Assessing “soft” skills

Do you have anything you’d like to add to the discussion, Terry?

The scene was a meeting at the Edusummit conference at UNESCO in Paris in 2011. The question came from the Chair.

Thank you, but no: everything I was going to say has already been said.

That was my response, because I didn’t see any purpose in repeating points that had not only been made, but also generally agreed upon. In fact, my contributions to many meetings are based on Salvator Rosa’s, dictum:

Be silent, unless what you have to say is better than silence.

The question is: does that make me a good collaborator, or not so good? How do we measure such things? And does any of it matter anyway?

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5 tips for BETT

Bett guide coverMy annual guide to Getting the Best out of BETT is pretty much complete. I’m just waiting for one more item to be sent to me, and then it’s all systems go. I’ll be making it available to subscribers to our newsletter first, and then more widely. In the meantime, I thought I’d publish a few extracts from it. These extracts are just a small sample: there are over 150 suggestions altogether
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Plagiarism in education

It’s often said that if you steal from one person’s work, it’s plagiarism, but if you steal from lots of people it’s “research”. Very droll, but plagiarism is a serious business. As well as being potentially economically damaging to the victim, it is demeaning for the perpetrator – although, like all thieves, they probably don’t realise it.
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Applying computational thinking in the “real world”

... analog computer!One of the justifications for teaching computing and coding is that “computational thinking” is a useful skill for pupils to have, in order to apply it in wide variety of situations. A worthy aim, but I’ve heard very few convincing examples given. Actually, I don’t think I’ve come across any examples of how pupils might use computational thinking in a broader context, or how it applies beyond the relatively narrow confines of computer science.

However, Anna Shipman, a software developer, currently working for the Government Digital Service, believes that a software development approach can and should be taken in other areas of life. In particular, she relates how it proved useful in the context of fixing a leaky roof.

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Competing with World of Warcraft

World Of Warcraft DVD + ManualI’ve just started reading Focus, by Daniel Coleman. If a book may be judged by the degree and speed with which it raises one’s blood pressure, I have to say this is pretty good value. I’m only 3% in, according to my Kindle status bar, and already I’ve found three things to disagree with. And let’s not forget that that 3% includes all the “prelims”, i.e. title and copyright pages, table of contents, and so on. 
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New technology to inspire learning in schools

Sponsored article. Many schools across the country have invested in tablet technology, but are they using them to their full potential? Research indicates that used correctly, tablets are fantastic learning tools and can really inspire students and aid teaching. A potential barrier to tablet technology being fully utilised in schools is the complexity of storing and moving work and sharing finished pieces between students and staff.
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6 Ways to respond to requests for pointless data

So, there you are, basking in your new-found freedom to report to parents what their children can actually do in Computing and ICT, when the data impresario in your school says they want you to supply the school office with a “Level” for each child. And for good measure, they want you to do that four times a term in order to monitor progress. How should you respond?
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Preparing for the new Computing curriculum: what if #4

The new Computing curriculum is little more than a checklist. But what it lacks in detail, especially regarding progression, it more than makes up for in terms of the freedom it affords schools to interpret the new Programme of Study in a way that suits them.

With that in mind, have you ever researched your own area

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How to collaborate with other schools when you're not allowed to

The preference of some Academies for not collaborating with other schools is not only annoying, it is, ultimately, self-defeating. Whether it stems from hubris, aggressively defensive commercialism, or a combination of the two, this practice seems to assume that one school cannot learn from another. Or, at least, that it will learn less than it "gives away". 
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11 Reasons to collaborate with other schools in implementing the new Computing Programme of Study

1942 ... Rosie the Riveter!John Donne wrote that no man is an island; he might have said the same thing about schools. Many schools have a mindset perhaps best described as “splendid isolation” – except that there is nothing splendid about it. In fact, in many cases it is just plain daft.  Here are my reasons for saying so.
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5 reasons schools need computing teachers with expertise in the subject

Some Principals and Headteachers think that a good way around the problem of teaching computing is to not worry about whether teachers have subject knowledge at all. “All we need are facilitators”, they say, “while the kids can teach themselves and each other.” This is, as any teacher knows (or should know), easy to say, less easy to do, and not altogether the most desirable thing to do even if you can do it. However, just in case your school happens to be “led” by one of the aforementioned Headteachers, here are some arguments you may want to use. I think that any one of them should suffice, and all of them together make for a cast-iron case.
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