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ICT & Computing in Education

Articles on education technology and related topics
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    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
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Break cards? Give me a break!

November 14, 2026

A great example of possible unintended consequences.

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In News & views, Unintended consequences Tags break cards

My first encounter with (a) online insanity and (b) a silly rule

August 29, 2026

A call to technical support that was only successful once I’d stretched the facts a bit.

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In On the lighter side, Unintended consequences Tags technical support, printer

What I've learnt from teaching online

April 14, 2026

Since a couple of courses I signed up for moved online, along with my own courses, I find it interesting to observe the issues people have (and to discover new ones).

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In M-learning, On the lighter side, Professional development, Unintended consequences, Tips for teachers, Blast from the past Tags Online classes, webinars, mistakes, Covid19, Covid-19

If you stop fiddling, will Rome stop burning?

March 26, 2026

This is an article I published around the start of Covid.

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In On the lighter side, News & views, Unintended consequences, On this day Tags Covid19, Covid-19, Skype, Chris Smith, Claudius

Review: Digital Culture Shock: Who Creates Technology and Why This Matters

January 28, 2026

An interesting look at how differently societies across the globe view and use technlogogy.

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In Bookshelf, Reviews, Unintended consequences Tags digital culture shock, technology, reviews

On this day: An example of how technology changes things

June 19, 2025

Nine-year-old Martha Payne writes a daily blog in which she uploads a picture of her school lunch and reviews it. Argylle and Bute Council has some sort of nervous breakdown.

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In News & views, Unintended consequences Tags Argyll and Bute, Martha Payne, Never Seconds, blogging, social media
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Some notes on failing in ICT and Computing

May 15, 2025

Failure seems to be the zeitgeist  at the moment. How should schools deal with students’ mistakes?

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In News & views, Unintended consequences Tags failure

11 predictions concerning technology in education revisited and updated

October 10, 2024

Here is a list of predictions I made in 2001 about the classroom of the future, with an evaluation of its accuracy.

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In From the Archives, Unintended consequences Tags classroom environment, future, prediction, school of the future, unintended consequences

Driverless car, by Terry Freedman

Driverless cars: technology trumps experience - again (Updated)

May 30, 2023

If you want an excellent example of the triumph of hope over experience, look no further than the optimism surrounding driverless cars.

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In Computing, News & views, Unintended consequences Tags Google, computing, digital literacy, driverless cars, unintended consequences, autonomous cars

My worst experience of tutoring

November 9, 2022

A nasty thing happened after I'd met a potential client.

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In Unintended consequences Tags tutoring, personal experience

Assessment machine, by Terry Freedman

Artificial Intelligence and marking: pitfalls (2022 Update)

May 12, 2022

If AI generates an essay, and another AI grades it, has anything useful actually happened?

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In Assessment, News & views, Unintended consequences Tags AI, artificial intelligence, Warner, confirmation bias, essay-marking

Perverse incentives in assessment (Updated)

February 15, 2022

Trying to be helpful to pupils while assessing their understanding could actually be counter-productive.

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In Assessment, Digital Education, Unintended consequences Tags assessment, assessing ICT, assessing Computing, Dylan Wiliam

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Some topics in computing are boring? Who says?

January 24, 2022

Nobody wants to use or be a part of something that even the person promoting it thinks is boring!

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In Unintended consequences Tags bored, self-talk, boring

Come back, Office Skills, all is forgiven?

January 17, 2022

it is clearly important to ensure that pupils understand not just the mechanics of mail-merging, but the importance of checking the data that is generated.

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In Unintended consequences Tags accuracy, advertising, data, data validation, digital safety, e-safety, mail-merging, marketing, online safety, plausibility

Too protective by half?

Why I dread the thought of benign algorithms (Updated)

December 19, 2021

Science fiction writers would have us believe that intelligent machines will either enslave us or get rid of human beings altogether. But what if they were extremely benign and protective towards us? What could possibly go wrong?

