The phrase “May you live in interesting times” is usually cited as a sort of curse, but can you imagine the opposite, ie living in boring times? Fortunately, especially here in England there is no danger of that for a while, at least in the world of ICT. Here are a few snippets of news which I won’t comment on at the moment because I like to cogitate, reflect, and then cogitate some more before pontificating. As I said in a previous article (10 Obligations of Bloggers), quoting Salvator Rosa, I believe in the adage “Be silent, unless what you have to say is better than silence”.
ICT Professional Development News
Here are a couple of items that have come to my attention, and which I hope will be of interest. One is a conference, which takes place on 7th June, the other is access to web resources, on a special offer.
Mobile phones in education revisited
The most popular article on the ICT in Education website is one by a 17 year-old student called The Importance Of Mobile Phones In Education. To give you an idea of its popularity, I would estimate that it has been viewed at least 30,000 times since it was published back in July 2010. So the question is, why is it so popular?
Is it because it was written by a student? Well, there is no doubt that student articles receive a lot of attention, but not usually this much.
Is it because it is about mobile phones? I don’t think so: I have written about mobile phones before, and again, the articles haven’t attracted 30,000 views as far as I know.
I think the answer lies in the combination: an article about mobile phones written by a student who appears to be surgically attached to one.
Computer programming and the trouble with collective nostalgia
Lord Puttnam said something every interesting at an E-Learning Foundation Conference. Having been a film producer, he said that up to about ten years ago, to be a successful cinematographer you had to be able to take a camera apart and put it together. Now, none of those sort of skills are required: you need a whole different set of skills in order to find employment in that occupation.
I believe a similar thing is true in the realm of “digital education”. Almost nobody needs a gasp of computer programming, and even fewer need to know how computers actually work.
What is the appropriate form of address in email?
Here is the text of a note from the Post Office, quoted in “Berry and Co”, which was written by Dornford Yates and published in 1920:
Sir
I beg leave to inform you that your telegram handed in at the Grosvenor Street Post Office at 10.2 am on the 26th June addressed to Reply paid Hamilton Smythe Fair Lawns Torquay has not been delivered for the reason indicated below.
ADDRESS NOT KNOWN
I am, Sir, Your obedient servant,
WB
Postmaster
The joy of not knowing
What teachers and other educators do best is, by and large, tell people stuff. It can be unsettling to not know things, so it’s no doubt natural to assume that if we don’t like it, then neither will others. So we tell people. But is it OK to not know the answers if you’re an ICT teacher? Here are a few thoughts about that, followed by a video featuring Kate Russell.
Some notes on failing with ICT
Failure seems to be the zeitgeist at the moment. At several conferences I’ve attended recently at least one of the presenters has displayed the Samuel Beckett quotation:
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.
At the Pelecon 12 conference there was even a “Confessional”, in which delegates could go in and record themselves talking about one of their mistakes. Here are a few of my thoughts on failure, especially as it pertains to ICT.
Internet safety report
Concentrating purely on web filtering to keep kids safe online is a bit like looking for your keys under a lamp post because, although you lost them somewhere else, it’s lighter there. A third of children in Europe access the internet from a mobile device, according a new report:
33 % of 9 to 16 year-olds who go online say they do so using a mobile phone or other handheld device.
A 21st century skills paradox
Every time I attend an educational ICT conference, at least one of the speakers talks about how little we know about the future. The refrain goes something like this:
- Kids entering school now will be leaving to join the world of work in around 2030.
- We can’t predict what the world is going to be like even in five years’ time, let alone 20.
- Therefore we need to teach kids 21st century skills (working as part of a team etc).
This all sounds profound and straightforward, but it really isn’t.
What makes a good ICT role model?
In England we have a weekly soap set in a school called Waterloo Road. This has everything you would hope not to find in a school: inappropriate behaviour, theft, even attempted murder – and that’s just the staff. The kids are pretty OK by comparison: teenaged pregnancy, illegal drug-taking and gangs. Strangely enough, there doesn’t seem to be more than 30 kids on roll, judging by the number of people who attend whole-school assemblies. But my main interest is this: what (good) use of technology is shown in this programme?
ICT: Irrelevant Curriculum Today?
ICT teacher Nigel Willetts discusses ICT qualifications and their associated syllabuses. This is a longer-than-usual article, but it's a great rant read. Enjoy!
I apologise in advance. What follows is a rant! Terry was forewarned! However, the purpose of such a rant is to instigate a debate with regard to what we, as ICT teachers/specialists are expected to deliver and examine our pupils on in our schools. The focus is firmly on the GCSE/AS and A2 ICT curriculum. I am not even sure if I have any tangible answers myself, but, in my experience of educationalists, we all love a good rant/debate, don’t we?
Should the ICT Programme of Study be disapplied?
Yesterday I submitted my response to the English Government’s consultation on the issue of whether the ICT Programme of Study should be disapplied from September 2012. The consultation period ends today. I think responding is a very important thing to do, for reasons I’ll go into in a moment, but first, an explanation to readers not living in England, or a reminder to those who are.
In a nutshell, and somewhat paraphrasing, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education in England, said:
A student’s view of ICT
Back in 2010, Maddison Holt, a student in Australia, gave her view of ICT in ICT: A Whole New World. Eighteen months later, what does she think now?
Learning with Technology – What the Research says
I attended a short but intense event run by the London Knowledge Lab. It’s amazing what you can pack into two hours if you organise it well. The seminar comprised a couple of brief talks, followed by a kind of organised free-for-all in which attendees were encouraged to spend around ten minutes looking at each of several demonstrations of work in progress. I haven’t had time to explore everything I saw or heard about, so here are some general bullet points which may prove useful.
Read MoreEmail problem–sorted!
If you tried emailing me earlier and received a bounced email message for your trouble, it’s all OK now. Here’s what happened…
Tweet-up in Oxford
I had the pleasure of meeting up with Shelly Terrell and Clive Elsmore (Clivesir on Twitter) recently in Oxford. But look at the text messages we exchanged in order to finalise the arrangements….
ICT and poor journalism
I attended a Westminster Legal Forum event about libel reform today, and someone asked whether bloggers were “real” journalists (or something like that). That sort of question implies that bloggers are somehow inferior to genuine journalists. I have to say, however, that when it comes to reporting on education policy, “proper” journalists do not always acquit themselves well in terms of accurate reporting. This was especially true in January 2012 in response to Michael Gove’s speech at BETT.
Don’t blame the technology
Technology can help a good teacher do wondrous and wonderful things – but bad use of technology is worse than no use of technology, in my opinion. There is, possibly, one exception to this general rule, which I will get to in a moment. What has brought on this sudden dazzling insight (well, it isn’t really instant, and it probably isn’t dazzling, but this is my blog so I can say what I like). An anti-ICT dogma diatribe by the behaviour guru, aka Tom Bennett.
Read MoreComputers in Classrooms update
The latest issue of Computers in Classrooms will go out on 8 March at 01:00 GMT. There are two additional features that were not included in my previous article about this, including a prize draw!
Read MoreComputers in Classrooms, new issue
Today I have been working on the new issue of Computers in Classrooms, the free e-newsletter for those with a professional interest in educational ICT. Here’s a summary of what it contains. It will be published later today.