A few initial thoughts on a book about programming and how computers work.
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A page from Cool Coding.
Trust Me, I’m Lying
Quick look: Trust Me, I'm Lying
This book lifts the lid on the practices that various media use to promulgate fake news even while appearing to be squeaky clean.
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Click the cover to see the book on Amazon. Please note that this is an affiliate link.
Books in brief: How to think like a coder
Here’s a quick look at How to think like a coder, by Jim Christian.
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A very readable book.
What I'm reading: Understanding the Digital World: What You Need to Know about Computers, the Internet, Privacy, and Security
My first impressions of a new book about computers, networks and data.
Read MoreEducation hashtags
Here's a link to a post containing a comprehensive list of Twitter educational chats, compiled by Simon Johnson.
Read MoreThe Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The Book
If, like me, you enjoy reading comics and graphic novels, and are interested in Computing, you may already be familiar with the blog called 2D Goggles Or The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. This relates the story of the development of the Difference Engine and other aspects of the lives of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage. Their adventures are based on (mostly) real events and episodes, with a lot of poetic licence thrown in! I thoroughly recommend reading the adventures, and I suggest encouraging your students to do so too. It will help them learn about the development of computing and computer programming in an enjoyable way.Not about educational ICT…
Believe it or not, I write about other stuff too! In case you’re interested, I’ve just published articles about a conference and a couple of books for authors
Read MoreQuick look: Literacy from Scratch
If you’re concerned that young children won’t be able to grasp computing concepts, or are worried about how you’re going to teach it, have a look around the Literacy from Scratch website.
Managed – and, I think, written by – Lawrence Williams, the website contains examples of pupils’ work in Scratch, cross-curricular ideas and examples, and notes on pedagogy.
Quick looks at Bett 2014
3D Printing
Over the past few years I've written several articles about 3D printing and its potential application in education. I first came across a 3D printer at a City Learning Centre in London. That was 15 years ago at the time of writing, ie 1998. What I had not realised back then was that 3D printing had already been around for ages -- since the mid-1980s in fact.
Read Morescribefire test
I've been having a play around with Scribefire, which is a blogging application you can use from within your browser. In this test, I tried the 'blog this page' feature, which enables you to, er, blog the web page you have open.
Read MoreScreen-sharing made easy
Have you ever been in a situation where you are trying to explain to someone over the phone what you are seeing on your computer? Or trying to explain to them what they should be seeing on theirs? I’ve come across a neat little application which enables you to share your screen with anyone you like – and without installing anything, downloading anything or even paying a penny!
Learning with Technology – What the Research says
I attended a short but intense event run by the London Knowledge Lab. It’s amazing what you can pack into two hours if you organise it well. The seminar comprised a couple of brief talks, followed by a kind of organised free-for-all in which attendees were encouraged to spend around ten minutes looking at each of several demonstrations of work in progress. I haven’t had time to explore everything I saw or heard about, so here are some general bullet points which may prove useful.
Read MoreAudio slides
One of the things I like about the ICT in Education site (he says modestly) is that you can listen to the articles as well as read them. It means that the articles are accessible to sight-impaired people. But when I upload presentations, that is no longer true. At least, not until now.
5 ways to develop critical thinking in ICT
How do you encourage pupils and students to think critically in the context of educational technology? Although we can devote a lot of time and energy to setting up the "right environment", I can't help thinking that really it all comes down to some pretty simple questions, and very straightforward approaches.
Education Technology and ICT article round-up
Here are a few good reads you may have missed in the last week or so, including an invitation to enter an article for a blog carnival, the deadline for which is this Sunday!
3 Posts every ICT Co-ordinator should read
Here are a few important blog posts I think all ICT Co-ordinators should read, because, quite simply, they make you think.
Found on the web: 11/22/2011 (p.m.)
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Interesting approach to encouraging teachers to use technology in their teaching, specifically Web 2.0. It is similar to what some teachers told me about how they encourage their colleagues to use interactive whiteboards more effectively, whilst I was doing research for an article recently.
My bookshelf
Here are thumbnail sketches of a few books which I've come by recently. Taken as a whole they cover:
- The future of cities: should we build cities around airports instead of away from them?
- Schooling in the digital age: is it as much to do with politics as technology?
- Useful educational resources for the iPad.
- Learning and innovation in ICT: a European perspective.
Hope you find these useful.
The evolution of research
This is the subtitle of an exhibition at the British Library. Called “Growing Knowledge”, the exhibition seeks to answer the following questions:
- How have digital technologies changed research?
- What are the new challenges they pose?
- What role should a research library play in the 21st Century?