Exasperated, by Terry Freedman
I was watching a debate in the House of Lords the other day, and I was very struck (I hesitate to use the word 'impressed') by how easily a particular government representative managed to fend off a whole variety of questions without saying anything of any value whatsoever.
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A few years ago I read a review of a new product in a popular technology magazine, and by the end of the article, I had a pretty good idea of whether or not the product was any good.
The only thing I hadn’t managed to find out was what it actually did.
Read MoreLike all educators, computing specialists should read more than just material directly related to what they’re teaching. It’s about being, and being seen to be, an expert in the subject.
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Click the pic to see this book on Amazon (affiliate link)
One of my first impressions: I like the fact that the book includes relatively recently-acknowledged attributes of the brain, such as neuroplasticity.
Read MoreIt has long been the case that the teacher in charge of education technology has been expected to keep everything ticking over with virtually no budget and very little time -- especially in primary schools.
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Question mark - Terry Freedman
I’ve always been of the strong opinion that (a) people should talk about programming, not coding, and (b) people learn best on a kind of need to know basis.
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My (somewhat jaded) view of most high-profile Government ed tech initiatives
A possibly cynical take on government-funded initiatives for education technology in schools.
Read MoreJust taken over your school's computing department? Here are my top 10 tips for ensuring success from the start.
Read MoreIn yesterday’s article, we asked Why should an edtech company run a conference or webinar programme? In this article, we look at things to consider in order to maximise the chances of your event being a success.
Read MoreRunning a conference, a webinar or a series of webinars, can be a very useful marketing tool for a company.
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The scream by Terry Freedman
We all have the occasional awful experience when giving training. Here are mine!
Read MoreDo a search on the internet and you will discover that there are many, many articles on this theme, most of which agree with each other only in one or two areas.
Read MoreI 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?
Read MoreWorthy 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.
Read MoreHow the admin involved in a course led to its being abandoned by one group of trainers.
Read MoreUsing an external IT trainer is risky. Here are a few things to insist on to reduce the likelihood of a ruined training day.
Read MoreIt’s always a good thing to stipulate in advance all the things you need in order to run a training session —including even the most basic and obvious ones….
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Photo by Štefan Štefančík on Unsplash
Here’s the first article in a series about my worst training days — the ones in which I was the trainer I mean! This was first published in 2018, but is still highly relevant.
Read MoreWhat does it mean to be a maverick? To me, it means not going along with the general consensus about something, just because it’s a consensus. There is always a natural tendency to think “all those people can’t be wrong”, or “there’s no smoke without fire”, but in fact all those people could be wrong and there could be smoke without fire.
Read MoreBefore considering any ideas, we ought, perhaps, to consider the question: why bother? After all, the situation is so fluid that any strategy you prepare now could be rendered out of date by next week. If one thing has proven to be certain about the pandemic, it’s that nothing is certain. It’s almost like trying to build a house on sand.
Read More(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved