→ Miscellaneous Learning | Mon Jan 05 10:11:45 +0000 2009

I’m reading a Christmas present book at the moment: The Creative Habit by Choreographer Twyla Tharp.   Tonight’s chapter was entitled Scratching and it discussed how we go about finding the ideas that propel our creative endeavors.  Twyla talked about her reading habits and how books often spark firewoks.  It got me thinking about my own [...]

→ Ollie Bray | Mon Jan 05 08:00:00 +0000 2009

The application phase is now live for my 2010 Youth Expedition to the Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska. Please feel free to pass on any details of this expedition to any young people aged 16 – 21,...

→ edu.blogs.com | Mon Jan 05 06:00:00 +0000 2009

•Glasgow School Of Art Is The Setting For New Online Soap (from Sunday Herald)

Glasgow School of Art has a new progeny: it is set to become the backdrop of a new Channel 4 drama, based entirely online. Told through YouTube-style video, photo sharing site Flickr, and social networking sites, Central Station will portray the lives, loves and artworks of three fictional second-year art students. But like the best art, Central Station has ambitions beyond the superficial gloss of teen soaps. Channel 4's new strand for digital content, 4iP, hopes that Scotland's first web drama will act as a hook to draw real-life artists into a new online artistic community. "This isn't Tartan TV," said Ewan McIntosh, 4iP's digital commissioning manager in Scotland. "We chose Glasgow School of Art as a backdrop because it represents a world-class heritage of Scottish graduates together with an expanding international student body. This is what Central Station is: coming out of Scotland but, through the web, having a truly international flavour."

→ Experimental Blog | Mon Jan 05 06:00:00 +0000 2009

•My Page - Digifolios and Personal Learning Spaces

Joe Wilson's Page on Digifolios and Personal Learning Spaces

→ fizzics - an angle of reflection | Sun Jan 04 21:58:00 +0000 2009

I received an email today from an academic I know.  It was an invitation to write a chapter for a book that is being put together on digital literacy in science teaching.   I’m very flattered to have been asked but not yet sure if I should accept. I am very grateful for the professional learning network [...]

→ My Blog | Sun Jan 04 21:21:46 +0000 2009

This afternoon I met up with KimP and her HeadTeacher, Gail. We had a lovely afternoon together …. and there are plans to meet up again during their short visit to Scotland. More posts pending   Meanwhile here’s a flavour of our lunch together today. The champagne was planned ‘virtually’ a while ago when Kim helped [...]

→ Don's Learning Blog | Sun Jan 04 21:04:31 +0000 2009

  Apologies for the squint photo of the above model.  I’ll post something a bit more comprehensive later in thw eek.  Click on the photo for an enlarged version. In the following posts I’ll attempt to use the Program Logic Model to describe a possible national implementation strategy for A Curriculum for Excellence. The model begins with a review [...]

→ Mr W's Blogging Great Thing | Sun Jan 04 20:25:26 +0000 2009

One of the real joys of the Christmas Vacation for me is getting the chance to catch up on everything. In doing so, I’ve found a very promising Ning for English teachers. English Companion is a Ning site devoted to connecting English teachers. There are plenty of other support sites out there, but English Companion is [...]

→ John Connell: the blog | Sun Jan 04 20:18:29 +0000 2009

Researchers at UCB, “…have shown for the first time that the brains of low-income children function differently from the brains of high-income kids.” ….scientists at UC Berkeley’s Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and the School of Public Health report that normal 9- and 10-year-olds differing only in socioeconomic status have detectable differences in the response of their [...]

→ Teaching and Learning and Learning | Sun Jan 04 20:03:27 +0000 2009

One of my plans this year is to bake more bread.  Those of you who have been reading this blog for sometime will know that I have never considered myself a baker and, generally, this still holds true for making cakes and biscuits really doesn’t excite me at all. Yet, I would no longer say that I [...]

→ edu.blogs.com | Sun Jan 04 06:00:00 +0000 2009

→ Experimental Blog | Sun Jan 04 06:00:00 +0000 2009

•Authentic Assessment Toolbox Home Page

→ PrestonLodge.net | Sun Jan 04 00:05:39 +0000 2009

A new service is available from PrestonLodge.net. We are now able to offer for sale, prints and photo gifts of various school activities. The first collection we are able to offer are those taken at the Senior Dance 2008. To use this service visit our PhotoBox Gallery. The prices are very reasonable and the small profit will to to [...]

