Bett 2019 News Bulletin 2019-01-22

January 22, 2019

Here are a couple more news items related to Bett.

Bett 2019, Education Show 2019 and Ed Tech Predictions: Free download

Three things in one place

I've collated my notes about Bett 2019 (tips and what to see), the Education Show, and the results of my Ed Tech Predictions survey into one PDF document. Grab your copy here:

http://bit.ly/TFBett19

Microsoft news

Microsoft recently announced some great improvements to its software. For example:

"We’ve added the ability for anyone to translate a page, or single word into another language, in real-time all within Immersive Reader."

More information here:

10 Learning Tools updates for the new year, including Translate and inclusive math improvements

Microsoft will be at Bett, on stand E300.

Recent book reviews

Review: The Shortest History of AI

How is it that ChatGPT, Claude and other Al models appear to perform so well at certain complex tasks that some people become convinced that they're sentient — only for them to then promptly fail at simple tasks that even a child could handle?

Review: Teacher Geek

Every so often I like to take a look, or another look, at a book published a while ago, and today I’ve been looking at Teacher Geek, by Rachel Jones.

Review: Teach Fast

The book contains some interesting ideas.

A question of leadership

I have somewhat dichotomous views of this question of whether leaders make a difference, or much of a difference. I think my views can be classified as macro and micro.

Review: Making Good Progress?

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

principles and practice of assessment.jpg

Review: Principles and Practices of Assessment

There is plenty in this book to like.

Review: Effective Teaching: Evidence and Practice

Although this is a few years old now (2018), it has stood the test of time.

Review: One for maths teachers

This wide-ranging book takes in probability, fractals, astronomy, Babbage, Lovelace and a host of other areas and people.

Reviews: Two for History teachers

Two books on the Nazi era.

Review: One for English teachers

No book about the craft of writing seems complete without a stern chapter on the importance of eschewing adverbs and adjectives - but what to put in their place?