I’m in the final stages of proofreading the next issue of Computers in Classrooms, the free e-newsletter for people with a professional interest in education technology. Articles include conference reports, including a guest article by Susan Banister, websites to check out, news, stuff to think about and a book review. Oh yes, and two prize draws: for PIMS and for Xobni Pro.
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Here is a list of predictions I made in 2001 about the classroom of the future. I’m pleasantly surprised about how accurate it has turned out to be – but I think it will be even more challenging to predict the next ten years because there are so many options opening up. What are your predictions for the next ten years? And is it worth bothering to make such predictions anyway?
We probably all like to think that our first stab at something is going to be perfect. We tend to resent “helpful” suggestions, at least at first. Oscar Wilde, when asked if he could make a few changes to a play he’d written, quipped “Who am I to tamper with a masterpiece?”. However, editing usually makes things better rather than worse. The challenge is convincing youngsters (and others!) that suggesting some edits is not a reflection on their abilities or knowledge.
Contributing to discussions is good in my book, but there are some ways of going about it which could be counter-productive. Here are some pointers about what not to do if you can help it.
Here’s a short video we made a few years ago (I’ve lost weight and had a shave since then) just to test out the then newly-acquired Flip video. Like a lot of writers I was talking about my two favourite subjects: me, and my books. But joking aside, there is a serious side to all this.
Here’s an idea you might like to try, if you haven’t already: use your pupils to evaluate resources. After all, they’re the ones who are going to be using them! There are five main ways of doing so, not all of which are mutually exclusive. Here they are.
Having attended a conference at the Westminster Education Forum today on the future of technology in education, I am moved to raise this issue again: have computer labs had their day?
The idea that they have was mentioned two or three times. Whilst I can see the attraction of arguments in favour of mobile technology as opposed to fixed technology, I don’t think the two are necessarily mutually exclusive. Rather than rehearse my arguments again, I’ll refer you to an article I wrote back in March 2011 called Come back, computer lab, all is forgiven. Hope you enjoy it.
When I saw several hundred people lining up for some sort of job registration recently, I immediately thought of the challenges of assessing pupils’ educational technology capability. A bit of a stretch? Not necessarily.
There is little I find more annoying than being lectured to by people who have all the answers, but do not engage in (rational) discussion on the subject.
For example, a deputy headteacher once informed me that his school was going to spend thousands of pounds on instruction technology known as “integrated learning systems”, and that they were going to get the least able students to work on them all day.
I told him that some recent research said that the benefits of such systems was short-lived if all you did was use them and nothing else, and that such intensive use of them was counter-productive anyway. This had no impact at all, because
Can you envisage a time when human beings will have relationships with robots? You could argue that to some extent we already have a relationship with electronic things (in my case, a love-hate relationship!), but can you imagine a time when we might marry robots, or have sex with them?
One of the possibly unwanted tasks on return to school is to get your school blog up and running again. Assuming that it’s been in hibernation over the summer break, no doubt you’ll want to start posting again as soon as possible. It may be hard to think about what to write about when you have a zillion other things to think about at the beginning of term. So here are some ideas to get the creative juices flowing again.
I’ve been exploring seven things today, and I thought you might be interested. They are a blog, another blog, another blog and yet another blog, a new service from Voki, a book, and photography.
- Top 10 Sites for Creating a Video Chat by David Kapuler
Handy list of video chat aplications which could be used in school.
- Top 10 Sites for Creating a Video Chat by David Kapuler
Handy list of video chat aplications which could be used in school.
- Top 20 Social Networks for Education
Useful round-up of social networks that could be utilised in the classroom.
It’s August in Britain, and it’s raining. In fact, I was reading today that the Meteorological Office has issued a severe weather warning for the South-East of England! So, a typical British summer in other words. What better time, if you’re still enjoying the school holidays, to visit an exhibition or two?
(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved