Summer reading #3: Algorithms

July 30, 2022

Jeff Erickson has made his book on algorithms (the title is a bit of a giveaway) available for free.

Summer reading #2: What's the problem? Won't Google Translate sort it?

July 28, 2022

Why bother asking someone to translate anything, given that Google Translate will probably do a reasonable-ish job in a fraction of a second?

Westminster Forum conference on Computing education: First impressions

July 25, 2022

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

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!

Coming soon: my summer reading list

July 22, 2022

For my end-of-term newsletter I’ve compiled a short reading list, not all the items on which are concerned with edtech. After all, everyone deserves a break.

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?