What really happens when a computer is invented that can make every decision in a war?
Read MoreDystopian Visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian Visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian visions: The Cold Equations
The potentially devastating consequences of a drive for efficiency to the nth degree are shown in this science fiction story.
Read More
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash
Is objectivity in book reviews possible, or even desirable?
You want the review to be fair, but you also want it to be honest. Maybe being honest is neither objective nor neutral.
Read MoreAn education technology co-ordinator's spring-cleaning checklist (Revisited)
Well, it's spring again, and time for a good clean-up. Here is a checklist for the ed tech co-ordinator.
Read MoreManaging Change: The Importance of Planning (Updated)
I can't count the number of times I've sat in meetings and heard the team leader say, "OK, so by next month X will have happened. What's the next item on the agenda?", to which I've piped up: "Er, exactly how is it going to happen?".
Read More
Just because everyone says something is good, doesn't mean it is.
Making and programming
Is 'making' really an effective -- or cost-effective -- way of learning programming?
Read MoreReview: The Self-Taught Computer Scientist: The beginner’s guide to data structures & algorithms
As its name suggests, this book is aimed at those who want to teach themselves computer science.
Read MoreReview: Book Wars
The digital revolution was not just about books, but social factors, personal desires, institutional goals and more.
Read MoreA new newsletter from me
My public writing tends to be mostly about education technology, and the craft of nonfiction writing. My interests are more varied than that brief description would suggest, but to avoid muddying the waters I either attempt to skew an article so that it fits into one of those categories, or not publish it at all. But now that has changed…
Read MoreThe Government’s Online Safety Bill – good news matters, but what else needs to be considered?
Mark Bentley shares his views on the Government’s Online Safety Bill.
Read More
You don’t need an arrangement as elaborate as this! Photo: Press Association newsroom, by Terry Freedman
5 reasons to have a Computing news section of your lessons (Updated)
One of the ways in in which you can help enliven the Computing curriculum is to allocate some time in every lesson (yes, every lesson) to news. There are several reasons for this.Bett Bulletin (sort of): A new version of 2Publish is coming from 2Simple
Here is some news about an update to a program that enables children to write something and illustrate it. It was demonstrated at Bett.
Read MoreThe Online Harms Bill
The British government wants to make technology companies more responsible for policing online harms. It's one of those ideas that sounds great in theory but is fraught with difficulties.
Read More