If you’re heading to Bett today or tomorrow, here are a few things you might like to look at.
Read MoreDigital Education Issue 1 is out tomorrow!
Our newsletter Computers in Classrooms has been folded up, put away in a drawer and replaced by another one. Welcome to Digital Education!5 Things to consider regarding seminars at Bett
With the vast amount of choice at the forthcoming Bett show (15 different events, hundreds of seminars, loads of exhibitors, plus networking), we need some criteria by which to judge whether or not something is worth going to or not – or worth staying for if you already have gone. Here are my suggestions. And remember: your time is precious, so if it becomes apparent that a seminar you thought would be relevant to your needs turns out not to be so, then get up and leave.
Read MoreGetting the best out of Bett now available
Over 170 hints and tips from a Bett veteran! Yes, this is my UNOFFICIAL guide. Feel free to download it or share it, via an embed code.
Now includes a floor plan!
If you have already downloaded it, you may wish to download it again, as this is a revised edition containing extra information.
Getting the best out of Bett
Assessing “soft” skills
Do you have anything you’d like to add to the discussion, Terry?
The scene was a meeting at the Edusummit conference at UNESCO in Paris in 2011. The question came from the Chair.
Thank you, but no: everything I was going to say has already been said.
That was my response, because I didn’t see any purpose in repeating points that had not only been made, but also generally agreed upon. In fact, my contributions to many meetings are based on Salvator Rosa’s, dictum:
Be silent, unless what you have to say is better than silence.
The question is: does that make me a good collaborator, or not so good? How do we measure such things? And does any of it matter anyway?
Crafting the perfect eTextbook
Starting very soon is a 5 week online course called Crafting the perfect eTextbook. I’m slightly biased, because I’m involved in it, but it is shaping up to be really great.
The syllabus consists of, in brief:
5 tips for BETT
My annual guide to Getting the Best out of BETT is pretty much complete. I’m just waiting for one more item to be sent to me, and then it’s all systems go. I’ll be making it available to subscribers to our newsletter first, and then more widely. In the meantime, I thought I’d publish a few extracts from it. These extracts are just a small sample: there are over 150 suggestions altogetherTablets for Schools Conference
5 reasons schools need computing teachers with expertise in the subject
Some Principals and Headteachers think that a good way around the problem of teaching computing is to not worry about whether teachers have subject knowledge at all. “All we need are facilitators”, they say, “while the kids can teach themselves and each other.” This is, as any teacher knows (or should know), easy to say, less easy to do, and not altogether the most desirable thing to do even if you can do it. However, just in case your school happens to be “led” by one of the aforementioned Headteachers, here are some arguments you may want to use. I think that any one of them should suffice, and all of them together make for a cast-iron case.
Read MoreGetting permission to go on an ICT or Computing course
On this date 4 years ago I published an article that I think is still relevant today.
It strikes me that, what with a new Computing Programme of Study coming into effect in September 2014, ie under a year’s time, Getting permission to go on an ICT course or to a conference is rather timely. Teachers of ICT having to become
The Barefoot Ed Tech Expert: TeachMeet Takeover 2014
One of the features of BETT over the last few years has been TeachMeet Takeover. This is where teachers and other people involved in ed tech “take over” a company’s exhibition stand for between 15 and 30 minutes to give a talk, presentation or demonstration to anyone who happens to be interested in what the topic happens to be.Report on RM Apple Seminar
A short while ago I attended one of the RM Apple seminars. If RM organise further such seminars, should you attend if you can? Hopefully, you will be able to answer that question yourself after reading this.
Read MoreEdExec Live - ICT Matters: A conference worth going to
I look for three main things in a conference:
Read More- Good topics, by which I mean not only ones about the latest fad but useful, down-to-earth ones too, and ones that make you think and reflect
- Good speakers, by which I mean people who are experts in their field, and not merely good entertainers
- An opportunity to meet and network with others
10 reasons to attend BETT
It’s that time of year again. No, I don’t mean the Christmas lights and shopping, but starting to think about BETT in January. If you’re serious about educational technology you really must try to get there, even if you can only manage a day: you’re bound to see something that you find interesting and useful.The BETT Blog Begins!
Here’s a new blog to start looking at and to put into your RSS reader*: the BETT 2014 blog. So, the first thing I’ll do is declare an interest: I’ve been asked to contribute to it, which is quite flattering, but that’s not the reason I’m writing about it. I think the important thing about the blog is that it provides a variety of views and suggestions from different people
Read MoreEdExec Live ICT Matters Conference coming soon
Look, I know this is short notice, but I’ve only just found this out for myself. The EdExec people, who produce a very good magazine with a section called ICT Matters, is having a live event on the 6th November.
Read MoreRunning a successful Education Technology Project
It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it.
That well-known expression applies as much to running an ed tech project successfully as to anything else. In other words, for an ed tech project to succeed, you need to think about more than just the technology, or even the pedagogy. You have to think about management as well.
Preparing for the new Computing Curriculum
Please note: the Westminster Forum Conference on Preparing for the new Computing Curriculum
listed in the post entitled Some useful-looking conferences takes place on the 26th February, and not the 14th as originally stated. Apologies!
The agenda and other details of the conference may be found here.
Two more conferences
I hope you found my recent post Some useful-looking conferences erm, useful. Here are a couple more. One takes place online, and the other in a physical location. Both look very promising.
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