Byron Report

The Byron Report was published yesterday and I spent some of last night reading through it. Generally it is a well balanced report. We will have to see how some of the recommendations are applied in Scotland. You can read it here. This quotation from Dr Tanya Byron perhaps sums up the tone of the [...]

Behind the Screen: The Hidden Life of Youth

Following on from my earlier post on what young people are doing online comes the report, Behind the Screen: The Hidden Life of Youth, according to research from the Institute for Public Policy Research. The IPPR worked with young people aged between 13 and 18, holding deliberative workshops and in-depth interviews.
The research found that young [...]

What are people doing online?

I am always interested in what people are doing online. I recently delivered a CPD session to a group of Business Studies teachers in Inverness who were keen to find out about blogs and wikis and how they might be able to use them in the classroom. However it was clear that in this group [...]

The benefits of technology should not be overshadowed by its misuse

Stephen Crowne Chief Executive of Becta has a timely article on the two separate reports that have recently highlighted the so-called ‘pitfalls’ that technology in schools can bring to teachers and learners.
Last week we learned that one in three children struggle with their handwriting, and almost one in five slip into text message language when [...]

Highland Probationer Teacher Wiki Update

I posted a few weeks ago about our intention to use a wiki to get more collaboration and sharing of experience from our probationer teachers. Terry has done a great job of encouraging our new teachers to get going. I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I had a look at the recent edits in [...]

Are girls really the new cyber pioneers?

Well according to a recent study by the Pew Internet Project in America on teens in social media found that blogging growth among teenagers is almost entirely fuelled by girls, whom it describe as a new breed of “super-communicators”. Some 35% of girls, compared with 20% of boys, have blogs; 32% of girls have [...]

BBC’s Creation Station

I attended the official launch of the BBC’s Creation Station this week and I have circulated schools with more details about it. The BBC team will eventually be putting on road shows for training throughout Scotland.
“The “Creation Station” is a brand new facility based within BBC Scotland’s new flagship building at Pacific Quay. The purpose [...]

iPhone Musings

GLOW on the iPhone
John wrote a piece last week about the iPhone and the iPod Touch where he pointed out the significance of the launch of the iPhoneU in the USA. This will mean initially that a group of universities, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, and Abilene Christian University will be able to “connect” every student [...]

How Dangerous Is the Internet for Children?

Having been at a CEOP event in Elgin last week with Louise Jones I have been doing a little more research on internet safety. The CEOP session was worthwhile and the material will be a useful teaching aid. But I did have a few concerns in the way that the training was delivered. I would [...]

Microsoft cuts cost of Vista

That Microsoft should cut the cost of it operating system is an interesting development. It has not been as successful as predicted. Many folk have been wary about upgrading from XP to Vista. Indeed the recent guidance from BECTA to schools warned against schools rushing to deploy Vista
“The new features of Microsoft’s Vista product added [...]