Next Level Collaboration Teacher Training Program

Helping educators to run gaming workshops to help build social capacity and support wellbeing in their own schools!

Please note: bookings will close at 5pm 25th August so reserve your place soon!

Next Level Collaboration is an innovative, research-based program designed to support social capacity for children and teenagers with social-emotional and neurological learning differences.

Adopting a strengths-based approach, Next Level Collaboration workshops use age- appropriate, co-operative video games as a tool to teach collaborative teamwork skills that are important for all of us in life, such as giving instructions, asking for help, and providing feedback.

Following a successful pilot of the program throughout 2021 and 2022, the founders have developed a training program designed for teachers and education support staff interested in how they can use games-based social capacity building sessions to support students in their own classes and schools.

The training program will provide in-depth instruction and resources for all aspects of the Next Level Collaboration program, from set up through to running the workshops, with ongoing support after training concludes.

Next Level Collaboration, which is proudly supported by the University of Melbourne, will pilot the Teacher Training Program in partnership with Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria throughout 2023, offering discounted registration fees for Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria members for the initial pilot program.

If you are keen to find out more about a social capacity building program that is both effective, engaging and fosters a sense of belonging for the young people involved, we are looking forward to hearing from you.

Training is excellent value for Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria members, including two in-person workshops, eight ‘bite sized’ online modules and access to a community of practice. To find out more visit our website. https://nextlevelcollaboration.com/our-team/

Location:

• In-person workshop:  The Melbourne School of Graduate Education (Kwong Lee Dow Building), 234 Queensberry Street, Carlton

Time and Date: 

This training has been designed to minimise the need for casual relief teacher coverage, as we know this is a barrier for many people who want to participate in professional learning.

• In-person workshop : 9.30am to 2.00pm Saturday 2nd September

• Online modules are asynchronous and can be completed around your schedule
  

Who Should Attend?

• Teachers interested in learning more about supporting social capacity for children and teenagers with social-emotional and neurological learning differences through games based activities.

• This program is only open to education professionals working in a school setting such as teachers, wellbeing support staff, or classroom aides
  
  About the facilitators: Matt Harrison and Jess Rowlings
  

Dr. Matthew Harrison is an experienced teacher, researcher and digital creator with a keen passion for utilising technology to enhance social capacity building, belonging and inclusion in education. He has taught in Australia, South Korea and the United Kingdom at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Matthew is currently coordinating Autism Intervention within the Master of Learning Intervention, and is the Co-Director of Student Experience at the University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education. His research primarily focuses on neurodiversity, inclusive education and the effective use of digital technologies as teaching and learning tools. As a gamer, he has a particular interest in digital games-based learning and intervention.

Jessica Rowlings is a speech and language pathologist and researcher who focuses on building social capacity through digital games-learning for children with social-emotional differences. Her work focuses specifically on using strengths-based approaches to support neurodivergent children (such as those with autism or ADHD) to develop collaborative and teamwork skills, while building social connection and a sense of belonging. In addition, she is the co-founder and CEO of Next Level Collaboration, a social enterprise that is changing the game in developing social capacity in a neurodivergent-positive way, as well as creating supportive and meaningful employment for neurodivergent adults. Jess also has a lived experience of autism and ADHD, which provides her valuable insights into the experiences of the children and young adults with which she works.