Teacher scare

Don't forget the teacher, a blogpost from




Why teachers should boycott ICT (except Linux)
February 17, 2010, Posted by: John Spencer

ICT in schools is a good thing... or maybe not if you are a teacher.
Like all powerful tools ICT can be used for good or ill. In my opinion the last decade has seen the bad side come to the fore.
This really was highlighted for me recently by an article carried in the national press which raised concerns about teachers becoming victims of the dreaded key-stroke analysers now used very widely in schools in the UK.

If we want to extend learning using modern technology, as most politicians seemto wish to do, then we need to sort out how it should be used.

read the full story here

Are IT budgets ever enough?

The IT dream often hits reality somewhere. Lessons to be learnt... again. From


Head of Bristol Brunel Academy says much school IT spending is wasted
February 9, 2010 by Nicola Woolcock, Education Correspondent

An academy designed to be the first fully wireless school has been blighted by computer problems since being opened by Gordon Brown more than two years ago.
The head of the £24 million Bristol Brunel Academy — a beacon of Labour’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme — said that its wireless system had yet to work properly and teachers still did the register on paper because of problems with swipe cards. Other heads had told him fingerprint recognition systems were unreliable.

Mr Di-Finizio criticised the millions of pounds being spent on technology in schools, and suggested that there was a fixation with constantly updating classrooms with the latest gadgets.

Mr Di-Finizio said that there were pressures on schools to buy expensive equipment. “One could be led up the wrong path by IT experts. Is it worth having card-swiping and fingerprint detection systems in place, if the teacher still has to do the register?

read the full story here

How to spend a budget

The Australian government gives IT education $40m boost.




Computerworld Australia points out a characteristic feature concerning a grandscale introduction of a promising ICT (read IT)-project. Somehow it's hard to find any details on how it is supposed to work for schools, teachers and students.

$40m fund set up to teach teachers ICT
19 February, 2010 by Trevor Clarke (Computer World)

The Federal Government will spend up to $40 million to give teachers training in ICT.
As part of the so-called Digital Education Revolution the government will conduct a consultation process with the education sector and develop an ICT self-assessment tool that will be trailled from February 2011.

However, no details were provided as to what skills within the broad ICT category would be targeted by either of the new funds.

read the full story here

The importance of libraries

An interesting article on the importance of "old fashioned books" from



Book smart: Why every primary pupil needs a library
Thursday, 18 February 2010 by Geraldine Brennan

Children who read do better in school yet, amazingly, many primaries have closed their libraries and replaced them with ICT suites

"We are teaching the value of new technology alongside old," says Bakewell. "Of course, we need both, but children need to know what questions to ask about the information put in front of them."

read the full story here

Malaysian Smart schools

From the New Strait Times

In name only
2010/01/23 by SUZIEANA UDA NAGU

By the end of the year, all Malaysian schools will qualify as Smart Schools. However, local academicians say they have yet to capture the essence of being “smart”, writes SUZIEANA UDA NAGU Up to last month, Universiti Utara Malaysia College of Art and Sciences lecturer Dr Abdul Halim Mohamed would drive 25 minutes from Sintok or Changlun, Kedah to Arau, Perlis once or twice a month to spend five hours at a primary school where he was coaching.

While schools may seem ready to be Smart Schools, Abdul Halim thinks it will be years before they can truly capture the essence of being “smart”.

read the full story here

IT in education is expensive

An interesting article with some facts on the real costs of introducing computers into schools. From


How to stretch that budget. One computer per child in schools has long been an unattainable ideal: schools cannot afford it. Could the answer lie in thin-client technology? Sean Dodson reports

find it here

A blog? Een blog?

Yes, ofcourse Visual Teach is blogging. This makes it possible to give you an update on the developments of Visual Teach quickly and from anywhere in the world.
And it gives us the opportunity to inform you of news about educational topics.

Ja, ook Visual Teach gaat bloggen. Dit om sneller en vanaf elke plek te reageren over de ontwikkelingen van Visual Teach en gerelateerde onderwerpen.