edtech — Terry Freedman's ICT & Computing in Education blog — ICT & Computing in Education

Click to see this on Amazon (affiliate link)

Review: From EdTech to PedTech (excerpt)

December 10, 2023

Those of us who have held responsibility for embedding digital technology across a school will all have tales of well-meaning management who, frankly, didn’t have a clue.

Quick look: From EdTech to PedTech

October 3, 2023

Academics tend to write learned articles that, I suspect, are read mainly by other academics, so anything that can translate some of that research into practical advice is to be welcomed.

The future of edtech

June 9, 2021

Apparently, only 18% of schools say that they rely on the Department for Education for advice and guidance on what to use and for procurement. I’m surprised it’s that high.

Conference: The future of education technology UPDATED

February 15, 2021

* UPDATED * The folks at Westminster Forum are running a very timely conference on 11 March 2020, about the future of edtech.

Illustration: Death by PowerPoint, by Terry Freedman

Problems in the ed tech classroom #4

April 16, 2019

PowerPoint can be a very useful tool — if used with care.

Problems in the ed tech classroom #2

March 31, 2019

What kind of problems might you experience with an ordinary flipchart? And are flipcharts preferable to interactive whiteboards? Plus details of how to get hold of a free guide to getting the most out of your interactive whiteboard.

There's more to ed tech than automation

May 1, 2018

Is adopting automation always a good thing when it comes to ed tech?

EdTechX Europe Conference: special discounts

June 12, 2017

The EdTechX Europe conference is coming, and I've secured a 35% discount for readers of the ICT & Computing in Education website, and 50% off for subscribers to my newsletter, Digital Education. Read on for more details.

Recent book reviews

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!

Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example

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

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.

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.

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.

Review: Extraordinary Learning For All

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

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.

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?

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.

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?