Education Complex, India

iCatalyst Management of change CPD for x50 schools in Marahestra, India

2004-ongoing  iCatalyst courses

Certificate, diploma and masters level

Key groups

• GTCe e-facilitators
• Select Education e-facilitators (England)
• Barnfield School, Luton, England
• Steljes advisors, England
• Podar Education Complex, Mumbai

2008-2011 Becta: MirandaMod webinar and research programme

2007-2010 WLE Centre, Institute of Education, University of London

• Visual Learning Research
• Unconference research

2009 Becta ICT Tools for Future Teachers research

2009 Becta ICT CPD Landscape research

2009 TAG learning

MAPPS Learning platform evaluation- I year

2009 Becta E-safety research

2010 Staffordshire Advisory Service –  Learning platform evaluation

2010-2011  Achievement for All : MirandaMods support at BETT11 and the Education Show 2011

2011 Saudi Arabian Education Department – ICT CPD for teachers in three cities.

Contact christina@mirandanet.ac.uk for more details.