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ICT & Computing in Education

Articles on education technology and related topics
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assessment and the black swan problem by Terry Freedman

assessment and the black swan problem by Terry Freedman

Assessing Computing and ICT: a selection of articles

May 4, 2019

Here’s a round-up of a few articles I’ve written about assessing Computing and ICT over the years. Although some of them were written a while ago, I believe they are still useful and relevant.

Featured
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August 30, 2026
Review: Outstanding Formative Assessment: Culture and Practice
August 30, 2026

This book contains numerous assessment for learning techniques.

Read more →
August 30, 2026
Updated: Reflections on assessing computing
August 10, 2026
Updated: Reflections on assessing computing
August 10, 2026

This article began life as three separate articles, partially in the form of a diary. The “Levels” it refers to have long since been consigned to the dustbin of history, and the agencies mentioned joined the choir celestial a long time ago. But still, I think the thought processes involved are still apposite, even if the contexts have changed.

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August 10, 2026
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June 1, 2026
Review: Making Good Progress?
June 1, 2026

Daisy Christodoulou carefully picks apart the pitfalls of various kinds of assessment, drawing on different subject areas to do so.

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June 1, 2026
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June 1, 2026
Review: Principles and Practices of Assessment
June 1, 2026

There is plenty in this book to like.

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June 1, 2026
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March 17, 2026
Paul Black
March 17, 2026

Paul Black, R.I.P.

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March 17, 2026
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August 13, 2025
Understanding exam grading
August 13, 2025

As the GCSE and ‘A’ Level results days are almost upon us, here are some useful guides as to what the gradings mean.

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August 13, 2025
A rubric for assessment? What a joke! Revisted
July 7, 2025
A rubric for assessment? What a joke! Revisted
July 7, 2025

A lighthearted look at rubrics as a form of assessment.

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July 7, 2025
Hot Potatoes Cloze Exercise
April 12, 2025
Hot Potatoes Cloze Exercise
April 12, 2025

A simple, and very old-fashioned looking, cloze exercise!

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April 12, 2025
The DfE's foray into AI for education: the good news and the (potentilly) bad news
March 20, 2025
The DfE's foray into AI for education: the good news and the (potentilly) bad news
March 20, 2025

We don’t have very long to wait before the educational AI projects funded by the Department for Education are unveiled, if all goes to plan. But I have some concerns.

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March 20, 2025
Reflections on assessing computing
August 10, 2024
Reflections on assessing computing
August 10, 2024

This article was originally published some time ago, when there was a previous iteration of the National Computing. However, although the context has changed, many of the issues remain, which is why I've decided to republish. I hope you find it useful. It has been lightly edited to remove dud links)

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August 10, 2024
Course evaluations and their pitfalls
June 21, 2024
Course evaluations and their pitfalls
June 21, 2024

I think evaluations are very odd devices to be honest. Someone once “marked me down” on her evaluation of a one day course I was running on the grounds that the traffic was terrible. I pointed out to her that I wasn’t in charge of local traffic conditions and that she should complain to the council.

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June 21, 2024
7 reasons that the FAIL acronym fails (Updated)
March 30, 2024
7 reasons that the FAIL acronym fails (Updated)
March 30, 2024

Failing is empowering.

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March 30, 2024
Testing pupils using stories (Update)
June 29, 2023
Testing pupils using stories (Update)
June 29, 2023

Here’s a different and more engaging way of testing pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding. This is an updated version of an article I wrote in 2020. This version includes some ChatGPT-generated additions.

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June 29, 2023
My issues with assessment by AI
September 13, 2022
My issues with assessment by AI
September 13, 2022

I have serious misgivings about the use of AI to assess students’ work.

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September 13, 2022
In Assessment Tags assessing Computing and ICT, assessment
← Digital Exclusion and Digital EqualityThe new DfE education technology strategy: a textual analysis →
Recent book reviews
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Two reviews in one: Turner and Constable: Rivals and Originals -- art and history

One for your colleagues, perhaps: art, art history, ploitics with a small ‘p’.

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Two reviews in one: State of Ridicule: A History of Satire in English Literature -- politics, history, English

One for your colleagues, perhaps. Sperrin has provided a wealth of information that can be used to provide a rich experience for students of politics, history and English literature.

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Two reviews in one: A Little History of Mathematics

I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote! In substantive terms there is little difference between the two, but you may find it interesting to see what the editor altered.

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Review: The Learning Rainforest: Great Teaching in Real Classrooms

This is a great book for dipping into in order to read about different teaching and assessment strategies, backed up by research.

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Review: Outstanding Formative Assessment: Culture and Practice

This book contains numerous assessment for learning techniques.

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Review: New Media in the Classroom: Rethinking Primary Literacy

This provides a great deal of information about the different aspects of "literacy” and how digital tools can be brought into the service of literacy in the primary school.

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Review: Designing the internet of things

This book takes you through the process of designing connected devices from prototyping to launching.

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Quick look: (Un)educated: My Life as a Teacher, and Why You Should Never Become One

“Some of it is laugh-out loud funny, but some of it, about his reference being spiked, made me angry …”

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A Heads-up: Hot Type: The Magnificent Machine that Gave Birth to Mass Media and Drove Mark Twain Mad

This is about the invention of linotype, and its consequences.

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Are we in, or entering, a post-literate society?

I know that there are people who think that Tik-Tok videos and other (very) short-form content is a kind of literacy that’s on a par with reading, but I have my doubts.

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