Think outside the box, by Terry Freedman
In his exposition of his views in favour of liberal education, he used the term 'the tyranny of relevance'. Although he wasn’t talking about Information and Communications Technology (ICT), this phrase did strike a chord with me. Is there perhaps too much store set by 'relevance'?
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On this day, by Terry Freedman
I’ve seen a lot of half-baked initiatives emanating from schools. As for governments, well it’s almost what we’ve come to expect.
Read More“It seems to me that the folks at the Teacher Training Agency have not so much *lost* the plot as are still looking for it.” Another delve into the edtech issues of the day in the year 2000!
Read MoreIf 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
“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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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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Is being digitally literate synonymous with being able to code?
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Celebrate! by Terry Freedman
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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Target, by Terry Freedman
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
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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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
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 MoreThere 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 MoreIn 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.
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
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
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 More“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 MoreApart from the name change, are things any different now?
Read More(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved