Bett2020 Reader Pen

January 31, 2020

A device that could help students with reading difficulties.

Bett2020 Neo Learning Management System

January 29, 2020

Reflections on the Neo Learning Management System, and on implementing a learning management system in general.

Terry catching up -- or trying to! By Terry Freedman

Articles update

January 29, 2020

So many articles (to write), so little time! I’m in the process of writing up my experience of the Bett Show this year: products and reflections. It’s going to take me a while to do, even after setting myself a limit of 100 words per article. So, in the meantime, are a few pieces to be getting on with

Project management: the pink slip problem

January 27, 2020

When you decide to implement a new way of doing things, or a new learning management system, say, or any other major change, you will need to consult with other people at some point. But who?

Bett2020 The scalability problem (part 2)

January 26, 2020

The issue of scalability is not confined to cost considerations, but time as well.

Bett2020: The scalability problem (part 1)

January 26, 2020

Walking around the Bett Show and looking at products and services, I was reminded (as ever) of the need to keep scalability in mind.

Bett2020: The aggregation problem

January 26, 2020

The scalability problem is rendered more acute when you discover several products you like the look of, all priced in a similar way.

Bett2020: Eye Gaze UPDATED!

January 25, 2020

A short account of a talk about Eye Gaze, which helps teachers to know what pupils with PMLD are looking at, and what they are ignoring.

Bett 2020 Seminars on day 4

January 24, 2020

Here’s a quick reminder of the seminars I thought looked interesting on the last day of Bett 2020.

Bett 2020 Seminars in the afternoon of Day 3

January 24, 2020

Here’s a quick reminder of the seminars I thought looked interesting in the afternoon of Day 3 of Bett 2020.

Bett Seminars in the morning of Day 3 of Bett 2020

January 23, 2020

Here’s a quick reminder of the seminars I thought looked interesting in the morning of Day 3 of Bett 2020.

Virtual Reality Headset, by Terry Freedman

A good application of Virtual Reality (I think)

January 23, 2020

Using the MEL VR headset and software at Bett2020, I entered the molecule of a diamond, followed by that of a pencil.

Bett 2020 Seminars in the afternoon of Day 2

January 23, 2020

Here’s a quick reminder of the seminars I thought looked interesting on the latter half of the afternoon of Day 2 of Bett 2020.

Bett2020 Preview, screenshot by Terry Freedman

The Bett2020 Floor Plan

January 21, 2020

As the Bett Show has grown immensely in terms of the number of halls there are, it’s worth grabbing the Preview Guide. It has floor plans spanning four pages.

Terry Freedman's Bett 2020 Supplement

January 20, 2020

Here is my list of interesting-looking seminars at the Bett Show. It’s divided into days, from Wednesday to Saturday. I hope you find it useful.

8 questions to ask educational technology suppliers

January 20, 2020

If you’re in the market to buy a product or service to enhance the educational technology in your school, what are the questions you should be asking potential suppliers? Definitely not “What is your response time?”. Here are 8 suggestions for questions you should ask instead, and why the response time one is not very useful.

Listen up! The audio side of Bett 2020 -- UPDATED

January 19, 2020

UPDATED and CORRECTED! News about Bett Radio and the EdTech podcast at Bett2020.

Coming soon: my seminar recommendations for Bett 2020

January 18, 2020

I’ve gone through the Bett seminar programme, and highlighted the ones that I’d go to if (a) I could be in several places at once (I’m working on that) and (b) needed to know about a much wider range of issues than any person does.

27 Things to do before Bett 2020

January 17, 2020

As a Bett veteran, I’ve learnt quite a bit over the last 30 or so years about how to make the visit to Bett as useful as possible. Here are 27 tips you may find useful.

Bett 2020

January 16, 2020

A heads-up about a pdf guide to Bett. Three articles in particular are worth perusing.

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?