Here’s a rum thing. While trawling through the Freedman archives looking for something exciting to read (actually, an excuse for not getting on with the work I’m meant to be doing), I came across this old newsletter.
Only one of the links work, as it was sent more than twenty years ago. However, the interesting thing is that I was changing jobs and thought I would have to fold the newsletter after just 9 issues. <Sob>. I was joining the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, and thought they might object to my sending out emails about ICT.
Well, it all turned out alright in the end, and my newsletter has been going, albeit with a change of name, for over twenty years. I left the QCA after a year, to take up a more senior role in a local authority. In any event, the QCA is no longer here, but I’ve never gone away — so there!
Incidentally, the link that still works is http://www.writersknowhow.co.uk. It automatically forwards to my writing website at https://www.writersknowhow.org.
Anyway, enjoy this blast from the past.
Computers in Classrooms
===============================================================
ISSN 1470-5524
Edited by Terry Freedman -- email compic@ictineducation.org
Home Page: http://www.ictineducation.org/compic.htm
Final Issue *** 31 May 2001
===============================================================
Greetings!
Well, all good things come to an end, as the saying goes. Because of
imminent changes in my employment situation, the ICT in Education website
is no longer being developed after the end of June, and this newsletter is
no longer being published. The reason is that in my new post there could
be a perceived conflict of interest. I should like to thank everyone for
their support over the past year, and I am sorry if this message is as
disappointing as it is sudden.
I should also like to thank my proofreader, Mark Adams, who has always
managed to proofread the newsletter at ridiculously short notice. (Please
note: I did not ask him to proofread this, so any errors are mine.) He
works as a primary mathematics advisory teacher/Numeracy consultant. He is
married to an ICT advisor and enjoys proofreading a variety of documents.
(Please send offers of work and enquiries about rates to
xxx.)
I am still going to try and bring out the ebook of ICT book reviews I
mentioned a short while ago. If I manage to do so within the next month, I
will let you know that it's available.
Now the *good* news: all the content of the website will remain in place,
as will all the content of the newsletter archive at
http://www.listbot.com. They are just not being developed. Also, a new
website and newsletter are in the pipeline. Both of these are for people
who use computers for writing and related activities. The website and
newsletter are called Writer's Know-how. The address of the website is
http://www.writersknowhow.co.uk. As you might guess, it is still at a very
embryonic stage at the moment, but I am optimistic about being able to
fill it up a bit before taking up my new post. The newsletter contains
practical advice on how to get the best out of your computer if you are
involved in writing or related activities. At the risk of sounding
self-referential, another spare time pursuit of mine is writing about
writing, and that's what the focus of the newsletter and website will be.
You can get a sample copy of the newsletter by sending any email to
wkh@fastfacts.net. If you subscribe to the newsletter you will be able to
obtain a free ebook: "Get Organized! A writer’s guide to computer file
management".
===============================================================
Last time I wrote about how to have a portable Favorites or Bookmarks
file. Subscriber PF emailed me to say:
"Saving bookmarks can be easy from computer to computer, home to school by
using the source http://www.ikeepbookmarks.com. It is very handy and
create files, alphabetizes, and you can e-mail the bookmarks also. A great
tool."
PF, Lahore, Pakistan
I've tried it, and it works very well indeed. Thanks, PF.
===============================================================
About the editor
---------------------------------------------------------------
I work in ICT in education. (You can find out more by going to
http://www.ictineducation.org/tfcv.htm).
I used to be a Head of ICT and an ICT Co-ordinator myself, and I have
written some books that I would have found helpful at the time. Details
follow, along with quotes from users/reviewers.
My most recent (printed) book is "Managing ICT". My previous book was
"Make Time With IT". My most recent ebooks are "Using Computers in
Classrooms" and "Get Organized!"
"Managing ICT" looks at all aspects of managing ICT in schools and
colleges, and provides checklists to help the busy ICT Co-ordinator.
Drew Buddie, ICT Co-ordinator at the Royal Masonic School for Girls, said:
"Quite often what Terry has to say is purely common sense, much of the
time he is saying radical or new. However what he is doing, and this is
the joy of the book, is putting it so concisely, so sensibly, so
methodically, that even if you have been doing what he suggests for years,
you can't help thinking you've been given a pearl of wisdom."
---------------------------------------------------------------
Managing ICT, Terry Freedman, £9.99, Hodder and Stoughton, ISBN
0-340-75334-X.
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Make Time With IT" considers numerous ways in which teachers and
school/college administrators at all levels can use computers to reduce
their workload. The tips contained in the book are summarised on my
website. The review in InteracTive said:
"...it tackles the complexities of computing across a wide range of
technicalities and procedures and does all this with a lightness of
approach and welcome snippets of humour..."
---------------------------------------------------------------
Make Time With IT, Terry Freedman, £19.95, Questions Publishing, ISBN
1-898149-54-2
---------------------------------------------------------------
Both of these books are available from Amazon via
http://www.ictineducation.org/buybooks.htm
"Using Computers in Classrooms" contains nearly 200 tips on, er, using
computers in classrooms.
Jackie Kerr, Head of ICT at Davenies Preparatory School for Boys, said:
"...[offers] scope for further discussion in the area of using computers
in the classroom and the ins and outs of how to go about this. I think
that the ebook can be easily used as it is and I also believe that the
basic set of procedures or ideas outlined in each chapter can be adapted,
changed and added to in order to suit any school situation. For me, it is
certainly a good place to start to develop ideas, strategies and awareness
about when, how and why to use computers in the classroom. I also believe,
that at £9.99 ($15) it is offering good value for money."
---------------------------------------------------------------
Using Computers in Classrooms -- trial version available: further details
from http://www.ictineducation.org/ebook01news.htm
===============================================================
Disclaimer:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Whilst every care has been taken in the preparation of this newsletter, T
Freedman cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the information
within it or for any consequences arising from it.
(c) 2001 T Freedman email: compic@ictineducation.org
______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, write to compic-unsubscribe@listbot.com
If you found this article interesting or useful (or both), why not subscribe to my free newsletter, Digital Education? It’s been going since the year 2000, and has slow news, informed views and honest reviews for Computing and ed tech teachers — and useful experience-based tips.