Image by Gerd Altmann
When I took up a senior management position in a local authority, an irate headteacher phoned me on my second day. She had had her laptop taken away for repairs two weeks ago, and had heard nothing since. I told her I’d look into it. I had the following conversation with the relevant team…
Read MoreOn top deck of a number 8 bus, by Terry Freedman
It is a sad but incontrovertible fact that one of the unfortunate effects of technology is that it provides some people with the excuse they need to abrogate all sense of personal responsibility or discretion.
Read MoreChristmas at Selfridges, by Terry Freedman
Unfortunately, my end-of-year message got a bit mangled, but I’m posting it here anyway. See if you can figure out what it is supposed to say.
Read MoreThe original version of this article was first published on the Bee Digital marketing website in August 2021, and was aimed at businesses. In this updated version I’ve added some thoughts on how the ethos of the book might be adapted by leaders of Computing or co-ordinators of education technology in schools.
Read MoreDigEd xmas, by Terry Freedman
Coming soon (probably tomorrow, 21st December 2021), a bumper small edition of my esteemed newsletter. It contains some interesting stuff, including advanced notice of a fantastic prize draw in which you can win a ‘credit card'-sized microprocessor that allows you to create projects and then download them to the device. It includes 25 LEDs and a sounder allowing you to create music.
Read MoreSo, you’ve landed a great new job, an important one at that, as an ed tech leader or co-ordinator. But in your eagerness to make an impact, are you making some fundamental mistakes? Here’s a quick guide about what not to do.
Read MoreIf you really want to make yourself unpopular, then not providing enough information is a sure-fire way of going about it. If you’re a teacher advising your Headteacher, you need to provide sufficient information – whether you’ve been asked for it or not.
Read MoreYou would think that providing timely information would be just the thing to get you applauded. However, as the song from Porgy and Bess tells us, it ain’t necessarily so. It really all depends on what the information is, and to whom you’re making it available.
Read MoreToo protective by half?
Science fiction writers would have us believe that intelligent machines will either enslave us or get rid of human beings altogether. But what if they were extremely benign and protective towards us? What could possibly go wrong?
Read MoreI’m thinking that even if I gave a book I reviewed a rave write-up and five stars, it might still not make the list if a book I deemed deserving of four stars is comparatively better.
Read MoreWow! By Terry Freedman
Fortunately, such an inability to explore interesting and sensible questions would not be found in a real inspection. Would it??
Read MoreHas there ever been such a frenzy of thinking and activity over a concept which does not even exist? I am referring, of course, to the ridiculous notion of so-called '21st century skills'
Read MoreIf you produce the school’s newsletter, or a departmental newsletter, or a newsletter for parents, filler text will enable you to quickly test a new template without worrying about the actual content.
Read MoreHazardous area! Photo by Terry Freedman
The short answer to the question that forms the title of this article is “Yes”. Even so…
Read MoreBurglar! By Terry Freedman
There must surely be few things more annoying than, having put a lot of work into a course, you discover that someone has ripped you off. They are using your materials in their course. They might even be selling your materials somewhere online.
Read MoreOn December 7th, 2015, I wrote an article explaining how you could set up a spreadsheet in Excel to help you predict and analyse students’ grades.
Read MoreThere seems to be no end of attempts to improve education by people who have either never worked in it, or not understood what they were looking at.
Read MoreI was once offered discounts on buying a suite of computers for my school if I persuaded my colleagues to take out an insurance policy!
Read MoreI like to try and give people the benefit of the doubt, but is that always the right approach? Ambrose Bierce defined a cynic as someone who sees things as they are, and not as they ought to be.
Read MoreBack in the year 2001 Google was still very much the new-ish kid on the block.
Read More(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved
