Virtual Reality Headset, by Terry Freedman

A good application of Virtual Reality (I think)

January 23, 2020

Using the MEL VR headset and software at Bett2020, I entered the molecule of a diamond, followed by that of a pencil.

After the rain, by Terry Freedman. This photo conveys how I felt after my first visit to the Microsoft shop.

A disappointing experience at the Microsoft shop in London

January 14, 2020

Perhaps I was just unlucky when I visited the Microsoft store in London, and that had I visited at some other time my experience would have been better, but I have no intention of finding out.

Click the cover to see the book on Amazon (affiliate link)

Review of Mr Shaha's Recipes for Wonder

January 8, 2020

I learnt more science from reading this book than I learnt in five years of secondary school.

Quick look: The Meritocracy Trap

December 11, 2019

We like to believe that meritocracy is a good thing, in that it rewards effort, and acts as a great leveller. Is that actually the case?

Click the cover to see the book on Payhip.

Review of Computing and Related Qualifications

October 31, 2019

Bob Harrison writes: “We have a computing curriculum and suite of qualifications which neither meet the needs of all pupils nor the needs of a rapidly evolving digital workplace and world.”

Review of Dear Data

October 28, 2019

This book covers an immense range of the kinds of data that we ‘store’. The authors spent a year sending each other weekly, themed postcards. These contained not words, but pictorial representations of the data they had collected.

5 Must-have conference apps UPDATED

October 23, 2019

If you go to at least one conference a year, you should consider using one or more of these apps.

Think outside the box, photo by Terry Freedman

Tony Parkin's "Non-review" of the Bee Digital Marketing to Schools Summit 2019

October 22, 2019

“Disruptive technologist” Tony Parkin has performed a valuable service by collating the tweets relating to the recent Marketing to Schools Summit. Here is a link to his round-up.

Print Friendly. Screenshot by Terry Freedman

Review of Print Friendly

October 20, 2019

The layout of articles on some websites may be beautiful on screen, but make it a nightmarish experience to print the articles out. Print Friendly is a good solution to this problem.

Review of Bee Digital's Marketing to Schools Summit

October 18, 2019

What is the Marketing to Schools Summit, and what was good, and not so good, about it?

Review: Trust me, I'm lying

October 14, 2019

In TMIL, Holiday demonstrates how easy it is to manipulate the news. A must-read for teachers of media or digital literacy.

newsguard toolbar shield, screenshot by Terry Freedman

Review of Newsguard

October 7, 2019

Newsguard is a service that rates websites for honesty, transparency and trustworthiness. It evaluates websites against several criteria, such as whether information is gathered and presented responsibly. A browser extension will enable you to see at a glance whether or a not a site they have evaluated is trustworthy.

Click the cover to go to the book on Amazon (affiliate link)

Quick look: Hello World

October 2, 2019

Hello World, by Hannah Fry, offers an interesting perspective on some of the problems besetting artificial intelligence algorithms.

The Science of Learning: click on the cover to view the book on Amazon (affiliate link)

Review of The Science of Learning

September 1, 2019

This book aims to solve the difficulties teachers face in accessing educational research through the approach of presenting each research study as a double-page spread.

Imaginary Cityscape, photographed by Terry Freedman

Review of Imaginary Cities

August 29, 2019

The Imaginary Cities exhibition at the British Library is an interesting merger of art and programming. Here are my thoughts on it.

Click the pic to go to the book on Amazon (affiliate link)

Quick looks: Critical Media Literacy and Fake News in Post-Truth America

August 22, 2019

This is a very interesting, thought-provoking and readable book. I’ve only read 25% so far, but it’s looking good so far.

What I've been reading: Offline

July 30, 2019

Why do many people seem to be addicted to their smartphones? This book explains how we get drawn in to constantly checking for updates, and suggests what we might do about it.

8 podcasts for primary school teachers

May 30, 2019

The headline is a bit of a misnomer: in fact, there are 7 podcasts for teachers and one for kids. But that would have made for a pretty awkward title!

10 video channels for Computing teachers

May 29, 2019

UPDATED Here are ten video channels of potential interest to teachers of Computing.

10 podcasts for Computing teachers

May 29, 2019

UPDATED Here are ten podcasts that will help you understand more about computing or give you some ideas of things you can discuss in your lessons

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.