Hall of Fame

The Learning Dust Hall of Fame is a hallowed place. In here you will find only those products, services or even people that have been tried and tested and found to be great additions to an educationalist's toolkit.

To be featured requires a real 'wow-factor', the ability enrich education, streamline processes or make people's lives easier or better in some way. Each episode we will propose someone or something to be included here and officially endorse it with the Ultimate Learning Dust Stamp of Ultimate Approval (TM).

If you have a suggestion for the Hall of Fame then feel free to get in touch and send us samples of your product. Be warned though, it it doesn't cut the mustard its in danger of being banished to the Cupboard of Shame. We all enjoy a good banishment from time to time.

Season 2

Episode 2.22 - The Design Thinking Playbook - Suggested by Lauren Thorpe



Episode 2.21 - The Edu-Twitter-Blogger-sphere - Suggested by Tom Sherrington



Episode 2.20 - Autocrat - Suggested by Tristan Kirkpatrick



Episode 2.19 - Microsoft 365 & Class Notebook - Suggested by Gemma Gwilliam



Episode 2.18 - Teaching in the Online Classroom by Doug Lemov - Suggested by Dr. Neelam Parmar


Episode 2.17 - Radiators - Suggested by Phil Denton


Episode 2.16 - Lauren Thorpe - Suggested by Dom Norrish


Episode 2.15 - #MFLtwitterati - Suggested by Joe Dale

An amazing community that is a constant source of inspiration and positivity for language teachers across the world. The group have been sharing thoughts, opinions and resources, free of charge, for over a decade.

Episode 2.14 - Outward Mindset Online - Suggested by Seth Wilkins


Episode 2.14 - The Anatomy of Peace - Suggested by Alec Grimsley


Episode 2.13 - Google Workspace - Suggested by Jamie Portman

Google Workspace (a.k.a. G-Suite, or Google Apps for Education if you are old skool) has been empowering educators and learners for over 15 years. A collection of cloud based productivity and collaboration tools, most of which are free for education establishments, it has proven to be the only real competitor to Microsoft's domination (some would say monopoly) of the education market.

Episode 2.12 - Sparkjar - Suggested by José Picardo

No one knows iPads in education like Jose knows iPads in education, so when he recommends a product we listen.

Sparkjar is an all in one iPad remote teaching/learning tool. Live video, whiteboards, homework setting, parental communication, auto marking and more.

Episode 2.11 - Mote - Suggested by Paddy McGrath

Mote is a Chrome extension that allows teachers to embed verbal feedback into Google docs at the point where the student needs it. Paddy has seen it help educators with workload whilst providing students with timely and personalised feedback.


Episode 2.10 - Self Marking Speadsheets- Suggested by Andrew Walls

Spreadsheets, everybody needs good spreadsheets. Andrew espouses the power of an unsung hero of ICT. They may look old school and not be fashionable right now, but who fancies multiple pages of instant feedback and embedded links suitable for asynchronous or synchronous remote learning? Thought so, us too.

Episode 2.09

The Chimp Paradox & The Silent Guide - Suggested by Adam Wright

Adam suggests two books that have really helped him understand his own brain and those of young people he works with.

Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight - Suggested by Tim Buckle

Nana korobi ya oki - A Japanese proverb that sums up Tim's attitude to facing difficulty, learning new things and life in general. It's not about success, it's about effort - did you try your best?

Also, a special mention for Keith the Dog and King Terence III the kitten.

Episode 2.08 - The Manifesto for Teaching Online - Suggested by Laura White

Written by Siân Bayne, Peter Evans, Rory Ewins, Jeremy Knox, James Lamb, Hamish Macleod, Clara O'Shea, Jen Ross, Philippa Sheail and Christine Sinclair, the manifesto is a series of short statements written by members of the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. It was designed to articulate a position about online education that informs the work of the group and the MSc in Digital Education programme it leads. You can obtain your own copy of the book from this website.


Episode 2.07 - Bob Harrison - Suggested by Al Kingsley

Bob is one of those people who, if you've had the pleasure of meeting him, or even just attended a conference at which he has presented, you'll never forget. He is not afraid to make waves, rock the boat, upset the apple cart or to use his own brand of language, piss people off; but when he speaks it is always from the heart, straight to the point and with a searing, sometimes brutal honesty. He has worked tirelessly and selflessly to improve the lives of young people and those who work so hard to educate them. We can even forgive him for being a Rochdale fan! You can follow Bob on Twitter at @BobHarrisonEdu.


