This is an updated version of an article I published on my writing website in 2015. In my experience, it absolutely applies to artists, teachers and other creatives as well as writersor consultants.
Read MoreI don't like ice-breakers
One of the more unfortunate effects of lockdown and its concomitant requirement of online learning is the application of different kinds of ice-breaker. To be fair, most ice-breaker activities leave me cold…
Read MoreDo kids still need to learn how to code?
A week or so ago we were chatting to a neighbour. She said she thinks her daughter, who looked about six years old, should learn how to code, as that’s the future. Didn’t I agree? I’m afraid I said that didn’t.
Read MoreThe Joint Consultative Committee
Every so often I read about a headteacher caving in to students ‘demanding’ their rights, or demanding something or other. The usual technique is to go from zero degrees to boiling in no seconds flat, bunking off lessons to ‘protest’. My response would be to (a) suspend the lot of them
Read MoreI was a teenage geek (Updated)
One day when I was 15, I was milling around in this youth club trying to look cool, when someone came up to me and asked me if I’d be interested in joining a cinematography club. I’d never touched a cine camera in my life.
Read MoreGet off of my lawn
One of the few good things about the emphasis on ‘coding’ now is that as most people acknowledge that they know nothing about it, they leave the people teaching it in peace.
Read More7 reasons that the FAIL acronym fails (Updated)
Failing is empowering.
Read MoreWhy you should collaborate on a Computing scheme of work (Updated)
In the article 12 Characteristics of a good Computing Scheme of Work I said that people should work with other people on their Computing scheme of work. Why?
Read More12 Characteristics of a good Computing Scheme of Work
*UPDATED* What are the attributes of a good ICT and Computing scheme of work? Here's the list of characteristics I've always looked for.
Read MoreBad pitches
Examples of how not to try and sell a product or an idea.
Read MoreHow useful is AI for generating words?
As it happens, I first addressed this question in 2012, and the first part of this essay, down to the part about robots, is taken from the notes I made then. My opinion hasn’t changed, in spite of the enormous strides in AI in the last twelve years.
Read MoreQuick looks: The collaboration book
I’ve just sent Teach Secondary magazine my review of this book, so I can’t say much before that’s published.
Read MoreMobile phones: Another ritual
Every so often an Education Secretary announces a ban on mobile phones in school (which always turns out to be guidance, not mandatory). It's a sort of non-policy, a statement for the purpose, in my opinion, of wanting to say something, anything.
Read MoreTeacher admin tasks: the ritual is alive and well
In January 2024 the English Department for Education published its initial thoughts on teacher admin tasks, as in what teachers should not be expected to have to do.
This is one of those rituals that the DfE goes through every so often in one form or another.
Read MoreQuick look: The Language of Deception
I’m not convinced to any extent at all that not being able to tell the difference between a computer and a person means that the computer is intelligent. However, the original formulation of Turing’s ‘imitation game’ was whether a machine could be perceived as being intelligent.
Read MoreThe 3,000 Part Computing Lesson Revisited
I daresay there are schools in which teachers are expected to divide all their lessons into manageable chunks in accordance with Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). The fact that CLT is light on the specifics and is a load of rubbish is seemingly no deterrent.
Read MoreReview: The Book at war
The Book at War is a fascinating study of how books and other reading matter have variously influenced politics, propaganda and history over time.
Read MoreEvaluation of a press release created by AI
I have a course coming up, one that I’m teaching. I asked an AI writer to draft a press release for it. Here’s what it came up with, with my annotations in italics and in square brackets.
Read MoreReview: Iterate: The secret to innovation in schools
Having endured some fairly dreadful ‘initiatives’ in my time, delivered from on high with the directive to ‘make it work’, I approached Iterate with some trepidation.
Read MoreAI discussion prompts from Wakelet
This resource comprises a number of prompts to kickstart a discussion in your classroom about AI and its effects in society.
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