Terry Freedman's ICT & Computing in Education blog — ICT & Computing in Education

Imaginary Cityscape, photographed by Terry Freedman

Review of Imaginary Cities

August 29, 2019

The Imaginary Cities exhibition at the British Library is an interesting merger of art and programming. Here are my thoughts on it.

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.

Holo app, by Terry Freedman. This was drawn using Comic Strip Creator.

Articles from the ed tech archives

August 23, 2019

Here are three articles from the ICT & Computing website which you may find useful, inspiring or both.

Click the pic to go to the book on Amazon (affiliate link)

Quick looks: Critical Media Literacy and Fake News in Post-Truth America

August 22, 2019

This is a very interesting, thought-provoking and readable book. I’ve only read 25% so far, but it’s looking good so far.

How should ed tech training be done?

August 22, 2019

If you are responsible for the ed tech/Computing/ICT training in your school, here are a few questions which you might like to consider.

Ideas for In-Service Training for ed tech teachers

August 21, 2019

The dreaded training day season looms. But the event doesn’t have to be awful as it frequently is.

16 pet hates about presentations and presenters

August 20, 2019

The season of training days and outside speakers is upon us. Here are 16 presentation and presenter quirks that drive me nuts.

My Best IT Training Days #6: It's like dating for the first time!

August 19, 2019

An interesting piece of feedback related to training in using education technology in lessons!

The Scream, by Terry Freedman (with apologies to Munch) — The Scream, by Terry Freedman (*with apologies to Munch)*

Viruses and other nasties are a leadership issue

August 15, 2019

How vulnerable are schools to viruses and so on? Here are the results of a survey, plus some comments on the role of the ed tech leader in the school.

How to fix a paper jam that doesn't exist

August 14, 2019

If your printer keeps telling you there’s a paper jam when there isn’t, you aren’t necessarily going insane. This suggestion worked for me.

My Best IT Training Days #5: The girl with the website

August 12, 2019

Why knowing what the pupils in a class do digitally in their spare time can be a good idea.

My worst IT Training Days #5: Whiteboard not working

August 8, 2019

Worthy cogitations about what I might have done to avoid being faced with a non-working whiteboard — and why that situation arose in the first place.

What I'm reading: Cool Coding

August 6, 2019

A few initial thoughts on a book about programming and how computers work.

My best IT Training Days #4: Using Year 7 kids

August 5, 2019

What were the benefits of using children to take a staff IT training session?

My worst IT training days #4: Too much admin on a course

August 2, 2019

How the admin involved in a course led to its being abandoned by one group of trainers.

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?