Author: admin

Social media usually gets a bad wrap today – it’s blamed for our failing eyesight, linked to terrorist groups and central to cyberbullying and youth suicide. There is probably a small amount of truth in all of those claims, but you don’t often hear about the other side of the coin – what social media…

I was never meant to be a teacher. That never entered my mind when I was growing up. But, ultimately, for one reason or another, none of which I’m particularly inclined to discuss here, I became a teacher. I think I surprised everyone, myself included, when I was good at it. I discovered unknown reservoirs…

Schools have always had an interesting relationship with educational technology, and that relationship has only grown increasingly complex with the now almost ubiquitous prevalence of mobile technology. More and more schools, it seems, are embracing the opportunities afforded by this technology for improved outcomes, differentiation and personalisation of learning. Of course, the costs of installing,…

You might have noticed that I spend a lot of time writing about edtech. What you might not see is that I spend a lot of time reading about it too, and a fair amount of time thinking about it too. My interest is scholarly, as it’s a little bit linked to my doctoral work,…

As part of some work that I did a couple of years ago, I found myself spending a lot of time listening to a lot of Hip Hop music. Sure, there were lots of songs that I already knew – I’m not completely disassociated from popular culture, after all – but there was also lots…

So, November, and the start of another #NaNoWriMo – national novel writing month, where budding writers are challenged to write 50 000 words over the course of the month. To break it down, that’s over 1600 words a day, every day, for 30 days. It’s not a small total. I’m taking part in it, again,…

As educators, we seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time talking about the notion of digital citizenship. I’ve seen posts all over the place – including on Edutopia – outlining to teachers and educators what is meant by digital citizenship and how important it is for students to be aware of it. I…

I read with sadness of the passing of Gough Whitlam – one of the truly great figures of Australian politics. It’s strange that I should feel such sadness about his death – after all, I was born more than 5 years after the tumultuous Whitlam government and all the changes that it brought about in…

It has often been said that, for republicans, it’s not a matter of whether Australia will become a republic, but a matter of when. The 1999 referendum was a serious setback, but there is cause for hope amongst the wreckage: after all, it wasn’t so much a referendum on whether we should be republic as…

Normally, when I go out with friends, I get accused of being the crazy far-left nutbag, whose plans are way too idealistic and would never work in reality. It’s a refreshing change to be called Tony Abbott’s lickspittle – though not one that I would care to enjoy too often. After all, if you fling…