Here is a selection of online articles that I think worth reading – some of them are my own (he says modestly), but others are others’! They cover a wide range of topics, including the flipped classroom, Bring Your Own Technology, what happens in an internet minute, up and coming conferences and others.
Catch up on your reading Photo by Incase http://www.flickr.com/photos/goincase/Doug Woods has written a good article about the idea of the flipped classroom. I was about to do the same, although I was going to approach it differently to Doug. I’m still in the ruminating stage.
What Doug has done is suggest a widening of the focus of the flipped classroom: it doesn’t have to be all about videos (indeed, in my opinion that detracts from the whole idea), but take in student-centred assignments and higher-order thinking instead, or as well. Quite right. Read Flipped Classrooms: Beyond the Videos now.
You’ve probably come across those nonsensical statistics about what happens every 60 seconds on the internet. (I’ll explain in a separate post why I think they are daft.) Steve Wheeler has joined in the fun with an interesting infographic accompanied by his incisive and interesting commentary. Unlike some (many) writers on this topic, Steve talks about the capacity and infrastructure needed to sustain the growth of blogs, mobile phones and so on. It’s a good antidote to those people who think that everything to do with the internet has no cost attached. A pity he didn’t mention the ‘green’ costs of the internet etc too. Still, a good start, and a good read! In an internet minute.
You may have noticed that I have been publishing case studies on the Bring Your Own Technology phenomenon and 1:1 initiatives. I recently wrote an article on BYOT and e-safety for the Naace journal, Advanced Education too. More on BYOT soon, but if you would like to catch up on the meantime, look in the case study directory on the ICT in Education website.
If you’re looking for professional development opportunities, you may find some of the conferences listed in my most recent newsletter of some interest. One or two of them have been and gone by now, but there are still several others.
Finally, the BETT blog has sprung into life. You can read articles about the new challenges facing a school this term (David Cregan), the new challenges facing schools on the ICT front (Dave Smith), Why English teachers need ICT (Tom Rank), the challenging but exciting times ahead (me), and the technologies that we will be seeing more of in the classroom (Caroline Wright). An eclectic set of articles which I think you will enjoy reading. That’s the BETT Blog. If you prefer a more colourful reading experience, and would like more information about BETT, check out the BETT Update.
