This series of blog posts is about getting to know the Firefly team a bit better. This time we're introducing Rob, our Client Experience Manager. You may have met Rob during a Firefly training session or during one of our webinars. Rob is a former deputy head at the Duke of Kent school, a prolific Firefly blogger, and regular speaker at Firefly conferences.
Name: Rob Eastment
Teams: Client Experience Manager
Where did you go to school?
I went to Churston Grammar School in South Devon. It was quite a rural school and was unusual in that a steam train ran through the centre of the grounds during the summer. I was probably not the best student, (I came across some of my old school reports recently and they made surprising reading). However, I was fortunate enough to meet some truly inspirational teachers; I have particularly fond memories of my Maths teacher and my rugby coach who both really showed me the importance of being aspirational in my thinking.
What is your first memory of using technology in a school environment?
I can really show my age here by thinking back to the first BBC computer that came to my middle school when I was about 11 years old. In those days there was no mouse and everything had to be programmed in from the start. ICT as a subject didn’t really exist at that time and I’m not sure that teachers really knew what they could do with the computers as a teaching tool. They would be amazed at the way technology has now become so integral to education.
How do you use technology in your day-to-day life?
Technology is very much my organisational centre; so much so that I will instinctively reach for my smartphone or tablet when I want to know something. I use mobile technology for everything from work emails and calendars, through social networking to google maps in the car. We even decide which film we’ll watch at the weekend by looking at the IMDB ratings.
Where do you see technology in five years?
The biggest movement in technology in previous years has been the movement towards the internet, such that computers have become a terminal for a wider network rather than somewhere that we store software and documents. I see this trend continuing as connectivity improves further and people using the ‘virtual’ world more fully. I think that the advances in AI are also exciting, although I grew up with the Terminator movies so there may be a nervous edge to my excitement!
