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Review: The School Fundraising Handbook

March 2, 2020

One of the chief banes of my life as a head of computing in a comprehensive school was acquiring enough money to develop the subject and to improve the experience of using education technology for everyone across the school. I only wish this book had been available when I needed it most.

Bett2020: The FutureSource Report

February 9, 2020

With very insightful commentary on the trends spotted, this report is well worth downloading.

Bett2020: Safeguarding

February 6, 2020

Some time ago I compiled a list of ways in which pupils could be unsafe online. The list was extremely long….

Bett2020 Neo Learning Management System

January 29, 2020

Reflections on the Neo Learning Management System, and on implementing a learning management system in general.

Terry catching up -- or trying to! By Terry Freedman

Articles update

January 29, 2020

So many articles (to write), so little time! I’m in the process of writing up my experience of the Bett Show this year: products and reflections. It’s going to take me a while to do, even after setting myself a limit of 100 words per article. So, in the meantime, are a few pieces to be getting on with

Project management: the pink slip problem

January 27, 2020

When you decide to implement a new way of doing things, or a new learning management system, say, or any other major change, you will need to consult with other people at some point. But who?

Bett2020 The scalability problem (part 2)

January 26, 2020

The issue of scalability is not confined to cost considerations, but time as well.

Bett2020: The scalability problem (part 1)

January 26, 2020

Walking around the Bett Show and looking at products and services, I was reminded (as ever) of the need to keep scalability in mind.

Bett Seminars in the morning of Day 3 of Bett 2020

January 23, 2020

Here’s a quick reminder of the seminars I thought looked interesting in the morning of Day 3 of Bett 2020.

Virtual Reality Headset, by Terry Freedman

A good application of Virtual Reality (I think)

January 23, 2020

Using the MEL VR headset and software at Bett2020, I entered the molecule of a diamond, followed by that of a pencil.

Bett 2020 Seminars in the afternoon of Day 2

January 23, 2020

Here’s a quick reminder of the seminars I thought looked interesting on the latter half of the afternoon of Day 2 of Bett 2020.

Bett2020 Preview, screenshot by Terry Freedman

The Bett2020 Floor Plan

January 21, 2020

As the Bett Show has grown immensely in terms of the number of halls there are, it’s worth grabbing the Preview Guide. It has floor plans spanning four pages.

Terry Freedman's Bett 2020 Supplement

January 20, 2020

Here is my list of interesting-looking seminars at the Bett Show. It’s divided into days, from Wednesday to Saturday. I hope you find it useful.

8 questions to ask educational technology suppliers

January 20, 2020

If you’re in the market to buy a product or service to enhance the educational technology in your school, what are the questions you should be asking potential suppliers? Definitely not “What is your response time?”. Here are 8 suggestions for questions you should ask instead, and why the response time one is not very useful.

Listen up! The audio side of Bett 2020 -- UPDATED

January 19, 2020

UPDATED and CORRECTED! News about Bett Radio and the EdTech podcast at Bett2020.

Coming soon: my seminar recommendations for Bett 2020

January 18, 2020

I’ve gone through the Bett seminar programme, and highlighted the ones that I’d go to if (a) I could be in several places at once (I’m working on that) and (b) needed to know about a much wider range of issues than any person does.

27 Things to do before Bett 2020

January 17, 2020

As a Bett veteran, I’ve learnt quite a bit over the last 30 or so years about how to make the visit to Bett as useful as possible. Here are 27 tips you may find useful.

Bett 2020

January 16, 2020

A heads-up about a pdf guide to Bett. Three articles in particular are worth perusing.

Ofsted: how is the new framework shaping up? Updated

December 13, 2019

The Westminster Forum has a conference coming up on 25th March 2020:

The new Ofsted inspection framework — implementation, impact on schools, and the next steps for the curriculum

Bett 2020 Dates for your diary

December 10, 2019

Bett 2020 is coming…

Recent book reviews

Two reviews in one: Turner and Constable: Rivals and Originals -- art and history

One for your colleagues, perhaps: art, art history, ploitics with a small ‘p’.

Two reviews in one: State of Ridicule: A History of Satire in English Literature -- politics, history, English

One for your colleagues, perhaps. Sperrin has provided a wealth of information that can be used to provide a rich experience for students of politics, history and English literature.

Two reviews in one: A Little History of Mathematics

I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote! In substantive terms there is little difference between the two, but you may find it interesting to see what the editor altered.

The Learning Rainforest Great Teaching in Real Classrooms Great Teaching in Real Classrooms.jpg

Review: The Learning Rainforest: Great Teaching in Real Classrooms

This is a great book for dipping into in order to read about different teaching and assessment strategies, backed up by research.

Outstanding Formative Assessment Culture and Practice.jpg

Review: Outstanding Formative Assessment: Culture and Practice

This book contains numerous assessment for learning techniques.

New Media in the Classroom Rethinking Primary Literacy.jpg

Review: New Media in the Classroom: Rethinking Primary Literacy

This provides a great deal of information about the different aspects of "literacy” and how digital tools can be brought into the service of literacy in the primary school.

Review: Designing the internet of things

This book takes you through the process of designing connected devices from prototyping to launching.

Quick look: (Un)educated: My Life as a Teacher, and Why You Should Never Become One

“Some of it is laugh-out loud funny, but some of it, about his reference being spiked, made me angry …”

A Heads-up: Hot Type: The Magnificent Machine that Gave Birth to Mass Media and Drove Mark Twain Mad

This is about the invention of linotype, and its consequences.

Are we in, or entering, a post-literate society?

I know that there are people who think that Tik-Tok videos and other (very) short-form content is a kind of literacy that’s on a par with reading, but I have my doubts.