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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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March 17, 2026
Paul Black
March 17, 2026

Paul Black, R.I.P.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

September 13, 2022
Job-seeking as a metaphor for assessment in computing
May 12, 2022
Job-seeking as a metaphor for assessment in computing
May 12, 2022

jobs lineWhen I saw several hundred people lining up for some sort of job registration recently, I immediately thought of the challenges of assessing pupils’ educational technology capability. A bit of a stretch? Not necessarily.

May 12, 2022
Artificial Intelligence and marking: pitfalls (2022 Update)
May 12, 2022
Artificial Intelligence and marking: pitfalls (2022 Update)
May 12, 2022

If AI generates an essay, and another AI grades it, has anything useful actually happened?

May 12, 2022
Perverse incentives in assessment (Updated)
February 15, 2022
Perverse incentives in assessment (Updated)
February 15, 2022

Trying to be helpful to pupils while assessing their understanding could actually be counter-productive.

February 15, 2022
Using badges
November 18, 2021
Using badges
November 18, 2021

The attractive thing about badges is that a school can invent their own categories and achievement levels.

November 18, 2021
In Assessment Tags assessing Computing and ICT, assessment
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