A brief update
Do you know, I hate those self-referntial blog posts in which bloggers talk about their own blogs. So I’m not going to do that; I’m going to talk about my newsletter and a survey instead!
Digital Education
The next issue of Digital Education is almost ready in terms of the main content. I still have to format it, and also decide which of the many bits and bobs of news and products I should include or leave out. Things have been delayed a bit because of work commitments. Nevertheless, like the old British Rail, I’m getting there. I’m not so sure that is such a great analogy come to think of it, but still.
I’m currently writing a series of blog posts about the Department for Education’s selection of innovative assessment ideas. I’m looking at how those generic ideas might be applied to the assessment of ICT and Computing. I’m hoping to post the next one in the series very soon, but if you can’t wait then subscribe to Digital Education, which is free, and receive a link to a PDF of the whole thing. (If yoiu have already done that, look again because I updated the document recently). You will also be able to download a seminal work entitled “31 Assessment for Learning Techniques”.
To subscribe, please go here:
Preparing for the new Computing curriculum -- projects book
Thanks to everyone who has responded to survey for this. There have been some really interesting replies, which I hope to share. My hope is that I’ll receive enough responses to be able to collate them into a free ebook. So far, while the quality of responses has been wonderful, the quantity has been fewer than I’d hoped (but more or less what I expected).
Just to reassure people, from addressing conferences and other types of training, my sense is that many people are nervous about the new curriculum, and so perhaps don’t wish to put their head above the parapet. But nobody is making judgements — certainly not me — and so if you have some interesting ideas, please share them. The link to the survey is here:
Other reading
Well, that’s it for now. If you have read all the articles on this website and are feeling depressed at the absence of any new ones for two days, may I recommend the following good reads?
- What ETAG should say, by Crispin Weston
Crispin has described himself as a “controversialist”. This, his latest post, looks at the discussion prompts of the Educational Technology Action Group. As is usual for Crispin, it’s a long post, so make yourself a cup of tea and get yourself comfortable! - Knowing and doing, by Steve Wheeler
As usual, Steve has written a thought-provoking article. This one is about knowledge vs skills, with several good-looking references to follow up. The article is not about computing or ICT per se, though it does mention the role of technology. Nevertheless, it’s an important discussion in the context of Computing. - The Empire strikes VAK, by Tom Bennett
I like Tom’s writing, and his articles (I draw a distinction), even though he has sometimes not been too kind about ICT. (I seem to recall I actually agreed with what he said!). Again, this article is not about computing or ICT, but is very relevant I think. Yesterday I was looking for resources about teaching Computing, and came across a blog post about how on their learning walks the senior leadership team expected to see VAK evident in teachers’ lessons. Admittedly, the post was several years old, but how often do embedded ways of doing things get updated? I find it quite worrying that some unfounded dogma is used by schools as a basis for their teaching and planning.
It’s not just VAK either. See my article entitled Ed Tech Determinism and So-Called Conventional Wisdom.
Enough! My blood pressure has risen to a dangerously-high level.
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. In the meantime, do check out those articles, and complete the survey. Pretty please!