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In News & views, Unintended consequences, From the Archives, Discussion topic Tags Ray Kurzweil, singularity, algorithms, discussion
Thinking Aloud. Graphic by Terry Freedman

Thinking Aloud. Graphic by Terry Freedman

A downside of new technology

November 27, 2020

If a colleague using some technology in innovative and effective ways, and getting more out of it that they would from newer technology, and with more certain results, why on earth would they change?

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In News & views, Unintended consequences, Using and Teaching Computing & ICT Tags new technology, talkies, Evelyn Waugh, films
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An unintended consequence of driverless cars

June 14, 2020

Will the advent of fully autonomous cars herald the end of the road movie? Is that another way in which technology could affect culture?

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In Unintended consequences, Discussion topic, Audio Tags driverless cars, autonomous cars, AI, what if, audio
Terry reflecting, by E Freedman

Terry reflecting, by E Freedman

Reflections from a teacher training course 2

May 27, 2020

I believe in simple instructions. Here are the instructions I gave to a new cohort of teacher trainees, plus a short commentary on what went right — and what didn’t.

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In Blast from the past, From the Archives, Leading & Managing Computing & ICT, Professional development, Reflections, Unintended consequences, Using and Teaching Computing & ICT, Audio Tags PGCE, trainee teacher, teacher training, Initial Teacher Training, audio
Think outside the box, by Terry Freedman

Think outside the box, by Terry Freedman

Fiction and computational thinking (Updated)

May 5, 2020

How might you use fiction as a vehicle for teaching computational thinking? Here are some ideas.

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In From the Archives, Discussion topic, Reflections, Unintended consequences, Using and Teaching Computing & ICT Tags fiction, science fiction, computational thinking
Webinar, by Terry Freedman

Webinar, by Terry Freedman

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.

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In M-learning, News & views, Tips for teachers, Using and Teaching Computing & ICT, Unintended consequences Tags microphone, online discussions, Online classes, Covid19, Covid-19
Older Posts →
Recent book reviews
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One for your history colleagues: Peace makers: Shaping the Modern World: The Men and women in the Foreign Office in WWII -- two reviews in one!

I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote! In substantive terms there is little difference between the two, but you may find it interesting to see what the editor altered.

Read more →
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One for your History colleagues: Nine Days in May: The General Strike of 1926 -- two reviews in one

I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote! In substantive terms there is little difference between the two, but you may find it interesting to see what the editor altered.

Read more →
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Leadership conundrum: a review of Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Make a Difference? (Two reviews in one!)

I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote! In substantive terms there is little difference between the two, but you may find it interesting to see what the editor altered.

Read more →
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One for your English colleagues: A History of the NOvel in Britain -- two reviews in one!

I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote! In substantive terms there is little difference between the two, but you may find it interesting to see what the editor altered.

Read more →
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One for your Geography colleagues perhaps? Review: A Little History of the Earth -- two reviews in one!
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For your English colleagues: A Word for all Seasons -- two reviews in one!
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For your maths colleagues: The Mending of Broken Bones: A Modern Guide to Classical Algebra -- two reviews in one!

I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote! In substantive terms there is little difference between the two, but you may find it interesting to see what the editor altered.

Read more →
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For your History colleagues: The Worst Exhibition in the World: Degenerate Art, 1937 -- two reviews in one!

I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote! In substantive terms there is little difference between the two, but you may find it interesting to see what the editor altered.

Read more →
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Is The computing Curriculum Too Masculine? Revisited 16 years later!

One of the apparently insoluble problems of the age is how do you encourage more girls to take up Computing? I think a lot can be done, and have done so myself, but I wonder how far a lot of the effort fails to get to the heart of the issue, which could be the curriculum itself, the way it is taught, or a combination of the two?

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Book review: The best writing on mathematics, 2016

I think this could be an excellent resource for teachers of mathematics.

Read more →
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