Partner Spotlight: Te Kete Hono's Samantha Craig

This week's Spotlight is on Samantha Craig from Te Kete Hono

We caught up with Sam and asked 5 questions to find out more about her as an individual.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Samantha and I grew up in NZ. I had the quintessential childhood of most kiwis, travelling around our beautiful country camping, swimming and boating in the summer. I always knew I wanted to travel so as soon as I could afford it I headed back to the UK where my family is from and spent a couple of years exploring Europe, America, and parts of Asia.  After running out of money my now husband and I headed back to NZ to set some roots.

How did you get into the area of work you are in?

Like many school leavers, I was not sure what I wanted to do with my career. I tried my hand at selling wheelchairs in a 9-5 office and quickly realised this was not the job for me. My mum was a teacher and suggested I give that a go. Luckily I fell in love with the job and embarked on what would be 9 years in the classroom. I was always really interested in technology and using it to make myself and students more innovative and productive. My passion for using IT in the classroom opened many doors for my career, and the most recent being with a company called Te Kete Hono. Their values align so perfectly with my own and it was then that I made the leap out of the classroom and into more unchartered waters. The risk has paid off and I am now able to help teachers use digital tools in their classrooms across many schools in NZ, Australia and hopefully soon more internationally.

What motivates you to do what you do?

I always loved that feeling of working with a student, seeing two pieces of a puzzle they were working on just magically click together, or some call it that 'ah-huh' moment. I now get to help teachers experience this in their own practice. If I can help as many teachers as I can harness digital technology and experience those same 'ah-huh' moments that will just make their lives that much easier, then that is my motivation. 

What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?

"You can't do the same thing over and over and expect different results" -Something I remind myself of when I am trying to solve a problem that helps me to try and look at it from a different perspective. I think this applies to edutech as well. We are often trying to solve problems that others have tried to solve before and we have to try and be innovative with our solutions. Sometimes our tech department has to bring us back down to earth though and remind us they are only human!

Knowing what you know now, what is one thing you would do differently if you were to start again?

Learn more about coding! It is so fascinating what coders can do. I feel like we have only scratched the surface with what tech will be able to do for us in the future - I mean look at what we can now do with AI. I would love to be able to understand that world a bit more.