→ BlogDale | Sat Jan 03 22:43:05 +0000 2009

→ John Connell: the blog | Sat Jan 03 21:19:26 +0000 2009

Well, blow me down and beat me with a feather! I do not have to wait until February and my next mobile phone upgrade to get hold of a Google phone and see what Android is all about. All I have to do is install Android on my little Asus EeePC! Technorati Tags: venturebeat digital media, [...]

→ Mr W's Blogging Great Thing | Sat Jan 03 18:21:51 +0000 2009

Made any New Year resolutions? Given up on them yet? Looking for a serious suggestion? Techcrunch is carrying a story that should have us all thinking carefully about the real dangers of entering the cloud at the moment. The Journalspace blogging service has had to close because of (apparently) a disgruntled ex-employee who has wiped the [...]

→ Don's Learning Blog | Sat Jan 03 16:46:01 +0000 2009

This post is one of a series linked to The Logic Model - getting a social return on investement? Perhaps the most difficult element of the entire Logic Model rests with the definition of an outcome.  Here are two definitions from the University of Wisconsin and The Kellog’s Foundation: University of Wisconsin  Outcomes are the value or changes for [...]

→ Law Primary School | Sat Jan 03 14:59:31 +0000 2009

To all our pupils and their families at Law Primary School. See you all hopefully fully refreshed and ready for all the challenges of the New Year on Monday 5th January 2009 at 8.45am.  

→ heyjude | Sat Jan 03 14:00:15 +0000 2009

It had to happen - rather belatedly finding out something to inspire blogging ‘on the fly’. Thanks to a tweet from OwenC about 6 applications that made 2008 special, I am busy exploring Zemanta. I’m doing this after jumping over to Owen’s blog, and having a quick chat about it just to check if I should [...]

→ BlogDale | Sat Jan 03 11:34:34 +0000 2009

→ heyjude | Sat Jan 03 07:11:31 +0000 2009

I read a lot of stuff, then I tweet a lot of stuff! But I also can’t resist blogging things that to me signal an important idea, change, or some experimentation by me or others. So I tweeted, then blogged about something that is VERY exciting to me. Just over the Christmas hols I’ve [...]

→ heyjude | Sat Jan 03 02:51:26 +0000 2009

more about “Fast Forward“, posted with vodpod So lets see…my standard toolkit includes:  Wordpess, Gmail, Google calendar,  Google chat, and a host of other Google doc tools, Delicious, Nings galore, facebook, twitter, flickr, flickrCC, SnipThis, TwitThat, Feedly, Clip to Evernote, Tumblr, Kwout, Wikispaces, Wetpaint, Youtube and other video sites, and of course Vodpod to store [...]

→ Mrs. O'Neill's Blog | Sat Jan 03 02:26:12 +0000 2009

Imagine you sign up for a job where your boss gives you feedback every week on how well you are doing. At first you feel you are doing well. Your boss is making allowances for it being a new job. You are feeling hopeful. You find the job quite interesting and it has several really good perks. Then things start to get a little sticky. Your boss isn’t actually publicizing your appraisal, but all employee appraisals are given out at the same time, so of course it is natural that you and your fellow employees will trade appraisals. Sometimes another person will approach you to ask you what the boss said to you about your participation in some project or other. Sometimes you will simply tell someone else what the boss said.

Before long, you realize that there are more people invested in that appraisal than just you. Your family, for example, want to know how things are going. They ask you every day. Some family members get really upset if things don’t go that well. Soon you begin to realize that you are being ranked against all the other employees in your section, and that you are definitely not one of the top achievers. Those who get that special status –usually the same people every week- are given a lot of praise and encouragement.

So what do you do now? Career counselors would, without hesitation, advise a career change. Not everyone can handle a job like that, although granted there are some who will thrive in that environment. Those who ‘perform’ better will love the affirmation they get from being placed top of the list.

You follow the advice of family and friends. They remind you that life is like this. It turns out that almost all of them have held the same job at one time or another. Some of them liked it, some of them hated it. They offer different kinds of advice ranging from ‘Try harder.’ to ‘The hell with them!’ You are hopeful by nature. You want to do well at your job. You try harder. But things don’t improve. No matter what you do you can’t get onto that special list of top people. You really feel like you want to get out.

There’s only one problem.

You are six years old and you have got 12 more years of this to go. The job you are trying to hold down is simply being a student and the boss is your teacher.

Okay, so I am being emotive, but that’s what we are doing with a high number of our children in school. We are obsessing so much about testing that we are failing to see how unhappy and unproductive our constant testing makes many students.

