Web 2.0 Project: Jennifer Wagner's work

Here’s a thumbnail sketch of some interesting work that Jennifer Wagner is doing with Web 2.0. It is taken from the forthcoming second edition of the free Web 2.0 projects Book which was published last year -- over 11,000 copies downloaded! The book itself will contain even more information, so look out for that early in 2010!

Name: Jennifer Wagner

Application type: Jenuinetech.com, Wiki,Presentation

Age range: PreK - 6th

Description of project

Jenuinetech.com hosts a variety of projects throughout the year.  Most projects provide creative ways of teaching math, language, history, art, and science in your classroom.  Projects usually run between 2 and 4 weeks.

Benefits of using Web 2.0

Motivation,Participation,Any time,Anywhere,Forms of literacy,Collaboration,Creativity

URL: http://www.jenuinetech.com 

Are you doing interesting work with Web 2.0 applications in your school or college? If so, why not contribute to a new ebook containing ideas that other teachers can pick up and use? Further information is right here:

http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/2009/10/14/web-20-projects-book-deadline-extended.html

 

10 Reasons to use Diigo

Diigo is a social bookmark service. A social bookmark service is like the Favorites in Internet Explorer, or Bookmarks in other web browsers, like Firefox. However, instead of saving a URL to your computer, you save it on the internet.

This has a number of advantages:

Firstly, you're less likely to lose all your bookmarks in the event of a hard drive meltdown: you just move on to a different computer.

Secondly, you don't have the hassle of trying to remember which URLs you saved on which computer.

Thirdly, a corollary to the above is that you don't have the annoying situation of finding yourself at work wishing you could remember the URL you saved on your home computer, or vice versa.

Fourthly, and this is where the 'social' comes in, by saving your bookmarks on the web, suitably tagged, other people will be able to see your bookmarks on a particular topic, and you will be able to see theirs. This makes for a very rich experience, and helps you to expand your horizons. It's basically a very practical demonstration of the old adage: Many hands make light work.

Think of how you might use that with your colleagues, or with your students.

Diigo is one of several social bookmarking applications that are available, and I like it for the following reasons.

  • It's very intuitive to use. In this sense, it's not that different from the others available.
  • It's also free. Ditto.
  • You can publish a bookmark straight to your blog. This is a very nice feature. It means that you can, in effect, use the Diigo description text box as a surrogate blogging platform: very handy if you're out and about, and you come across a website you'd like to draw others' attention to, but don't have the time to write a blog about it, or to repeat what you have already said in the Diigo text box.
  • If you prefer, you could send the link to Twitter instead.
  • You can also organise your bookmarks into lists. I have to say that I have not yet tried this myself, but it seems like the kind of feature you'd find useful.
  • For the time being at least, I've decided to make use of the Groups feature. You can join (or apply to join) groups within your area of interest. Doing so will mean that you can be notified of any new bookmarks that other people in your niche have made. It's like doing research, or having continuing professional development, without actually doing much apart from checking your email now and again.
  • You can also create your own groups. I've created a group called Education Technology - ICT in Education. From a sharing point of view, it doesn't really cover anything more than several other ICT-related groups already do. But I created it as a way of easily storing bookmarks I have referenced, or may wish to reference, in my own articles.
  • Remember my point about being able to publish a bookmark to a blog? Well, the feature that makes Diigo stand out for me is the facility of being able to set up an autoblog post. What that means is that I can set it up to post my bookmarks at particular times and intervals. You can set conditions too. Thus I have set it up to automatically publish, twice a day (although I may change this to once a day or even once a week), any bookmarks in the group I have created. So, if I bookmark something now, it will miraculously appear on my blog at 9 pm today. If I discover and bookmark stuff after that, it will automatically publish it tomorrow morning at 9 am.
  • Think of how you could use this in school. For example, you could require your students to join a particular group and bookmark useful sites there, and have that published once a week, say. So their weekly homework would be to check the blog every week to see what's new, and to explore the freshly-bookmarked sites.
  • As with other social bookmarking sites, you don't have to share all of your URLs with the world: you can mark them as private if you prefer.

But as I think you'll agree, the educational possibilities of using the various (non-private) facilities of Diigo are vast.

 

Life without the internet?

I just happened to come across this video, which I think is wonderful. I remember life before the internet, and I am not sure how I got anything done! (Mind you, I also don't know how I get anything done now, because of the distractions of the internet!)

