Comments for (In Parenthesis http://www.antheald.com/blog better at opening brackets than closing them Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:43:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Comment on A different kind of failure by Tommy Dicus http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=184&cpage=1#comment-1936 Tommy Dicus Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:43:37 +0000 http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=184#comment-1936 Sick of getting low numbers of useless traffic to your website? Well i want to share with you a brand new underground tactic which makes me personally $900 daily on 100% AUTOPILOT. I could be here all day and going into detail but why dont you simply check their website out? There is a great video that explains everything. So if your seriously interested in producing hassle-free money this is the website for you. <a href="http://tiny.cc/p7mq4" rel="nofollow">Auto Traffic Avalanche</a> Sick of getting low numbers of useless traffic to your website? Well i want to share with you a brand new underground tactic which makes me personally $900 daily on 100% AUTOPILOT. I could be here all day and going into detail but why dont you simply check their website out? There is a great video that explains everything. So if your seriously interested in producing hassle-free money this is the website for you. Auto Traffic Avalanche

]]> Comment on Learner’s block by Martyn Dews http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=156&cpage=1#comment-1032 Martyn Dews Wed, 05 May 2010 09:02:27 +0000 http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=156#comment-1032 Hi Ant, it is indeed frustrating. I have mixed views on filtering, (which Nicola and I have had some debate on here http://bit.ly/a2Su7N ). Both my daughters are of primary school age and I think primary schools must have some degree of filtering system whether you like it or not. In my 20 years or so in the IT industry I am acutely aware of some of the more unsavoury parts of the internet and young children need to be protected from this. This is a view that I know virtually all parents would support. Indeed at home both of my children’s laptops have internet and MSN contacts filtered. My 8 year old cannot access anything until it has been checked and added to a “whitelist”, while restrictions on my 11 year old are starting to be more relaxed but still with a fair degree of restriction. This has never impeded their use of the web for both fun and learning. However I do appreciate that it’s a difficult balance between safe use and too much restriction, so we have educated our children in safe browsing and use of the web, and it seems to be paying off. I think that education of safe use of these technologies along with guidance and support from organisations like Becta is the way forward. I don’t see a time when we will ever have an unrestricted experience for our children as there will always be some need for it and not just in education, but business also. The company I work for filters content for various reasons, (although I am still struggling to understand why Flickr is blocked!). I think the fact that people in the right areas are starting to discuss the subject is a big step in the right direction and hopefully this will lead to a more fulfilling, less frustrating but still safe use of today’s technologies. Hi Ant, it is indeed frustrating. I have mixed views on filtering, (which Nicola and I have had some debate on here http://bit.ly/a2Su7N ). Both my daughters are of primary school age and I think primary schools must have some degree of filtering system whether you like it or not. In my 20 years or so in the IT industry I am acutely aware of some of the more unsavoury parts of the internet and young children need to be protected from this. This is a view that I know virtually all parents would support. Indeed at home both of my children’s laptops have internet and MSN contacts filtered. My 8 year old cannot access anything until it has been checked and added to a “whitelist”, while restrictions on my 11 year old are starting to be more relaxed but still with a fair degree of restriction.

This has never impeded their use of the web for both fun and learning. However I do appreciate that it’s a difficult balance between safe use and too much restriction, so we have educated our children in safe browsing and use of the web, and it seems to be paying off. I think that education of safe use of these technologies along with guidance and support from organisations like Becta is the way forward.

I don’t see a time when we will ever have an unrestricted experience for our children as there will always be some need for it and not just in education, but business also. The company I work for filters content for various reasons, (although I am still struggling to understand why Flickr is blocked!).

I think the fact that people in the right areas are starting to discuss the subject is a big step in the right direction and hopefully this will lead to a more fulfilling, less frustrating but still safe use of today’s technologies.