I am not advocating no testing or grading. I am not saying that we should pretend that some students are not academically more able than others. All I am suggesting is that we dethrone ‘testing’ as the central experience of school. Our schools should be places which focus on learning not testing.

We have to have tests –but let’s make them less focused on ranking students and more on how to learn better. Let’s give students targets for themselves, not bars that only a few can jump. Let’s stop putting our children through something we would refuse as adults.

→ edu.blogs.com | Sat Jan 03 00:43:40 +0000 2009

From Tom, my boss at 4 a couple of months back in preparation for the Scottish Media Literacy Summit I helped organise, this one still sticks with me as a fundamental thing some of those in learning, Government and business...

→ edu.blogs.com | Fri Jan 02 22:34:48 +0000 2009

While still at Learning and Teaching Scotland I had hoped the national schools intranet, Glow, might help highlight an amazing story of heroism, and encourage Scotland's young people to follow, question and work around the adventures of solo skipper Rich...

→ Comments for Stuart Meldrum | Fri Jan 02 22:33:30 +0000 2009

I’m sure most people reading this will have seen Animoto before, but if you haven’t: it’s a great wee service that bills itself as the end of slideshows. Basically it lets you upload images that you want to put together in a presentation, it then takes them and puts them into a slick video clip [...]

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→ Comments for Stuart Meldrum | Fri Jan 02 21:49:26 +0000 2009

With only a couple of days left now of the Christmas holidays I’m sitting here wondering where the time went. Someone, somewhere recently likened a teacher’s holidays to the time a diver takes to adjust to the atmosphere at sea level after a dive, a decompression time if you like. As the last term came [...]

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→ Don's Learning Blog | Fri Jan 02 20:57:30 +0000 2009

This post is one of a series linked to The Logic Model - getting a social return on investement? Activities are the things that we plan to do to try and achieve a desired outcome, e.g if I wanted to feel less hungry (OUTCOME)  - I would go for a meal (ACTIVITY) - the food I ate would [...]

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→ John Connell: the blog | Fri Jan 02 20:31:01 +0000 2009

One of the greatest joys, if not the greatest joy, we can experience as human beings is the joy of learning. Alex Comfort might have argued the case for an even more basic joy, but learning is, indisputably, a fundamental human delight. Without our ability to learn, and without our capacity for learning anew [...]

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→ Ollie Bray | Fri Jan 02 19:29:02 +0000 2009

I’ve been thinking about developing a resource around the old Eldridge Pope Brewery Development in Dorchester, Dorset. I picked up some materials to help with this when I was back at home over the Christmas holidays. My Uncle Dave then...

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→ edu.blogs.com | Fri Jan 02 06:00:00 +0000 2009

•Robert Burns’ Letters

The letters of the national bard, on the days they were written

→ edu.blogs.com | Fri Jan 02 04:41:34 +0000 2009

→ edu.blogs.com | Fri Jan 02 04:22:32 +0000 2009

It's that time of year, where the big annual learning log gets taken out, and I can see whether I did what I set out to do, and work out what lies ahead. The first part of this process is...

→ Don's Learning Blog | Thu Jan 01 22:36:03 +0000 2009

  ((READING%ofStudentsWithLGns + MATH%ofStudentsWithLGns)x%Tested) —————————————————————— x 100 (TotalProgramCostPerWeightedFTEStudent / DistrictCostDifferential) This post is one of a series linked to The Logic Model - getting a social return on investement? The concept of inputs in education has the potential to cause two quite different reactions. On the one hand there is the understandable demand for more inputs or investment in the system.  More money, more resources, [...]

→ Caroline Gibson's blog | Thu Jan 01 21:28:25 +0000 2009

Edinburgh Triathlon - despite being absolutely terrified before the start I enjoyed this today and will be signing up for another one in June!  I surprised myself with how I did, considering how little training I had and look forward to improving on it.  Bring on the training for the Highland Fling now!        [...]

→ edu.blogs.com | Thu Jan 01 19:42:43 +0000 2009

The world in 2009 is set to be gloomy be you poor or well-off, a C2 or A1, employed or self-employed. Except if you're a teacher in the stat system or working as a startup in the online creative sector.The...

→ blethers | Thu Jan 01 18:06:21 +0000 2009

Originally uploaded by goforchris.

