If you look up broadband in schools, the story these days is that the provision is deemed “inadequate”. I think that’s a lot to do with how aspirations have risen over the past couple of decades, and is therefore a good thing.
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Archives, by Terry Freedman
The Key Stage 3 ICT Scheme of Work, NOF Training, and other issues in 2000
“There are people around now who are 17 years old. They started formal schooling when they were 5 years old -- in 1988. And some of them have come out of school not knowing one end of a computer from the other!” I hope this still isn’t the case today, but then I tend to be an optimist.
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On this day #21: An interesting meeting at Bett
Gosh! It’s ten years since I wrote about meeting at Bett someone who had approached me for advice from the other side of the world. How far off those days seem right now.
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On this day #20: Digital literacy and "coding"
Is being digitally literate synonymous with being able to code?
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Celebrate! by Terry Freedman
Happy birthday, Digital Education!
Six years ago today I announced the launch of free newsletter, Digital Education. Back in 2000 I had started a newsletter called Computers in Classrooms. That name was pretty cutting edge at the time, but after 14 years how quaint it seemed!
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On this day #19: Who's in charge
Target, by Terry Freedman
On this day #18: Don't focus on the goal
As an education technology leader you need to have a vision, you need to have goals. But once you have established the vision and goals, it’s a good idea to forget about them.
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Question marks, by Terry Freedman
On this day #17: A really bad question
These days, students can find out things like the rate of interest in real time without even leaving their seats. That doesn't make the question ["What's the interest rate?"] itself any better.
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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.
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Children using laptops, by Terry Freedman
Is anyone NOT using computers in their lessons now?
Back in those heady pre-pandemic days many of us were forever trying to cajole our colleagues to use computers in their lessons. Well, I suppose the positive aspect of Covid is that the virus has done quite a large part of our job for us.
Read MoreSome research findings about effective education technology training for teachers
There are a couple of interesting things in the newsletter below. One is the findings from a study at Reading University about the most effective approach to training teachers. I’d be very surprised if a study carried out today didn’t yield similar results.
Read MoreWhy are some teachers reluctant to use educational technology?
In the following archived issue of my newsletter, you might find the following articles in particular interesting:
Why do it? (This reports the results of a survey enquiring into why some teachers shy away from using technology).
Responses to a problem posed in the form of a scenario, about teachers using technology as a reward or a time-filler rather than for serious work.
Blogrolls, Needles, And Haystacks -- A Conundrum
Why do so many "edubloggers" think that the concept of blogrolls, which are lists of blogs that subscribers to a blog subscribe to, and similar devices (such as, in effect, shared favourites) are so wonderful?
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A preponderance of tech, by Terry Freedman
24/7 Learning vs 24/7 Teaching
I wrote this article , in which I discuss the importance of students having 24/7 access to technology, in 2005. And in 2020 we’re still talking about it.
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On This Day, by Terry Freedman
On this day #14: Enforced independence
For those of us who are bemused by the Department for Education’s new-found interest in digital matters (starting in 2019 with their Education Technology strategy), this might be of interest.
Read MoreInformation technology in schools in 2000
“78% of full-time teachers participated in courses in the past 12 months about the integration of educational technology in their own subject. The perceived usefulness of such courses was directly related to their length.”
Read MoreThe state of information and communications technology in the year 2000
Apart from the name change, are things any different now?
Read MoreInformation Technology in schools in the year 2000
Is this still the case: “The popular image of the ICT Co-ordinator is still, I think, that of a man with a beard, and a top pocket bulging with pens, screwdrivers, and bits of integrated circuit boards.”?
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On This Day, by Terry Freedman
On this day #12: usability, assessment, tiffs, pointless data and Computing
Gosh! I don’t know if there is something special about the date December 6th — like the Ides of March, say — but I seem to have been astonishingly prolific on that date.
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On this day #11: Making ICT and Computing real
This article, published on 5 December 2015, was one of a 7 part series on ways to make Computing be more interesting.
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