Episode 2.06 - Microsoft OneNote - Suggested by Olly Lewis

There is little to be said in favour of OneNote that Olly and Andy don't cover in the episode. Suffice to say it's pretty bloody good and they both like it. A lot. Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Microsoft, just don't let your mate Capita in.


Episode 2.05 - Tall Tweets - Suggested by SJ White

With Tall Tweets for Google Slides, you can convert any presentation into an animated GIF and share it on Twitter or download it to your computer to be embedded into other programmes.

You can also tweet individual slides of a deck and a high-resolution image of the slide will be embedded in your tweet.

It's a great way of sharing a preview of a presentation enabling your audience to quickly ascertain the usefulness and purpose of your presentation, or a quick way of creating your own GIF's.


Episode 2.04 - Random Acts of Kindness - Suggested by Damian Hughes

The concept of kindness in education is often taken for granted. Encouragement, belief, support and care should be fundamental in our approach to learners. Damian talks about the teachers who supported him through challenging times and reminds us that we all have it within us to make a difference to someone's life every single day, whether at work or in public. It was Damian's kindness that led to him accepting our invitation to appear on LearningDust, may we humbly suggest that yours could be sharing his episode with a friend or colleague.


Episode 2.03 - Canopy Education's GSuite Skills - Suggested by Cat Lamin

Canopy Education (the artists formerly known as EdTech Team UK) have produced this awesome resource that teaches people who like to learn by doing how to use a range of the most popular GSuite tools. Utilising the Howdou platform, their package feeds back on a users capability and efficiency, and rewards successful completion of modules with bronze, silver and gold awards. Loved by students and staff alike, it's well worth checking out if you work in the GSuite ecosystem.


Episode 2.02 - Tony Shepperd - Suggested by Mark Anderson

Edugeek legend (you may know him as Grumbledook); GDPR oracle; thoughtful, gentle and intelligent professional, Tony has been advising schools and educators on a wide range of topics for years. It's also been said that he's partial to chocolate, so if you ever have the pleasure of meeting him, make sure that you share some cocoa based treats with him, it'll prove worth your while, I promise.


Episode 2.01 - Jon Corippo and Marlena Hebern's 'EduProtocol Field Guide' - Suggested by Jake Miller

Are you stuck in the lecture-and-worksheet rut?

Many teachers continue to struggle to break out of the corporate lesson-and-worksheet cycle to find fresh, meaningful ways to develop original, engaging and effective instruction. In The EduProtocol Field Guide, Jon Corippo and Marlena Hebern outline sixteen classroom-tested protocols to break up clichéd lesson plans, build culture, and deliver content to K–12 students in a supportive, creative environment.


Season 1

Episode 9 - Scratch - Suggested by Miles Berry

Scratch (scratch.mit.edu @scratch) is the gateway drug for budding programmers. An online block based programming language and community from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, beginner coders can start to learn by snapping pre-created blocks of code together to form sequences. Users have created everything from simple animations to binary converters, recreations of classic video games (pacman, flappy birds etc) and so much more. In our episode, Andy mentions the Hack My Window project that he has done with his 7 year old son.

Community is integral to Scratch. Users can comment on and share projects and ‘remix’ those of others, grabbing a copy to play with the code and create their own versions. It links into the idea of technology being used to give learners a real world audience that we have mentioned in several previous episodes.

For younger learners, Scratch Jr is a simplified version of the language.

Oh, and it’s free!

Episode 8 - Google Sites - Suggested by Zaitoon Bukhari

Google Sites started off as JotSpot before being bought by Google in 2006 to replace it’s initial website creation tool, Google Pages. Sites ran on JotSpot technology for over eight years before being relaunched in its current guise in 2016. The current version is a simple, WYSIWYG website creator that allows the creation of slick, professional looking websites, along with ropey, amateurish ones like this one. It has been described in the past (by Dave) as “so simple, even some PE teachers can use it”.

Episode 8 - Michael Quigley - Suggested by Dan Manley

Michael is the owner of Kataholos an organisation with a mission of “Growing people to know, to do, and to be their best selves through a journey of integrity, wholesome relationships and loving kindness. Michael is an ex-primary school teacher, personal trainer and head of education and social media. You can find out more about Kataholos via the website (https://kataholos.co.uk/)

He also has a brilliant book - Kataholos: Guidelines for a Wholistic Happy Life which you can buy from Amazon here.


Episode 7 - EducaMidia - Suggested by Mariana Martins

For her Hall of Fame entry Mariana chose a fascinating project from Google Certified Innovator Mariana Ochs, called EducaMidia. The program was created to train teachers and engage society in the media education process for young people, and it aims to prepare children and young people to learn with a critical sense and responsibility in the 21st century. The website is in Portuguese, but if you use Google Chrome as your browser it will offer to automatically translate it for you.

