Report on DfE Communication Skills: Could Do Better

June 18, 2020

Why the documentation from the Department for Education is dreadful — and what they could do about it.

Covid19 and the Ed Tech Revolution

April 19, 2020

Has Covid-19 proven that education technology has been an utter failure?

More corporate gobbledegook from the Department of Education

January 13, 2020

More corporate guff from the Department of Education. Why can’t they use appropriate language?

The new DfE education technology strategy: a textual analysis

May 2, 2019

The recent ed tech strategy from the Department for Education leaves much to be desired, not least because it’s so boring to read. I ran it through a word cloud and a textual analysis application. Here are my findings, along with recommendations and the introduction of my new SnoreMaster Awards.

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.

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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.

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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.