By Aneeka Simonis
MEET Tim Bowman.
He’s one to watch.
Having shaken up the global education industry with his tech-forward concepts, the Berwick teacher hopes to drive his innovative learning concepts locally for the benefit of students in the Casey-Cardinia region.
The 37-year-old Berwick Primary School teacher, co-creator of a global edtech software and highly acclaimed author has made such an impact to classrooms around the world – but there was a time his teaching reality seemed out of reach.
“When I applied to study teaching…I didn’t get in. My marks weren’t good enough. As a result, I spent the next year volunteering and getting references. I applied again the following year and thankfully was accepted,” Tim said.
The teacher of 13 years has spent time working at Beaconsfield Primary School, Berwick Primary School and schools in Hong Kong.
In 2015, Tim ruptured his Achilles tendon and had to take time off work at Berwick Primary School.
But it was not time wasted.
He and his wife Corinne Bowman spent the next two years creating education software, Class Creator.
The innovative program helps teachers structure their classes, and has so far reached 200,000 students worldwide.
“Class Creator helps educators by collecting student data from teachers via online surveys. Class Creator’s “teacher logic” algorithm then uses this data to create balanced classes instantly,” Tim said.
“It’s been an amazing process teaching a computer to ‘think like a teacher’, I had no idea how many calculations we (teachers) make automatically when creating classes.”
Through the software, classes can be balanced with considerations to individual student needs, social dynamics, academic requirements, student and family history or parent requests, and can be edited based on real-time feedback.
Tim spent the last few years of his teaching career jotting down bits and pieces about common sense teaching which he didn’t learn at university.
After sharing his notes with a few graduate teachers, it was suggested his notes would be useful to new teachers.
Tim ended up turning his ideas into Amazon best-selling book, 88 Ideas to Teach More Effectively: Forget being the favourite!, which was endorsed by world-renowned education expert Professor John Hattie.
The book was downloaded 3735 in five days after launching online.
“I received “thank you” emails from all over the world from teachers and principals. As a teacher, it feels great when your ideas are useful to others,” Tim said.
Tim and his wife are also in the process of launching another app, Yardy.
It reminds teachers when they have yard duty, and allows schools to report and track playground incidents.
“The catalyst for Yardy was the fact that I’d sometimes forget my yard duty,” Tim said.
Tim is also currently working away at another book which applies the lessons and concepts of the start-up world to teaching.
But it may just be that Tim’s biggest educational contributions are yet to come.
“My dream is to establish an education experience centre in Casey-Cardinia to complement our education system (not to mention the home life of many kids). The centre would focus on teaching real life skills, motivating and inspiring the youth of Casey-Cardinia and hopefully Victoria,” he said.
He said the centre would be focused on hands-on, experience-based learning – and would hopefully include learning through simulation.
Lessons in resilience, respect, empathy, leadership, self-discipline and goal setting would be a focus at the centre, in addition to education around road safety, drugs, body image, stranger danger and anger management.
“These workshops could be all on the one site and facilitated by specialist presenters from a variety of organisations like REACH, beyondblue, Butterfly Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Victoria Police, Family Life, CFA, the TAC and more,” Tim explained.
“The centre would also provide lessons and resources that would follow on from the experiences kids have had.”
Tim hopes the education sector will continue to embrace and drive forward with technology.
“I’m a firm believer that the best solutions in education come “from the trenches”. With edtech becoming more popular, I hope we see more teachers turning their ideas into reality,” he said.
Asked for some advice for teachers struggling in the classroom, Tim said:
“Eat a block of chocolate. Vent to a friend. Then get back on the horse!”
Tim will return to teach at Berwick Primary School next year. He is excited to announce his daughter will also begin school in 2017.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamed about having my own kids at the school I’m working at ,” he said.
If you wish to contact Tim about his education concepts, email him at tim@classcreator.io.
