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

Book review: How Charts Lie (short version)

September 6, 2020

We are presented with charts all the time. But are they telling us how things really are?

Book review: 100 Top Tips - Microsoft Excel, by Sean McManus

September 3, 2020

Could this book of 100 top tips for using Excel benefit heads of department or subject leaders?

Getting kids writing with Story Starters

August 11, 2020

Stuck for writing ideas for your primary class? This website may help.

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

Review: Your Press Release is Breaking My Heart

August 5, 2020

Finding it hard to get the media to report your school’s achievements? You may find this guide useful.

Book review: Talk Triggers

June 2, 2020

Talk Triggers is a word-of-mouth marketing guide with a difference: lots of examples of success stories, but also a logical analysis of why they worked.

How to make use of your Kindle pdf annotations

May 23, 2020

If you’ve annotated a pdf document on your Kindle, how do you then get those notes into a word processor? This article describes a way of doing so.

Book review bulletin 1

May 13, 2020

I’ve recently reviewed four ed tech-related books. Here are links to them. They are: Teachers vs Tech? * How charts lie * Little quick fix: finding the theme in your data * Hello world: how to be human in the age of the machine

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

Book review: Teachers vs Tech?

May 7, 2020

Two cheers for this well-researched book. If I were still a head of department in a school I would buy a copy or two to lend to interested colleagues, especially NQTs, despite my criticisms.

Book review: How Charts Lie

May 3, 2020

This is a good book to read, and definitely one you’ll want in your armoury of resources.

Book review: Little Quick Fix: Find the theme in your data

April 22, 2020

How do you find out what main themes are coming through your qualitative research data? In short, how can you see the wood for the trees? This is the issue which this book addresses

Book review: Hello World: How to be human in the age of the machine

March 29, 2020

Several books have been published over the last few years dealing with artificial intelligence. These books display varying levels of hysteria or anger, so it was a refreshing change to read a more balanced approach.

Click the cover to see this on Amazon (Amazon Associate link)

Book review: Leaders Eat Last

March 27, 2020

Most of us have worked for all kinds of leaders, some good, some bad, some outstanding, others dismal, plus the odd one or two whose presence or absence appears to make no difference at all. But what makes someone a great leader?

Review: The School Fundraising Handbook

March 2, 2020

One of the chief banes of my life as a head of computing in a comprehensive school was acquiring enough money to develop the subject and to improve the experience of using education technology for everyone across the school. I only wish this book had been available when I needed it most.

Bett2020: Python in Pieces

February 10, 2020

Python in Pieces is a visual interface for the Python programming language.

Bett2020: A Virtual School

February 9, 2020

Is a virtual school a way of enabling schools (and school districts) to provide a full curriculum given the teacher shortages in key subjects?

Bett2020: Safeguarding and Wellbeing

February 9, 2020

Developed in conjunction with the police, this product for primary (elementary) school children addresses both safeguarding and wellbeing.

Bett2020: Story-telling with Dipongo

February 6, 2020

An interesting variation on the story-telling app.

Bett2020: Robotics

February 6, 2020

I have my doubts about whether building a 3d model is helpful beyond a certain age, but it has a certain appeal.

Bett2020: Safeguarding

February 6, 2020

Some time ago I compiled a list of ways in which pupils could be unsafe online. The list was extremely long….

Bett2020: Eye Gaze UPDATED!

January 25, 2020

A short account of a talk about Eye Gaze, which helps teachers to know what pupils with PMLD are looking at, and what they are ignoring.

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.