Computing Blog Index

These are blog posts from Computing and ICT in a Nutshell. The first (i.e. bottom) seventeen were written for the TES' Subject Genius series, but that has now closed and the section has been removed from their site. None of the topics is explicitly designed to court controversy, although the idea in some cases is to promote debate - there's no need to make a point that everyone already agrees with.

How I'd Change GCSE Computer Science - there's been recent discussion about how to reform the GCSE; here are my thoughts.
Reducing the Load - can we reframe the GCSE content to make it easier to deliver?
Does It Need a Certificate? - does every lesson need to lead to a qualification?
Computing Cousins - do we need to encourage wider participation in the computing community?
Is GCSE Computer Science really too hard? - how does it compare with other subjects?
Generalise! - should we take a more generalised approach to the teaching of number bases?
The Past Is Another Country - why do all of my complimentary e-mails come from abroad?
Efficiency Is Our BIDMAS - when you do need to consider efficiency? Always!
Less Is More - do you think that there's more content in Computing than there actually is?
In Praise of Slowness - why you should try using a really slow computer.
Why Are You Teaching That? - why you sometimes need to venture beyond the spec.
Are flowcharts and pseudocode helpful? - do they really represent what you're trying to do, and in a language-independent way?
How to create a Free Computing Course - why you don't need to buy your scheme of work.
Link, Don't Copy - why it's better to link to web content rather than copy it.
My First Three Weeks with a Mac - could I see what all of the fuss was about?
How Technology is Changing Our Brains - and its impact on learning.
Computing in a Post-Fact World - who are the authorities for the subject and who should we trust?
Modern Life Is Rubbish - why we shouldn't just blindly accept all new technology
Scapegoating the Curriculum - why curriculum changes are incorrectly blamed for an apparent lack of interest/uptake.
What is Progress? - what does progress mean, and are you really measuring it properly?
Why Computing Unplugged? - do you always need to use computers to teach Computing?
Are You a Computer Scientist? - how you might be telling everyone that you're not a subject specialist.
Challenge and Repetition Are Better Than Fun - why "fun" lessons could be detrimental to learning.
What is Object-Oriented Programming? - learn about object-oriented programming using intelligible examples.
Creating a Function - Odd or Even - an explanation of the steps involved in creating or naming a function.
No Projects Please, We're Computer Scientists - see why I don't like projects and don't use them in my lessons.
The Joy of Scaling - read about shifting, scaling and skewing random (and other) numbers.
Representation Links the Whole of Computing - learn how representation of data links all topics together and can help you to plan your KS3 scheme of work.
Programming: Using Arrays for Selection - create a more concise and readable program by using arrays rather than if/then/else.
The Twelve Days of Christmas - how you could approach getting your class to program the Twelve Days of Christmas
Top Ten Programming Techniques - which techniques and concepts should you learn first?
What is Computing? - what I think Computing is and why it's useful to have a view of the subject as a whole.
E-Safety - does technology impede learning - thoughts on news items about how students' learning is affected by their use of technology.
Remainders Today - read about what modular arithmetic is and how it can help in your programming work.