I think this would be a great video to use as a starter for discussion on the importance of internet, and encourage students to respond with a video or podcast or even (shudder) an essay!

Would love to hear what you think of it.

Web 2.0 Project: Marina Alfonso's work

Here’s a thumbnail sketch of some interesting work that Marina Alfonso is doing with Web 2.0. It is taken from the forthcoming second edition of the free Web 2.0 projects Book which was published last year -- over 11,000 copies downloaded! The book itself will contain even more information, so look out for that early in 2010!

Name: Marina Alfonso

Application type: 21st Century Learning, Blog

Age range: 14-16 years

Description of project

These teenagers had never used computers in language learning. We started with a class blog where I posted activities;passed to individual blogs, where they publish videos, podcasts, etc.We'll also work on a collaborative project with students from Brazil

Benefits of using Web 2.0

Motivation,Participation,Variety of means of expression,Any time,Anywhere,Ownership,Peer assessment,Forms of literacy,Collaboration,Creativity

URL: http://santarosa2nd.blogspot.com 

Are you doing interesting work with Web 2.0 applications in your school or college? If so, why not contribute to a new ebook containing ideas that other teachers can pick up and use? Further information is right here:

http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/2009/10/14/web-20-projects-book-deadline-extended.html

Look out for more 'thumbnail sketches' next week.

 

12 factors to consider when evaluating books and other paper resources

ICT is not just about using computers, and it is useful to have teaching resources such as books from which you can set work. Unfortunately, ICT is still very much in its infancy in this context, compared with other subjects such as Mathematics, Science and English. Nevertheless, there are books out there, and there seem to be more and more titles coming out all the time.

Obtain inspection copies where possible, and ask other ICT teachers what they think of the books or resources you are interested in purchasing. (In the interests of not making life difficult or more expensive for others in the long run, please buy or return inspection copies, and only ask for them in the first place if you are both genuinely interested and have an influence on purchasing.)

  • Will users be able to understand it?
  • What is the layout like? Is it confusing?
  • Is it accurate?
  • Does it meet the National Curriculum requirements?
  • Where appropriate, is it suitable for the examination?
  • Is it suitable for the scheme of work being followed?
  • How easy is it to use for finding information?
  • Is it interesting?
  • Is it challenging?
  • Does it have non-computer based exercises?
  • Are the tasks realistic for the people in your class?
  • Is it good value for money? (It may be cheaper in the long run to buy sets of photocopiable resources than sets of textbooks.)

If you enjoyed reading this article, why not read "23 Factors to consider when evaluating digital resources
"?

 

Web 2.0 Project: Alan Perkins' work

Here’s a thumbnail sketch of some interesting work that Alan Perkins is doing with Web 2.0. It is taken from the forthcoming second edition of the free Web 2.0 projects Book which was published last year -- over 11,000 copies downloaded! The book itself will contain even more information, so look out for that early in 2010!

Name: Alan Perkins

Application type: Techbribe, Podcast,Video/Video Podcast,Blog

Age range: 14-16 years

Description of project

The Techbribe is a weblog to enable students to publish work related to their IT projects in MYP Technology. It enables students to share knowledge, ideas and much more in order to fully understand collaborative principles within the Design Cycle.

Benefits of using Web 2.0

Participation,Variety of means of expression,Any time,Anywhere,Collaboration,Creativity

URL: http://www.techbribe.com 

Are you doing interesting work with Web 2.0 applications in your school or college? If so, why not contribute to a new ebook containing ideas that other teachers can pick up and use? Further information is right here:

http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/2009/10/14/web-20-projects-book-deadline-extended.html

Look out for another 'thumbnail sketch' this time tomorrow.

 

23 factors to consider when evaluating digital resources

This article has been superseded by an updated version.

Ask the questions below, perhaps on a form devised for the purpose. Ask other staff and, where appropriate, pupils to do the same. Obtain an evaluation copy if possible, and seek the views of the Local Authority or other advisory person or organisation, and other teachers.