I've cracked it. After a lifetime of end-of-year blues, I think I've achieved the painless transition to 2009. I think the beastly combination of nostalgia and regret at the passing of Christmas first hit me when I began to keep a diary - there's nothing like writing the final entry to remind you that that's another year gone - at the age of ten. In my day I have attempted to kid myself that I could be jolly on Hogmanay, but in my Glasgow youth this involved bleak expeditions to find friends who lived elsewhere in the city, or, later, the teetering walk home from some party over frosty streets with the horrid knowledge that one was beginning to feel really bad.

The young baby years were no better, as they tended to involve merely "seeing the year in" over the increasingly dire telly and heading bedwards immediately afterwards. Then, and in the years to follow, there was the relentless approach of the school term, which sometimes began as early as January 3rd, depending on which day of the week Ne'erday fell. Whatever I was doing - wife of a teacher, mother of pupils, a teacher myself - this was the worst and darkest time, when the early-morning struggle to rise in the chilly dark seemed more of a nightmare than ever.

But enough of these dark rememberings. This year worked. The secret? Tidy the house after your Christmas visitors, noting as you do so that your house is actually quite a decent size after all. Shop early and casually, knowing that the close friends who are joining you for dinner on Hogmanay are bringing the main course and a Christmas pudding with them. Waste some of the afternoon on the computer, and on reading the book you've been too knackered to read in the past two weeks. Have a lovely relaxed evening with the aforementioned friends, enjoying the fact that the four of you have made a little effort to scrub up a bit. Eat heartily, so that the drink you consume makes you mellow but not drunk. Talk about the things that really interest you all - so that you don't have to witter small talk till the bells. At 11.45pm, put on the telly and wonder why BBC Scotland seem to find it so hard to get any decent singers and why the show has the rather desperate air of an impromptu gathering or a wedding without the bride - and learn that Jackie Bird has had her teeth whitened. (This is hearsay - blame the Best Pal) At midnight, kiss each other heartily, drink champagne and admire the Edinburgh fireworks, before switching to Jools Holland and becoming ever so slightly raucous. When your pals leave before 1am, put out any light that might tempt a first-footer, leave Mr B to do the washing-up, and head for bed with your book.

All this leaves you with a clear head on Ne'erday, able to enjoy the brilliant sunshine of a two-hour walk above Loch Eck - see photo - returning ravenous to eat bread and cheese and get your iMac wired to the BT hub so that you don't have to put up with the erratic wireless connection any more. This involves the return of Rob, who was your guest last night and who spent part of the evening persuading you to let him bring a long ethernet cable he just happened to have lying around, and results in the joyously speedy connection of my dreams.

There. No nostalgia, no maudlin maunderings, no hangover. I've had a good day and later there are two episodes of Eastenders to remind me of how lucky I am. But first I think I might eat again ...

→ Thinking Allowed | Thu Jan 01 17:57:40 +0000 2009

I'm quite pleased about this for three reasons. Obviously this score is pleasing for someone with a 52 year old brain. But also I'm ploeased because I've never used a Nintendo before. When the children had Game boys I could never get enough motivation to learn how to do any of their games. So not only have I improved from my initial age of 72 (!!) on the first day, I have also learned some new

→ Mr W's Blogging Great Thing | Thu Jan 01 17:15:36 +0000 2009

In a paradox worthy of Dr Who, I received tomorrow’s Times Ed Scotland yesterday. What worries me even more, is the apparent attempt to move society and schools back to another time as highlighted in the front page story: “Time to let pupils go”.† The report is concerned with the call from Directors of Education and [...]

→ Ednam Primary School | Thu Jan 01 14:28:43 +0000 2009

The Primary 1-3 children were all dressed up for their Christmas party on the last day of term.  They had lots of fun, games and dancing, and of course that very busy special visitor was in attendance.

See how the party went on the movie slideshows.........

The Party Action!

 

 That Special Visitor!

 

→ John Connell: the blog | Wed Dec 31 19:59:55 +0000 2008

Two posts that seem to chime in sympathy, harmonics ringing,  from two people I read and admire, both here picking up on the wisdom of others: “…we all talked at the same time, not listening to one another, sometimes seconding and praising one another in order to be seconded and praised in turn…” from Leo Tolstoy’s Confession, [...]

→ Digital Signposts | Wed Dec 31 17:36:46 +0000 2008

Image attribution; AlexMuse under this CC licenceThe perennial debate on filtering and blocking of web sites, in education, has been lively on several fronts recently, including Twitter, ETR (Ed Tech Round -a group of teachers and others who meet online...

