On this day: Manual labour: what's your documentation like?

July 27, 2025

Is your documentation well-written but useless?

The hazards of writing software manuals

December 29, 2021

Writing software manuals or books, or even mini tutorials on how to do something in a particular program comes with a huge occupational hazard.

Manual labour: what's your documentation like?

July 29, 2020

Is your documentation well-written but useless?

Writing technology manuals for school: why, what and how

June 4, 2019

Do you really need software and hardware manuals in school? (Spoiler alert: yes.)

Books erratum

March 16, 2017

In a recent article I said that a particular book was my first 'proper' book -- and then I remembered the previous half dozen or so! This article sets the record straight.

In The Picture: Help!

August 23, 2010

I’m a firm believer in helping youngsters (and colleagues) to become as self-sufficient as possible. As well as being healthy, in my opinion, it is also a requirement of some examination courses.

Recent book reviews

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?

Review: The Great Formal Machinery Works: Theories of Deduction and Computation at the Origins of the Digital Age

If you’re of a mathematical bent this could be just the book to delve into.

Review: How to lie with statistics

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.