In TMIL, Holiday demonstrates how easy it is to manipulate the news. A must-read for teachers of media or digital literacy.
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The UserID interface, by Terry Freedman
Useless utilities, pointless programs -- and why we should encourage kids to create them
We should encourage pupils to write useless bits of code. Here’s why.
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What?! by Terry Freedman
A spreadsheet moment
A girl had been made to leave her lesson, and wanted to help me teach spreadsheets. My mind said “No way”, my intuition said “Why not?”
Read More32 must-have features of computer labs
While it's fashionable to decry the use of computer labs, still they continue to exist in many schools. If you have, or are thinking of having, a computer lab, what ought it to look like? What should it contain?
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newsguard toolbar shield, screenshot by Terry Freedman
Review of Newsguard
Newsguard is a service that rates websites for honesty, transparency and trustworthiness. It evaluates websites against several criteria, such as whether information is gathered and presented responsibly. A browser extension will enable you to see at a glance whether or a not a site they have evaluated is trustworthy.
Read MoreReport on the Edusummit 2019 conference
The Edusummit conference has a different format from most. This is a report on the conference, which will be publishing a call to action and an ebook of papers in the near future.
Read More30 ideas for organising a team meeting with a difference
If you lead a team of ed tech or Computing teachers, you can do a lot with team meetings; in fact, you can turn (at least some of them) into opportunities for professional development. It's a very good idea to occasionally depart from the standard team meeting format and put on a "special". This helps to keep interest high, and enables various goals to be achieved, including staff professional development.
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A pictogram version of the next edition of the Digital Education newsletter
The forthcoming edition of the Digital Education newsletter features some great links and resources. See if you can figure out what topics are covered from these illustrations!
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editors desk, by Terry Freedman
Almost ready: the newest edition of the Digital Education newsletter
The new edition of the Digital Education newsletter is almost ready. There are useful resources for subject leaders, research about learning programming, tons of links to resources for teaching about fake news, and lots more.
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Goal-setting. Screenshot by Terry Freedman
How to automatically allocate time for an activity in your Google calendar
If you use Google Calendar then you can use the goal-setting function to whiz through your diary on your phone and find suitable times for an activity to wish to pursue.
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Click the cover to go to the book on Amazon (affiliate link)
Quick look: Hello World
Hello World, by Hannah Fry, offers an interesting perspective on some of the problems besetting artificial intelligence algorithms.
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Proof of time travel? Photo by Terry Freedman
More fake news
Since mentioning that I am working on a special fake news edition of Digital Education, I have come across a few more brilliant resources.
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MS Decoded, by Terry Freedman
Microsoft Decoded Conference
The 2018 Microsoft Decoded event was a good conference, especially in the area of artificial intelligence and its applications. This year’s conference promises to have some interesting sessions too.
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fake news, by Terry Freedman
Digital Education Newsletter: Fake News Special
How can you tell if a video on a website is faked? How can you tell if a news outlet is being economical with the truth via misleading headlines? With around 20 links to useful resources, the next issue of the Digital Education newsletter has the answers.
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Reading and research, by Terry Freedman
Book review round-up to 22 September 2019
Here is a set of links to the educational computing books I’ve reviewed up till 22 September 2019.
Read MoreComputing and computing-related qualifications
Here in England the Government, in its quest to put Computing on the map, did its best to make sure the rest of the map was blank – by getting rid of qualifications that lots of students took (especially girls).
Read MoreItem 327 -- Get rid of to-do list
The problem I find these days is that there seems to be a mismatch between myself and event organisers as far as planning ahead is concerned. For example, I am sometimes invited to conferences with 1 week’s notice: my diary contains bookings for almost the whole of next year.
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Click the book cover to be taken to its page on Amazon. (Affiliate link.)
Review of Practical Pedagogy
Are new technologies useful or merely a distraction? How do we give pupils the skills they need to navigate the world when they leave school when we’re not sure what that world will be like? What is the proper place for evidence-informed education and educational research?
Read MoreThe trouble with technology
To the adage "Never work with children or animals", I would add, "or technology" -- which is somewhat worrying given that I have been involved in educational technology for over 20 years.
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Exclamation mark, by Terry Freedman
Was it something I said? When an elevator speech falls on deaf ears
In one of my teaching jobs, I had to listen to a parent while he went on and on about how kids should taught how to take computers apart in their Computing lessons. When I pointed out that the course was about being literate in the uses of computers and also how to program them, rather than how they're made, he insisted that digital literacy could only be taught by taking computers apart.
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