Microsoft Decoded Conference

September 30, 2019

The 2018 Microsoft Decoded event was a good conference, especially in the area of artificial intelligence and its applications. This year’s conference promises to have some interesting sessions too.

Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash — Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash

Microsoft laptops and software evaluation

November 24, 2018

Over the summer of 2018 I evaluated and compared for laptops sold by Microsoft, and tested the software that was installed on them. Here are my findings.

Microsoft's Future Decoded

November 2, 2018

The most fascinating thing for me about the Future Decoded conference was the present!

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?