Bett2020: Lexplore reading analytics solution --Updated

February 14, 2020

Updated — Explore helps teachers to analyse how children are reading.

Bett2020: Kaligo handwriting software

February 13, 2020

Software which helps teachers teach handwriting to children.

Bett2020: Python in Pieces

February 10, 2020

Python in Pieces is a visual interface for the Python programming language.

Bett2020: A Virtual School

February 9, 2020

Is a virtual school a way of enabling schools (and school districts) to provide a full curriculum given the teacher shortages in key subjects?

Bett2020: Safeguarding and Wellbeing

February 9, 2020

Developed in conjunction with the police, this product for primary (elementary) school children addresses both safeguarding and wellbeing.

Bett2020: Robotics

February 6, 2020

I have my doubts about whether building a 3d model is helpful beyond a certain age, but it has a certain appeal.

Bett2020: Safeguarding

February 6, 2020

Some time ago I compiled a list of ways in which pupils could be unsafe online. The list was extremely long….

Bett2020 Reader Pen

January 31, 2020

A device that could help students with reading difficulties.

Bett2020 The scalability problem (part 2)

January 26, 2020

The issue of scalability is not confined to cost considerations, but time as well.

Bett2020: The scalability problem (part 1)

January 26, 2020

Walking around the Bett Show and looking at products and services, I was reminded (as ever) of the need to keep scalability in mind.

Bett2020: The aggregation problem

January 26, 2020

The scalability problem is rendered more acute when you discover several products you like the look of, all priced in a similar way.

Bett2020: Eye Gaze UPDATED!

January 25, 2020

A short account of a talk about Eye Gaze, which helps teachers to know what pupils with PMLD are looking at, and what they are ignoring.

Recent book reviews

Review: The Shortest History of AI

How is it that ChatGPT, Claude and other Al models appear to perform so well at certain complex tasks that some people become convinced that they're sentient — only for them to then promptly fail at simple tasks that even a child could handle?

Review: Teacher Geek

Every so often I like to take a look, or another look, at a book published a while ago, and today I’ve been looking at Teacher Geek, by Rachel Jones.

Review: Teach Fast

The book contains some interesting ideas.

A question of leadership

I have somewhat dichotomous views of this question of whether leaders make a difference, or much of a difference. I think my views can be classified as macro and micro.

Review: Making Good Progress?

Daisy Christodoulou carefully picks apart the pitfalls of various kinds of assessment, drawing on different subject areas to do so.

principles and practice of assessment.jpg

Review: Principles and Practices of Assessment

There is plenty in this book to like.

Review: Effective Teaching: Evidence and Practice

Although this is a few years old now (2018), it has stood the test of time.

Review: One for maths teachers

This wide-ranging book takes in probability, fractals, astronomy, Babbage, Lovelace and a host of other areas and people.

Reviews: Two for History teachers

Two books on the Nazi era.

Review: One for English teachers

No book about the craft of writing seems complete without a stern chapter on the importance of eschewing adverbs and adjectives - but what to put in their place?