“We have been very clear that there are no plans for a database containing any content of emails, texts or conversations.” Words are weapons for civil servants. It is often more important to be aware of the weapons they do not want us to see than those they choose to display. The spokeswoman who offered the [...]

→ Don's Learning Blog | Wed Dec 31 15:20:04 +0000 2008

This post is one of a series linked to The Logic Model - getting a social return on investement? The Logic Model is based on an acceptance of cause and effect i.e. IF I do this, THEN this happens. Underpinning these causal relationships are a set of assumptions which we have built up through life experiences and [...]

→ John Connell: the blog | Wed Dec 31 15:11:15 +0000 2008

Three lawyers’ tongues turned inside out Wi’ lies, seamed like a beggar’s clout Three priests hearts, rotten, black as muck Lay stinkin, vile in every neuk These lines were struck out of the original version of Tam O’ Shanter on the advice of Rabbie Burns’ editor. It’s good to see them reinstated in the version I have linked to. [...]

→ Lynne Horn | Wed Dec 31 15:11:06 +0000 2008

Took me a bit longer to get to “tomorrow” than I’d thought, however as this is the end of the year it seems right to finish these posts about the work done on Life in the Congo with S1/2. S1/2 have their RME taught through a rolling programme of one day conferences.  This year’s December conference [...]

→ John Connell: the blog | Wed Dec 31 14:55:33 +0000 2008

I have been tagged by Jenny Luca and Angela Maiers to list seven things that people are unlikely to know about me. So, from my 51 years of breathless excitement and living on the edge, I offer the following: I can balance (almost) anything (longer than a couple of feet) on the tip of my finger I [...]

→ Box of Tricks | Wed Dec 31 12:16:12 +0000 2008

I have been thinking a lot over this holiday, as this year draws to a close, about just what shape teachers will take in the not so distant future. I am not talking about robot teachers or a revolutionary educational utopia. Although this revolution might still happen - some would say it should happen! - [...]

→ Ollie Bray | Wed Dec 31 11:53:02 +0000 2008

It’s this time of year when I look back over my learning log to see what I’ve achieved during the last 12 months. In summary it’s probably more than most people, but a bit less than I should have. Here...

→ edu.blogs.com | Wed Dec 31 03:59:33 +0000 2008

From Tom, my boss at 4 a couple of months back in preparation for the Scottish Media Literacy Summit I helped organise, this one still sticks with me as a fundamental thing some of those in learning, Government and business...

→ edu.blogs.com | Wed Dec 31 03:57:58 +0000 2008

Apart from the camisole, Meg's rundown of her nights away from home is incredibly similar - nay, entirely - to all those that I've had this past year in my three-and-a-half times around the world this year. I'm rather glad...

→ EdCompBlog | Tue Dec 30 22:36:20 +0000 2008

Serious question: Am I a grumpy old man?

Originally uploaded by CarbonNYC

Before you answer that, here is some context. Tonight, about 8:15pm I got a phone call from someone who said they were from my bank - lets call it the Abbey. The conversation went something like this...

Abbey: Hello. I'm from the Abbey and I'm phoning about an account you have with us.

Me: OK

Abbey: Before I go any further, can I ask you for some details to confirm your identity?

Me: Hang on. You've just cold called me, and I have to confirm who I am?

Abbey: It's Data Protection - I can't discuss your account until you have confirmed your personal details.

Me: Well, can I ask what it's about?

Abbey: No. As I said, Data Protection means I can't discuss your account with you until you have confirmed your identity.

Me: Are you trying to sell me something?

Abbey: No, I can assure you, this is not a sales call.

Me: is there a problem with my account then?

Abbey: I'm sorry, as I said, I cannot discuss your account until you confirm your identity.

Me: But you cold called me. You could be anyone. Surely you should be confirming your identity to me.

Abbey: I can give you a number if you would prefer to ring us.

Me: But you could give me any number. And what do I say when they ask me, "How can I help?" What do I tell them? "I don't know. You phoned me." Can you not give any indication as to what this call is about?

Abbey: I'm sorry, as I said, I cannot discuss your account until you confirm your identity.

Me: Grief! OK. What do you need to know?

At this point, and against my better judgement, I gave then my address and date of birth. Then she asked:

Abbey: And can you confirm your phone number?

Me: Sorry? This number that you just phoned a moment ago?

Abbey: Yes.

David: You want me to tell you the number of the phone, that you just rang, that I just answered, to confirm that I am me?

Abbey: Yes.

David: This is ridiculous! What is this call about?

