I can’t get used to just barking orders at someone. Whatever happened to courtesy?
Read MoreWho needs a robot assistant? Photo by Terry Freedman
Push to open, by Terry Freedman
On this day: what the mind sees
Here’s a link to an article about the mind playing tricks.
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Cross-curricular ed tech evaluation, by Terry Freedman
9 criteria for evaluating a school’s education technology and 8 criteria regarding Computing provision
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 and Computing are 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.
Read MoreThe problems with rubrics
Rubrics look like an easy way to tackle assessment. But they can be deceptive in that respect, and can cause the unwary to slip up.
Read MoreOn this day: 5 reasons to join Computing communities
Teaching can be a lonely profession, especially if, as is often the case, you are the sole teacher of ICT or Computing in your school. Whether you’re on your own or part of a team, I’d thoroughly recommend joining a community or several. Why?On this day: Presentation: 10 stimulating ideas for the Computing curriculum
This is an article I originally published on 2 October 2017. The conference it refers to has been and gone, but I’ve added a few annotations relating to my methodology.
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Archives, by Terry Freedman
On this day: my blogging course contingency plan
Like many other people, last year I was in the position of having to run my introductory course about blogging online. Just in case things went pear-shaped, I came up with a contingency plan.
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Archives, by Terry Freedman
On this day: words have precise meanings (or should have)
On 25 June 2020 I wrote about words and their connotations. That was in the middle of lockdown, and was prompted by a specific news story. But the general principle still applies.
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On this day, by Terry Freedman
On this day #22: When to be over-cautious
I’ve seen a lot of half-baked initiatives emanating from schools. As for governments, well it’s almost what we’ve come to expect.
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On this day #21: An interesting meeting at Bett
Gosh! It’s ten years since I wrote about meeting at Bett someone who had approached me for advice from the other side of the world. How far off those days seem right now.
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On this day #20: Digital literacy and "coding"
Is being digitally literate synonymous with being able to code?
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Celebrate! by Terry Freedman
Happy birthday, Digital Education!
Six years ago today I announced the launch of free newsletter, Digital Education. Back in 2000 I had started a newsletter called Computers in Classrooms. That name was pretty cutting edge at the time, but after 14 years how quaint it seemed!
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On this day #19: Who's in charge
Target, by Terry Freedman
On this day #18: Don't focus on the goal
As an education technology leader you need to have a vision, you need to have goals. But once you have established the vision and goals, it’s a good idea to forget about them.
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Question marks, by Terry Freedman
On this day #17: A really bad question
These days, students can find out things like the rate of interest in real time without even leaving their seats. That doesn't make the question ["What's the interest rate?"] itself any better.
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On this day #16: The trouble with women
When I was reading about Ada Lovelace I found it quite appalling that in her days men thought women were too mentally fragile to cope with mathematics or science.
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On This Day
On this day #15: Technical support
I would say that these days an efficient and effective technical support function is more important than ever. I have been at the sharp end of technical glitches in Zoom and so on, and although I was able to figure them out for myself, it was a very frustrating experience.
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Not sure, by Terry Freedman
Twitter: a re-evauation
I imagine I’ll be on Twitter for a while yet, but I do find myself spending less and less time on it, and engaging in conversations less and less.
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On This Day, by Terry Freedman
On this day #14: Enforced independence
For those of us who are bemused by the Department for Education’s new-found interest in digital matters (starting in 2019 with their Education Technology strategy), this might be of interest.
Read MoreOn this day #13: Welcome back, VBA!
To borrow from Mark Twain, reports of the death of Visual Basic for Applications as a viable programming language to teach in schools are exaggerated.
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