Youth Media Team and the Green Screen Experience

There are many primary schools in Ireland with freshly installed green screens and several of them cite Cormac Cahill and the Maker Meet team at the annual ICT in Education Conference as inspiration for their successful use of green screens. During the 2019 “Ideas in Education” Conference, young Dylan uses a green screen when asking educators when they get their best ideas.

Dylan hopes teachers stop by the green screen standing at the end of Rang Bianca during the Ideas in Education Conference today.

Listen to “Testing @ymtfm and the Green Screen #ictedu” on Spreaker.

Improving our online publishing

The YMT.fm crew

In preparation for a day-long workshop with Ireland’s Youth Media Team, I’ve pulled together some notes about the process we use when publishing online. As the 15 minute video on YouTube explains, we often spend a half hour bringing together all the content we need to create a blog post.

During the past five years, dozens of members on the Youth Media Team have contributed their ideas and offered suggestions to improve the production workflow. But one fact remains in clear focus–it takes time to draft, write, revise and publish a high quality written blog post. That fact is clear in the podcast I made about publishing.

Listen to “See How the Youth Media Team Publishes” on Spreaker.

During our February 2019 workshop, we will use a creative media syllabus to review our publishing methods and perhaps revise a few steps to make things go smoother.

View on YouTube.

Written by @topgold

Feilte 2018 in 16 minutes

Sabina Higgins
Meeting Sabina Higgins in Feilte 2018

If you missed Feilte 2018 and would like to listen to a quick compilation of the interviews created by the Youth Media Team, just fire up your podcatcher and download the YMT audio file. Or click and play the clip directly on the YMT.fm website.

The teens and adults of the Youth Media Team are grateful for the kind courtesy continuously extended by the Teaching Council of Ireland. And deeply appreciate the sincerity afforded by President Michael D. Higgins and Sabina Higgins. We all learn through these shared moments.

Clonmel Presentation Primary Students Listen

Friends in Presentation Primary School

After listening to President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina talking to the Youth Media Team, a group of four students in Clonmel’s Presentation Primary School raised a few questions.

This story is developing.


[Questions from Siofra, Anjali and Aleezay. Audio by Sarah.]

The Day We Met the President

Michael D Higgins and YMTfm
At Feilte 2018 with President Higgins

The biggest event of 2018 has to be meeting President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina in the lobby of Mary Immaculate College during Feilte 2018. It was truly a group event that involved two main interviewers, three of the team taking photos, and two others with a back-up recorder for the special occasion.

We made a short clip that captured the moment from start to finish and hope you enjoy listening to it.

Recorded by Loran and Roisin, and Amy from the Youth Media Team.

Sabina Higgins Shares Her Message for Young People


The Youth Media Team talked with Sabina Higgins, wife of the President of Ireland. Sabina shared her important message for the young people of Ireland.

Sabina said, “Now is the most crucial and important time in the world. Because it’s the first time ever– because of what mankind has done in the last 200 years–that the planet is in danger of not being in existence”.


Sabina pointed out that people are doing a lot of work on these problems. “In the United Nations, and then in Paris, 200 countries signed up to the Sustainable Development Goals. These are 17 little goals there. They’re no poverty, no hunger, good health and well being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, clean and affordable energy, decent work, and it finishes up with action for climate change in land and in sea”.

The Paris Accords were a big deal. According to Sabina, “It was the first time in the world that countries across the whole world had one agenda.”

Sabina talked about how as young people we have access to all this information and that its a very exciting time for all this positive change to be happening. It’s a promising time. But it is also one filled with challenges. “You are the people that will bring those changes”, Sabina said. “So whatever area you’re interested in, know that you’re working, not just for yourself here, but for the world, the planet and that we’re all the same in the planet. And that we can do it.” Sabina reminded us that we “are the people who have the most exciting task. And whatever area you’re in, it’s all connected, it’s reaching to others.”

Sabina enjoyed the Feilte Exhibition. “There is nothing like the knowledge that you can have now,” Sabina said. “You know, when I was a girl, they didn’t even teach us about evolution!”

Anna and Cara
Youth Media Team

Interview with Malahide Community School

Today at #cesicon Caitlin and Monique interviewed students from Malahide Community School.

We asked four members of their I.T. team  about  their presentation and their work in relation to technology in  their school.  It was interesting to listen to the student’s voice on why technology is so important in schools today and on how it played a part in their learning.

Cailtlin and Monique

Youth Media Team

Interview with Sinead Herlihy and Tony Riley

Today at #cesion Monique and Caitlin interviewed Sinead Herlihy and Tony Riley.

The conference opened with Sinead and Tony speaking of the various tips and tricks that can be used while playing the invigorating game of Minecraft. They discussed how we can incorporate minecraft into our education system. Not only allowing kids to have fun but enabling them to learn in the process.

Monique and Caitlin

Youth Media Team

Interview with Brendan Tangney

Today at #cesicon Caitlin and Monique interviewed Brendan Tangney following his keynote address.

Brendan opened the conference by speaking about his work with Bridge 21. We asked him about getting girls more involved and engaged with subjects such as maths and science and about the challenges going with that. He also told us about how Bridge 21 has impacted on both the students and teachers involved and this is important for them.

Youth Media Team
Caitlin & Monique

Interview with YMT – Who, What, Where and How?

We are a group of attendees at the CESI conference 2017 in St. Patrick’s College DCU. Elaine McAuliffe from Scoil Dara, Kilcock; Cara McDermott from Cavan Institute; Catherine Fox from CMETB and Martin Bailey from Animate2Educate. The Youth Media Team have provided us with an amazing opportunity to learn more about what they do, how they do it, etc, etc.

The tables were turned as we were tasked with interviewing them. Within 5 minutes we had learned about all the incredible work they do, and were enriched with ideas as we return to our workplaces.

It’s actually much more straightforward than we anticipated and every school should be implementing this!

The proof – we put this post together in 20 minutes!!

Click the link below to listen to the interview.

Elaine McAuliffe, Cara McDermott, Catherine Fox & Martin Bailey