One day when I was 15, I was milling around in this youth club trying to look cool, when someone came up to me and asked me if I’d be interested in joining a cinematography club. I’d never touched a cine camera in my life.
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Get off of my lawn
One of the few good things about the emphasis on ‘coding’ now is that as most people acknowledge that they know nothing about it, they leave the people teaching it in peace.
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Picture generated by Ideogram
7 reasons that the FAIL acronym fails (Updated)
Failing is empowering.
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Why you should collaborate on a Computing scheme of work (Updated)
In the article 12 Characteristics of a good Computing Scheme of Work I said that people should work with other people on their Computing scheme of work. Why?
Read More12 Characteristics of a good Computing Scheme of Work
*UPDATED* What are the attributes of a good ICT and Computing scheme of work? Here's the list of characteristics I've always looked for.
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Something ain’t right, by Terry Freedman
Bad pitches
Examples of how not to try and sell a product or an idea.
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How useful is AI for generating words?
As it happens, I first addressed this question in 2012, and the first part of this essay, down to the part about robots, is taken from the notes I made then. My opinion hasn’t changed, in spite of the enormous strides in AI in the last twelve years.
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Quick looks: The collaboration book
I’ve just sent Teach Secondary magazine my review of this book, so I can’t say much before that’s published.
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Mobile phones: Another ritual
Every so often an Education Secretary announces a ban on mobile phones in school (which always turns out to be guidance, not mandatory). It's a sort of non-policy, a statement for the purpose, in my opinion, of wanting to say something, anything.
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Photo by Terry Freedman
Teacher admin tasks: the ritual is alive and well
In January 2024 the English Department for Education published its initial thoughts on teacher admin tasks, as in what teachers should not be expected to have to do.
This is one of those rituals that the DfE goes through every so often in one form or another.
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Quick look: The Language of Deception
I’m not convinced to any extent at all that not being able to tell the difference between a computer and a person means that the computer is intelligent. However, the original formulation of Turing’s ‘imitation game’ was whether a machine could be perceived as being intelligent.
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The 3,000 Part Computing Lesson Revisited
I daresay there are schools in which teachers are expected to divide all their lessons into manageable chunks in accordance with Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). The fact that CLT is light on the specifics and is a load of rubbish is seemingly no deterrent.
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Review: The Book at war
The Book at War is a fascinating study of how books and other reading matter have variously influenced politics, propaganda and history over time.
Read MoreEvaluation of a press release created by AI
I have a course coming up, one that I’m teaching. I asked an AI writer to draft a press release for it. Here’s what it came up with, with my annotations in italics and in square brackets.
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Review: Iterate: The secret to innovation in schools
Having endured some fairly dreadful ‘initiatives’ in my time, delivered from on high with the directive to ‘make it work’, I approached Iterate with some trepidation.
Read MoreAI discussion prompts from Wakelet
This resource comprises a number of prompts to kickstart a discussion in your classroom about AI and its effects in society.
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Reflecting, by Terry Freedman
I don't agree with Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). Here's Why (Updated with downloadable paper)file)
A question: is Cognitive Load Theory another example of the emperor’s new clothes?
Read MoreAI in education Conference
Sessions include how schools can use AI effectively, curriculum and teaching methods, and assessment.
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AI
I've experimented with AI a lot, especially ChatGPT and Perplexity, for generating course outlines and even creating quite probing assessment tasks.
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From EdTech to PedTech (full review)
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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