­
Coming soon: my seminar recommendations for Bett 2020 — ICT & Computing in Education
  • Front Page
  • Search
    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
  • RSS
    • Welcome
    • The "About" Page
    • Testimonials
    • CV/Resumé
    • My Writing
    • Published articles
  • Corrections Policy
Menu

ICT & Computing in Education

Articles on education technology and related topics
  • Front Page
  • Search
  • Newsletters
    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
  • RSS
  • Info
    • Welcome
    • The "About" Page
    • Testimonials
    • CV/Resumé
    • My Writing
    • Published articles
  • Corrections Policy
BBC Basic screen, by Terry Freedman.

BBC Basic screen, by Terry Freedman.

Coming soon: my seminar recommendations for Bett 2020

January 18, 2020

I’m honoured to announce that, as a passionate advocate for education technology, and its potential to deliver the implementation of transformative outcomes and drive forward the — oh, do you know, I’m sick of this drivel already. Here’s the situation:

I’ve gone through the Bett seminar programme, and highlighted the ones that I’d go to if (a) I could be in several places at once (I’m working on that) and (b) needed to know about a much wider range of issues than any person does.

In selecting the sessions, I have included the ones which appear to satisfy one or more of the following criteria:

  • Presented by a teacher, or someone who has worked as a teacher for more than 5 minutes.

  • Appear to be genuinely useful.

  • An unusual topic, or unusual angle on a familiar topic.

  • A niche area, such as a particular kind of special educational need.

I have excluded any that seem to tick any of the following boxes:

  • Inclusion of these words in the description:

    • Leveraging

    • Empowering

    • Impact

    • Driving

    • Passion (thanks to Richard Smith for this one)

    • Transformational

    • Deliver

    • Mission

    • Jobs/skills of the future

    • Power (or any other noun) as a verb

    • Grit

  • Sessions which seem to be purely self-promotional for the presenter.

  • Sessions which seem to be a 30 minute long advertisement for a product or service — difficult to avoid, but some of them at least say you will go away with a list of ideas or strategies to try out.

  • Sessions which have what seems like a tenuous connection with education, and computer education in particular.

  • Sessions where the presenter appears to be someone who has never worked in a school but feels qualifies to tell teachers how to do their job.

  • Sessions where the presenter has tweeted that they are honoured to be presenting. I was brought up to believe that self-praise is no recommendation, and I contend that so-called “humble brags” are prime examples of that.

I don’t claim to have been comprehensive in my choices — after all, there’s no point in simply reproducing the Bett seminar list. Nevertheless, I hope you find the outcome useful. My objective is simple: to bring to your attention sessions that look interesting and useful, and which you might have missed. I have no vested interest in any of them, except perhaps those hosted by the Technology, Pedagogy and Education Association, where I am a member of the committee.

My next task is to copy and paste the sessions into a document or two. So watch this space.

In Bett Tips, Leading & Managing Computing & ICT, News & views, Professional development Tags Bett2020, Bett
← Listen up! The audio side of Bett 2020 -- UPDATED27 Things to do before Bett 2020 →
Recent book reviews
Review: Social Media for Academics
Review: Social Media for Academics

This book is very readable, and if I sound surprised that is because it’s not always true of academics!

Read More →
Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example
Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example

For the time being, this book is free in Kindle format.

Read More →
Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too
Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too

Despite the relative paucity of immediately obvious National Curriculum links, teachers will find several of sections of this book to be highly engaging.

Read More →
Review: The Dictators: 64 Dictators, 64 Authors, 64 Warnings from History
Review: The Dictators: 64 Dictators, 64 Authors, 64 Warnings from History

In some respects one could view this book as a single warning repeated 64 times.

Read More →
Review: The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street 
Review: The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street 

Taking readers from the Middle Ages to (more or less) the present day, Gray charts how the places where we do our shopping and what we buy have changed over the centuries.

Read More →
Review: Extraordinary Learning For All
Review: Extraordinary Learning For All

As a source of potential ideas and inspiration, the book could be very useful indeed.

Read More →
Review: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them
Review: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them

One has the impression that the main role of the university these days is to maximise profit, while that of the majority of teaching staff is to ensure the ‘correct’ views are passed on to students. All the while, students’ main concern seems to be to seek protection from anything that might make them feel unsafe.

Read More →
Review: Next Practices - An Executive Guide for Education Decision Makers
Review: Next Practices - An Executive Guide for Education Decision Makers

Is a 2014 book on managing the computing provision in a school still worth buying?

Read More →
Still relevant (sadly): How to lie with statistics, by Darrell Huff
Still relevant (sadly): How to lie with statistics, by Darrell Huff

Although this book is over 60 years old, it is remarkably apposite for our times -- and especially in the fields of educational research and assessing pupils' understanding and progress.

Read More →
Quick looks: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them
Quick looks: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them

It was a great source of pride to me, getting hundreds of students through their A levels and encouraging them to go to university. But for some time I have asked myself a question: would I recommend this route now?

Read More →
Dig+Ed+Banner.jpg

Contact us

Privacy

Cookies

Terms and conditions

This website is powered by Squarespace

(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved