About iOTF Events

2013 - 2019

iOnTheFuture was formed originally by Paul Taylor, former Deputy Principal of Carlingford West Public School in 2013.

Paul took the event with him to his first principalship at Turramurra North Public School in 2014 where the event grew to 700 for iOTF4 in 2016; delivered on the school grounds in marquees and pouring rain thanks to the dedication and hardworking classroom and admin staff at the school.

Paul moved to Banora Point Public School on the far North Coast of NSW as Principal in 2017 and took a year off from iOTF, before returning with #iOTF5 in 2018 at Banora Point High School. With the success of iOnTheFuture5 and over 500 attendees, Paul knew he couldn’t continue to host the event with the added workload on staff and volunteers. Paul approached The Secretary, Mark Scott, New South Wales Department of Education for assistance with the administration to host the event. With the support of The Secretary, and Deputy Secretary, Murat Dizdar, iOTF Events was formed.

The first event hosted by iOTF Events was #iOTF6 in 2019 when 900 participants attended a one-day event held Saturday at Lindfield Learning Village in Sydney and Sunday at Banora Point Public School which offered over 30 workshops and masterclasses.

Keynote speakers for iOTF6 included Ron Berger and Scott Hartl, from EL Education, along with Suzie Boss and John Larmer, from Buck Institute for Education/PBL Works, and Bernie Shakeshaft of BackTrack Youth Works.

Our partner for the event was the team at BECOME Education, leaders in transforming Careers Education.

Over years the event has hosted some amazing educators and keynote speakers including Ron Berger and Scott Hartl for www.eleducation.org , Larry Rosenstock from www.hightechhigh.org , Eric Mazur from www.ericmazur.com, Kevin Honeycutt from www.kevinhoneycutt.org, Bernie Shakeshaft from www.backtrack.org.au and Alan November from www.novemberlearning.com

2020

iOTF Events will shift from a one day conference event to multiple two and three day, in depth world class professional learning institutes from 2020. There will not be a one-day, iOnTheFuture7’ (iOTF7) conference in 2020.

Instead, iOTF Events will partner with PBLWorks and EL Education to bring in-depth two and three-day institutes that will impact teacher practice.

The first of these institutes was PBL Down Under held in January 2020 and then PBL Sydney Institute in October 2020. Both events have been supported by our friends at BECOME Education, who are leading transformation in careers education.

EL Education - 'Leaders Of Their Own Learning' Institute scheduled for July 2020 had to be postponed due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) and will be hosed online October 14 and 15, 2021. Register your EOI here

Keynote Speakers have included:

Ron Berger - EL Education

Larry Rosenstock - High Tech High

Scott Hartl - EL Education

Eric Mazur - Harvard University

Dean Shareski - Discovery Education Canada

Kevin Honeycutt - Essdack Kansas

Stephen Harris - Northern Beaches Christian School Sydney

Michael Priddis - Fæthm AI

Michelle Navarre - Polaris Charter Academy Chicago

Libby Woodfin - EL Education

Alan November - November Learning

Suzie Boss - PBLWorks

John Larmer - PBLWorks

The event was run by teachers for teachers as a not-for-profit.

From 2020 iOnTheFuture Events (iOTF Events) will cease to run the annual conference and will move to a new format of2 and 3-Day institutes; one held in summer and one held in winter. This decision has been taken as the 2020s are not about why change is needed but about how changes are best made to teaching practice. Thus a one-day conference is no longer fit for purpose.

Two 3-Day institutes allow deep transformational learning for all participants. These institutes will be lead by the very best leaders and educators from PBLWorks and EL Education. Numbers will also be limited to 150 for each institute; with classes of 30 max per ‘class/workshop’.

Details of these institutes are on this site.

Should you wish to review past conferences, please see the hashtags #iOTF4, #iOTF5, and #iOTF6.

Paul Taylor

Founder - iOnTheFuture and Principal - Banora Point Primary School