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

Start polishing your crystal ball! Photo by Garidy Sanders on Unsplash — Start polishing your crystal ball! Photo by Garidy Sanders on Unsplash

What are your ed tech predictions for 2019?

November 28, 2018

What’s on the cards for 2019 in the education technology world? A chance to have your say.

A Way to Raise money for Education Technology (UPDATED)

November 26, 2018

If you’re in a school in the UK and looking for a way to raise some money, you may find this article interesting.

It’s all go! Illustration by Terry Freedman

What's in the November 2018 issue of Digital Education?

November 25, 2018

Here at Freedman Works we’ve been throwing in ideas, reports, books, magazines, blog articles and pictures into the writing machine I invented some time in 2017, and out has popped the latest issue of Digital Education. Read on for a taster of what’s in it.

Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash — Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash

Microsoft laptops and software evaluation

November 24, 2018

Over the summer of 2018 I evaluated and compared for laptops sold by Microsoft, and tested the software that was installed on them. Here are my findings.

Photo by John-Mark Smith on Unsplash — Photo by John-Mark Smith on Unsplash

The BESA/PA Conference 2018

November 23, 2018

Details of this year’s annual conference of the British Educational Suppliers Association and the Publishers Association.

How I became more efficient at marking and got my life back

November 22, 2018

Here is a short exposition of the changes I made in order to reduce the amount of marking I had to take home with me.

Coming soon in the Digital Education ezine

November 20, 2018

There are four books to be won in the next issue of Digital Education. There are also a few pretty useful articles and bits of information. Read on to find out more.

I’m not sure why people sometimes get confused over pretty clear statements.

Lost in translation

November 16, 2018

Sometimes, a message given in a talk or training session is misinterpreted. What lessons can we learn from this?

E-safety update

November 9, 2018

This article contains details of 8 reports and 4 sets of resources concerning e-safety.

Microsoft's Future Decoded

November 2, 2018

The most fascinating thing for me about the Future Decoded conference was the present!

I love metadata, by Terry Freedman. The photo bears merely a tenuous relation to the subject matter: I always need a cup of tea to help me survive at conferences!

Forthcoming Education Technology-Related Events in London

November 1, 2018

Details of three useful-looking events related to education technology, coming up in London.

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?