Those of us who have held responsibility for embedding digital technology across a school will all have tales of well-meaning management who, frankly, didn’t have a clue.
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History class. Photo by Terry Freedman
Banal projects
Boring projects are the worst kind of thing to give students. My way of thinking is simple: if you can’t think of anything exciting, get them to come up with something themselves.
Read MoreAh, those were the days -- not
Here at Freedman Towers I have been trawling through the archives, hoping to salvage something of my legacy to donate to the nation, or indeed the world. Anyways, all joking aside, I came upon this email I wrote…
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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Fun, in the most patronising way you can think of
It’s almost unheard of for me to read advertorials or sponsored posts, especially when the words “Advertisement” appears in small print somewhere other than the headline. But the title made me curious.
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A lesson, by Terry Freedman
50 features of excellent ICT and Computing lessons
What makes an excellent ICT or Computing lesson? In this document I've tried to encapsulate the answer to that question.
Read MoreAuthentic Learning and ICT (Update 2023)
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.
Read MoreWhy Are ICT Lessons Boring? The Start of the Lesson (Update 2023)
If I had to choose just one causal factor to focus on, as to why students find ICT lessons boring, it would be the start of the lesson.
Read MoreWhy Is ICT Boring? (Update 2023)
Not all youngsters are bored in their ICT lessons, of course, but it’s a sufficiently common complaint to have made me do a mental double-take when Maddi, an Australian teenager, happened to mention that she actually enjoyed her ICT lessons.
Read MoreTechnicians – The David Sainsbury Gallery at the Science Museum: full review
Should you ever find yourself in the unlikely circumstance of having to choose between me administering medication or waiting for a paramedic, my advice would be to wait.
Read MoreReview: A Little History of Music by Robert Philip (YUP)
I asked the AI module built in to Squarespace to write a paragraph on why music is relevant to teachers of Computing. Here’s what it said…
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Come back! Drawing by Terry Freedman
Computing in Schools, UK
I've been reading the transcript of a conference called Computing in England's schools, from July 2022. Yes, I'm a bit behind the times on this, so I apologise. However, I think anyone who has been involved in educational computing for any length of time…
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Difference engine #2. Photo by Terry Freedman
Artificial Intelligence News November 2023
We need to know how an AI decision-making tool arrives at it's conclusions, which might be hard given that even the designers of these tools don't always know.
Read MoreNew issue of Digital Education
The next issue of my newsletter, Digital Education, will be available soon. It contains articles on AI, smartphones, Calvino and more.
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New online blogging course
I will be running another online course in blogging in the evenings of the 17th and 24th November 2023.
Read MoreQuick look: Parliament Buildings: The architecture of politics in Europe
I suspect that the use of space in parliament buildings will hold some lessons for schools as well.
Read MoreReview: The Liars of Nature and the nature of liars: Cheating and deception in the living world
The key question at the heart of this book is perhaps this – if honesty is the best policy, why is dishonesty so rife in nature?
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Ada Lovelace Day 2023
Here are some resources/links you might find useful for Ada Lovelace Day. I think it’s a good idea to not think just in terms of the day itself, but of how you can build on it for future lessons.
Read MoreUsing spreadsheets or Python to process words
A couple of people and I started to discuss how we might use technology to process a block of text.
Read MoreQuick look: From EdTech to PedTech
Academics tend to write learned articles that, I suspect, are read mainly by other academics, so anything that can translate some of that research into practical advice is to be welcomed.
Read MoreBut where’s the pen?
Spaces and learning; spaces should be designed according to the kind of learning that people would like to experience in them.
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