Grrr.. people keep using technology in different ways
People are annoying. Really annoying. You have this really great idea for a new product and a clear vision for how people will use it. Then bang, they decide no, they want to use it in a different way. Or sometimes, not at all. Or more often, they take time to work out how they [...]
Daily Mail: “Parents shouldn’t be prepared to spend on their children’s education”
Actually, that isn’t what the Daily Mail said. But it’s pretty close. An article in the Mail Online yesterday decried the fact that British parents spend more on private schools than any of their European counterparts. Their conclusion was that parents were only doing this because the aforementioned parents thought our state system was so [...]
Is it time to start thinking about the Education (eco)System
It’s a given that education is important. It affects the productivity of the workforce and thereby the competitiveness and wealth of nations. You can tell it’s important because politicians always think they need a (new) plan for it if they’re going to get elected. More teachers, more resources, newer schools, more localised power. They are [...]
The Power of Perceptual Learning
For those of you that missed it, there was an excellent article in the NY Times on the topic of perceptual learning. Benedict Carey reports on the work of a group of cognitive scientists who believe that the right kind of training dramatically improves those skills that are normally associated with experts in a field: [...]