For Don McNamee, alumnus of Queen’s University and Director of Educational Technology at Saigon South International School, unlocking students’ wonder is the most fascinating element of education. In his daily work in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Don is a catalyst for the advancement of the school’s technology – from implementing software services and artificial intelligence to supporting STEAM faculty members and educational programming. “Our Senior Leaders Team creates policy from a humanistic point of view,” Don shares. “Not ‘you’re forbidden to use technology in these ways,’ but ‘this is how we should use technology according to our mission and our values.’ It's about showing people that they may need change, advocating for people’s agency, and listening to them as we help them move forward.” Don is passionate about supporting Saigon South students and faculty, as well as supporting Education students at Queen’s. In his new role as a Queen’s University Council member, Don is eager to bring teacher candidates the opportunity to join him in Vietnam, or other international locations, where their inspiration may be set alight by sparkling new initiatives, pedagogy, and culture.
While Don is exhilarated by his life in educational leadership, his inspiration led him to a diverse range of careers before he found his perfect match. His love of travel brought him to teaching positions in both England and New Zealand, and his love of technology brought him to a corporate career with Apple. “It's not always talked about in the Faculty of Education, but the skills you have in your back pocket as a teacher are highly transferrable,” Don spotlights. “Joining Apple, I was working with school boards, leadership teams, educational leaders. And I loved it. I learned so much about how to effectively communicate. But, of course, I felt that drive and appetite to return to education.” When Don’s principal in England offered to fund his master’s degree in educational leadership in return for a few more years on their faculty, Don leapt at the opportunity. Thanks to his principal’s kindness and his own willingness to take a chance, Don has the honour of making incredible change as a leader in a non-for-profit international school.
“Non-for-profits are so important to me,” Don voices. “I love the sense of their moral compass and their shared values. Usually, you have access to greater resources as well, because there aren’t significant constraints on investment.” With the capacity to invest at Saigon South International School, the organization has been able to launch excellent creative STEAM programming. “In the middle school, we have VEX Robotics. It’s the gamification of robotics and robotics tournaments,” Don enthuses. “We’re also joining the FIRST Robotics competition: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The students join teams where they have to apply knowledge from all different high school courses. Each team has six weeks to design, test, engineer, build, and launch a robot that participates in a game. And it's incredible. These students are going off to Waterloo. They're going off to Georgia Tech, they're going off to MIT … And then they're getting jobs with SpaceX.”
The creative use of technology at Saigon South is transformative not only for students gifted in STEAM, but for students across all grades, with interests of all kinds. “In our elementary school, we use a product called MagicSchoolAI,” Don introduces. “Our grade 4 students went through this process of doing what they call ‘upside down fairy tales.’” The children developed ideas for original fairy tales, and they wrote prompts for AI to render illustrations that matched their imaginations. “Some students don’t have a lot of practical experience with drawing, and when they got the imagery they wanted, they were able to write explicitly what they thought that imagery represented for their story,” Don explains. “They made really unique stories with pictures to match what they were really dreaming of. We published them into physical books too, so it wasn’t just something done on the iPad – it was a whole process.”
Teachers and students at Saigon South have also been awestruck by AI’s ability to enhance
comprehension and self-improvement. “We’re starting to see deeper understanding, because these tools have the ability to differentiate for students,” Don reveals. “A physics teacher can assign a reading, and the student can ask AI to synthesize and create digital physics models they can play with. It’s like creating a personalized textbook right there.” Teachers are also showing students how to use AI for meaningful feedback, and how to evaluate the accuracy of the information they receive from AI. “When AI provides feedback based on the rubric, it isn’t critical; it’s constructive, ” Don outlines. “Students feel comfortable seeking feedback from AI because they perceive it as non-judgmental. Eventually, when the teachers take AI out of the process and move onto peer evaluation, the students’ feedback is better. The AI supports the students to become effective evaluators of their peers – all of their writing actually got better.”
By emphasizing the process over the product, and embedding assignments that involve personal connections and creativity, Saigon South has embedded artificial intelligence without experiencing any decrease in academic integrity. “We leverage Google Workspace, lockdown browsers, and hand-written assignments. And we seek multiple examples of students’ writing over time – on paper and online – to get a sense of students’ tone and development,” Don explains. “We familiarize ourselves with our students’ writing rather than relying on plagiarism detectors, which are often ineffective.”
It is Don’s hope that in the near future, Saigon South International School might impact Queen’s Education students as deeply as it has impacted him – through alternative practicum placements, new teaching adventures, or perhaps an entirely new placement opportunity yet to be developed. “If there is one piece of advice I have for young teachers and teacher candidates, it’s to jump at opportunities,” Don encourages. “I’ve had teaching and leadership adventures in countries I never would have imagined. And I firmly believe that exploring so many communities and cultures has made me a better educator. I am more empathetic, more patient. I’ve had to change – often – and there has never been a dull moment.” So, whether your heart takes you to new places, new industries, or anywhere in between, enjoy the adventure: it might just bring your dream to life.
About the Author
Juliette Silveira is a final year Education student at Queen’s University. In 2024, she completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree at Queen’s University with a Minor in Dramatic Arts and a Major in English Language & Literature. In July 2025, she will complete her Bachelor of Education degree through the Concurrent Education program. Juliette has spent her time at Queen’s learning to become an Intermediate/Senior Drama and English teacher, and she has focused on Indigenous teacher education through the ITEP program. Passionate about cultivating students’ creativity and critical thinking, Juliette is eager to bring her experience as an actress, musical theatre teacher, creative writer, and literary analyst into her classroom.
