Tag: education

I've written to Lucy Powell with my feelings on Syria

28 August 2013

With Parliament being recalled to discuss the current situation in Syria, I've felt compelled to write to my MP again to tell her my thoughts on the matter. Don't agree? Dislike my tone? Writing to your MP is easy – using WriteToThem – why not give it a go? EDIT: After the Government's crushing defeat […]

Tell your children: "If you don't go to University, you'll end up homeless"

27 April 2013

"I never let my schooling interfere with my education" was something Mark Twain once allegedly said. Well it certainly sounds like he had an easy ride! Infrequent readers of this blog will know that my education and my schooling (clearly different things) have been recurring subjects of this blog since the start. From bypassing content […]

The danger your children escaped! Technology!

17 November 2012

At school, I was largely a goodie-two-shoes – however, that is to say – I was was aware of the line, and however close I was to it, I did my best to ensure I wasn't caught crossing it. I'm dubiously proud to say that I never got a detention. Unfortunately, this wasn't always successful, and […]

I'm Tim and I suck at handwriting

11 November 2012

When people see my handwriting, they sometimes joke, "oh so that's why you work with computers" but reflecting on it, that probably does relate to it in some way. Throughout my school life, I sucked at handwriting. I mean really sucked. I was slow, it was scruffy, and generally larger than that of my peers. […]

The Pirates: Just a political party for a certain age group in Sweden?

4 February 2012

At Learning Without Frontiers Conference, Keri Facer, Professor of Education, Manchester Metropolitan University said: …in Sweden we have the first political party, that, if you like, is allying itself with a particular age group – the Pirate Party. I don't think this is true. I mean sure, in Sweden there's a political party called the […]

Bright New Future for UK ICT Classes?

11 January 2012

In response to School ICT to be replaced by computer science programme and Michael Gove to scrap 'boring' IT lessons I'm very pleased with Michael Gove's announcement on scrapping the existing 'Information and Communication Technology' curriculum. I think this is a great  step forward for young people and technology, and has the potential to increase […]

Remembering being taught Applied ICT at A Level

14 November 2011

I recently noticed that I got quoted in The Information Age, at the beginning of the year due to the UK Cyber Security Challenge.: "Tim Dobson, a 20-year-old university student, does not remember his IT A-level course fondly. “In one lesson, our teacher asked us how to find the YouTube website,” he recalled. Dobson added […]

If Prof. Brian Cox can make understanding physics cool, how can we do the same for technology & IT?

11 September 2011

Three weeks ago, I posted on twitter and reddit: If Prof. Brian Cox can make understanding physics cool, how can we do the same for technology & IT? I had an interesting conversation with James Cun. We both agreed that Cox's personality had made physics more appealing to younger generations. We touched at previous attempts […]

Eric Schmidt's criticism of UK education

27 August 2011

In the week that teenagers received their GCSE results, Eric Schmidt has lambasted the UK education system, and I find much to agree with him on. The UK has a proud past of scientists and technological pioneers – the first computer wasn't built in Silicon Valley, or somewhere in China, but here in Manchester. However, […]

A tribute to Richard Rothwell

22 July 2009

Many reading my blog will not have heard the name Richard Rothwell and thus will have very little idea of his significance in the early days of DFEY. I first encountered Richard, like many others, via the Schoolforge-uk (SF-UK) mailing list, with his posts on free software and LTSP related subjects. Ben Webb and I, […]

What is the most useful thing you will do towards a future career when you're young?

18 May 2009

This XKCD cartoon strangely captures essence of most of my complaints with the way ICT and technical subjects are taught in schools. For me, it was a extensive number of weekends trying to make various different project work and multiple evenings getting to know the right people in the tech industry – thanks to the […]

Reflection #1 on Byron Review

14 April 2009

Parents are worried their children will not be able to tell the difference between Reality and Virtual Reality (in a game or online). – Byron Review In actual fact, the children grow up knowing the different expectation in social behaviour for the two different environments where as the parents never have. —Tim Dobson – a […]