Testimonials: what people have said about my courses
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(For comments about other aspects of my work, please see What clients, readers and course particpants have said.)
About myself
I have been teaching and training for many years. I tend not to collect badges and so forth, but I have been accredited as Associate Facilitator through the STEM Learning CPD Quality Mark, the badge for which appears below. For details of my career in teaching and training etc, please see my CV/Resumé.
My courses
If you would like to discuss training courses for your school or team, please get in touch.
Feedback from Writing with constraints course
Thanks for everything Terry, a truly enjoyable day
Terry, thank you for a learning experience which surpassed my already-high expectations! The course was superb: the atmosphere in the classroom was welcoming and friendly, the resources were excellent, and although in advance of the course I had felt nervous about the prospects of both working in collaboration with other students and sharing my own thoughts and work, these in fact proved to be the aspects of the course which I enjoyed the most! I felt supported throughout, and learned a great deal about writing with constraints. I'm looking forward to putting what I learned into practice in my own writing projects. I can't wait to take another course with you - thank you, Terry!
Friendly, knowledgeable
Feedback from a course called Writing the Oulipo
I loved this taster course, and it was enjoyable, inspiring and entertaining! A great course to remove any writing anxieties and just have fun with words, and interesting twists of probability!
Terry Freedman is a masterpiece. He delivered one of the best courthouses I have been a stuffing on. An engaging roof through workaday with a bit of matricide thrown in. More stump from the wobbler please!
Terry was fantastic! So glad I took the course and look forward to others with him.
I joined this course out of sheer curiosity - intrigued about the mystery and eccentricity of Oulipo after I searched for the term online. This course was a delight, and it was so much fun creating ideas and pieces of writing using lots of different techniques, games and twists of probability! I found it a bit like collage or assemblage with words.
It would be a wonderful course for a writer of any level, to explore how play and experimentation can help you to have words running off the page with minimal anxiety – even if you are nervous about blank pages and where to begin!
I actually think the course would be great for creatives of all disciplines because it inspires concepts, titles and much more.
Our tutor was wonderful, and very knowledgeable, with a clear passion for the technique. I feel everyone had a chance to engage, share work and ask ample questions!
A lot of peer inspiration was shared too, and I loved learning from other students. I’d had quite a stressful week before this course, but within no time I was feeling inspired and having a lot of fun! I had a great, entertaining morning, and in fact I was so motivated I used the technique to create some of my own work after the course itself. I would simply ask for more Oulipo as a longer course - virtual please! Thank you.
I will be running an extended version of the course in June 2023 (5 hours). For more information go here: Writing the Oulipo.
Testimonial about a bespoke Assessing Computing course
I ran a training day and workshop for a federation of schools on the subject of how to assess Computing. Here is what the Head of Department at the host school said:
Terry was very well informed and his research material was excellent and very relevant. He gave us a variety of alternative strategies, all backed by up-to-date and relevant research and was happy to discuss the pros and cons of each approach. When we had made a decision on the strategy we thought would work for our federation he then changed his proposed plan to support and facilitate our progress. We left the course with a positive outcome and a distinct way forward on how to proceed with assessment in our federation of schools. An excellent course well-resourced and thought-provoking, much appreciated by all who attended.
Pippa Higgs, Head of Computing and ICT
Comments and feedback on various courses on blogging and assessment
Really enjoyed this overview of blogging and the information shared, its something that is interesting and the information provided will help to take the ideas that I have and move them towards reality.10/07/2023
Really comprehensive insight into blogging, structure and what to expect. Loved the ideas generation section the most and was such a treat to hear everyon elses ideas. Terry was very inspiring and supportive, clear and concise and gave great notes and feedback.
Really enjoyed Course wish it was longer. I am a novice to this blog world and really enjoyed interaction with other professional and the Tutor Terry Freedman his expertise his experience live his mistakes and how to navigate, and about how you could move your company or idea into a blog space and how to protect your work — the inside information.
The tutor had a really nice approach which made it very warm and easy to discuss. His humour made it a nice course to do on a Friday evening.
The tutor was excellent. So easy to understand and entertaining to listen to.
I thoroughly enjoyed the course and the tutor's knowledge and expertise lived up to my hopes and expectations. I fully intend starting a blog as a result of the course. It was lovely to meet (virtually) so many others on the same journey and I enjoyed reading and commenting on the blogs of those who were ahead of me. I look forward to following their progress.
