TeachMeet SE 2010 - First thoughts
Compared to last year's TeachMeet, this year's was a much quieter, smaller TeachMeet Student Edition. In retrospect, it was not a good time of the year for many secondary teachers and coming straight after the school's Easter holidays meant we lost a couple of weeks where we could have built up some advertising momentum. Read more...
EdCompBlog, Yesterday, 1:11pm
Fun on Friday #72: Pac-man
It can hardly have escaped people's notice that the Google Doodle is currently a playable version of Pac-man. This is to celebrate Pac-man's 30th birthday (see the post on the official Google blog). Read more...
EdCompBlog, Sep 1, 1:12am
"I've got a new job..." Jokes
This is how we have spent the weekend. Making up "I've got a new job..." jokes. Have you come across this idea yet? Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 31, 1:12pm
Online Learning
I've been asked to contribute to a research project by answering questions about online learning. I'm not sure yet how much I'll be able to add to the sum of human knowledge by taking part but I'm willing to contribute as best I can and I must admit to being curious as to what they'll ask about. Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 31, 1:12am
Evaluating the iPad
We bought an iPad to see what it can do. Can it find a place in schools or is it a gimmick that will go the way of the Newton? At the moment, I see it being most useful in schools as a data collection pad and as a textbook replacement device. (Opinions are subject to change after prolonged exposure.) Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 30, 1:12pm
Fun on Friday #75: Productivity
This pretty much sums up my life at the moment: Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 28, 1:14am
Karaoke!
At first thought, Karaoke and education might not seem natural bedfellows but recently I saw someone at a conference taking about TunePrompter - a free program that lets you create your own Karaoke videos. You import a song, find and add lyrics and then, as it plays, tap the spacebar to sync the lyrics to the music. Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 27, 1:12pm
Fun on Friday #79: EepyBird Car
World energy crisis? EepyBird come to the rescue with a Coke and Mentos powered car: Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 27, 1:12pm
Retired Colleagues
Large changes have taken place at Jordanhill, with new courses being launched, and many long serving members of staff leaving/left. Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 25, 1:12pm
Fun on Friday #71: Word Game
I've been slightly obsessed with a word game on my iPhone. So, the this week's Fun on Friday is about: Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 25, 1:12pm
Fun on Friday #67: On My Way (Very, VERY Belated)
This is not a review of MP For A Week. Thought I'd get that out of the way before my sister complains again. I said I'd review the MP For A Week here... and I will but I think it deserves more than a hurried, very belated, fun on Friday Sunday. Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 24, 1:12am
MP For A Week
This is a long promised review of the MP For A Week Game. As the dust settles (sort of) after the General Election and the new Cabinet meets, it seemed like a reasonable time to consider what an MP does. Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 23, 1:12pm
Fun on Friday #78: Creative Destruction
After a reasonably good return from holiday with a post that generated lots of useful comments (ICT: Tell me everything I need to know!), I've failed to keep the momentum going and so I'm posting a Fun on Saturday this week... However, it's an interesting one that I hope you'll like as much as I do. Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 21, 1:12pm
Fun on Friday #74: 222 T-shirts
Thanks to a video that was brought to my attention by Daughter Number 2, I return to animation as the subject for a Fun On Friday: Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 20, 1:12pm
TeachMeet Comes of Age
I have been involved with TeachMeets from before the name was invented and have always found them to be fascinating and challenging in roughly equal measure. (For a history lesson, see TeachMeet Beginnings … in Falkirk? and TeachMeet – The Story So Far...) Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 19, 1:12pm
ICT: Tell me everything I need to know!
I wrote a post some time ago asking how teacher education could prepare teachers for the 21st Century (see Initial Teacher Education and BectaX). I got some very helpful and interesting responses. This time though I want to ask a more focused question in the hope of getting equally useful suggestions: Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 19, 1:12pm
Fun on Friday #70: Bloxorz
Hard to pronounce but addictive to play. Bloxorz - guide a block through various levels, pressing buttons, crossing bridges and most important, not falling off the edge! Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 18, 1:14am
University Attendance
I noticed that an American university was planning to use RFID tags to track student attendance at lectures: Arizona college to position sensors to check class attendance. Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 17, 1:12pm
Fun on Friday #77: Fun With Music
The Tone Matrix web site says it is a: "Simple sinewave synthesizer triggered by an ordinary 16step sequencer. Each triggered step causes a force on the underlaying wave-map..." Sounds exciting? ...No, it doesn't attract me either. But go to the site, turn up the volume, click some squares and now tell me you are not having fun! Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 16, 1:12am
Fun on Friday #67: Sneeze (Belated... again!)
This game is sick... for just about any definition of "sick" you want to choose! Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 16, 1:12am
The only universal constant is change!
Back from holiday, back from an internet free break, back after a long break from blogging... Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 15, 1:12am
iPad in Education
I had a reasonably extended play with the iPad and I am very impressed. I think it has real potential as an educational tool. Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 15, 1:12am
Fun on Friday #73: Meet the Sloths
Meet the sloths. That's it. It doesn't get much more fun than this: Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 14, 1:13am
Persistent Spammer
I have turned on comment moderation, hopefully temporarily, while I wait for a particularly persistent spammer to get bored and go away. Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly. Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 12, 1:12am
Fun on Friday #69: Crowd Sourced Movies
Last week, I posted a link to some animated movies. However, as was pointed out by Chris in her comment, creating stop-motion animation is a very time consuming process. I quoted in my reply the chap who did the Michael Jackson video who said his five minute animation took him "About 2 1/2 weeks, 4 or 5 hours a day." That's a lot of time to invest in producing a five minute video! Can you imagine producing a feature length movie? Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 11, 1:12am
Sing For Your Education
I have long been an advocate of setting things to music to help you remember them. For example, I was never very good at French but can still (just about) sing Alouette and Sur le pont d'Avignon which I was first taught about forty years ago. More recently, I learned the Four Capacities thanks to a song written by one of my students: Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 10, 1:11pm
Are the phones to blame?
What ever way you look at it, the recent Peter Harvey case is both disturbing and tragic: for the boy who was injured, for the other pupils in the class, for the school and for Mr Harvey himself. Read more...
EdCompBlog, Aug 10, 1:12am