]]> Comment on Learner’s block by Steve Pincher http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=156&cpage=1#comment-1024 Steve Pincher Tue, 04 May 2010 21:57:49 +0000 http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=156#comment-1024 I have to agree that the vast majority of filtering is curently used rather like erecting a six foot fence along the sides of all roads to prevent children crossing rather than teaching them how to cross safely and use their judgement. We are at the beginning of a project using Tibboh in Birmingham with the intention of improving learner engagement by the target group through the use of age related filtering rather than uniform filtering across the wide age group of young people involved. http://tinyurl.com/3a4k5kz I have to agree that the vast majority of filtering is curently used rather like erecting a six foot fence along the sides of all roads to prevent children crossing rather than teaching them how to cross safely and use their judgement. We are at the beginning of a project using Tibboh in Birmingham with the intention of improving learner engagement by the target group through the use of age related filtering rather than uniform filtering across the wide age group of young people involved. http://tinyurl.com/3a4k5kz

]]> Comment on Learner’s block by Nicola McNee http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=156&cpage=1#comment-1023 Nicola McNee Tue, 04 May 2010 21:44:51 +0000 http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=156#comment-1023 My sympathies Ant. The Ofsted report is compelling and very exciting. As you know I've been conducting an experiment using the devil itself -Facebook-which I intend to write up on my blog as soon as its finished. I created a Facebook page for our schools mock election and 8 days in it now has 117 fans including 2 other members of staff. 20% of the over 13's in school are now involved yet they have no access during the school day! I think we need to set up a bank of good practice that teachers who find themselves the victims of ridiculous filtering systems can access to help them conduct "persuasion" campaigns in their school. Here's hoping Becta can help us with this My sympathies Ant. The Ofsted report is compelling and very exciting. As you know I’ve been conducting an experiment using the devil itself -Facebook-which I intend to write up on my blog as soon as its finished. I created a Facebook page for our schools mock election and 8 days in it now has 117 fans including 2 other members of staff. 20% of the over 13′s in school are now involved yet they have no access during the school day! I think we need to set up a bank of good practice that teachers who find themselves the victims of ridiculous filtering systems can access to help them conduct “persuasion” campaigns in their school. Here’s hoping Becta can help us with this

]]> Comment on Learner’s block by rachelala http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=156&cpage=1#comment-1022 rachelala Tue, 04 May 2010 21:19:41 +0000 http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=156#comment-1022 I do agree with your comments. Most filtering is belt and braces to a point of hard core bondage. Legitimate concerns about e-safety have exacerbated this to a point where excellent material is routinely blocked because of the lack of sophistication of mainstream filtering used by schools. Setting aside the retail price tag which would not apply to schools / LAs Tibboh offers an interesting alternative approach to filtering http://tinyurl.com/2ef5el9 which includes access to FB and Twitter, also blogs on an age-related basis, and offers flexibility to tailor to school / class requirements. Early days yet but as web 2.0 is increasintgly important in the education space, this is a welcome move away from the bludgeoning filters of today I do agree with your comments. Most filtering is belt and braces to a point of hard core bondage. Legitimate concerns about e-safety have exacerbated this to a point where excellent material is routinely blocked because of the lack of sophistication of mainstream filtering used by schools. Setting aside the retail price tag which would not apply to schools / LAs Tibboh offers an interesting alternative approach to filtering http://tinyurl.com/2ef5el9 which includes access to FB and Twitter, also blogs on an age-related basis, and offers flexibility to tailor to school / class requirements. Early days yet but as web 2.0 is increasintgly important in the education space, this is a welcome move away from the bludgeoning filters of today

]]> Comment on It is TeachMeet and right so to do by damoward http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=147&cpage=1#comment-695 damoward Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:00:41 +0000 http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=147#comment-695 Well said, Ant. Yes, it is a techy-geeky thing on the whole (my 3rd TM, so nothing that different) but what I really like is the buzz of teachers not moaning about 'bloody school' and 'bloody kids'! Yes I work with tech every day at the CLC and enjoy it but have taught in schools for 17 years too - my aim for the TMYH was to try and capture a bit of the buzz - still not quite there yet! Go to another one and def consider doing a preso next time and your enthusiasm builds for the day to day stuff too! See you next time! Well said, Ant. Yes, it is a techy-geeky thing on the whole (my 3rd TM, so nothing that different) but what I really like is the buzz of teachers not moaning about ‘bloody school’ and ‘bloody kids’! Yes I work with tech every day at the CLC and enjoy it but have taught in schools for 17 years too – my aim for the TMYH was to try and capture a bit of the buzz – still not quite there yet! Go to another one and def consider doing a preso next time and your enthusiasm builds for the day to day stuff too! See you next time!

