Checklist: Converting an offline course to an online one

February 23, 2021

In case you missed this when I posted it during half-term… I’ve written a long article about how I converted a course I’d taught in a classroom to one I was able to teach online.

Converting an offline course to an online one checklist

February 13, 2021

I’ve written a long article about how I converted a course I’d taught in a classroom to one I was able to teach online.

On this day #17: A really bad question

January 18, 2021

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.

Terry Two Minute Tips, by Terry Freedman. Not all of these tips are two minutes long, but numeracy was never my strong point.

Anatomy of a blog

November 25, 2020

What does a typical blog consist of?

Chairing discussions online

September 21, 2020

Is it rude to not respond to people in an online discussion?

13 Things new teachers need to know about education technology

August 30, 2020

Just starting out as a teacher? Here are a few things it's useful to know in relation to using education technology. Updated to include online teaching and learning considerations.

Improving your chances of winning an educational award

August 21, 2020

How can you improve your chances of winning an educational award?

How to generate Lorem text in Word

August 11, 2020

Ever wondered how to generate that Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna text? Wonder no more!

A contingency plan for an online course

July 22, 2020

Losing the connection doesn't mean losing the plot.

Terry's top ten tips for tutors using Zoom

July 21, 2020

The following rules can be adapted (to an extent) by any tutor teaching an online course to adults or young adults.

How to generate random text even if you don't use Word

July 9, 2020

Need to create an example document quickly? You don’t have to type it out.

Why use Google Meet?

July 3, 2020

Google Meet has nowhere near the range and sophistication of the features of other online learning applications, such as Zoom. So why would anyone want to use it?

9.5 handy features of Zoom

July 1, 2020

Here are 9.5 useful features of Zoom. Why such an odd number? Read on and find out.

How to see the trend in students' grades at a glance

June 15, 2020

Updated! Here’s a little-known function in Google Sheets which gives you an in-cell graph. Handy for displaying trends in students' grades at a glance.

Online preparation checklist for teachers

June 11, 2020

In case you’ve recently been asked to run a course online, here’s a quick 10-point checklist to help you prepare for your first online teaching session.

How teachers can use the tick box in Google Sheets

June 10, 2020

Google sheets has a tick box feature. Here are some ways you can make use of it.

Problems in the edtech classroom #5: Where's my website?!

May 27, 2020

In 2006 my website went down right in the middle of a lesson. Here’s what I wrote about it at the time.

Getting new blog posts to come to YOU

May 14, 2020

You don’t have to visit lots of different blogs to discover the latest articles on them.

Should all learning take place in the cloud? — Should **all** learning take place in the cloud?

Covid-19: Is an online school the answer?

May 11, 2020

Would an online-only school be a feasible proposition for all pupils?

What I've learnt from online classes: mute that mic

April 27, 2020

Here are the incredibly annoying things that I’ve heard because people have kept their microphones on during online discussions.

Recent book reviews

Review: Social Media for Academics

This book is very readable, and if I sound surprised that is because it’s not always true of academics!

Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example

For the time being, this book is free in Kindle format.

Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too

Despite the relative paucity of immediately obvious National Curriculum links, teachers will find several of sections of this book to be highly engaging.

Review: The Dictators: 64 Dictators, 64 Authors, 64 Warnings from History

In some respects one could view this book as a single warning repeated 64 times.

Review: The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street

Taking readers from the Middle Ages to (more or less) the present day, Gray charts how the places where we do our shopping and what we buy have changed over the centuries.

Review: Extraordinary Learning For All

As a source of potential ideas and inspiration, the book could be very useful indeed.

Review: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them

One has the impression that the main role of the university these days is to maximise profit, while that of the majority of teaching staff is to ensure the ‘correct’ views are passed on to students. All the while, students’ main concern seems to be to seek protection from anything that might make them feel unsafe.

Review: Next Practices - An Executive Guide for Education Decision Makers

Is a 2014 book on managing the computing provision in a school still worth buying?

Still relevant (sadly): 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.

Quick looks: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them

It was a great source of pride to me, getting hundreds of students through their A levels and encouraging them to go to university. But for some time I have asked myself a question: would I recommend this route now?