1. What is the name of the resource?

2. What category does it fall into, eg Word Processing, Games?

3. Which computer systems will it work on?

4. How much is it?

5. Where appropriate, how much is a site licence?

6. Is it available via LGfL or another (cheaper) route?

7. What is the printed documentation like? Will users be able to understand it?

8. Is the on-line help good? Will pupils be able to understand it?

9. Do the graphics enhance the program, or distract one's attention?

10. Is the colour scheme too dull, too garish? Is it suitable for sight-impaired pupils?

11. Is the layout good, ie uncluttered, clear?

12. What print options are available?

13. How suitable is it for the classes you want it for?

14. Does it allow access by people with Special Educational Needs?

15. Does it meet the National Curriculum requirements?

16. Where appropriate, is it suitable for the examination in question, such as SATs?

17. Is it suitable for the scheme of work being followed?

18. How easy is it to use?

19. Does it make good use of the computer?

20. Will it attract pupils' interest in the short-term?

21. Will it be able to maintain pupils' interest in the long-term, eg through differentiated tasks?

22. Is it good value for money, taking into account things like the site licence cost?

23. Will it enhance your existing software resources?

Note that most of these questions apply even to free software, because of the opportunity costs involved.

Tomorrow: factors to consider when evaluating books.

Paperless office?

Your newsletter editor is hard at work sifting through the submissions for Digital Education, the free newsletter for education professionals. Have you subscribed yet?

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A text editor with a difference

I love the idea of being 'punished' for having writer's block. After all, this is a condition that simply does not exist. I mean, be honest: if you really have so-called writer's block, all you need to do is write about that. Hardly a difficult task.

Writer's Block? There's a technological solution!Writing against the clock for fear of losing anything you have managed to write would, I should think, be another effective antidote: nothing like a mild panic to get the mind into gear!

If all else fails, you could always stand up, take a deep breath, and talk about the first random topic you come to in a dictionary or encyclopaedia and see where that gets you. (Locked up would be a distinct possibility if you tried that in public, so don't!)

I've just written this using the online version of Write Or Die at http://writeordie.drwicked.com. There's a desktop version too, for $10. So what does the application do? Apparently, the desktop version won't let you save anything until you've reached your target word count. There's even a setting for making it delete what you have already written if you're not quick enough off the mark.

A great idea; a great, darkly humorous, use of technology. There are myriad possible applications in a school setting. Discipline problems? What discipline problems? The kids are too busy trying to beat the clock.

Here's a badge I 'earned' while trying out the online version of the program for this article:

And here is a video about the product:

 

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WtdVJF4PiF0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WtdVJF4PiF0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Web 2.0 Project: Sharon Peters' work

Here’s a thumbnail sketch of some interesting work that Sharon Peters is doing with Web 2.0. It is taken from the forthcoming second edition of the free Web 2.0 projects Book which was published last year -- over 11,000 copies downloaded! The book itself will contain even more information, so look out for that early in 2010!

Name: Sharon Peters

Application type: Take2 Videos, Video/Video Podcast,Social networking

Age range: 14-16 years

Description of project

National Geographic Photojournalist, Karin Muller, embeds herself in areas of global conflict to take HD footage which she releases to students so they can create meaningful documentaries. Last year, she released footage from Darfur, this year, Cuba.

Benefits of using Web 2.0

Motivation,Participation,Variety of means of expression,Any time,Anywhere,Ownership,Forms of literacy,Collaboration,Creativity

URL: http://take2videos.ning.com/

Are you doing interesting work with Web 2.0 applications in your school or college? If so, why not contribute to a new ebook containing ideas that other teachers can pick up and use? Further information is right here:

http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/2009/10/14/web-20-projects-book-deadline-extended.html

Look at for another 'thumbnail sketch' this time tomorrow.

Interesting embeddable widget I discovered on Wesley Fryer's blog. It shows how many blog posts etc there have been since you loaded the widget, in real time.

I'm not actually sure how valuable or even how valid such information is. There is no doubt, however, that using it in a presentation, as Fryer intended to do, would be a good way of grabbing people's attention right from the start.

Perhaps it would work well in a classroom setting too, as a starting point for a discussion about what such statistics mean, in a 'real' sense.

You can obtain the widget, and more information about it, from Gary Hayes' website.

Video choice: 10/28/2009

Warren Etheredge – The Art of the Interview (Or How to Grill a Star) ~ Chris Pirillo

This video has nothing to do with educational technology as such. However, I decided to bookmark it because it contains some important lessons for would-be student media stars:

  • Do your research
  • Only prepare the first question
  • Above all, LISTEN.

    •  

    Definitely worth watching with your class and then discussing.

    tags: video


    Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

    Does using the internet affect the brain?

    Does using the internet affect the brain, and if so, how?

