Why is it so hard to recruit teachers? I attended a Westminster Forum conference in the summer of 2016. This looked at the key issues of teacher shortages and professional development. This article contains my reflections on some aspects of the conference. It's not about ICT or Computing in particular, but given the acute shortage of Computing teachers it does, I think, provide some additional food for thought.
Read More3 excellent education technology newsletters
Here are details of three education technology newsletters you should subscribe to right now!
Read MoreEducation hashtags
Here's a link to a post containing a comprehensive list of Twitter educational chats, compiled by Simon Johnson.
Read MoreTeaching computing, assessing computing, and a lot more
I'm on the final proof-reading stages of the latest issue of Digital Education. It's a free newsletter for people with a professional interest in ICT and Computing in education, ed tech, digital skills etc. This issue includes an article by William Lau on the 5 mistakes he made when teaching Computing, and an article by Sam Hunter on the ladders approach to assessing Computing.
For more information on what the new issue contains, read on.
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7 must-attend conferences for ed tech teachers
UPDATED! Here are 7 conferences that will appeal to any ed tech teacher wishing to improve their practice and broaden their horizons.
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What I've been reading: Essays on Teaching, by Bob Blaisdell
A wonderful romp through educational history. If you think our current concerns are new, this book will make you think again.
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What I've been reading: How to lie with statistics, by Darrell Huff
Although this book is over 60 years old, it is remarkably apposite for our times -- and especially in the fields of educational research and assessing pupils' understanding and progress.
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What I've been reading: Teacher Proof, by Tom Bennett
Tom Bennett's book Teacher Proof is, like the curate's egg, excellent in parts. Many of the practices that teachers are encouraged to do have no basis in research (or even common sense, if you ask me). In this book, the founder of ResearchEd takes issue with such matters.
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Keep on blogging! Photo from www.pixabay.com CC0
7 Things that every serious blogger should do
If you're serious about blogging, or at least intend to be, you have to do these 7 things.
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Technology plays a big part at this year's Education Show Photo from pixabay.com CC0
Learning through technology at the Education Show
Here's a quick look at some of the education technology that will be on show at this year's Education Show.
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Remember these?
7 Books for Computing teachers
As it's World Book Day, what are my recommendations for books for teachers of Computing? This is by no means a definitive list -- think of it more as a starter.
Read More7 reasons to visit the exhibitions area at ed tech conferences
Next time you're at an education technology conference, don't ignore the exhibition area.
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A visual representation of the Digital Education newsletter
Coming soon: a new edition of Digital Education
With reports on Bett 2016 from 12 people, plus a humorous but incisive article on Nicky Morgan's speech at Bett (by Crispin Weston), and articles on assessment, Stephen Potter, parental engagement, a competition and book reviews, the forthcoming edition of Digital Education promises to be a fine read! Sign up now (it's free).
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Bett 2016 -- Photo by Terry Freedman (c) 2016
12 things to do now that Bett 2016 is over
Now that Bett 2016 is over, it's time to get down to work and capitalise on the experience! Here are 12 ways you can do so.
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Photo from www.pixabay.com CC0
New publications from ICT & Computing in Education
Two new free publications are now available for subscribers to Digital Education.
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We need more teachers, and not just master teachers. Picture from www.pixabay.com CC0
5 reasons there is a shortage of Computing at School Master Teachers, and what we can do about it
Over three years since the new Computing curriculum in England was mooted, and more than a year since it came into being, there are still not enough teachers who feel competent and confident to teach it. This is not least in part due an insistence on an elitist approach to training them. In this article I suggest a few possibly more fruitful approaches.
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Read all about it. Picture from www.pixabay.com CC0
News about the Digital Education newsletter
What you may have missed in the pre-Christmas Digital Education newsletter, and what's coming up in the next one.
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Books for teachers of Computing and ICT
News about the ever-expanding Books Recommendations page on the ICT & Computing in Education website. This complements the book reviews that I publish fairly regluarly.
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The usual headlines...
Education technology research, and how it's reported
Journalists often seem to get it wrong when it comes to reporting educational research, and they seem to love it when they can go with a headline like “Schools wasting money on useless technology”. I made that up, but the reporting of the recent OECD research, the Decoding Learning research from Nesta in 2012 and other work is quite often presented in those sort of terms.
Everything is not all that it seems but, importantly, what can we do about it?
Read MoreResearchEd Tech conference
Saturday 17th October sees the first (and hopefully not the last) ResearchEd Tech conference. This is ResearchEd with a technology focus. At the time of writing there appear to be just 5 tickets remaining. However, the intention is to live stream as many sessions as possible.
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