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

Evidence-based education revisited

December 23, 2018

A reflection on the contents of the 2017-18 annual Ofsted report as summarised in a word cloud.

Digital Education Bumper Holiday Edition

December 23, 2018

What’s in the latest issue of the Digital Education newsletter? Read on to find out.

‘The Press Association, London, by Terry Freedman

What ed tech consultants need to know, and other articles

December 20, 2018

What’s coming up in the latest issue of the Digital Education ezine.

Digital Education Prize Draw

December 17, 2018

The next Digital Education ezine has a great prize to be won: The Truth About Teaching, by Greg Ashman. Read on for more details.

Click the cover to see the book on Amazon. Please note that this is an affiliate link.

Books in brief: How to think like a coder

December 15, 2018

Here’s a quick look at How to think like a coder, by Jim Christian.

Educational research reading, by Terry Freedman

Evidence-based teaching: what's striking or new about it?

December 13, 2018

In the latest Ofsted annual report, teachers using an evidence-based approach is something that “strikes” the Chief Inspector. But what is remarkable about it?

Ed Tech Predictions for 2019

December 7, 2018

What does 2019 have in store for us as far as education technology is concerned? And what challenges might we face? Read on for some interesting answers, and an opportunity to have your say too.

What I've been reading: Living in a Digital World

December 6, 2018

The review in a nutshell: well-structured, well-written and informative.

Random Name Picker, from Classroom Tools.

A random name picker

December 3, 2018

I’ve just run another prize draw for my newsletter, Digital Education. If you’re interested in the tool I used to select the winners, read on.

Prize draw: win an ed tech book

December 2, 2018

Details of a chance to win a great book. Two copies of each of Living in a Digital World and Teacher’s Guide to Tech are up for grabs! Read on for details — competition closes tonight (2nd December 2018) at midnight London, UK, time.

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?