A series of programmes on BBC looked into the huge rise in diagnoses of autism in the UK [1]. The programmes gave space for various academics (as well as other professionals) to explain this ‘autism curve’ and speculate as to its consequences. All spoke in a balanced and open manner and you ended up feeling you… Continue reading The Autism Curve
Category: education
Rethinking Education Post Covid
I had the opportunity to reflect on using technology in teaching and learning post lock down at the International Conference on ‘ICT as a Tool for Digitalization of Education (ICTTDE) 2023’. Here is a summary of my talk for those at the conference and may be for those not. What we can learn about digital technology from… Continue reading Rethinking Education Post Covid
Remembering school
In the London Review of Books the other day, the academic Laura Finlayson wrote a short memoir on her school days [1] . She was very far from happy and she explains: When I was thirteen, I left school and never went back. I don’t remember much about my last day. I don’t remember what… Continue reading Remembering school
School closures and educational disadvantage
We are now getting a better idea of the impact of school closures on children’s education (as I write this some students are going back to school but the picture is mixed, it is still not education as normal). Many schools have been going well beyond what is formally expected in supporting access to free school… Continue reading School closures and educational disadvantage
What we can learn about technology from school closures?
Technology, Pedagogy and Education, a journal I am close to, has put out a call for papers on the Covid-19 and the role of technology in teaching [1]. The deadline for abstracts is soon, 17 April, so hurry if you are interested. I'm not writing a paper for it but the lockdown has pushed those of us… Continue reading What we can learn about technology from school closures?
Does Virtual Reality work for education?
Back to more familiar territory: technology. The other week our research centre put on a morning event about virtual reality. Much of it was new for me but the questions it posed about what to do with new technology were familiar ones. So what is VR? One definition I liked came from Lavalle [1] for… Continue reading Does Virtual Reality work for education?
Graffiti and comment forums: An essentially social act gone wrong?
When I find myself disappointed by the tone of online comment forums my mind goes back to toilet graffiti. I am no expert, but there was, I think, a spike in interest in researching toilet (or what Americans might call ‘restroom’) graffiti in the 1970s and 1980s. It is not difficult to see why. Graffiti… Continue reading Graffiti and comment forums: An essentially social act gone wrong?
Football, schools and a changing world
Every year our research students put on a conference and the theme for this year was education in a changing world. For me one of the most obvious but far reaching features of this changing world is our interconnectedness. What happens faraway can have a resonance in ways that were not envisaged in the past.… Continue reading Football, schools and a changing world
Big Data and Education
Reading through contributions to debates on big data and education (see [1] – [9] below) reminds us that there are two perspectives on education: education as science and education as wisdom of practice. Education as science is about generalisation (if x what is likely to happen?), measurable outcomes (chiefly grades, if appropriate retention too) and… Continue reading Big Data and Education
in praise of praise
As I come to later, I was taken back a little by a Sutton Trust report on ‘what makes great teaching’ . [The Sutton Trust is linked here [http://www.suttontrust.com] and the report itself is at http://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/What-makes-great-teaching-FINAL-4.11.14.pdf%5D . The report says many sensible things about support for learning and the critical importance of feedback. However tucked… Continue reading in praise of praise
Michael Hammond 
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