Archives, by Terry Freedman
“There are people around now who are 17 years old. They started formal schooling when they were 5 years old -- in 1988. And some of them have come out of school not knowing one end of a computer from the other!” I hope this still isn’t the case today, but then I tend to be an optimist.
Read MoreMe after writing the article
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 MoreWe don’t say, “Nice factory you’ve built up there, but it’s unfair that you get to keep it for more than a few years, and even if you do, you can’t pass it on in your will.” Who would bother investing their own time and money in the enterprise if they thought that would be the outcome?
Read MoreIn the cloud, by Terry Freedman
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 MoreGosh! It’s ten years since I wrote about meeting at Bett someone who had approached me for advice from the other side of the world. How far off those days seem right now.
Read MoreIs being digitally literate synonymous with being able to code?
Read MoreCelebrate! by Terry Freedman
Six years ago today I announced the launch of free newsletter, Digital Education. Back in 2000 I had started a newsletter called Computers in Classrooms. That name was pretty cutting edge at the time, but after 14 years how quaint it seemed!
Read MoreAching feet, by Terry Freedman
One positive outcome of coronavirus and lockdown is that we can attend Bett, or part of it, this year without moving from the comfort of our own homes. No more being crammed on the Dockland Light Rail along with hundreds of others, no more spending the day breathing lots of stale air, and no more aching feet!
Read MoreTarget, by Terry Freedman
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 MoreQuestion marks, by Terry Freedman
These days, students can find out things like the rate of interest in real time without even leaving their seats. That doesn't make the question ["What's the interest rate?"] itself any better.
Read MoreWhen I was reading about Ada Lovelace I found it quite appalling that in her days men thought women were too mentally fragile to cope with mathematics or science.
Read MoreShopping mall, by Terry Freedman
It’s difficult to predict the future, so please regard this article as a reflection of what may happen and probably should happen in the area of marketing in the coming year.
Read MoreDiscussing, by Terry Freedman.png
If you are willing and able to engage your class in discussions about the ed tech issues of the day, recent events in the USA provide rich pickings.
Read Morebooks pile, by Terry Freedman
In the last two days I’ve received two books for review. One is almost hot off the press — Online Learning for Dummies was published in December 2020 — the other one is slightly warm — published in September 2020.
Read MoreI 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 MoreQuestions, by Terry Freedman
Before considering any ideas, we ought, perhaps, to consider the question: why bother? After all, the situation is so fluid that any strategy you prepare now could be rendered out of date by next week. If one thing has proven to be certain about the pandemic, it’s that nothing is certain. It’s almost like trying to build a house on sand.
Read MoreThis is an example of why hype can, in own way, be dangerous. It detracts time, energy and financial resources away from interventions that may be less exciting to look at but which actually work better.
Read MoreLearning a programming language, especially a text-based one like Python, can be hard going. Unlike a graphical programming language, which you can start to use straight away without knowing any technical terminology at all, Python demands such knowledge from the outset.
Read MoreChildren using laptops, by Terry Freedman
Back in those heady pre-pandemic days many of us were forever trying to cajole our colleagues to use computers in their lessons. Well, I suppose the positive aspect of Covid is that the virus has done quite a large part of our job for us.
Read More(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved
