One of the first things I look for when reviewing a non-fiction book is whether or not it contains an index. If it does, the next thing I check is whether the index is actually useful.
Read Morebooks to be reviewed by Terry Freedman
#Flashback Friday: Review of The Long Tail
The “Long Tail" has been lauded and quoted at length. But what does the book actually say, and how does it stand up to scrutiny. In this lengthy review I give it a cautious "thumbs up".
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Books to be reviewed #3: Climate Change for Dummies
This is another book to be reviewed for Teach Secondary magazine.
Read MoreReview of Tools for Teachers
My review of this book has just been published in Teach Secondary magazine. The review there is slightly different from the one I submitted, so I’ve included my original one here as text, and the Teach Secondary one as a scan.
Read MoreQuick looks: Support Not Surveillance, by Dr Mary Bousted
As far as I’m aware no Education Secretary has had the ability or the courage to deal with the teacher recruitment and retention crisis.
Read MoreQuick looks: Tools for Teachers, by Oliver Lovell
Overall the book is a good investment, although I did have some quibbles with it.
Read MoreQuick looks: About Our Schools, by Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters
If you want to see the humble brag elevated to an art form, this is the book for you.
Read MoreReview: The Self-Taught Computer Scientist: The beginner’s guide to data structures & algorithms
As its name suggests, this book is aimed at those who want to teach themselves computer science.
Read MoreReview: Book Wars
The digital revolution was not just about books, but social factors, personal desires, institutional goals and more.
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Review: A student’s guide to Python for physical modelling
The book’s primary concern is enabling Python to be used for manipulating and plotting large datasets, dealing with image “noise” and other advanced topics.
Read MoreQuick look: Book Wars
As its subtitle indicates, Book Wars covers the analogue and digital battlefield in the world of books.
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Quick look: The self-taught computer scientist
It’s a bit of a tall order, I think, to teach yourself computer science, as opposed to computer programming, because of the need to understand particular concepts.
Read MoreReview: The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education
One of the things that I have found very puzzling is why victimhood has such a high status these days.
Read MoreMy Top Ten EdTech books of 2021
While narrowing down the list to ten titles is somewhat artificial, a device, I also wanted to be pretty strict about what I included. I didn’t want this to be just a collation of the beginnings of all the reviews I wrote over the course of the year.
Read MoreTwenty things to do with a computer (Forward 50) -- My review for SchoolsWeek
This is hands-down the most interesting edtech book I received for review in 2021, and easily the most inspiring.
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Review: 50 Tech Tuesday Tips
All of the tools mentioned are free of charge, or have a freemium pricing model. This is important because as a school teacher, Richard understands the importance of affordable solutions.
Read MoreReview: Teaching in the Online Classroom
An excellent observation is that even small changes can have profound effects.
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Review: Organise Ideas: Thinking by hand, Extending the mind
This book is by no means an easy read, but it’s worth persevering with. It explains why graphic organisers or, more accurately, word diagrams work, drawing on various cognitive-related theories to do so.
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Review: The System: Who Owns the Internet, and How It Owns Us
This book will help teachers to address the parts of the Programme of Study concerned with computer systems, communications and online safety.
Read MoreReview: Audio for Authors (Yes, it IS relevant for teachers!)
Many moons ago I started my own podcast. It was called Terry Freedman’s Education Technology podcast, and it consisted of useful hints and tips for teachers of Computing and related subjects. I have to say that I found it hard going.
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