Ivanhoe Grammar School teacher wins major tech award

A passion and talent for teaching technology has seen Ivanhoe Grammar School’s Director of ICT & eLearning, Steve Brophy, named Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria’s (DLTV) 2017 Outstanding Leader of the Year.

DLTV supports innovative primary and secondary teaching through community events, publications and awards. Last year Brophy was a keynote speaker at its 2016 technology in education conference, DigiCon.

Brophy became a teacher “by accident” in 2000 after his love of sport saw him train as a PE teacher. Now an IT specialist, he has taught in Catholic, independent, government and international schools. He joined Ivanhoe Grammar School in 2013 and this year became a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert and an Apple Distinguished Educator.

Brophy is committed to advancing technology in the classroom and co-curricular activities. He is an organiser of the teacher-run TeachTech Play conference, which this year showcased his work with Year 7 students to make usable prosthetic hands with 3D printers.

He works hard to engage students of all ages with technology and spends hours running popular after-school activities, attending conferences, making podcasts and writing a blog. A father of two young children, Brophy says no-one teaches for awards, but he is “humbled” to be recognised.

“A lot of what I do, I do because I love it,” Steve says. “I do a lot because it’s something that I’m incredibly passionate about. To me it’s about harnessing technology to improve learning.

“The future of Australia counts on these kids being able to come up with new ideas, to find problems, think creatively and systematically and come up with prototypes. Technology is a really engaging medium to do that. My goal is to try to bring that opportunity to every kid.”