I’m always wary of books that are written while the issues that it addresses are new and current.
Read MoreThumbnail sketch: Online learning for dummies
This book addresses online learning from the point of view of the learner, rather than the teacher or the institution
Read MoreThumbnail sketch: The Turning Point
I like where this book is coming from. It regards teachers as experts.
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Book review: Your Press Release Is Breaking My Heart
Most press releases are boring. Even worse, some are annoying. And the people who send them can be even more annoying. I can tell you these things with some authority because I receive dozens of them a day.
Read MoreReview: Teaching Computing in Secondary School
While the author is an experienced teacher and subject leader, what is striking about the book is the extent to which his suggestions are grounded in academic research.
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The 4 key elements of word of mouth
It’s a challenge to think of what to do in order to stand out, but from the examples given in the book, it doesn’t have to be anything fiendishly difficult.
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7 insights from Nudge theory
If there is an option to send a text or email message to parents with the information, obviously there needs to be a box to be ticked for that, but all the business of copying information from one place (the database) to another (text message), formatting the message and then digging out and inserting the parent’s contact details should all be automated.
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Review: Windows 10 Portable Genius
Many people need to find ways of shaving time off of tasks, and getting more done in a day. This book covers both.
Read MoreReview: Portable Excel Genius
Although the book has not been written with teachers in mind, it contains information that many teachers would find useful.
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Review of Science Fictions (Teach Secondary)
Even where there is no outright fraud involved, simple statistical errors, “publication bias” and perverse incentives can render “breakthroughs” less noteworthy when the studies reporting them are looked at more closely.
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Review of The Read Aloud Cloud
What a strange book this is!
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On this day #16: The trouble with women
When I was reading about Ada Lovelace I found it quite appalling that in her days men thought women were too mentally fragile to cope with mathematics or science.
Read MoreReview of Science Fictions
This is an example of why hype can, in own way, be dangerous. It detracts time, energy and financial resources away from interventions that may be less exciting to look at but which actually work better.
Read MoreReview of Bite-Size Python
Learning a programming language, especially a text-based one like Python, can be hard going. Unlike a graphical programming language, which you can start to use straight away without knowing any technical terminology at all, Python demands such knowledge from the outset.
Read MoreBooks of 2020
These are the books I’ve encountered in 2020.
Read MoreReview of Scratch Programming in Easy Steps
The book starts with an introduction to the Scratch 3 environment, and in next to no time the reader is creating a program.
Read MoreQuick look: Science Fictions
It’s really rather annoying when a non-fiction book received for review is not only useful, but readable. And not merely readable, but enjoyable, even entertaining.
Read MoreReview: Scratch Programming in easy steps
This is book by Sean McManus is well set out, with clear print and plenty of illustrations. It starts with an introduction to the Scratch 3 environment, and in next to no time the reader is creating a program.
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Review: The Complete Learner's Toolkit
As far as I am aware, every cross-curricular initiative, at least in secondary education, has failed: ICT, maths, English, economic literacy… they all wind up with non-specialist teachers attempting to teach those subjects or skills. It is, at the risk of understatement, a big ask.
Read MoreReview of The Fourth Education Revolution Reconsidered
Will Artificial Intelligence help to transform education?
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