Coming soon* Review of A Little History of Music

September 3, 2023

I recently reviewed this book for Teach Secondary magazine.

The next edition of Digital Education will contain... (corrected version)

July 14, 2023

(Formatting error corrected) “…as AI algorithms became more sophisticated, they began to mimic the writer's unique style seamlessly, subsequently rendering the human writer obsolete.”

The next edition of Digital Education will contain...

June 29, 2023

“…as AI algorithms became more sophisticated, they began to mimic the writer's unique style seamlessly, subsequently rendering the human writer obsolete.”

Driverless cars: technology trumps experience - again (Updated)

May 30, 2023

If you want an excellent example of the triumph of hope over experience, look no further than the optimism surrounding driverless cars.

Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom Revisited

April 28, 2023

In my opinion, the potential benefits of artificial intelligence make it a very attractive proposition for use in education.

Review of technicians exhibition

April 25, 2023

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.

Is your website contributing to AI bots?

April 21, 2023

I checked if my websites had been scraped, and this what I discovered…

DALL·E 2023-04-20 12.58.36 - A girl using a calculator in the style of Roy Litchtenstein

This doesn't add up: the Prime Minister's fretting about numeracy skills and people's attitudes towards them

April 20, 2023

Forgive me while I go off the subject of computing etc, but I feel I have to comment on the British Prime Minister’s recent headline-making pronouncement that kids need to be taught maths until they are 18 years old, and that they should ashamed of not being numerate.

What I Look For in a Conference (Updated)

March 21, 2023

I attend a lot of conferences, and over the years I've developed a useful set of criteria by which to evaluate them. Here, then, in no particular order, are my top 14 characteristics of a good conference.

Last chance to register online for Bett (for free)

March 3, 2023

I’ve just discovered that today (3rd March 2023) is the last day to register online for free for the edtech show known as Bett.

Updated! Supporting teachers through a challenging period

March 1, 2023

Updated! Discounts for Teachers is a free membership scheme which joins forces with retailers to help all staff, in any role working across the education sector to save money.

Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

More on our corrections policy

February 17, 2023

Just to let you know, this website is being reviewed by Newsguard.

Our corrections policy UPDATED

February 16, 2023

UPDATED My corrections policy wasn’t easy to find so I’ve created a dedicated page for it.

Robot writer, by Terry Freedman — My depiction of ChatGPT getting more and more frazzled by the number of assignments I throw at it — Drawing by Terry Freedman

Coming soon... Digital Education ezine, focusing on ChatGPT

February 6, 2023

Yes, it’s all over the internet, but ChatGPT is still worth looking at. I am compiling a list of useful (I trust) links, and have a few things to add to the plethora of comments already out there.

Good news regarding the Government's plans to make the Oak Academy an arms-length body

December 14, 2022

The Oak provided useful resources during the lockdowns, and continues to create them. But there are four things wrong with the DfE's plan…

Terry Freedman and bookcase, by Terry Freedman

Fake news?

November 24, 2022

I’ve compiled a number of reviews of non-fiction books that either deal with helping people detect untruths (such as in so-called scientific research) or presenting something as true when, in fact, it isn’t.

7 questions about blogging (Updated)

November 18, 2022

You can build up a body of work without having to try going through gatekeepers.

Someone suffering from FOMO, by Terry Freedman

7 incredibly useful links

November 10, 2022

These links were first highlighted in the Digital Education newsletter.

I don't write only about ed tech...

November 2, 2022

I have lots of thoughts about education in general too. Here’s some information about another newsletter I write, about education in general.

The factory of the future (what a load of tosh)

November 2, 2022

I have recently had a glimpse of techno-utopia. It is not pretty.

Recent book reviews

Review: How I review books on edtech

My views on what constitutes a book on edtech are fairly catholic. Indeed, it would me more accurate to denote the books I review as books for teachers of ICT, Computing, digital literacy etc etc,, rather than books on edtech. The latter tend to have titles like “How to teach Computing”, or “How to use Excel in the classroom”.

Review: Nuts and Bolts: How Tiny Inventions Make Our World Work

It's rather disconcerting when one considers that buildings like The Shard are essentially held together by nuts, bolts and washers.

Review: Love Triangle: The Life-changing Magic of Trigonometry

Like, I suspect, many people, I have never knowingly come across an isosceles triangle in my life, and wouldn’t know what to do with it if I did. However...

Review: Making Sense Of Chaos – A Better Economics for a Better World

Before you rush off on the grounds that this book has nothing to do with Computing, let me reassure you that it does.

Bjork & Bjork’s Desirable Difficulties in Action

The original work on which this volume is based has perhaps been honoured more in the breach than in the observance.

Review: Coderspeak – The language of computer programmers

This book won’t necessarily help a student pass a computing exam, but it will almost certainly make them a more aware, and thus better, programmer.

Review: Quiet Power, by Susan Cain

Introverts thrive by being allowed to be quiet, having time for reflection and not being required to 'perform' all the time.

Quick look: Desirable difficulties in action

The idea of desirable difficulties has always appealed to me. In my teaching I’m partticularly in favour of applying Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development.

Review: The Collaboration Book – 41 Ideas for Working Better

Most people would agree that collaboration is a good thing – so how can we collaborate more effectively in school settings?

Review: Listen: On Music, Sound and Us

This book might not directly address obvious aspects of the music curriculum, but it can certainly give teachers access to a rich seam of facts and anecdotes with which to embellish their lessons.