Podcast Ep 238: Sean Glynn, chief learning officer at Irish tech firm Wriggle, talks about how the business is reshaping the school classroom as we know it.
Most of us look back on our school days with either fondness or horror and often we wonder, if things could have been done differently. Parents and teachers obviously want the best for their children whom they know as digital natives can run rings around them in the technology stakes.
The reality is education is changing and the old rote method is being replaced by avenues for critical thinking and collaboration, most of which is being done through digital tools like iPads or laptops.
“A joined up approach, a strategic plan, is absolutely essential. Schools are at sea at the moment and they need help”
At the spearhead of this change is Wriggle, an Irish edtech company that has been pioneering the new ways of learning in schools since 2012.
Uniquely the business employs Irish teachers to develop ways to help hundreds of schools integrate digital technology into their classrooms.
The business works with more than 10,000 parents and students annually in more than 1,500 schools. In all it helps to manage more than 50,000 connected devices.
Leave some Wriggle room for better ways of learning
As Sean Glynn, chief learning officer of Wriggle explains it, Wriggle is in effect the de facto IT support team for most schools in Ireland.
He rightly points out that in the past, some schools might have benefited from the direction provided by a teacher who happened to be an early adopter of technology. But today, what is required is a more structured and strategic approach.
“We work with primary, post-primary, higher education and further education and we’re solely focused on providing technology into schools. But more than that, we layer on top of that. We ask educator what they want teaching and learning to look like in their schools and then we work with them to fit the technology around what they are doing on the ground.”
Glynn, who was previously a teacher with 15 years in the classroom, says it’s about finding where technology is the best fit for individual schools.
“We approach it fundamentally differently from most edtech players in that we have teachers on our staff. It’s not like when I was in school and you’d have a tech company coming in with tech people. It’s actually teachers taking to teachers around how they use the technology. That’s what sets us apart in the market.”
The interesting thing about Wriggle’s approach is that it is technology-agnostic insofar as all types of technology platforms are considered.
“We work with Google, we work with Microsoft, and we work with Apple. What we do is we provide managed devices to schools.”
Wriggle gets around the debate about locking down smartphones with phone pouches by providing technology that’s fit for the classroom. “We essentially offer an alternative to the mobile phone that’s a safe, managed device, just like if I was using one in a business. We manage that device to make sure it is as safe as possible. It has education apps, not apps that are going to distract them.
“And then we do education programmes using that technology.”
For example, the business provides an online training programme with thousands of videos for teachers, parents and students on how to get the most out of the technology but also how to use it responsibly and in a safe and ethical way.
“Our teaching team goes out to schools up and down the country and we do face-to-face meetings and planning and look at how we can prepare the school to have managed devices that the students can use as safely and responsibly as possible.”
Glynn explains that every school has a different way of approaching technology and how it deploys its funding and believes a top-down strategy led by the State is a missing piece of the jigsaw.
“A joined up approach, a strategic plan, is absolutely essential. Schools are at sea at the moment and they need help.”
The reality is that students themselves have been born into a digital-first world. They have only known a world where Minecraft and Roblox are forms of both entertainment and education. And the skills they learn on such platforms will translate into their future lives.
“There’s a new primary curriculum being rolled out in 2026 and one of the key elements of that will be digital learning. We work with schools to help them define what that looks like in terms of skills, using the technology safely and responsibly and creatively.”
He recalls from his own teaching days how students studying the 1916 Rising would recreate the GPO using Minecraft. “And in a way, they were teaching me. It really is a different kind of relationship.”
If anything, education should be about stimulating the mind and not deadening it. The role technology should play is to help ignite that spark and love of learning and knowledge. Glynn agrees. “There is an appetite there to make things more engaging for students, more relatable and relevant.”
His own personal transition from educator to businessperson was just as profound.
“I had been teaching for 15 years and came to a crossroads. I decided to do something completely different and leave teaching but didn’t realise what a seismic change it would be.”
He says when it comes to technology, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to students whether it is an iPad, a Chromebook or a Windows PC. “It’s about what do you want teaching and learning to look like in your school. What do you want the experience to be for the students? Do you want it to be collaborative and project-based, using cameras to make movies or podcasts. Perhaps the iPad is the best fit for that. Or if you want to use Excel for data and geography, then maybe a Windows device. It really depends on the use case. But we would work with schools and ask them what their particular vision is for the students, for the teachers. There is no one size fits all and it really does depend on the school.”
After completing a Master’s degree, a chance meeting with Wriggle set him on his current path. “They were looking for someone to do teacher training, I was looking for a new opportunity and the stars aligned.”
Main image at top: Sean Glynn, chief learning officer, Wriggle. Background photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash
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