­
New prize draw for two thought-provoking books — 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
Prize draw

New prize draw for two thought-provoking books

March 21, 2018

Subscribe to my Digital Education ezine and enter for the next prize draw, which will be run this week.

Existing subscribers know that I frequently run prize draws and/or have special offers. Earlier this term, for example, subscribers were offered the chance to win a copy of one of the following books:

Teaching Computing in Secondary Schools, by William Lau;

Computer Science Teacher, by Beverly Clarke;

Enhancing Learning and Teaching with Technology: What the research says, Edited by Rosemary Luckin.

This time there will be two lucky winners. The books on offer are the following:

The BBC Micro:Bit User Guide

The BBC Micro:Bit User Guide

The Official BBC Micro:bit User Guide, which I reviewed in the Feb/March 2018 issue of Teach Secondary magazine. I think it's a very useful book, as it covers programming concepts in three programming languages. It's a handy reference book, and readable too!

The guide shows you how to create a program, read from inputs and create a game, in each of the three languages. So you could use the book to compare and contrast the way the different programs set about achieving the same ends.

There are also advanced projects, such as how to make wearable technology from a Micro:bit.

Thanks to Wiley for offering this book as a prize.

How to fix the future, by Andrew Keen is the other prize on offer. Keen caused a bit of a stir in 2007 in a book entitled The Cult of the Amateur, in which he was fairly disparaging about citizen journalists. Interestingly, a review I wrote at the time highlighted several trends that have become more familiar, such as fake news and the occasional lack of journalistic accuracy (even when the people concerned are completely honest and trustworthy), and which I cover in more detail in my chapter about how research is reported, in Enhancing Learning and Teaching with Technology: What the research says, by Rose Luckin (Ed). Subscribers to Digital Education will be given access to that review, which is stored deep in the Freedman archives!

How to fix the future

How to fix the future

Keen's latest book "investigates the best (and worst) practices in five key areas – regulation, innovation, social responsibility, consumer choice and education – and concludes by examining whether we are seeing the beginning of the end of the America-centric digital world." (Taken from the book description on the Atlantic Books website.)

When Web 2.0 arrived in the early 2000s the narrative (I hate that term!) was all about how everyone has an equal voice on the web. These days, with companies playing fast and loose with our data, which we give away in order to enjoy access to some great tools, there's a feeling that something went wrong somewhere along the line. I haven't read Keen's book yet, but it sounds to me like it's very timely, and if his 2007 book is anything to go by it won't pull its punches.

Thanks to Atlantic Books for offering this book as a prize.

Because of different terms of entry, I'll be running two prize draws at the same time, one for each book. There is nothing to prevent subscribers from entering both, if they are eligible.

To be eligible to enter either draw, you have to be a subscriber to Digital Education. That's easy: just go to Digital Education and fill out the form. I use a double opt-in system, meaning you will be asked to confirm your desire to subscribe.

Unfortunately, for this prize draw there are restrictions regarding country of residence. The Micro:bit guide competition is open only to subscribers from the UK and Ireland. How to fix the future is available to subscribers from anywhere in the world except North America, including Canada, simply because there is a separate North American edition. I suppose subscribers living in non-eligible countries could move abroad, but it would probably be cheaper to buy the book!

As I said earlier, I will be running the draw this week, probably Friday, so if you fancy your chances (or even if you don't), sign up now.

Book-related articles
Backlist: What I'm reading: Bounce
Jul 7, 2025
Backlist: What I'm reading: Bounce
Jul 7, 2025

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

Jul 7, 2025
A book review for your English department colleagues perhaps
Jun 26, 2025
A book review for your English department colleagues perhaps
Jun 26, 2025

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

Jun 26, 2025
Review: Pen Names
Jun 26, 2025
Review: Pen Names
Jun 26, 2025

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.

Jun 26, 2025
Review: The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History
Jun 26, 2025
Review: The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History
Jun 26, 2025

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.

Jun 26, 2025
A book review for your biology colleagues perhaps
Jun 26, 2025
A book review for your biology colleagues perhaps
Jun 26, 2025

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

Jun 26, 2025
The history of news is not simply the history of printing inventions
Jun 24, 2025
The history of news is not simply the history of printing inventions
Jun 24, 2025

A few hundred years ago editors were more like collators. They would gather together bnits and pieces of news from various sources and writers and produce a pamphlet.

Jun 24, 2025
Review: Social Media for Academics
Jun 6, 2025
Review: Social Media for Academics
Jun 6, 2025

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

Jun 6, 2025
Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too
May 29, 2025
Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too
May 29, 2025

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

May 29, 2025
Review: The Dictators: 64 Dictators, 64 Authors, 64 Warnings from History
May 29, 2025
Review: The Dictators: 64 Dictators, 64 Authors, 64 Warnings from History
May 29, 2025

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

May 29, 2025
Review: The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street 
May 28, 2025
Review: The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street 
May 28, 2025

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.

May 28, 2025
In Digital Education, Leading & Managing Computing & ICT, News & views Tags prize draw
← The relaunch of the Digital Education newsletterEd Tech: Look beyond the statistics →
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