    This is a subject for debate amongst scientists. On the one hand you have people like Baroness Greenfield saying that using the internet and related technologies leads to children having shorter attention spans and no imagination. On the other hand some people say it enhances certain kinds of mental activity.

    An article in the Telegraph recently reported on a study which found that searching the internet can delay the onset of dementia in older people.

    It seems to me that one of the key issues is not whether children are on the internet, but what they do there. I should have thought that if they are thinking about framing their search properly, and then evaluating the list of results, they are exercising the discriminatory and analytical parts of their brain in just the same way as if they were searching for information in the 'traditional' way.

    It just does not seem logical to me that the medium itself should make any difference, unless it's being suggested that radiation from the screens is affecting their brains.

    But it's something educationalists need to keep an eye on. If Baroness Greenfield is right, it would be irresponsible to promote the (over-)use of the internet in schools. And if the opposite is true, it would be irresponsible not to.

    What young people can do, and 7 implications of that

    What do the Cambridge Primary Review, the 14-19 Diploma and walking down Piccadilly have in common?

    In the evening of 19 October 2009 I attended the launch of the Cambridge Review of the Primary Curriculum, at the Royal Society of Arts. What the report brings out is the fact that there is much that children know, understand and can do. This will not be news to anyone who believes that children are (or could and should be) active agents in their own education as opposed to empty vessels into which a teacher pours knowledge. Anyone who believes that teaching is more than merely following a script written by a third party, which is about as creative as painting-by-numbers, knows this.

    Indeed, my own small-scale research (please see References), and the research which Miles Berry and I undertook (ditto), shows this to be the case. So hearing it emphasised at such a meeting and in such a robust publication was most welcome.

    It was interesting to learn, for example, that when asked what makes a good teacher, the children came up with the same answers instantly as academic researchers take eons to discover! The teacher must know their stuff, make learning fun, and tell the class in advance what they will be covering.

    (I intend to write a separate article about the Cambridge Review, but I'd like to go on record now as saying I think it's a seminal piece of work, and likely to prove the modern-day equivalent of the Plowden Report (and no doubt suffer the same fate). I haven't read the final bit about ICT thoroughly yet, but was impressed enough by the statement, at the launch, that ICT was seen as fundamental a type of literacy as oracy or numeracy, and not merely as an instrument for achieving something else, to say that perhaps I was wrong when I said the educational ICT community should reject the ICT aspects of the report. But, as I say, I will write more when I have read more)

    The following day I attended a Westminster Forum on the subject of Diplomas and Apprenticeships, as I have already mentioned. There are two dangers in education. One is that conference organisers too often fail to include young people as an integral part of the programme. Another is that good ideas like the Functional Skills and the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills will end up as just more sets of tickboxes for teachers to complete.

    I am delighted to say that my worse fears on both counts were allayed at the seminar. Not only did the organisers have the good sense to include a talk by a young person, the school had the good sense to choose an excellent spokesperson!

    Victoria is undertaking the Advanced Diploma in Engineering, and was one of the most articulate speakers I've heard. In her allotted five minutes she managed to convey vividly the benefits and challenges of the Diploma, and what doing it has meant for her personally.

    She also said, in response to a question of mine, that her teacher's ability to teach the course improved dramatically after s/he had attended an Inside The Workplace event as part of their professional development!

    Victoria was accompanied by a friend, who sat in the front row giving her moral support, and who was also prepared to assist in answering questions. In speaking to their teacher I found out that preparing for, taking part in and attending such events was all part of the school's approach to teaching Functional Skills and the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills.

    Finally, whilst walking down Piccadilly writing the draft for this article in my head, I was brought back to the here and now by a girl asking me if I knew where Regents Street was. I replied that I did, and that it would be easier for me to take her there than to try to give directions (and before you leap to any conclusions, I should mention that she was accompanied by her mother!). We got chatting, and it turns out that the reason she was in London was to attend St James's Palace, where she was presented with her Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award by Prince Philip, the Duke himself. Just listening to the catalogue of what she had done in order to achieve the award was enough to make me feel exhausted!

