Educational Technology Leader's Briefing: Evaluating ICT Provision (Observation Part 1)

If you're responsible for the quality of the teaching and use of educational technology in your school, or if you work for an external body charged with a remit to evaluate quality, how should you go about it?

In this briefing we consider the role of lesson observation, and answer the question: how long should you observe a lesson for? We consider 10 factors.

This article is available only to subscribers to Leading and Managing Educational Technology.

And we'll have some more of that backchat, if you don't mind...

Grace Peters

Readers of this website will know that I have my doubts about the idea of multiple conversations going on while a speaker is presenting. (See, for example, Twittering in the classroom: some issues).

However, I like to keep an open mind, and in this article I look at the case for students doing this so-called "back-channelling", in the form of an interview. So, what is back-channelling, and how useful might it be in the classroom? Elaine and Terry Freedman talk to Grace Peters, a Grade 12 student in Canada, about her experiences.

RSS and other matters

I am, as usual, pushed for time, but I wanted to let you have information about a range of issues. This is a bit of a pot pourri, I'm afraid, but I hope you find it interesting.

The topics covered are:

• My RSS Feeds
  
  
• RSS and Technorati
  
  
• New look
  
  
• Books reviewed
  
  
• Schoolnets report
  
  
• Facebook and employment
  
  
• Private education
  
  
• "Say it again with podcasting"

Change Management #4

You might wonder what qualifies me to write about cultural change in an organisation. Well, I’ve done it several times, and I thought I’d set myself the challenge of trying to describe some of the success stories I’ve enjoyed in 250 words or fewer.

My main motivation in writing these vignettes is that I keep meeting depressed people: people who are in such a dire situation that they have started to believe that they will never be able to change it.

So what I should like to do is provide very brief case studies comprising the before and after, but not the during: my aim is to uplift, rather than instruct, in these stories. That's why I aim to publish them on a Friday: so you can go home full of hope rather than despondency!

This week's vignette concerns being timetabled for two hour lessons, with some pretty challenging (behaviour-wise) kids.

Reports of online sex offending are greatly exaggerated. So what?

In a thoughtful and well-researched article about the extent of online sex offending, with much discussion about what sorts of thing constitute sex offending in legal terms, Stephanie Booth shows what I have long suspected, that the reality is less scary than we are led to believe.

But I have to ask: so what?

Audio feature in articles

News about the audio files on this website. They haven't worked here since 18 July 2007. But they have worked somewhere else!

Change management #3

You might wonder what qualifies me to write about cultural change in an organisation. Well, I’ve done it several times, and I thought I’d set myself the challenge of trying to describe some of the success stories I’ve enjoyed in 250 words or fewer (not counting this generic introduction, of course).

My main motivation in writing these vignettes is that I keep meeting depressed people: people who are in such a dire situation that they have started to believe that they will never be able to change it.

So what I should like to do is provide very brief case studies comprising the before and after, but not the during: my aim is to uplift, rather than instruct, in these stories. That's why I aim to publish them on a Friday or over the weekend: so you can go home full of hope rather than despondency!

This week: getting teachers to change from using quills to using computers.

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change management
cultural change
attitudes
"educational technology" "ICT in Education"

Important notice about the Educational Technology: ICT in Education RSS Feeds

The RSS feeds on this website have been changed, and if you're reading this through an RSS Feed Reader, this will be the last posting you'll see unless you edit your subscription details.

The reason for the change is partly technical, and partly to do with manageability. You should find that the new feeds are less susceptible to "going down".

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On the subject of the podcasts, the old ones are still available via this URL:

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Our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Cult of the Amateur: Reviewed by Terry Freedman

About a month ago all hell broke loose on the internet when Andrew Keen apparently compared bloggers to monkeys.

But does The Cult of the Amateur have anything to offer the teacher and subject leader of ICT (educational technology) in a school?

Change Management #2

You might wonder what qualifies me to write about cultural change in an organisation. Well, I’ve done it several times, and I thought I’d set myself the challenge of trying to describe some of the success stories I’ve enjoyed in 250 words or fewer.

My main motivation in writing these vignettes is that I keep meeting depressed people: people who are in such a dire situation that they have started to believe that they will never be able to change it.

So what I should like to do is provide very brief case studies comprising the before and after, but not the during: my aim is to uplift, rather than instruct, in these stories. That's why I aim to publish them on a Friday: so you can go home full of hope rather than despondency!

Last week I wrote about the transformation of the educational technology provision in a school. This week, I focus on the change in working practices I brought about in a Local Authority.

The five minute lessons that don't exist

The QCA yesterday launched the new secondary (high school) curriculum for England and Wales today, and this has provided an opportunity for some journalists to demonstrate their skills of tenacity and research.

More on that, and what the new curriculum comprises, and the challenges it holds for ICT leaders and managers.

Interactive TV gets interactive

Now here is a case of art reflecting reality. We seasoned edubloggers are used to multiple communication streams going on, with people sitting in a presentation and blogging, tweeting and skyping about it all at the same time. But none of that influences the presentation itself, except in very rare cases, and then usually confined to the question and answer part of the proceedings.

Five minute tip: Managing the end of the school year

For many colleagues in the UK, the end of yet another school year is looming. So, what should the ICT leader be doing?

Here are 10 essential tips to a stress-free start to the new term in September.


This article is available only to subscribers to Leading and Managing Educational Technology.

Next: Managing the start of the new school year.

A breather, name changes, and a consultation over funding for ICT

Three items of news:

• why I allowed myself to relax slightly
  
  
• organisational changes for education at government level
  
  
• proposed new funding arrangements for ICT in England and Wales

Five Minute Tip: Dealing with the politics

Every job has its share of "office politics". You can't ignore it all, but neither should you get embroiled. So how can you handle the situation so as to be able to actually do your job?

Here are 9 tactics to use.

This article is available only to subscribers to Leading and Managing Educational Technology.

Next: Managing the end of the school year.

Change management #1

You might wonder what qualifies me to write about cultural change in an organisation. Well, I’ve done it several times, and I thought I’d set myself the challenge of trying to describe some of the success stories I’ve enjoyed in 250 words or fewer.

My main motivation in writing these vignettes is that I keep meeting depressed people: people who are in such a dire situation that they have started to believe that they will never be able to change it.

So what I should like to do is provide very brief case studies comprising the before and after, but not the during: my aim is to uplift, rather than instruct, in these stories. That's why I aim to publish them on a Friday: so you can go home full of hope rather than despondency!

Computers in Classrooms #28 available now!

In this issue I examine Ning, the community-building website.

(To receive these letters by email, when they come out, sign up here for free.)

Book review: Blogs Wikis and Podcasts: and other powerful web tools by Will Richardson

Elaine Freedman reviews this book from the viewpoint of a Web 2.0 "newbie".

Five Minute Tip: Starting a new job

So you have landed that great ed tech-related job -- but getting it was the easy part. What do you do next, and how do you get off to the best start? Here are 10 useful tips.

This article is available only to subscribers to Leading and Managing Educational Technology.

Communications at NECC

Ease of communication at NECC was certainly not an issue, with both online and face-to-face meetings catered for. So, what lessons can be learnt for both conference organisers and conference delegates?