“It seems to me that the folks at the Teacher Training Agency have not so much *lost* the plot as are still looking for it.” Another delve into the edtech issues of the day in the year 2000!
Read More
Discussing, by Terry Freedman
Discussing exam grades with students
Is there anyone in the Department for Education who understands that education is more than issuing edicts?
Read More
Conference, by Terry Freedman
Conference: The future of education technology UPDATED
* UPDATED * The folks at Westminster Forum are running a very timely conference on 11 March 2020, about the future of edtech.
Read MoreConverting an offline course to an online one: ebook
This is a fairly comprehensive account of the steps I went through to convert a course from one I taught in a physical classroom to one I could teach online.
Read More
Me after writing the article
Completed at last: my longest blog post ever
Adult learners may have different characteristics from younger ones (at least theoretically), but decisions like matching the technology to ones pedagogy, how to assess progress, what resources to use, how to conduct discussions — all these, surely, are pretty much the same challenge in both cases?
Read More
In the cloud, by Terry Freedman
Taking a course online
This morning I completed my magnum opus (nearly 3,500 words) on the process I went through when converting a course from one I’d taught in a physical classroom to one I could teach online.
Read More
On this day #19: Who's in charge
Target, by Terry Freedman
On this day #18: Don't focus on the goal
As an education technology leader you need to have a vision, you need to have goals. But once you have established the vision and goals, it’s a good idea to forget about them.
Read MoreOfsted's guidance on "remote learning"
I think that this guidance is useful in making the idea of online teaching sound doable, but there are too few details or links to details that would make it truly useful.
Read More
Zoom meeting, by Terry Freedman
Remote teaching during a pandemic
Lau provides a useful article that contains much information, based on research, that not everyone will have been aware of.
Read MoreWhy are some teachers reluctant to use educational technology?
In the following archived issue of my newsletter, you might find the following articles in particular interesting:
Why do it? (This reports the results of a survey enquiring into why some teachers shy away from using technology).
Responses to a problem posed in the form of a scenario, about teachers using technology as a reward or a time-filler rather than for serious work.
A preponderance of tech, by Terry Freedman
24/7 Learning vs 24/7 Teaching
I wrote this article , in which I discuss the importance of students having 24/7 access to technology, in 2005. And in 2020 we’re still talking about it.
Read More
On This Day
On this day #15: Technical support
I would say that these days an efficient and effective technical support function is more important than ever. I have been at the sharp end of technical glitches in Zoom and so on, and although I was able to figure them out for myself, it was a very frustrating experience.
Read MoreLosing the Plot: the Importance of Asking, "So what?!"
If, by the end of a lesson, the students are none the wiser about the topic in hand, all that's been achieved is that the teacher can tick off the topic in the scheme of work.
Read More
fake news by Terry Freedman
16 articles and resources about fake news
The following links were included in a recent issue of my newsletter, Digital Education.
Read MoreTips for teaching online -- get it while stocks last!
A few weeks ago I put together a collection of articles on using Zoom, good practice, etc etc, and bundled them into a PDF. You can get this for free just by signing up to my newsletter, Digital Education, but time is running out! The offer ends at 11:59pm on 20th December 2020.
Read More
Target, by Terry Freedman
Hitting the target but missing the mark?
In my opinion, not implementing such changes is at best thoughtless, and at worst indicative of a lack of understanding of the pressures schools are under at the best of times, let alone now.
Read MoreReflections on Technology in Schools in the time of Covid: Part 2
The potential for the education of blockchain technology is huge. It’s largely associated with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, but it has far wider implications.
Read MoreInformation technology in schools in 2000
“78% of full-time teachers participated in courses in the past 12 months about the integration of educational technology in their own subject. The perceived usefulness of such courses was directly related to their length.”
Read More
Reflecting, by Elaine Freedman
Reflections on Technology in Schools in the time of Covid: Part 1
A major thing that the Covid-19 pandemic has done is to give us all a huge kick up the backside. We’ve had the technology to enable working from home for years, but there was not much incentive to implement it very widely. It’s a testament to the commitment and flexibility of companies and educational institutions that the educational system didn’t simply collapse.
Read More