Tim Stirrup

Junk food — Junk e-learning? | Tim Stirrup

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Junk food — Junk e-learning?
*This article was written in… well, can you guess? There are some huge hints along the way. Not least e-credits and the ‘Government e-strategy’ ! I have not updated or changed any aspect*
Education is entering an era where the use of ICT is becoming more and more accepted as essential for success. Report after report present evidence to show the impact ICT is having and to indicate what impact it can have. Millions of pounds have been invested in hardware, and in e-learning credits.
However, is ICT and e-learning in particular, sometimes used in an inappropriate…

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120 pupil classes. Why not? | Tim Stirrup

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Back in 1985, I did a teaching practice in a school that operated its mathematics department in the following way.
The school was a new build and the maths department designed with 6 interlocking classrooms and the ability to share all the space. One of the classrooms had slightly more ‘privacy’ and was designated the ‘quiet’ room for those who wanted to work in silence.
Every two weeks, a new block of work would commence. all 120 pupils at that time (half the year group) would sit together and a teacher or teachers would ‘teach’ . Then all 120 would disperse across the space and work from a…

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Do schools need edtech? | Tim Stirrup

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The below was written in 2005. It was about ‘Learning Platforms’ and is reproduced almost exactly as it was written, with the exception of the use of Find and replace to replace ‘Learning Platform’ with ‘Edtech’. I also removed some references to Regional Broadband Consortia and added a couple of comments (In brackets and italics). I also removed the final sections which were specifically about Learning platforms, VLEs/MLEs and such like. What is interesting is how much was available in 2004/5, that is now being promoted as ‘new’ by companies. And also how much has not been fully achieved…

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Regarding times tables: a plague on both your houses! | Tim Stirrup

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There’s a well known cartoon that claims to illustrate the difference between equality and equity. And a newer version of that cartoon that simply removes the barrier that is causing the problem.
To some extent, this sums up my attitude towards times tables tests and the arguments between those who think that times tables should be tested often, using timing and speed as an indicator of success and those who believe that times tables tests are tantamount to child abuse, leading to increased mental health problems and of no practical use at all.
My position, probably like many, is somewhere in…

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Just a quick note here. | Tim Stirrup

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Just a quick note here. The use of A.I is pretty irrelevant really! In any intervention, technological or not, what is important is what it does, the effect it has on learning. It really doesn’t matter if it uses A.I or not. In the same way that it doesn’t matter what language some technology is coded in, it is what it does that is of interest.

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The world’s first A.I enabled calculator. | Tim Stirrup

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Calculators do not traditionally use ‘Artificial Intelligence’ as they are programmed to carry out instructions and produce a result without any ‘thought’. The QAMA calculator is the very first. Using A.I to improve what is going on with our thought processes, not replacing them. What is important is not the A.I itself though, but what is brought about by the use of A.I.
There’s a short discussion on Quora about A.I and calculators. In it Barry Roundtree quotes from ‘The Restless Clock’ and says:“Mechanical calculators had an analogous effect to the automatic loom, demoting calculation from a…

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The purpose of school | Tim Stirrup

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This article in the TES by Dylan Wiliam has the following sentence, that was also used as a twitter ‘headline’.
“ The purpose of school — indeed, the purpose of all learning — is to change long-term memory.”
It attracted much attention, maybe drawing attention away from the rest of the article, but I had to think a little more to work out exactly why I did not like the statement.
I suppose it could be said that everything children learn in school, be this maths, geography, social interaction, communication skills or the myriad other aspects of schooling that produce the ‘end result’.
But the…

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What’s next for maths now the SATS/GCSEs are over? | Tim Stirrup

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SATS are over for 2017. Facebook groups laugh about doing lots of colouring, “basically anything *but* maths” and even a suggestion that year 6 should finish now like year 11! Well, I am not sure that’s the best example to use given the lamentations that come from sixth form teachers, as the first months are spent going over GCSE work rather than actually doing A level study.
So secondary schools and sixth form teachers worry about exactly what maths will be remembered come September.
Of course, many teachers in year 6 will be doing lots of great activities now the pressures of high stakes…

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