I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you what a fantastic breakthrough for education the Apple Watch is going to be. Not only would it insult you it would show me up to be a bit of an idiot. The truth is that we don’t know what impact the device will have yet, in any… Read More Watch this space
I’m fortunate enough to be a governor at a great school, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to briefly share how they are addressing the issue of individual student devices. The first step was the development of an industrial strength wi-fi network to cover the multiple buildings across the campus. This was done over… Read More A teacher-led 1-to-1 device development model
One of the many issues that get raised in any discussion about the use of technology in education, particularly mobile technology is that of the impact of devices on student behaviour. I have discussed before my view on the likely trajectory of technology in education and the inexorable rise of the mobile device. This recent… Read More And so castles made of sand, fall in the sea, eventually
When I went to secondary school I had an electronic device. It could: add subtract divide multiply square root store one number (until it was turned off) It made some of my maths and science easier to do. It cost around half the average weekly wage at the time. Despite the behaviour issues created (children… Read More And such an instrument I was to use
Here’s the thing about marking. In truth, very little work is planned to be marked. By that I mean planned well. Usually there will be a mark scheme. I say usually, I mean often. Or sometimes. And by mark scheme I mean another sheet with the answers on it. Too often, little (or no) thought… Read More If Hollerith marked homework
“But Mike”, you’ve all screamed*, “we know it would be great to have multiple choice and short answer questions for all our homework, but where are we going to get the questions? We need shed loads!” Well, I do, of course, have an answer to that. I know I can easily break down the Maths… Read More How do you eat an elephant?
In my previous post (here) I suggested seven principles to adopt when looking at technology adoption in schools. Adoption of these principle was to enable the maximum benefit, particularly in terms of workload, to be reaped. In this post I look in more detail at how this would work in one area. The biggest time-suck… Read More Standin’ in line marking time….
I have previously (here) suggested how schools should be looking to develop their technology infrastructure. I have also (here) alluded to how I think students should be using technology to best support their learning. The big issue we face now in schools is that the cost of staff (not just teachers, but all staff) is… Read More A principled approach to reducing workload
This post is the first follow up to this one, “Eleven Billion, Eight Hundred And Eleven Million, One Hundred And Sixty Thousand And Sixty Four” which looked at the change in technological capability over the past forty years. This one looks at some of the reasons why that change has not translated into the classroom.… Read More They’re just not that into you
Reading the various tweets and blogs that emanated from Research ED 14 this past week have probably had a very different meaning to most everybody else than they have to me. Not because I have no interest in the content of the event, I do, most decidedly. I regret not attending. But to be honest,… Read More Eleven billion, eight hundred and eleven million, one hundred and sixty thousand and sixty four
Distant Ramblings on the Horizon 