Big data: is small beautiful?

My Big Data InfographicAccording to the 2014 Horizon Report for K-12 education (ie Kindergarten to 18 years old), big data and analytics will be adopted by education within the next two to three years. Big data. It’s the current buzzword in education (one of several, at least), but what exactly is it? And is it really of any practical use? And should we be using it anyway?
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The hidden dangers of doing digital business: what schools, teachers and students need to know

Diverted TrafficIn theory, setting yourself up to sell products on the internet is the easiest thing in the world. Once you’ve created the product, you upload it to a 3rd party platform that will handle all the sales and deliveries automatically, and you just sit back and watch the money roll in. If only it were as simple as that. But why would  a school want to do something like that anyway
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Whiteboards: not dead yet

Getting Ready for OLED Technology - A Small Collage of Interactive Wall Applications on Our Smart Boards at the Interactive Interactive Show and Open Houses - Sheridan Interactive Multimedia One Year Post Grad College in OakvilleI heard an interesting snippet from Mike Cladingbowl, National Director at Ofsted, recently. He said that when interactive whiteboards were first introduced, Ofsted inspectors saw an increase in “chalk and talk”. Hardly surprising, because interactive whiteboards made chalk and talk, ie teaching from the front, easier.
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Computing and ICT vocabulary

Vocabulary - Words Are ImportantTrawling through the articles published on my original website, I came across this one about vocabulary. Happily, the “new” publication it refers to is still available. Incidentally, I’m a great believer in paying attention to vocabulary and the correct use of correct terminology, so at the end of this “reprint” I’ve inserted a couple of references to other articles I’ve penned on this subject. The original article was published in 2008, and is shown in a different font, below.
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26 + Tips for getting the most from your interactive whiteboards

IWB Guide Cover (tilted)To borrow from Mark Twain, reports of the death of the interactive whiteboard have been exaggerated. Despite often being used ineffectively or even badly, it still has much to offer.

I’ve written a brief guide to making the most of your interactive whiteboard which I’ve called, logically enough, Making the most of your interactive whiteboard. Originally, this was in response to a request I received while teaching on a teacher-training course recently.

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Assessing Computing: Grids and Badges

section of progression pathways gridSince Michael Gove, England’s then Education Secretary, announced that Levels were not fit for purpose – the purpose being to assess and describe students’ proficiency in National Curriculum subjects – there has been a proliferation of attempts to assess Computing without using Levels. Many of these have taken the approach, quite naturally, of devising a progression grid of some sort. All the ones I’ve seen break the grid down into the Computing Programme of Study’s component parts
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How can teachers get to grips with computer programming, and where do we start? By Lawrence Williams

Pupil using Scratch, by Lawrence WilliamsMany teachers have been utterly dismayed by the seemingly impossible demands of the new Programmes of Study for Computing. How can we all suddenly develop a wide range of new skills in Computing? Can our pupils, aged from only 5 years, really understand, write, and debug computer programmes? It seems an impossible task. But help is at hand…. And from a teacher of English, with no Computing training! (Though with some experience in using ICT.)

Lawrence Williams explains.

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Digital Education new edition out now!

Did you know that today is International Ada Lovelace Day? Information about this, online poetry, journalism and novel writing, may be found in our latest newsletter. It’s a relatively short “interim” edition, but it’s still packed with lots of wholesome goodness!

Here’s the full list of contents:

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Audiovisual heritage: media archives and how best to use them, By Theo Kuechel

Theo illustrationThere are literally millions of free media resources for use in education. Theo Kuechel introduces some of them, with suggestions on how they might be used not only within the Computing curriculum but also more generally.

I was delighted to read, via an email from Terry, (our editor), that UNESCO has announced a World Day for Audiovisual Heritage to be held on the 27th of October this year. This timely initiative seeks to draw attention to the urgent need to preserve the worlds audiovisual heritage of film, television and sound recordings. Why this so important is graphically illustrated

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Assessing without Levels

poll.jpgSince the Government in England announced that Levels aren't fit for purpose, and so shouldn't be used, lots of people have come forward with their own ideas. With the old system of Levels, the description of each Level was given. You didn't have to think about what Level to give a student who could do certain things: all you had to do was look at the Level descriptors, find the one that was the best fit, and that was it: job done.
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