Setting: an interview room.
Chair of Governors: So, Mr Freedman, do you have any questions you would like to ask US?
Terry Freedman: Yes. What are YOUR criteria of a successful ICT Co-ordinator?
Headteacher: I want to see teachers banging on the doors of the computer labs demanding to be let in.
Here are a couple of conferences coming up which look pretty good, and which are taking place in England in the near future.
This is not so much a review or even a summary of the recent Westminster Forum Conference called ‘Reviewing the new Computing Curriculum’ as a series of observations arising from it and related articles. The reason for that approach is that I’d like to make this article useful and interesting to as wide a range of people as possible, not only those concerned with the ICT or Computing Programme of Study in the National Curriculum in England and Wales.
I turned my collar up against the wind. A useless gesture, because the wind contemptuously insinuated itself under my skin regardless, but it made me look hard. And hardness was needed in this job. I walked around the playground, glaring at kids who even just looked like they might be thinking of doing something wrong. Crowds of them parted as I approached. One looked shifty.
“You got a problem, son?” I gritted.
ICT thinker, lecturer and writer Steve Wheeler talks about being at the BETT Show for the first time this year, and the things people are discussing in the world of ICT.
Quadblogging founder David Mitchell talks about what he saw at the BETT Show this year, and quadblogging.
Edtech guru Andy Black talks about what wasn't at the BETT Show this year, and some of the trends he spotted.
E-safety guru Simon Finch talks about why pupils should be allowed to use social media, why teachers should use it, e-safety and identity management.
In this video, Yolanda Halston, of the Educational Apps Store, talks about pupils collaborating and other matters.
The BETT Show is, I’m reliably informed, the biggest education technology show in the world. It takes place in London, England, every January. This year it was slightly later, but I’ll come to that in a moment. The first thing I’ll say is that even if you didn’t attend you may find this article interesting, as I suspect that several comments will apply to any education technology conference.
So, you're responsible for the use of educational technology in the school, but its use and principles are taught across the curriculum rather than as a discrete subject. In other words, by non-specialists in all likelihood. How can you maintain high standards in ICT and the use of educational technology in such a situation?
In this article I look at 14 suggestions.
Eleven years ago I wrote an 8-point guide to BETT, in my newsletter, and have reproduced it below. I think the points still stack up, especially the one about having a good breakfast! I hope you enjoy reading this blast from the past (9th January 2001 to be exact). And when you have done so, why not download the up-to-date bumper edition – 125 stupendous tips, and completely free? The URL is at the end of the article.
At the time this was written, the web was still relatively new to a lot of teachers, and Google had been on the scene for about three years. At that time it was still only a search engine. The newsletter was sent in text format from my own email address using my personal email client, which at that time was Eudora. Ah, such days of innocence!
In a couple of hours’ time I will be distributing the latest version of Getting the Best out if BETT, which includes the views of over 30 people who attended last year’s BETT. Here’s a Wordle of what products they thought worth pursuing, the trends they spotted, and the advice they offer to schools in these straitened times.
Like many others, I find blogging a useful activity. So useful, in fact, that I think everyone involved in education should do it! Here, in no particular order, are my reasons.
There is something romantic about an old manual typewriter. The clattering of the keys sounds somewhat industrial, which connotes “industrious”. Bashing away at a typewriter is what real writers do. No spellchecker, no thesaurus, no internet, and no forgiveness if you make a mistake. So typing something that looked reasonable, and which didn’t involve too much correction fluid, gave one a sense of achievement.
(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved
