Bett 2020 Dates for your diary

December 10, 2019

Bett 2020 is coming…

Teaching Computing: What the research says

November 7, 2019

What do we know about the pedagogy of teaching Computing? Do teachers spot students’ misconceptions? Can general principles of instruction be applied to the teaching of Computing? Plus other interesting questions.

A Self-referential blog post

October 17, 2019

An apparently pointless article but one that has a point if you think about it.

Review: Trust me, I'm lying

October 14, 2019

In TMIL, Holiday demonstrates how easy it is to manipulate the news. A must-read for teachers of media or digital literacy.

Useless utilities, pointless programs -- and why we should encourage kids to create them

October 11, 2019

We should encourage pupils to write useless bits of code. Here’s why.

A spreadsheet moment

October 11, 2019

A girl had been made to leave her lesson, and wanted to help me teach spreadsheets. My mind said “No way”, my intuition said “Why not?”

newsguard toolbar shield, screenshot by Terry Freedman

Review of Newsguard

October 7, 2019

Newsguard is a service that rates websites for honesty, transparency and trustworthiness. It evaluates websites against several criteria, such as whether information is gathered and presented responsibly. A browser extension will enable you to see at a glance whether or a not a site they have evaluated is trustworthy.

A pictogram version of the next edition of the Digital Education newsletter

October 4, 2019

The forthcoming edition of the Digital Education newsletter features some great links and resources. See if you can figure out what topics are covered from these illustrations!

Goal-setting. Screenshot by Terry Freedman

How to automatically allocate time for an activity in your Google calendar

October 3, 2019

If you use Google Calendar then you can use the goal-setting function to whiz through your diary on your phone and find suitable times for an activity to wish to pursue.

Proof of time travel? Photo by Terry Freedman

More fake news

October 1, 2019

Since mentioning that I am working on a special fake news edition of Digital Education, I have come across a few more brilliant resources.

Digital Education Newsletter: Fake News Special

September 26, 2019

How can you tell if a video on a website is faked? How can you tell if a news outlet is being economical with the truth via misleading headlines? With around 20 links to useful resources, the next issue of the Digital Education newsletter has the answers.

Book review round-up to 22 September 2019

September 25, 2019

Here is a set of links to the educational computing books I’ve reviewed up till 22 September 2019.

Computing and computing-related qualifications

September 24, 2019

Here in England the Government, in its quest to put Computing on the map, did its best to make sure the rest of the map was blank – by getting rid of qualifications that lots of students took (especially girls).

Was it something I said? When an elevator speech falls on deaf ears

September 18, 2019

In one of my teaching jobs, I had to listen to a parent while he went on and on about how kids should taught how to take computers apart in their Computing lessons. When I pointed out that the course was about being literate in the uses of computers and also how to program them, rather than how they're made, he insisted that digital literacy could only be taught by taking computers apart.

Robot made of Lego, at John Lewis, Photo by Terry Freedman

AI: It was a very active and engaging and free way of learning, in some ways

September 16, 2019

I’ve been experimenting with AI-generated articles. I’m using an application called Story AI. You enter the first 40 words, and the AI does the rest. Here’s the result of the experiment.

Never underestimate new pupils' computing skills

September 10, 2019

It’s an unfortunate fact of life that secondary school teachers underestimate how much their primary school colleagues have taught when it comes to computing and education technology. It’s true that in some cases it’s justified, but by and large in my experience it isn’t.

Coming soon in the Digital Education newsletter

September 6, 2019

The next edition of this esteemed newsletter has a cornucopia of links that will be of interest to teachers of computing and media literacy especially, and very little commentary! Read on to find out more.

My worst IT training days #6: The day my website was shut down

September 5, 2019

I wonder if there is anything more discombobulating than announcing, with great fanfare, a brilliant resource to a class full of teacher trainees, only to be greeted by a dreadful error message instead?

Relax, by Terry Freedman. I’m trying to, I’m trying!

A call to Technical Support

August 28, 2019

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

Presentation on a mobile phone, by Terry Freedman

Actually, it IS about the technology (partly)

August 27, 2019

“It’s not about the technology” sounds logical, but in my experience it is certainly not the whole story.

Recent book reviews

Quick look: Digital Culture Shock: Who Creates Technology and Why This Matters

Chapters look at how technology is used around the world, online communities, and building a culturally just infrastucture, amongst other topics.

Artificially Gifted Notes from a Post-Genius World.jpg

Quick look: Artificially Gifted: Notes from a Post-Genius World

The author, Mechelle Gilford, explores how AI may render our usual way of interpreting the concept of “gifted” obsolete.

Quick look: Dr. Bot: Why Doctors Can Fail Us―and How AI Could Save Lives

Dr Bot discusses something I hadn’t really considered…

Review: Seven Brief Lessons on Physics: Anniversary Edition

Rovelli draws readers into his world by describing the development of theories that scientists have posited to try and explain our world and the universe beyond.