]]> Comment on It is TeachMeet and right so to do by Matt mcdonald http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=147&cpage=1#comment-694 Matt mcdonald Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:21:45 +0000 http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=147#comment-694 Great blog, great night. I'm definately coming from the same situation as you in that I would have never envisaged myself doing school related stuff on a Friday night, and also that in the last year twitter and my pln has greatly improved and enthused my teaching. see you at the next one. Great blog, great night. I’m definately coming from the same situation as you in that I would have never envisaged myself doing school related stuff on a Friday night, and also that in the last year twitter and my pln has greatly improved and enthused my teaching. see you at the next one.

]]> Comment on It is TeachMeet and right so to do by David MItchell http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=147&cpage=1#comment-689 David MItchell Thu, 01 Apr 2010 22:50:02 +0000 http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=147#comment-689 Thanks for the mention in the blog post! It was my first TM too! (Well in person!) I agree with all you have said above. I was too, very impressed with the quality of what was being presented and came away with many ideas on how to enthuse my pupils more. I'm looking forward to the next one I can attend in person - probably TMBlackpool in June! Thanks for the mention in the blog post! It was my first TM too! (Well in person!) I agree with all you have said above. I was too, very impressed with the quality of what was being presented and came away with many ideas on how to enthuse my pupils more.

I’m looking forward to the next one I can attend in person – probably TMBlackpool in June!

]]> Comment on About by Bryan Orme http://www.antheald.com/blog/?page_id=96&cpage=1#comment-88 Bryan Orme Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:36:53 +0000 http://www.antheald.com/blog/?page_id=96#comment-88 Hi Anthony, I wanted to let you know about a new educational technology tool called CreateDebate that we just launched three weeks ago. CreateDebate is a Virtual Learning Environment that allows teachers to drive discussion and critical thinking by leveraging the power of the web, and is especially effective in English classes. You can find out more details at my blog post at http://blog.createdebate.com/2009/08/20/createdebate-in-the-classroom/ To celebrate the launch, we're giving away a free 90-day trial to teachers who are interested in encouraging debate and discussion in their classroom. Would you be interested in getting set up with a free trial? Please email me if you're interested. Best Regards, Bryan Orme Co-founder, CreateDebate Hi Anthony,

I wanted to let you know about a new educational technology tool called CreateDebate that we just launched three weeks ago. CreateDebate is a Virtual Learning Environment that allows teachers to drive discussion and critical thinking by leveraging the power of the web, and is especially effective in English classes.

You can find out more details at my blog post at http://blog.createdebate.com/2009/08/20/createdebate-in-the-classroom/

To celebrate the launch, we’re giving away a free 90-day trial to teachers who are interested in encouraging debate and discussion in their classroom. Would you be interested in getting set up with a free trial? Please email me if you’re interested.

Best Regards,
Bryan Orme
Co-founder, CreateDebate

]]> Comment on I am not Lynne Truss by Ant http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=107&cpage=1#comment-63 Ant Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:56:41 +0000 http://www.antheald.com/blog/?p=107#comment-63 Thanks for your comment. It's just reminded me that I've actually got a blog and maybe need to get round to writing some more posts on it. I wouldn't say it is necessarily 'incorrect' to use "instore", it's just not standard usage (yet) and therefore some people would regard it as incorrect. You'd use the words "any more" separately in a sentence like, "I haven't got any more biscuits". the single word "anymore" is an adverb that indicates a time period from now onwards (usually only used in negative sentences) -"I don't buy biscuits anymore." Thanks for your comment. It’s just reminded me that I’ve actually got a blog and maybe need to get round to writing some more posts on it.

I wouldn’t say it is necessarily ‘incorrect’ to use “instore”, it’s just not standard usage (yet) and therefore some people would regard it as incorrect.

You’d use the words “any more” separately in a sentence like, “I haven’t got any more biscuits”. the single word “anymore” is an adverb that indicates a time period from now onwards (usually only used in negative sentences) -”I don’t buy biscuits anymore.”

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