Author: admin

I’ve had a fairly broad experience in education: I’ve worked both in public and private systems in Australia and England, so I think I’m at least reasonably aware of the direction of education. Something that has perplexed me lately is the gradual disappearance of computing studies in schools. When I was at school (which was…

One of the most common heard complaints that I hear in my work as a technology integrator is that ‘Students still have to do a written exam at the end of the course, so they shouldn’t bother doing any assessment on their iPad or laptop or other mobile device!’ It’s hogwash, of course, but that…

In addition to interviewing, I also sought to gather data about the Justice Citizens through participant observation. Observation has a long history within qualitative research, originally being associated with ethnography and occurring within settings that already exist. Observation in educational research has been drawn from anthropology, and is either unobtrusive observation or, more likely, participant…

We’re barely five months into the first term of the Abbott Government, and there are people around the country who are drawing a deep breath, ready to say, ‘I told you so.’ While that does nothing but make them feel better – if it even does that – the reality is that, failing some unforeseen…

I’ve been to a lot of EdTEch conferences in Australia and overseas, and they usually fall into two simple categories: the ones that are worth the registration fee, and the ones that aren’t even worth the travel time. That might sound simplistic, but bear with me. What sets apart a great professional learning experience from…

This is the first part of a planned two-part posting where I discuss the value of computers in schools. Unlike a lot of other posts that I’ve seen around the internet, I’m going to try to give the perspective of the teacher in the classroom, dealing with the day to day challenges and celebrating the…

So, 2013 is dead and gone, and another year has rolled around. I’m fairly certain – but of course it could just be that famous Heggart morbidity – that it’s normal to feel sad at the thought of another year passing, with lost opportunities and so many hopes and dreams unfulfilled, but I find that…

A Year in Review: 2013 It’s been an interesting year – but they always are. A year with lots of ups and downs. But again, there always are. I’m not sure what I can write here that avoids sounding banal or trite – I despise the mawkish sentimentality that abounds at this time of the…

So, firstly let me apologize for the lateness of this post. To be honest, I haven’t been on a train for a while. What’s that got to do with writing? Well, simply put, I like to write on trains. Hence, no train – no writing. There’s something about the constant movement, back and forward, side…

The last week has seen Australia and the rest of the world rocked by the death of Nelson Mandela, former freedom fighter and leader of South Africa. Although not entirely unexpected, it seemed to come suddenly on Friday, although judging by the way that network television reacted, they had had their packages ready for months….