Until recently I owned hundreds, if not thousands, of computer storage devices. Not just CD’s, hard drives and USB sticks but 3½” & 5¼” floppy disks, DAT tapes, cassette tapes and even a few ROM cartridges from a long forgotten computer console I owned in the early 1980s. A significant life event made me question whether this plastic… Read more »
The Paperless Educator Challenge is over! Almost… In September 2014 I made a very simple sounding pledge: not to print or write anything on paper until December 2014. At the very start of the academic year, fresh-faced from a summer of no teaching, this seemed like a taxing challenge but one that I could, if I put… Read more »
It sounds like the start of a slapstick ‘whodunnit’ but the following is a true story. Not only is it all rather amusing but it’s also a useful reminder on how the internet has become a quick reference library full of (un)reliable sources. The story goes like this… My friend and colleague Robert Hunter, the pianist of… Read more »
I’m worried. I’ve noticed a steadily increasing number of students sending me emails late into the night. Many of these are one-off late night panics: ‘Sir, I won’t be in your lesson tomorrow because..’. However, a significant minority are also from students asking for advice, requesting a worksheet or handing in work. At this point let me be… Read more »
If you’ve created a document and sent it via email, there is no way you can be sure it will appear on the recipients device in exactly the same way as it appeared on your screen. That is unless you send it to them as as a PDF. Think of all those images you’ve painstakingly inserted into a Word… Read more »
Audacity is a free, easy to use and extremely powerful tool that enables teachers to create high quality recordings. Whether you’re wanting to create, edit or splice together a collection of recordings then this is the perfect software for you. At first glance the array of buttons, dials and plugins can seem a little overwhelming but this blog post takes you… Read more »
Socrative is a superb online resource to use in the classroom. Search Twitter, Google or chat with teachers from other schools – almost everyone will agree that it is one of the best apps/websites to use with students. What seems to be missing are some easy to follow, step-by-step instructions on how to get going with this great… Read more »
Currently the Head of e‑Learning and a teacher of music at a large school in Sheffield, UK. Stephen Wiles is a front runner in the use of technology in the classroom. Alongside his popular YouTube channel, Stephen's Philanthrop‑e blog equips not just students with excellent e‑learning skills, but also those who inspire and nurture them; their teachers and parents. For more information about Stephen visit his website.
