The potentially devastating consequences of a drive for efficiency to the nth degree are shown in this science fiction story.
Read MoreDystopian Visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian visions: Disappearing Act Revisited
I especially worry about the displacement of subjects like art, drama, music, history and geography, all of which are vitally important but which seem to be treated as the poor cousins in the curriculum. Yes, STEAM is better than STEM, but it’s not enough.
Read MoreDystopian visions: My Object All Sublime revisited
What if an amazing technology like time travel were used purely and simply as a form of punishment?
Read MoreDystopian visions: Computers don't argue (Updated with reference to AI)
The writer does an excellent job of both reflecting the annoyance of dealing with a computer program that has no flexibility as well as no intelligence, and highlighting the need for programs to invite human input when the consequences of not doing so can be catastrophic.
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Blogger, by Terry Freedman
Writing for blogs
Every so often I read some pundit, or usually a journalist pretending to be a pundit, suggesting that blogs are dead. What can I say? They’re not.
Read MoreReflections: What's the point of book reviews?
So many authors think they ought to be the recipient of the Nobel prize for literature.
Read MoreElevator speeches
Sometimes, the elevator speech I hear was presumably crafted whilst going from the top floor to the bottom floor in a very tall building.
Read MoreEdtech Diary: Wake up and smell the coffee
When I worked as a Technology Coordinator, a large part of my job was to encourage teachers in all subjects to make use of educational technology in their lessons and, even better, to build it into their schemes of work. It was something of an uphill struggle sometimes...
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Created in Bing Image Creator
Success redefined
I’ve been thinking about definitions of success recently.
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Click the image to see this book on Amazon (affiliate link)
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.
Read MoreA blogger, by Terry Freedman
AI for bloggers?
In my recent blogging course, I abandoned my carefully-prepared lesson, or part pf it, threw caution to the winds, and suggested to the class that we experiment with using AI for writing blog posts. Here’s a partial blog post it came up with, which you will agree is utter rubbish…
Read MoreI prefer a malignant super computer to a benificent one
Imagine being in the situation where your kitchen won't allow you to rustle up an egg in case you burn yourself.
Read MoreReview of Destination Time Travel, by Steve Nallon
A book on temporal adventures may seem like an odd inclusion here, but it can actually be used in many ways.
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It’s a start! Photo by Terry Freedman
Money, money, money -- again
This is an updated version of an article I published on my writing website in 2015. In my experience, it absolutely applies to artists, teachers and other creatives as well as writersor consultants.
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Snowball, by Terry Freedman
I don't like ice-breakers
One of the more unfortunate effects of lockdown and its concomitant requirement of online learning is the application of different kinds of ice-breaker. To be fair, most ice-breaker activities leave me cold…
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This is what Ideogrm.ai came up with in response to the prompt “Person using AI”.
Do kids still need to learn how to code?
A week or so ago we were chatting to a neighbour. She said she thinks her daughter, who looked about six years old, should learn how to code, as that’s the future. Didn’t I agree? I’m afraid I said that didn’t.
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Reflecting, by Terry Freedman
I don't agree with Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). Here's Why (Updated with downloadable paper)file)
A question: is Cognitive Load Theory another example of the emperor’s new clothes?
Read MoreReview: Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination
My review of this book has recently been published in Teach Secondary magazine. I thought some readers might be interested in spotting the differences between the published version, and the copy I submitted.
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Experiment by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images
Three experiments (and a bonus one)
As a teacher, you’re meant to be the fount of all knowledge, right? Even if your teaching style is to be a guide on the side rather than the sage on the stage, you’re still expected to actually know stuff. Well, sometimes it pays not to know, or at least to appear not to know.
Read MoreCan ChatGPT write decent course outlines?
I’ve been experimenting with using ChatGPT to write course outlines, and for one of the courses I compared the result with the outlines I had already written (and taught to). The results were interesting.
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