The course gave me a lot of information on different websites to use, how to blog, and a lot of useful things.
Terry's workshop was very informative.
I was able to ask questions immediately to things that may have been unclear.
Very interactive.
It was very informative.
I liked the hints and tips.
I had only heard of the information in the workshop, but have now got an in-depth knowledge of how to do it and schedule it.
Very helpful.
Very professional and well prepared.
The course could easily be used for general AFL - very useful for more than computing.
Lots of ideas.
Excellent.
Very professional and well prepared.
Lots of great practical ideas - thank you!
Clearly lots of experience, lots of suggestions.
Knowledgeable.
I found Terry very practical and sensible
Packed with plenty of useful resources and practices. Learned new ideas as well as re-establishing current practice. Ryan Smith
Very informative and useful. Parwinder Nahal
Informative and relevant to life without levels. Really good strategies to go back and implement. Kalsoom Akhtar
Was initially concerned about the mix of Primary + Secondary but it was actually quite useful + interesting to see next level. Carriann Walker
Very thought - provoking. Tim Severwright
Really useful and excellent. Anu Gogineni
Excellent balance of honest opinion, extensive knowledge and research. Ryan Smith
Enabled good discussion, lots of excellent resources. Parwinder Nahal
Excellent and entertaining. Kalsoom Akhtar
Knowledgeable, Interesting, Informative, Entertaining. Carriann Walker
Well read + experienced course leader. Rebecca Rakhdoune.
Knowledgeable and engaging. Tim Severwright
Course: Good. More focus on the aspects of assessment criteria. Patricia Holt
Presenter: Excellent knowledge & examples to think about take in the school. Patricia Holt
Course: Information/Questions where spot on, lots to think about. Mark Fegan
Presenter: Excellent course leader - engaging - interesting. Mark Fegan
Course: Very interesting - lots of ideas to look into back at school. Laura Ritchie
Presenter: Superb subject knowledge. Laura Ritchie
Course: Some very useful ideas. Andrew Brown
Course: Sharing useful approaches to assessment. Anne Davies
Presenter: Humorous. Good experience and knowledge. Anne Davies
Exactly what I need presently. Jane Eso
Informative, useful, practical, tons of tips/advice/resources. Lots to take back to school. Giannina Buckley
Good considering no one really knows what the DFE want. Nathan Davies
Brilliant course. Penelope Ross
Much better than I expected. Phillip Deackes
Very good...learnt lots and lots. Nice to see that what we are doing is on the right lines. A little rushed in the afternoon but there was lot and lots to cover in the day. Ian Bain
Very useful. Provided a good starting point for discussion. Sue Evans
Comprehensive given the uncertainty of the content. Jan Pattie
Good considering no one really knows what the DFE want. Nathan Davies
Thought provoking. Wish I'd come on it 9 months ago. Natalie Godfrey
So much information, quite scary. Joan Fuller
Brilliant. Thank you. Indira Sahin
Very informative. Steve McGuigan
Great tips and info in books. Great chance to think about many different approaches. Barbra Webber
Very friendly, nicely-presented resources. Christopher Horridge
Very informative and delivery was fine. Jane Eso
Great sense of humour – kept it real. Sue Evans
Very engaging and amazing. Julie Holland
Brilliant leader. Penelope Ross
Spot on! Phillip Deackes
Excellent! Very knowledgeable. Covered a wide variety of topic areas I didn’t even realise would be covered eg Ofsted. Giannina Buckley
Very knowledgeable. Ian Bain
Excellent. Nicola Brown
Excellent. Jan Pattie
Clearly very knowledgeable. Joan Fuller
Excellent. Suki Chima
Very good. Vicky Redshaw
Interesting. Natalie Godfrey
Effective. Steve McGuigan.
Numerical evaluations
For those who prefer numbers, I have received the following feedback from the last two courses I ran in 2016:
Note that 5 = excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = OK, 2 = Not great and 1 = don't give up the day job. The 'booklet' referred to is my compilation of notes, handouts and presentations for the participants.
London
Booklet: 4.67
Presenter: 4,42
Birmingham
Booklet: 4.8
Presenter: 5