    So what do these three episodes have in common? I think the obvious conclusion is that young people know and can do an awful lot, given the right set of circumstances. So, as far as ICT is concerned, what are the 'right circumstances'? I would suggest the following:

    1. Start from the premise that the young person in front of you knows a lot, but is keen to know more.
    2. Provide a real challenge, as far as possible, not a made up, and therefore irrelevant, one.
    3. If audience is involved, let it be a real and important audience. Victoria sat next to, and was spoken to by, Tim Boswell, MP. That's more than a lot of adults have done. And it's so much more meaningful than having an 'audience' of several thousand unknown people on YouTube in my opinion.
    4. Build the teaching and learning of Functional Skills, Personal Learning and Thinking Skills and other kinds of skill into the work itself, not as some kind of artificial add-on.
    5. Make learning enjoyable.
    6. Treat the young people as adults, as far as possible. At least, treat them with respect: the ideas and opinions and scenarios they come up with may pleasantly surprise you.
    7. Make sure you and your colleagues obtain relevant and enjoyable professional development.
     

    'Digital literacy' is a red herring

    There was an article in my newspapaer recently which reported that Professor Alan Smithers told a conference that the new Diploma would not be acceptable as an entry qualification to university. Nothing remarkable in that, you might say, except that unless I happened to enter a parallel universe I was at the same conference, and had a completely different impression of what was said.

    The conference, organised by the Westminster Education Forum, was concerned with 14-19 education, specifically Diplomas and Apprenticeships. Eight people gave a talk about the Diploma, and all of these, with the exception of Professor Smithers, were extremely positive. One even said, in contradiction to the impression given by the newspaper report, that 85% of UK Higher Education Institutes are accepting the Diploma as an entry qualification (other things being equal, as is always the case anyway).

    So was Professor Smithers unduly negative? Well actually, no. All he said was that before schools recommend that their students take the Diploma, they should make sure that it would be acceptable as an entry into their chosen career or higher education path, as he feared that 'A' levels, being derived directly from university entrance examinations, would be more likely to be acceptable.

    What this indicates to me is that to some extent the current emphasis on teaching students to be digitally literate misses the point. We need to teach them to be media literate, and to have good research skills.

    We also need to teach them that even 'factual' reports are subject to bias brought about by what the reporter actually sees and hears, and how they interpret and internalise that information. And if the report is for, or funded by, a third party, there is that party's bias to throw into the mix as well.

    As is often the case, there is nothing new in any of this. There is a Sufi saying which says:

    When a pickpocket sees a Holy Man, he sees only his pockets.

    There is also the ages old story of the blind men trying to determine what an elephant is. And there is the famous optical illusion in which a picture shows either a witch or a beautiful woman, depending on how you look at it. (At the end of this post I've included a video update of this, with a nice twist at the end.)

    Just as cyber-bullying and e-safety are actually subsets of a bigger picture, so is digital literacy. Given that many adults, including teachers, take it for granted that young people are born digitally literate there is a real danger that we will take younsters' word for it when they tell us they know all about internet literacy. It seems to me that, to do the best job we can, we need to get back to basics and even go so far as to leave anything digital out of the picture entirely until students understand these principles in a general sense first.

     

    Handheld Learning Keynotes Now Available

    Great news: the keynotes from the first day proper of this year's Handheld Learning Conference are now available. Here are the URLs.

    Set aside a few hours to watch Graham Brown-Martin's provocative introductory talk followed by four highly stimulating lectures from guest speakers, including one from Malcolm McLaren.

    Graham Brown-Martin

    James Paul Gee


    Yvonne Roberts

    Zenna Atkins

    Malcolm McLaren

    Enjoy!




    Web 2.0 Projects Book: Deadline Extended!

    open24hoursI've had a great response to my call for submissions to this ebook, which seeks to collate information about interesting projects involving the use of Web 2.0 applications in schools.

    The original deadline was 30 September, but last night I received some news which has led me to extend it until the 31st October.

    Diane Brooks, who writes the ICT in Education blog in New Zealand (no connection with this website) very kindly posted a message about the book on her blog. However, she informed me privately that schools in New Zealand are currently on holiday.

    Also, and more importantly, many New Zealanders, including some of her colleagues and students, have family in Samoa. They will obviously have more pressing concerns than a book about Web 2.0, so it seemed only right and sensible to extend the deadline for everyone because of the troubles in Samoa, Indonesia and that general area of the world.

    So what is the state of play so far? I've received over 60 new projects, and they all look really interesting. The applications used include e-portfolios, social networking, video Es and the 'usual suspects': blogs, wikis and a fresh-faced arrival, Twitter!