Abbey: We're just going round in circles!

At this point we agreed that I would go into my local branch tomorrow and ask them why I was phoned tonight.

Was I right to be suspicious? In my defence, I would say that we are warned against identity theft by the banks themselves told to be careful with our personal details. Yet here is someone, claiming to be from a bank, but who could be anyone, asking for my personal details over the phone. Is it just me, or is that odd?

So, back to the original question. Am I a grumpy old man?

→ John Connell: the blog | Tue Dec 30 21:18:05 +0000 2008

…..to finish off the year with a few posts….. I took a conscious decision to stay away from my blog over Christmas and, apart from the odd moment of exquisite agony when I read something that would normally have forced me to put fingertips to keyboard, I have not posted since the 22nd - that’s more [...]

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→ Teaching and Learning and Learning | Tue Dec 30 19:16:54 +0000 2008

  Posted in Christmas, Scotland      

→ blethers | Tue Dec 30 19:03:14 +0000 2008

I've been indulging in a spot of heavy cleaning. Not, you understand, your regular housework, that being the preserve of Mr B, but the creative, nostalgic kind brought on by the need to clean up the chair in which one's granddaughter has been eating this past week. The chair in question is one of four kitchen chairs which belonged to my parents - and if you look carefully at the blue label in the second photo, you will see that they were made by Ercol. (I should admit now that the chalk scribbling on the label was done by me, aged, I imagine, about three.)

As my parents were married before the World War 2, I think of the chairs as being bought in the late '30s. I first remember them in the kitchen of a top flat in Novar Drive, Hyndland, where they sat round the square kitchen table next to the range. Until we left that flat in 1955 the range was in daily use - it heated the kitchen and the water, though I don't think my mother used it for cooking unless there was a power cut. In these days the coal lived in a bunker in the kitchen, so every time coal was delivered the dust would go everywhere. Notwithstanding this grime, it was on one of these chairs that a nurse sat to hold me as I was anaesthetised prior to having my tonsils removed; this operation took place on the kitchen table and I survived.

Because, presumably, both chairs and table were robust and not easily damaged, I played on and under them all through childhood. They were used as steps or climbing aids and stood in for the parts of an imaginary boat/spaceship/house. I don't think they were ever really cleaned other than by the swift removal of dust - unless the tonsil job brought on something more serious. The woodwork in the room was a deeply utilitarian green, and I found a small splodge of this paint on the seat today, along with a smear of the pale grey paint from its next home, also heated by solid fuel.

I keep going on about the coal because today's labours produced a soupy sludge of years of coal dust, soot and very, very old polish. If you look closely at the first photo, you can see the darker colour at the foot of the spars and on the legs - I really needed to be in a sunny garden with some sandpaper to do the best job. As it was, it took a great deal of effort with wood shampoo, an old pot scourer and some beeswax polish. Perhaps one day I'll take all four of them outside and give them a real going over.

It's funny how we can go into paroxysms if someone scratches a piece of furniture we've just bought, though - I realised today that I don't give a fig for the marks on these chairs. Maybe, of course, it's because I was originally responsible for them.

Try as I will, I cannot get this post to look right. That dangling "I've"... I give up. Life's too short.

→ dougmuses | Tue Dec 30 18:13:13 +0000 2008

I am a new convert to Twitter via ‘Tweetdeck’ … this has stolen me away from ‘Twirl’ … and I am just beginning to get the sense of just how much information is up there in the ‘cloud’ and the amount of help there is for things that you want to know ( and for many [...]

→ Ruby (on wheels) | Tue Dec 30 17:03:26 +0000 2008

As I’m in Argyll for Christmas I headed out to Tayvallich to see a few people and deliver presents. The loch was beautifully calm and serene, which was wonderful after the frantic crowds of shoppers in the city. Authored by Ruby Rennie. Hosted by Edublogs.

→ Jem's Inner Monologue | Tue Dec 30 17:02:03 +0000 2008

We're having better weather now than what we did in the summer!

Its not as bad as a few years back though, I can remember paddling in the sea on the 24th and not losing my toes to the cold...

→ Mr W's Blogging Great Thing | Tue Dec 30 15:44:01 +0000 2008

Like many others, I was somewhat flabbergasted at Andy Burnham’s recent suggestion that the Internet™ should have age ratings. Fortunately, his more media savvy colleague Tom Watson has used his blog to solicit honest opinion on the matter. He has also promised to pass on all the comments to Andy Burnham and Lord Carter for [...]