Training sessions that threatened to go wrong -- and how I rescued them

March 26, 2025

The chapters in this article were originally published as separate articles. For a pdf version, sign up to the free Digital Education newsletter and download it from the Digital Education Supplement area, where it goes under the title of My Worst IT Training Days.

Recent book reviews

Need a break? This book of short stories could be just the ticket!

The 39 stories in this collection span a hundred years, during which Polish society underwent seismic political change several times over.

Review: Digital Culture Shock: Who Creates Technology and Why This Matters

An interesting look at how differently societies across the globe view and use technlogogy.

Review: The Idea Machine: How Books Built Our World and Shape Our Future

The written word has endured for millennia, and herein you'll discover why.

Review: Craftland: A Journey Through Britain's Lost Arts and Vanishing Trades

A book that offers a glimpse into the way traditional crafts were practised before the Industrial Revolution.

Quick look: Digital Culture Shock: Who Creates Technology and Why This Matters

Chapters look at how technology is used around the world, online communities, and building a culturally just infrastucture, amongst other topics.

Artificially Gifted Notes from a Post-Genius World.jpg

Quick look: Artificially Gifted: Notes from a Post-Genius World

The author, Mechelle Gilford, explores how AI may render our usual way of interpreting the concept of “gifted” obsolete.

Quick look: Dr. Bot: Why Doctors Can Fail Us―and How AI Could Save Lives

Dr Bot discusses something I hadn’t really considered…

Review: Seven Brief Lessons on Physics: Anniversary Edition

Rovelli draws readers into his world by describing the development of theories that scientists have posited to try and explain our world and the universe beyond.

Review: Dear Data

The authors spent a year sending each other postcards on a different theme each week, with pictorial representations of the data they had collected.

Review: Blueprints: How mathematics shapes creativity

What place might Blueprints merit on a teacher’s bookshelves?