When it comes to jargon, the Building Schools for the Future programme in England takes a lot of beating. I’ve railed against the Department for Education for its awful predilection for driving agendas forward and delivering targets or whatever, but really they’re just amateurs at this stuff.
Read MoreChromebooks for schools at cost price
Having known what it was like as a Head of Computing and ICT Co-ordinator desperately attempting to get hold of extra devices without blowing the whole of the school’s budget, I thought this was worth giving a closer look.
Read MoreDigital Education next issue: contents finalised -- finally!
Here’s what’s coming in the next issue of my free newsletter, Digital Education.
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New York Times Journal. Photo from Jane13 on Pixabay.
Coming soon in the Digital Education newsletter
Here at Freedman Towers we’re all working away at producing the next issue of the Digital Education newsletter. (The photo above is not an entirely accurate portrayal of the team, which comprises Mrs Freedman, myself, one cat and two kittens.)
Read MoreNew year, new start
There is something heroic about working away on a computer while the rest of the world sleeps, with only a cup of tea and a distant street lamp to keep one company. But the health benefits of caffeine-fuelled nights are yet to be discovered.
Read MoreWanted: ex-teachers -- by the Department of wishful thinking
The Department of Education in England is hoping to recruit an army of retired teachers to help plug the gap when teachers fall in from Covid. Here at Freedman Towers we’ve been waiting for this for the past 18 months.
Read MoreThe hazards of writing software manuals
Writing software manuals or books, or even mini tutorials on how to do something in a particular program comes with a huge occupational hazard.
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Christmas at Selfridges, by Terry Freedman
End-of-year message from ICT & Computing in Education
Unfortunately, my end-of-year message got a bit mangled, but I’m posting it here anyway. See if you can figure out what it is supposed to say.
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DigEd xmas, by Terry Freedman
Coming soon: Digital Education Christmas 2021
Coming soon (probably tomorrow, 21st December 2021), a bumper small edition of my esteemed newsletter. It contains some interesting stuff, including advanced notice of a fantastic prize draw in which you can win a ‘credit card'-sized microprocessor that allows you to create projects and then download them to the device. It includes 25 LEDs and a sounder allowing you to create music.
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Too protective by half?
Why I dread the thought of benign algorithms (Updated)
Science fiction writers would have us believe that intelligent machines will either enslave us or get rid of human beings altogether. But what if they were extremely benign and protective towards us? What could possibly go wrong?
Read MoreComing soon (ish): my top ten education books of 2021
I’m thinking that even if I gave a book I reviewed a rave write-up and five stars, it might still not make the list if a book I deemed deserving of four stars is comparatively better.
Read MoreWho needs "21st century skills"?
Has there ever been such a frenzy of thinking and activity over a concept which does not even exist? I am referring, of course, to the ridiculous notion of so-called '21st century skills'
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Hazardous area! Photo by Terry Freedman
Must you always obey instructions?
The short answer to the question that forms the title of this article is “Yes”. Even so…
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Burglar! By Terry Freedman
The Great Training Robbery
There must surely be few things more annoying than, having put a lot of work into a course, you discover that someone has ripped you off. They are using your materials in their course. They might even be selling your materials somewhere online.
Read More14 ideas for edtech company incentives
I was once offered discounts on buying a suite of computers for my school if I persuaded my colleagues to take out an insurance policy!
Read MoreFake news and media literacy
I like to try and give people the benefit of the doubt, but is that always the right approach? Ambrose Bierce defined a cynic as someone who sees things as they are, and not as they ought to be.
Read MoreOf COURSE classrooms have changed in the last few hundred years!
Is it really true that classrooms haven’t changed since the year 1600?
Read MoreA perfect example of why you should keep copies of your articles...
Your article is not available at the moment. Ain’t that a shame?
Read MoreOn this day: Robot rights
You can just imagine the family rows of the future, should technology ever reach the point where it isn't possible to distinguish between humans and non-humans merely by looking at them.
Read MoreIs it worth doing an MA? Continued
In June 2021 I wrote an article called Is it worth doing an MA? I listed several reasons why I think the answer is “yes”, but forgot to include one or two really important ones!
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