You may not always think so after a long and gruelling parents' evening, but parents are your friends! By keeping them well-informed of their child's progress, you not only keep them happy but also may be able to enlist their assistance.
Read MoreMy Big Data Infographic
I’ve been working on a long-ish article about big data for my newsletter, Digital Education. To give you a hint of some of my misgivings, here is a diagram I prepared to illustrate some of my points.
Read MoreWhy can’t assessment be like feedback in eBay?
Can eBay teach us anything about assessment? At the Naace 2009 conference, John Davitt made an interesting point. As I recall, he said that when he started selling stuff on eBay he received more feedback on his performance than he’d ever seen in a school.
Read More3 reasons your kids are bored in Computing lessons, and 9 solutions
Are your students yawning, checking their email, launching paper aeroplanes in your lessons? Perhaps you’re making one of these mistakes.
Read MoreWhiteboards: not dead yet
I heard an interesting snippet from Mike Cladingbowl, National Director at Ofsted, recently. He said that when interactive whiteboards were first introduced, Ofsted inspectors saw an increase in “chalk and talk”. Hardly surprising, because interactive whiteboards made chalk and talk, ie teaching from the front, easier.
Read MoreComputing and ICT vocabulary
Trawling through the articles published on my original website, I came across this one about vocabulary. Happily, the “new” publication it refers to is still available. Incidentally, I’m a great believer in paying attention to vocabulary and the correct use of correct terminology, so at the end of this “reprint” I’ve inserted a couple of references to other articles I’ve penned on this subject. The original article was published in 2008, and is shown in a different font, below.
Read MoreThe art of execution
A big problem which faces all organisations is actually getting things done. So, if you are an ed tech leader, what can you do about it in your school or department? Here are 5 key actions to take.
Read MoreIdeas for the computing curriculum: #4 Fun and pointless? Why not?
In this series I’m going to be making some suggestions, putting out some ideas. These are based on presentations I’ve given. I can think of how these ideas, or their implications, might be applied in the classroom. However, I think it better if I stand back and let you do that part of the work!
Read MoreComing soon
I’m working on the next edition of Digital Education, and it contains some really great articles. For example, Mel Thompson asks whether philosophy should influence educational policy-making, which may seem a bit outré but, surprisingly enough, there is much that advocates of “computational thinking” would agree with I think.
Read MoreDon’t say it with Tweets
Now that the Christmas card season is almost upon us, I thought this item from a few months ago might be appropriate. I received a press release back in May (I'm slightly behind with my emails) which states that people prefer receiving handwritten 'thank you' cards rather than a quick tweet or text message.
Read MoreThe view from here... New Zealand, By Derek Wenmoth
Derek Wemoth, the Director of CORE Education in New Zealand, tells us what's going on in his part of the world.
Read MoreAs the school year has not long started in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re looking ahead to the final term here in New Zealand, with summer on the horizon, along with exams and the usual end of year events.
Why school is still relevant in the age of technology
I find myself becoming increasingly irritated by people who say that we no longer need schools. The “argument”, if I can so dignify their pronouncements, seem to consist of the “logic” (ditto) that kids have lots of access to technology, and they can teach themselves how to use it, and therefore schools, and by extension teachers, are redundant.
Read More26 + Tips for getting the most from your interactive whiteboards
To borrow from Mark Twain, reports of the death of the interactive whiteboard have been exaggerated. Despite often being used ineffectively or even badly, it still has much to offer.
Read MoreI’ve written a brief guide to making the most of your interactive whiteboard which I’ve called, logically enough, Making the most of your interactive whiteboard. Originally, this was in response to a request I received while teaching on a teacher-training course recently.
Why should new teachers use social media?
It seems to me that the sense of belonging to an intellectual community is becoming less apparent in the staffroom, because of the need for schools to deliver on the latest half-baked, ill thought-out “initiative”
Read MoreSchools’ approach to assessment without Levels
When Michael Gove told everyone that Levels were not fit for purpose, so we don’t have to use them, we were given a great opportunity to rethink how we assess students and how to report our judgements. Unfortunately, I have had the distinct impression that many of us were finding it hard to do so. It seems that I was not imagining it.
Read MoreNew ideas for a new Computing curriculum
I had the pleasure of attending one of the RM Technical seminars recently, and it was well worth the time. The event was divided into several strands. I chose the Curriculum and E-safety option rather than one of the more technical ones.
Read MoreAs well as a very entertaining keynote lecture by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, there were three sessions:
The things you can do with data! Part 1
I found it difficult to sleep last night. The reason is that I attended a symposium yesterday, and was exposed to so many new ideas that I’m having to do quite a bit of processing. Actually, that’s quite exciting. I often enjoy conferences, but rarely come away buzzing from them. Now, I normally wouldn’t write about a conference so soon after attending it, but I wanted to bring a few things to your attention straight away. I’m sure you’ll find them interesting in their own right (at least, I hope you do), and you may wish to discuss them with your students. It’s all part of my quest to show that computing and ICT can be interesting and enjoyable, and not just for geeks.
Read MoreNot about educational ICT…
Believe it or not, I write about other stuff too! In case you’re interested, I’ve just published articles about a conference and a couple of books for authors
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