Discussions about naming things like subjects and schools can seem slightly amusing in retrospect. And sometimes the present seems like a distant echo of the past.
Read MoreA blast from the past.
"If you're not one up, you're one down" Photo by Valerie Everett
What I've been reading: The "Upmanship" books
The "upmanship" books of Stephen Potter took a tongue-in-cheek view of education, amongst other things. Although he was writing a generation ago, there is still much in what he wrote to make us smile today.
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STEM and Governmental micromanagement
The Department of Education's recent "clarification" on the deployment of exclamation marks has taken micromanagement to a new level. They've issued edicts on textbooks and worksheets, now exclamation marks. Will they turn to the Computing curriculum next?
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Philosophy and technical support
What if philosophers provided technical support...?
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Suspicious enthusiasm? Picture from www.pixabay.com CC0
My best and worst IT lessons #6: Adorable spreadsheets
Why a lesson on spreadsheets became the highlight of the kids' day, and a nightmare to haunt me forever.
Read MoreBack to the future: a data security issue?
When it comes to travelling backwards and forwards in time, there are a few cyber security issues to be worked out!
Read MoreWhat everyone ought to know about school IT technicians
Please support your school IT technician. This video says it all.
Read MoreA message for posterity
I have decided to take up the #Blimage Challenge. See the end of this post for more information about it, but basically it’s to write a blog post based on or stimulated by an image someone sends you. Steve Wheeler has made the picture below available. The wiki train timetable
Imagine a train timetable catalogue created along the same lines as Wikipedia. This is how it might work.A too-robust approach to spam
I was reading recently that something like 47% of emails are spam. I can believe it. I get the whole range: offers of Russian brides, Viagra, genie bras, news that a previously unknown relative has left me tons of money and messages exhorting me to open the attached document or confirm my security details. All this would be quite funny on one level, but it makes downloading and then sifting through email that much more difficult.
So I decided to do something about it.
Everyone’s an educational expert, but it was ever thus
Have you noticed how everybody seems to be an expert on education these days? In fact, you only have to pick up a newspaper more or less any day of the week to find some minor celebrity saying something asinine like “Schools should teach kids how to stay safe online” (Really? What a great idea. How come we didn’t think of that?!). I don’t take much notice of these people, but it does annoy me when they somehow get on to conference programmes.Internet Safety
Being safe on the internet is vital. If you’re concerned about being safe on the internet or just want a few ideas of how to be safe you have come to the right place!
Health Warning: Can using the web damage your health?
Can using a computer be injurious to one's health? If you're trying to book a particular rail journey via a particular website in the UK, the answer is a resounding "Yes", according to this article I wrote in February 2008. The 3,000 Part Computing Lesson
Every so often there comes along a new daft idea (or a newly-packaged old idea that has been mangled out of recognition (and thereby rendered useless) so that its “inventor” can be designated as a guru. Me? Cynical? Never!) One of the more unfortunate manifestations of this phenomenon was the three part lesson. It sounds good and logical, but then the thing that usually happens happened: Ofsted started insisting on it, and Headteachers demanded to witness it in every lesson. Woe betide the brilliant but hapless teacher whose lesson plans failed to include the three parts.Christmas Greetings!
Willow and his family would like to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Preparing for the new Computing curriculum: What if #5
Would it be possible to create a self-referential puzzle or challenge? And if so, could it be helpful in the teaching of computing?Season’s Greetings!
Thanks for reading this blog. Hope everyone enjoys a good break!
Here is our family portrait. If it’s good enough for the leaders of our political parties…
Firewall foibles, and how I survived them
It was when my wireless router told me that there was no printer on the network that I finally flipped.A bit of a tiff
Here’s a little tip for you: don’t upload stuff at past midnight, especially if you’re running on adrenalin and strong tea.6 Ways to respond to requests for pointless data
So, there you are, basking in your new-found freedom to report to parents what their children can actually do in Computing and ICT, when the data impresario in your school says they want you to supply the school office with a “Level” for each child. And for good measure, they want you to do that four times a term in order to monitor progress. How should you respond?