An ed tech slap on the forehead moment: Something I didn't think of but wish I had

September 20, 2020

Dang! Why didn’t I think of this great idea for inspiring confidence in technophobic colleagues?

7 mistakes I made as an ed tech co-ordinator Index

April 28, 2019

We’ve all made mistakes, such as being a bit too excited about the thought of our colleagues using education technology more. I’ve written about seven of mine that I’m almost too embarrassed to think about. Here’s an index to all of the articles in this series.

7 Mistakes I Made As An Ed Tech Co-Ordinator #7: Not inventing jargon

April 21, 2019

Want to get ahead, possibly get awards, and get away with not informing anyone of anything remotely useful? This post will tell you how!

7 Mistakes I Made As An Ed Tech Co-Ordinator #6: Not making more use of the parents' association

April 20, 2019

If you need more computing equipment (and what school doesn’t?), why not ask the parents?

7 Mistakes I Made As An Ed Tech Co-Ordinator #5: Being honest

April 20, 2019

Is honesty always the best policy? I like to think it is.

7 Mistakes I Made As An Ed Tech Co-Ordinator #4: Allowing unrestricted advance booking

April 20, 2019

When it comes to allowing staff to book computer rooms and other facilities, it doesn’t always pay to be accommodating.

When it comes to ed tech, trust is better than control

October 5, 2018

Checklists are often really good — but sometimes they are worse than useless. In my experience, one of those times is when it comes to ensuring that colleagues teach information technology in their own subject lessons.

Yes, OK, I’ll try out the computers, but please leave me alone! Photo by Anh Nguyen on Unsplash

Bombarding colleagues with research results regarding ed tech doesn't work

September 21, 2018

Gathering research findings into how beneficial education technology could be, er, beneficial. But there are caveats.

This is what all ed tech co-ordinators should do if possible

September 20, 2018

In this new series, I look at 7 mistakes I made as an ICT-Co-ordinator. This first article is more of an omission, with the benefit of 20:20 hindsight!

Recent book reviews

Review: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

Hopefully, neither you nor I will ever find ourselves in court, undergoing a medical procedure, or taking an important exam.

Review: Finding Fibonacci: The Quest to Rediscover the Forgotten Mathematical Genius Who Changed the World

Finding Fibonacci is a memoir of the authors’ quest to find out about Fibonacci.

The Teachers' Standards in Primary Schools.jpg

Quick look: The Teachers' Standards in Primary Schools

This is very well set out. It takes each standard, and gives you ideas on how to achieve it, and what success in this context looks like.

How Computer Games Help Children learn.jpg

Quick look: How Computer Games Help Children learn

When I was teaching Econnures I realised that I could have taught quite a chunk of the synabus if I'd been able to run Sim City on the school network.

Quick look: Reinventing Project-Based Learning

I can verify from first hand experience that PBL kept students highly engaged, and helped them to develop skills such as working with others and independent research.

Quick look: The Human Touch

Although this book is published by the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, the focus is not on IT at all.

Quick look: Better Living through science

I have often thought that I would have been much more interested in science at school, and been much more successful at it, had the teachers taught us anything of practical value.

Quick look: Tubes: Behind the scenes at the internet

We are all so accustomed to using the internet, searching the world wide web — "going online" — that most of us most of the time probably do not stop to consider the question: yes, but where exactly is it?

Quick look: Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings: (When) do leaders make a difference?

I have somewhat dichotomous views of this question of whether leaders make a difference, or much of a difference.

Review: Power Up, by Matthew Lane

This book looks at the maths concepts — and, to some extent, the physics concepts — hidden in popular video games.