Collabor8 4 Change at BETT 2012

November 30, 2011

We had a fantastic three hours at Collabor8 4 Change at Havering on the 17th November. Variety is the spice of life, so with 56 topics to choose from in total, everyone was catered for. To give you a flavour of the event, below is a selection of the talks and discussions featured. Now, if you are feeling really devastated that you were not able to be there, we have two bits of good news.

Found on the web: 11/28/2011 (a.m.)

November 28, 2011

5 Social Networking Mistakes To Avoid | Write NonFiction in November

tags: ifttt delicious networking wkh facebook publishing marketing blogging via:zite Writing

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Found on the web: 11/25/2011 (a.m.)

November 25, 2011

Learning with 'e's: A convenient untruth

Good analysis of the myth of learning styles. Wheeler argues that a lack of critical evaluation of theory (or, in this case, what I would call "conventional wisdom") is the teacher's biggest enemy.

tags: ifttt delicious education learningstyles teaching pedagogy via:zite ictined
How to Turn Your iPad Into the Ultimate Writing Tool | iPad.AppStorm

interesting round-up of apps for writing on an iPad.

tags: ifttt delicious wkh ictined

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What do walls mean to you?

November 23, 2011

Here's a nice blast from the (not-too-distant) past:

Walls

Found on the web: 11/22/2011 (p.m.)

November 22, 2011

Marisa Constantinides – TEFL Matters - A Little & Often: Integrating Technology on Teacher Development Courses

Interesting approach to encouraging teachers to use technology in their teaching, specifically Web 2.0. It is similar to what some teachers told me about how they encourage their colleagues to use interactive whiteboards more effectively, whilst I was doing research for an article recently.

tags: ifttt delicious teaching education elearning educationtechnology via:zite Ictined

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

An experiment with randomly-generated links

November 21, 2011

I’m currently experimenting with a random link generator called Outbrain. You can see this by looking at the footer of each article and (somewhat annoyingly, I have to say), the article summaries on the front page or some of them at least. I’m interested in whether it enhances the visitor’s experience by providing suggestions for other articles on the ICT in Education website. That’s what I’m hoping, of course, but it could prove to be an irritant.

Blogging by email via a phone

November 15, 2011

Blogging by phone is not ideal under normal circumstances, but is a good way of quickly updating your blog when you need to.

2 days to go, 1 day to go

November 15, 2011

Reading with interactive books; digital leaders; hacking; games in schools; video-conferencing; future-gazing; theft-prevention.

Found on the web: 11/14/2011 (a.m.)

November 14, 2011

Blogging and tweeting as a collaborative writing engagement

Interesting ideas here, including use of a projector. I like the way the class is enjoying the work of other schools, and the way they collaborate in their responses.

tags: blogging Tweeting collaborative writing

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

The importance of not being nice

November 10, 2011

The trouble with being too nice when commenting on something is that sometimes the underlying message just doesn’t get through. This applies whether you’re looking at students’ work, observing trainee teachers or evaluating a school’s ICT provision.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not advocating going in guns blazing, being really negative or thoroughly obnoxious. But if you don’t point out the shortcomings in whatever it is you’re looking at – or, at least, ask the sort of questions that will lead them to realise them for themselves – then really you’re not being nice, you’re being dishonest.

Are there benefits in having an unread blog?

November 9, 2011

Most people who blog about their profession (as opposed to, say, people who are keeping a journal for their own records or for their family and friends) like the idea of lots of people reading their blogs. But are there any advantages to having a blog that nobody reads?

Planning an ICT Co-ordinators' Day

November 8, 2011

If you're in the process of planning an ICT (Technology) Co-ordinators' Day -- or really any other kind of similar event -- then this article from 2 years ago should help.

If this, then that

November 7, 2011

Here’s a web application that’s potentially very useful. IFTTT lets you create your own automated actions using a range of social networking tools. I’ve been messing around with it only for about an hour, so I haven’t thoroughly explored all it has to offer, but already I can see it will prove to have been an excellent investment in time.

The logic of the way it works is as follows:

Found on the web: 11/06/2011 (p.m.)

November 6, 2011

Artificial intelligence: Difference Engine: Luddite legacy | The Economist

interesting article about the economic effects of technological change

tags: ifttt delicious Technological change economics robots differenceengine ludditefallacy productivity via:zite Ictined

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Why Schools Cannot Ignore Web 2.0

November 4, 2011

Here are 4 posts from about 18 months ago dealing with why schools cannot ignore Web 2.0.

A Bullet Point Mentality

November 2, 2011

The bullet points or the short video have to come at the end of the learning process, not the beginning. Bullet points at the beginning are a substitute for understanding rather than an expression of it.

Ask the expert

November 1, 2011

What can a Zen outlook teach us about educational ICT?

Recent book reviews

When AI can write as well as this, I'll worry! Plus a prize competition.

To paraphrase what Arthur C Clarke said about teachers, any writer that can be replaced by a computer probably should be.

Review: The Shortest History of Music -- two reviews in one!

The music programme of study requires students to possess an understanding of the music they perform and that which they listen to, as well as a grasp of music history, and an appreciation of different musical styles.

Review: The Art of Uncertainty (two reviews in one)

The Computing department would find the section on facial recognition interesting, because apart from possible ethical concerns, the fact is that even if the system has high accuracy, most of its identifications will be wrong.

Review: The Newsmongers: A History of Tabloid Journalism (two reviews in one!)

I was intrigued to discover that a popular news magazine of the sixties had been anticipated by Defoe.

Quick look: AI For Educators

There are some good ideas here, especially for prompts.

Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich -- Extended review

Nearly a hundred years after the Nazi phenomenon people are still asking the question: how could apparently ordinary or, in some cases, highly cultured, people commit such terrible crimes.

Education book reviews of 2024

This pdf contains the reviews of mine that were published in Teach Secondary magazine in 2024.

Review: How I review books on edtech

My views on what constitutes a book on edtech are fairly catholic. Indeed, it would me more accurate to denote the books I review as books for teachers of ICT, Computing, digital literacy etc etc,, rather than books on edtech. The latter tend to have titles like “How to teach Computing”, or “How to use Excel in the classroom”.

Review: Nuts and Bolts: How Tiny Inventions Make Our World Work

It's rather disconcerting when one considers that buildings like The Shard are essentially held together by nuts, bolts and washers.

Review: Love Triangle: The Life-changing Magic of Trigonometry

Like, I suspect, many people, I have never knowingly come across an isosceles triangle in my life, and wouldn’t know what to do with it if I did. However...

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