How I hate the word “narrative”! At least, I detest the way it has been usurped by smart-suited political advisers who say things like “We need a new narrative”.
But sometimes, like now, I get what they are talking about, though I prefer to use the word “story”. And my question is: what is the story, what is the whole experience, of Computing in your school?
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Whether you are moving to a new school, or staying where you are, it’s good to stand back and try to gauge what the school’s education technology is like. Why you would want to do that if taking up a new post is obvious: you want to see how the land lies so that you can start to identify any improvements that could be made.Ultracrepidarians, disrespectful people —- why bother with Twitter?
Read MoreThe Edusummit conference has a different format from most. This is a report on the conference, which will be publishing a call to action and an ebook of papers in the near future.
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The forthcoming edition of the Digital Education newsletter features some great links and resources. See if you can figure out what topics are covered from these illustrations!
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editors desk, by Terry Freedman
The new edition of the Digital Education newsletter is almost ready. There are useful resources for subject leaders, research about learning programming, tons of links to resources for teaching about fake news, and lots more.
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Proof of time travel? Photo by Terry Freedman
Since mentioning that I am working on a special fake news edition of Digital Education, I have come across a few more brilliant resources.
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MS Decoded, by Terry Freedman
The 2018 Microsoft Decoded event was a good conference, especially in the area of artificial intelligence and its applications. This year’s conference promises to have some interesting sessions too.
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fake news, by Terry Freedman
How can you tell if a video on a website is faked? How can you tell if a news outlet is being economical with the truth via misleading headlines? With around 20 links to useful resources, the next issue of the Digital Education newsletter has the answers.
Read MoreHere in England the Government, in its quest to put Computing on the map, did its best to make sure the rest of the map was blank – by getting rid of qualifications that lots of students took (especially girls).
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Exclamation mark, by Terry Freedman
In one of my teaching jobs, I had to listen to a parent while he went on and on about how kids should taught how to take computers apart in their Computing lessons. When I pointed out that the course was about being literate in the uses of computers and also how to program them, rather than how they're made, he insisted that digital literacy could only be taught by taking computers apart.
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Society of Authors Educational Writers Group
A few years ago I put myself forward to serve on the committee of the Society’s Educational Writers Group. As my three year tenure will be coming to an end soon, I’ve put myself forward for election to the Management Committee of the Society. That’s the group that decides policy and strategy. I think it’s very important that that committee includes a person who has been a teacher, and is still heavily involved in education, and writing for educational publications.
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Blogger, by Terry Freedman
If you’ve thought about starting your own blog, but are not sure what to write about or what keeping a blog entails, then a course I’m teaching in December 2019 might be of interest.
Read MoreThe next edition of this esteemed newsletter has a cornucopia of links that will be of interest to teachers of computing and media literacy especially, and very little commentary! Read on to find out more.
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It won’t be as bad as you think! Picture: Terrified, by Terry Freedman
Your first day at school may seem terrifying, but hopefully it won’t be as bad as you think! Here are 8 tips you may find useful.
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Angry, by Terry Freedman
The season of training days and outside speakers is upon us. Here are 16 presentation and presenter quirks that drive me nuts.
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Handshake, by Terry Freedman
Why I’m unfollowing people more and more.
Read MoreThe problem referred to in the title may be summarised as: who ya gonna kill? The car is hurtling along the road when a child steps out in front of it. The car is faced with a dilemma: kill the child, or the pedestrian waiting to cross the road, who would be in the car's path should it swerve to avoid the child. Terry Freedman explains why Lance Sharpe’s analysis was wrong.
Read MoreThe problem referred to in the title may be summarised as: who ya gonna kill? The car is hurtling along the road when a child steps out in front of it. The car is faced with a dilemma: kill the child, or the pedestrian waiting to cross the road, who would be in the car's path should it swerve to avoid the child. Guest contributor Lance Sharpe considers the problem from an Economist’s perspective.
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Computing and Related Qualifications
Here’s a brief note about why I wrote this mini-guide, and a couple of screenshots from its pages.
Read More(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved