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ICT & Computing in Education

Articles on education technology and related topics
  • Front Page
  • Search
  • Newsletters
    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
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    • Welcome
    • The "About" Page
    • Testimonials
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Oulipo word cloud

Oulipo word cloud

The value of constraints: a note about the Oulipo and computing

June 12, 2025

The early Oulipians in particular were interested in how mathematics and literature could be combined. Calvino, for example, wrote about using cybernetics in literature.

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In Using and Teaching Computing & ICT Tags Oulipo, constraints

Esoteric programming languages (Revisited)

September 22, 2022

Programming languages are meant to be useful, right? I mean, I didn’t miss a memo or anything? That’s what I thought too. However…

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In Digital Education Tags programming, esolangs, esoteric, Oulipo

Summer reading #1: OuLiPo and the Mathematics of Literature

July 24, 2022

I’ve started to compile a list of books you might wish to explore over the holidays. They’re not all to do with edtech — we all need a break!

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In Books Unseen, Summer reading Tags summer reading, Oulipo

Feedback From A Course Called Writing The Oulipo

July 18, 2022

It’s been estimated that if you were to read one a minute for 24 hours a day it would take you around 200 million years to get through them all.

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In Using and Teaching Computing & ICT Tags constraints, Oulipo

Christmas at Selfridges, by Terry Freedman

End-of-year message from ICT & Computing in Education

December 21, 2021

Unfortunately, my end-of-year message got a bit mangled, but I’m posting it here anyway. See if you can figure out what it is supposed to say.

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In On the lighter side, News & views Tags Christmas, Oulipo

Wow! By Terry Freedman

Inspection of a Computing department in the form of a really bad TV documentary 2021

December 13, 2021

Fortunately, such an inability to explore interesting and sensible questions would not be found in a real inspection. Would it??

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In On the lighter side Tags Oulipo, inspection, TV documentary, Ofsted
Nothing esoteric about this! VB example, by Terry Freedman

Nothing esoteric about this! VB example, by Terry Freedman

Esoteric programming languages

June 8, 2021

Programming languages are meant to be useful, right? I mean, I didn’t miss a memo or anything? That’s what I thought too. However…

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In Digital Education, Using and Teaching Computing & ICT Tags programming, esolangs, esoteric, Oulipo
Think outside the box, by Terry Freedman

Think outside the box, by Terry Freedman

Technology and communication: less leads to more -- Updated

May 13, 2021

When it comes to communication, being restricted is definitely better, ie more conducive to effectiveness, than having no limits at all.

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In Leading & Managing Computing & ICT, News & views, Using and Teaching Computing & ICT Tags 140 characters, 160 characters, Matt Pearson, Pete Yeomans, Steve Wheeler, blues, sms, text messaging, texting, twitter, Oulipo
No photography, by Terry Freedman

No photography, by Terry Freedman

Applying constraints in the computing classroom

February 20, 2020

Constraints can be very useful for releasing creativity. This has been known for a long time in literature, but can it be applied in the ICT/computing classroom?

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In Tips for teachers, Using and Teaching Computing & ICT Tags constraints, lipogram, Oulipo, creativity
Wow! By Terry Freedman

Wow! By Terry Freedman

Inspection of a Computing department in the form of a really bad TV documentary

December 13, 2019

You know those awful television documentaries in which the presenters (it’s usually a double act) continually display their inability to ask interesting questions and probe beneath the surface? I thought it might be fun to imagine an inspection of a Computing department conducted as one of those documentaries.

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In On the lighter side Tags Oulipo, inspection, TV documentary
Recent book reviews
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!

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Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example
Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example

For the time being, this book is free in Kindle format.

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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.

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Review: The Dictators: 64 Dictators, 64 Authors, 64 Warnings from History
Review: The Dictators: 64 Dictators, 64 Authors, 64 Warnings from History

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

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Review: The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street 
Review: The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street 

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.

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Review: Extraordinary Learning For All
Review: Extraordinary Learning For All

As a source of potential ideas and inspiration, the book could be very useful indeed.

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Review: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them
Review: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them

One has the impression that the main role of the university these days is to maximise profit, while that of the majority of teaching staff is to ensure the ‘correct’ views are passed on to students. All the while, students’ main concern seems to be to seek protection from anything that might make them feel unsafe.

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Review: Next Practices - An Executive Guide for Education Decision Makers
Review: Next Practices - An Executive Guide for Education Decision Makers

Is a 2014 book on managing the computing provision in a school still worth buying?

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Still relevant (sadly): How to lie with statistics, by Darrell Huff
Still relevant (sadly): How to lie with statistics, by Darrell Huff

Although this book is over 60 years old, it is remarkably apposite for our times -- and especially in the fields of educational research and assessing pupils' understanding and progress.

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Quick looks: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them
Quick looks: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them

It was a great source of pride to me, getting hundreds of students through their A levels and encouraging them to go to university. But for some time I have asked myself a question: would I recommend this route now?

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