    Many, if not most, of the ideas are as simple as they are exciting. For example (and it's hard to single out just one or two from this cornucopia), Nancy Raff says:

    "We're creating a virtual ribbon of 6 pieces with a photo showing why a student loves the earth and a statement of why they love it and what they will do to protect it. Many schools have joined this project and people from 59 countries. Spans all grades."

    Or take this one, from Tom Daccord:

    "The "Great Debate of 2008" is a collaborative project providing 130+ students from 8 states with an opportunity to lead an exploration and discussion of issues and candidates surrounding the 2008 presidential election."

    I think you'd agree that these ideas are not only simple but also scaleable in either direction. For example, the Great Debate wiki could be run with just one class, and the virtual ribbon project could be run with classes in the same school or neighbouring schools rather than across 59 countries.

    That's the whole idea of this ebook: to share ideas, rather than to share 'best practice'. So if you have been running an educational project with Web 2.0 tools, no matter how humble you think it is, please share!

    Just one thing, though: some of the URLs provided by people in their submissions are passworded, or are to a general website or blog rather than a specific post or area about the project concerned. In order to make the ebook as useful as possible to others, please provide a useful and pertinent URL. Ideally, if the site is passworded, perhaps you could provide a guest login. Alternatively, if that would be problematic in terms of e-safety concerns, send me a screenshot or two which will at least give people an idea of what's behind the firewall. Thanks for your co-operation in this!

    The online form should take you only a few minutes to complete.

    Thank you.

    More about the project.

    Back through the time tunnel: the effects of technology on lifestyle, and techno-romanticsm

    Time tunnel

    P1040894.JPG

    I watched an interesting TV programme last night. Called Electric Dreams, the programme followed the fortunes of a family whose home had been transported back in time to the 1970s. Each day brought a new year, and the technology that went with it.

    Some insightful connections were made. For example, as the freezer began to make its way into people’s homes, it became feasible to do a weekly shop rather than a daily one. That, in turn, freed women (mainly) up to do more things besides housework.

    I think a programme like this can be useful to show to youngsters for two reasons. Firstly, to help them perceive that there is a history behind the devices that they take for granted today. I remember one young lady being incredulous when she realised, from something I said, that there had been a time before video players! I don’t know why I think this is important, I just do.

    Secondly, it’s useful to be able to explore the possible connections between technological innovation and lifestyle, as with the freezer example above. Most ICT courses include a section on the impact of technology on society, so this would not be time wasted.

    Of course, and this is another avenue worth looking at, technological innovation is, at first, enjoyed only by the few. With freezers and colour televisions costing the equivalent of several weeks’ earnings, they could not be bought by everyone when they first appeared in the shops. Is this still the case now? I think it probably is, but my perception is that the time it takes for the price to fall is much shorter than it used to be.

    One of the things I do find frustrating about such programmes, although this one was refreshingly honest, is the prevalence of what might be called ‘techno-romanticsm’. What, I ask myself, was so great about not being able to start my car on a cold winter’s morning? What was so wonderful about cassette-driven computers that took ages to be ready? The past may have been OK when we were living in it, but who would wish to go back there?

    The lady of the house thought that it would be nice to get back to a time when families spent more time with each other, before technology was so ubiquitous. Am I missing something, or is she saying that the technology, not she or her husband, dictates what happens in their own home? That is like my saying I long for the time when there were only 5 TV channels to watch, because then I would spend more time with my wife. The solution is simple: switch the TV off and sit and read or talk!

    I found it interesting that one of their children (none of whom had ever used a record player before) liked the idea of having a vinyl album because it was tangible, unlike music downloads. I also found it interesting, returning to the theme of how technology influences lifestyle, to reflect that whereas thirty years ago sending a child to their room was seen as a punishment, because there was nothing to do there and they would be incommunicado, now it would be seen as a reward!

    As far as teaching was concerned, I enjoyed pushing the boat out with technology to see how it might be used in learning and teaching (and still do). But having to book a computer room at the Institute of Education for my evening class students back in 1982, or having to post my students’ decisions and then wait a week for the computer results may have been fine at the time, because we knew no better. But who in their right mind would look back on all that as some kind of golden age?

    The past may be interesting, even fascinating, but the best thing about it, as far as I’m concerned, is that it is the past!

    You can see the programme I've referred to, for a limited period of time, by following the TV link on the Electric Dreams website. The 1980s are next.