Episode 6 - David Price OBE - Suggested by Jamie Smith

Jamie’s entry into our Hall of Fame is a previous guest of ours on LearningDust. Jamie’s response was “I’d like to propose David Price OBE and his thought leadership including his work OPEN. I know that this is kind of viral now in education but I have followed David a long time and he's had a lot of influence on my thinking”. We find it difficult to argue with Jamie’s choice and will now work tirelessly to avoid David completing the LearningDust hat-trick by appearing in the Cupboard of Shame. Open can be purchased on Amazon here.

Episode 5 - Peardeck - Suggested by Emma Pass

Think Google Slides or Powerpoint on steroids. Peardeck is a tool that allows you to add interactive elements such as questions, drag & drop exercises and drawing tasks into presentation slides. This promotes student interaction and provides a live dashboard where teachers can gather immediate, formative assessment allowing them to adjust their lesson delivery to ensure proper understanding. As discussed in the episode, you may want to check out Peardeck's Privacy Report on commonsense.org and consider Google's Audience Connect or Microsoft Sway as alternatives if you have any concerns.

Episode 4 - Ron Berger's 'An Ethic of Excellence' - Suggested by David Price

"This is one of those books about learning that I guarantee will make you cry" A fantastic testimony of what students can achieve when you don't set artificial limits on their learning. Ron Berger was instrumental in the setup of the Expeditionary Learning school chain in the USA and is widely respected as one of the most thoughtful educators in the world who believes in the power of relationships. You can buy the book on Amazon here.

Episode 3 - Austin Kleon's 'Steal like an Artist' - Suggested by Scott Hayden

In order to follow the sentiment of the book, I have stolen the following description from Amazon. Artistically.

When asked to talk to students at Broome Community College in upstate New York in the spring of 2011, Austin Kleon wrote a simple list often things he wished he'd heard when he was their age: 'Steal like an artist; Don't wait until you know who you are to start making things; Write the book you want to read; Use your hands; Side projects are important; Do good work and put it where people can see it; Geography is no longer our master; Be nice (the world is a small town.); Be boring (it's the only way to get work done.); and, Creativity is subtraction.' After giving the speech, he posted the text and slides to his popular blog, where it quickly went viral. Now Kleon has expanded his original manifesto into an illustrated guide to the creative life for writers, artists, entrepreneurs, designers, photographers, musicians, and anyone attempting to make things - art, a career, a life - in the digital age. Brief, direct, and visually interactive, the book includes illustrative anecdotes and mini-exercise sections calling out practical actions readers can take to unleash their own creative spirits.

Episode 2 - Agile Thinking - Suggested by Georgina Dean

Georgina extolled the virtues of educators around the world who are showing an agile, flexible approach to the challenges posed by the outbreak of COVID-19. Their ability to make the most of a bad situation and extract meaningful learning experiences for learners should be applauded and celebrated. It can be challenging at times to be that positive voice, and exhausting when you find your path blocked by people who don't operate on the same frequency, but it is our duty as EdTech leaders to carry on regardless and shine a light on the possibilities available to teachers and learners around the world.

Episode 1.5 - CodeCombat - Suggested by Andy

CodeCombat is a game-based computer science program where students type real code and see their characters react in real time. Students find the content fun, engaging and easy to access with minimum direction from teachers or parents. 12 million users have used CodeCombat to create over a billion lines of code, so it's very well established. What's more, they are supporting schools who contact them by providing free access to their platform for the duration of school closures.

Episode 1 - Canva - Suggested by Ben Whitaker

This FREE online graphic design tool has been a lifesaver in helping me (and lots of other teachers) create professional looking graphics for use in our classroom and beyond. It has thousands of templates that you can use and manipulate to make infographics, posters, social media posts and the like. There is even a FREE upgrade for teachers to have all the functionality of the Pro accounts too. Go to canva.com and sign up to add that bit of wow to your work!

The examples that Andy mentioned on the show are available below.

Computing Posters.pdf
Logic Gates.pdf

Episode 0 - Sign In App - Suggested by Dave

This visitor management system is slick, easy to use and conveys a professional image to your visitors. Compared to other products in the market it is very affordable, and offers a plethora of options on how to set it up. All you need is an iPad (I just used an old one that we had in the office), a label printer and a security mount. The license covers you for unlimited devices so if you have multiple entrances then you only need to scale up the hardware. A really neat and impressive little system. Visit https://signinapp.com/ for a 15 day trial and try it for yourself.