Save Kids' TV

Cathode Ray definition

Perhaps it’s just me, but I think there is a tendency for those of us involved in educational technology matters sometimes to forget that children watch broadcast television too.

Last week I attended a Westminster Media Forum event on the future of Children’s TV programming in the UK. Whilst I have not had enough time to cogitate fully on the information received, I thought I’d report on it anyway because there is a consultation in progress, the deadline for which is the 20^th of December.

What's going on provides an interesting example of one of the manifestations of the "long tail" phenomenon.

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Computers in Classrooms: December 2008 edition

UPDATED In this extended edition we have news and views from around the world, and contributions from Peggy George, Fiona Aubrey-Smith and Dai Barnes.

Articles featured:

• All change in England and Wales: the new secondary curriculum
  
  
• Just how much knowledge should a teacher have?
  
  
• Social networking from a teen’s perspective ( updated stats)
  
  
• Save kids’ TV
  
  
• The personal optimized learning environment
  
  
• Features of outstanding ICT lessons
  
  
• Boring the kids into submission
  
  
• An educational computing conference with a difference
  
  
• Some thoughts about NECC.

An interview with Natalie Shukla

Natalie Shukla

Natalie is the Producer of the Westminster Education Forum, an organisation which organises seminars on issues pertinent to the education profession in the UK.

So what makes the Forum "tick", and how influential is it? We discuss these issues and others, such as the IT skills required by school leavers these days.

And what is the big issue as far as teachers are concerned?
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Computers in Classrooms news

The October edition is now available to non-subscribers. It features some great articles, including Paul Hopkins on using iPods and similar devices in the RE curriculum, Cilla Pickering on B-Learning and Nigel Willetts on how being a coal miner prepared him for teaching.

The December edition is nearly out, and includes reports on the new secondary curriculum in England, the Children's Plan, news from Zambia and the USA, and contributions from Dai Barnes, Fiona Aubrey-Smith and Peggy George. This should be out next Tuesday (I am just waiting for permission to quote someone in one of the articles), but in the meantime click on the title to see the full table of contents.

Computers in Classrooms is an opt-in email subscription, which is free of charge. Why not subscribe now?

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Ten ways to always be ready for an ICT inspection

As reported in the December 2007 issue of Computers in Classrooms (publication date 18th December), the UK's inspection body is toying with the idea of no-notice inspections.

In my opinion, that's an excellent idea, and nothing to be afraid of. In this article I suggest ten ways in which the ICT (educational technology) subject leader can be ever-ready for a surprise inspection.

There is an opportunity to discuss these in the Practical ICT community.

This article is available only to subscribers to the Practical ICT eJournal. Click the link to find out more about this low-cost subscription.

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The importance of IT literacy

Do ALL jobs require IT skills?

Lord Mitchell recently said:

“Not having IT skills will soon be as serious as not being able to read.”

Lord Mitchell was speaking specifically about the UK context, but what he said has been said by others, from other countries.

But are these people correct?

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The value of your learning network

Shouting your own praises?

I've just read a couple of posts which are concerned with making use of your network to improve your job prospects. At least, they speculate on the potential value of your network to an employer. However, while this may be true in some sense, it is not a new phenomenon, is largely unmeasurable and could, in some circumstances, work against you.

So, whilst the idea is superficially beguiling, it really has very little substance in my opinion.

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