­
My Best IT Training Days #5: The girl with the website — 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
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

My Best IT Training Days #5: The girl with the website

August 12, 2019

Do you know what the pupils in your class can do, and are doing, as far as using technology is concerned? It’s not enough to say “Oh, they’re all digital natives” (which isn’t necessarily true anyway). Spending some time finding out what they can do is time well-spent.

On one occasion, I was working with an English teacher in a Year 8 class (around 13 years old)  in a school I visited regularly. The school had successfully bid for funding to pay for laptops and training for the English and Geography departments. Anyway, a Geography teacher happened to be passing the classroom, and saw me in there. He came in and asked if I could help him set up a website for the Geography department when I had some time. “Certainly”, I replied. But you could also ask Emily over there. Let me introduce you.

Emily was a 13 year-old girl who in her spare time had set up her own website with her own domain name, as part of a hobby she was pursuing. (It’s worth pointing out that this was in 1998, a time when not many adults or organisations had websites, and before it was really easy to create one. There was Microsoft Front Page, which cost money, but for the most part people used free HTML software for their web pages. An especially popular one was Arachnophilia.) I asked Emily if she’d be happy to help the teacher, and she was delighted to.

How did I know Emily had those skills? Because while I was working with the pupils I spent a moment or two asking them what they did with technology outside of school.

What were the benefits of putting Emily and the teacher in touch with each other in this way?

For Emily, it was an acknowledgement of her skills. For the teacher, it meant that he could get started more quickly -- and be able to ask for help and clarification more immediately -- than if he had to make appointments with me.

And for me, it meant I was seen as someone who had useful information. 

In other words, a win-win-win situation.

My latest book

...



In Professional development Tags best IT training
Share
← How to fix a paper jam that doesn't existMy worst IT Training Days #5: Whiteboard not working →
Recent book reviews
Backlist: The Written World
Backlist: The Written World

Writing was invented ‘only’ a few thousand years ago. It’s a fascinating story.

Read More →
Backlist: What I'm reading: Bounce
Backlist: What I'm reading: Bounce

What does it take to become an expert? And what can the Computing teacher do about it?

Read More →
Backlist: The Fourth Education Revolution
Backlist: The Fourth Education Revolution

The title of this book invites curiosity: what were the other three ‘revolutions?

Read More →
A book review for your English department colleagues perhaps
A book review for your English department colleagues perhaps

Some of these stories are so richly told, it can almost seem as though you’re right there with him.

Read More →
Review: Pen Names
Review: Pen Names

OK, so this has nothing to do with education technology, but we all read (I hope!). A very interesting examination of the pen names some authors have adopted, and why.

Read More →
Review: The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History
Review: The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History

There's a really interesting section in this book about how ceramic storage of data and information is probably the most likely medium to stand the test of time.

Read More →
A book review for your biology colleagues perhaps
A book review for your biology colleagues perhaps

The subject under discussion here is how human physiology has developed in different ways, in response to different conditions around the world.

Read More →
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 →
Dig+Ed+Banner.jpg

Contact us

Privacy

Cookies

Terms and conditions

This website is powered by Squarespace

(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved

Powered by Squarespace