Summer reading #1: OuLiPo and the Mathematics of Literature

July 24, 2022

I’ve started to compile a list of books you might wish to explore over the holidays. They’re not all to do with edtech — we all need a break!

Coming soon: my summer reading list

July 22, 2022

For my end-of-term newsletter I’ve compiled a short reading list, not all the items on which are concerned with edtech. After all, everyone deserves a break.

Some thoughts on memory, and especially 'working memory'

July 19, 2022

My position is that I think the idea of ‘working memory’ is misapplied and, in any case, unnecessary.

Feedback From A Course Called Writing The Oulipo

July 18, 2022

It’s been estimated that if you were to read one a minute for 24 hours a day it would take you around 200 million years to get through them all.

Review: The Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

July 16, 2022

This book differs from many of the books and articles I’ve read about memory because it delves into the physical changes that occur in different situations.

Blogging is alive and kicking, and a good thing to do

July 13, 2022

Every so often I read a blog post or a ‘commentary’ on Twitter by some self-appointed guru or other saying that blogging is passé.

7 Expectations for Computing lessons (update)

July 13, 2022

I don’t think rules, as commonly formulated, are very useful in the context of Computing lessons.

Review: Support Not Surveillance: How to solve the teacher retention crisis

July 12, 2022

Dr Bousted makes a strong case for major reform of the parts of the education system in England that has a direct impact on teachers – and therefore on students.

Coming soon in Digital Education July 2022 (updated)

July 10, 2022

At some point soon I shall be sending out the latest issue of Digital Education. It contains a lot of useful links, analysis of recent reports and some very interesting reading. It should have gone out this weekend, but I’ve added more to it.

Coming soon in Digital Education July 2022

July 8, 2022

At some point this weekend I shall be sending out the latest issue of Digital Education. It contains a lot of useful links, analysis of recent reports and some very interesting reading.

The likely effects of the commercialisation of higher education were hiding in plain sight for decades

July 6, 2022

Some people think that if people want to study a subject that doesn’t benefit anyone else, why should everyone else pay for it? However…

Terry: dreading the bombardment of ill-informed views!

Twitter toxicity: Beware the ultracrepidarians - revisited

July 1, 2022

It all started with Brexit. At least, that’s when I first became aware of the preponderance of people who are more than happy to pontificate about, and lecture the rest of us on, a subject of which they have no expertise.

As the school's edtech lead, you need to be pernickety

June 24, 2022

All too often these days there is so much to be done, and so little time to do it, that we have to adopt a “good enough” attitude. That’s fine most of the time….

Photo by Divyadarshi Acharya on Unsplash

Authentic Learning and Education Technology

June 24, 2022

To the casual listener, stride piano, boogie woogie piano and rock-n-roll piano all sound pretty much the same. Yet Fats Waller, perhaps the most famous stride pianist, detested boogie woogie. And nobody could deny the hint of menace in Long John Baldry’s voice as he sings his song....

Don’t try to lay no boogie woogie on the king of rock-n-roll!

Converting an online course to an offline one

June 24, 2022

Having run a couple of very successful courses online, I’d like to convert one of them to a course in a physical classroom, having launched it as an online course right from the outset.

Converting an offline course to an online one (Updated)

June 20, 2022

In 2019 I taught an introductory course on blogging, for adults. I was invited to teach it again. Then a small event called a pandemic intervened, so I was told that the course would be moved from a physical classroom to an online one. My reaction? Excellent.