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It is good to talk

It is good to talk

It is good to talk To die or to dice that is the question. As much as I love technology and how much easier life has become using technology there are times when it is simply best to connect with real people and start a conversation. I wanted to borrow some dice for my science activity but was not sure if I should say, ‘May I borrow some die or dice?’ I would normally Google it in my previous…

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Have a read of my new #book The Importance of #ICT Needs For #SEN & #Gifted #Students Explained by #Atif Hus... amazon.co.uk/dp/B08JB5WSDB/… via @amazonuk #ICTToolBox #Technology #Schools #UK ##Books (at London, United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGc21pglKUL/?igshid=15w3734kdruiv

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My must have Open Source Software for your Mac

My must have Open Source Software for your Mac

If you are a Mac user like me you are likely to fall in the category of ‘once you mac you can’t go back’. I was a PC/Windows user for many years until I discovered the world of Apple while working for a tech company during the late 1990s. Since then my love for Apple and it’s simplicity of products, design, security and privacy has won me over. When Apple introduced OS X in 2001 based on the Unix…

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How to take back control of your Twitter account

How to take back control of your Twitter account

You may have created a twitter account in haste or had a great idea or simply wanted to to try it out. Whatever your reason for creating a Twitter account you may now be having second thoughts about that decision. It maybe because your thinking has changed or the direction of the account needs updating or simply you want to take back control of your data. Although your Twitter account will…

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How to wipe your Twiiter account

How to wipe your Twiiter account

You may have created a twitter account in haste or had a great idea or simply wanted to to try it out. Whatever your reason for creating a Twitter account you may now be having second thoughts about that decision. It maybe because your thinking has changed or the direction of the account needs updating or simply you want to take back control of your data. Although your Twitter account will…

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Life without Google

Google has permeated in almost every area of our lives. Its life is dependent on the Internet and the constant data retrieval. Google started as a search engine in 1998 with the mission ‘ to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful’ and with a motto “Don’t do evil” which seemed to be a dig at other companies at that time. However, by 2020 life without Google…

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Why I stopped using WhatsApp

Why I stopped using WhatsApp

WhatsApp – My Journey to Digital Detox

What started as a small project when the iPhone was introduced and the world of the App store was unleashed to any would be developers in 2009 with a modest user base of 250,00 to over 2 billion active users in 2020. The idea was simple to allow people to communicate using VoIP instantly and the advent of notifications on iPhone gave a whole new meaning to…

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Why I deleted my Facebook account Facebook - My Journey to Digital Detox I had joined Facebook in mid-2008 during my first year abroad as a teacher.

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My Journey to Digital Detox

Digital Detox

You know when you get that feeling that you should have got a message by now or constantly looking at your phone every few seconds because you may have missed that beep or flashing LED alert on your phone. When you are at that stage of your digital well-being, something clearly is not right. We have been hard-wired to react to beeps and small LED flashing lights. Something just clicks in our…

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Dai - One and Only

I first met Dai during the first international Google Teacher Academy held in London 2010. Although I was not in the same group as Dai, during the full packed day, our paths would cross over lunch and other smaller sessions. His immediate down-to-earth and honest persona was hard to ignore. We exchanged details and stayed in touch over the years via Twitter. Although I was globetrotting whilst…

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The iPad fad

The much-awaited iPad is here alive and kicking. It’s small, beautiful, sleek and comes with attitude. The ‘I’ in the iPad stands for integrated and that is exactly what it does, although missing a few essentials. But I hear you ask so what is the fuss all about? What is so different about the iPad. The iPad has essentially redesigned the concept of a tablet PC. Before the iPad other tablet…

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Why I stopped paying

Why I stopped paying

I have been an on and off blogger for over a decade now. I have never pursued it professionally or religiously. I have always taken ownership of my own representation and in most cases paid for my personalised Online representation. I had my own custom name domain atifhussain.com for professional use and a blogging website icttoolbox.com. All registered and hosted privately by me through…

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Google Custom Search Engine

Google Custom Search Engine

Like most educators, we want to build independent thinking amongst our students. Part of that involves students independently researching and trying to answer a given question or completing a project over a certain time period. Google being one of the largest databases in the world means you bump into information you were not looking for. In most cases it’s nice to wonder off in the world of…

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Unboxing experience

We recently upgraded our student 1:1 technology programme. MyMaga laptops were replaced with Chromebooks and we ordered some robots for our new years 3-6 Robotics clubs. In all cases, I decided to leave all the equipment in its original box and wrapping to allow our students to open and setup. Why did I do that you may ask? The simple answer is that I wanted our students to have the unboxing…

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Why Touch Typing still matters

With all the Artificial Intelligence hype and Web 3.0 slowly emerging in our midst it can be easily taken for granted that touch typing is a skill that still needs to be developed. Many schools ignore it assuming kids are on their laptops most of the time or time could be better spent. The British branch of the Multinational software company Microsoft completed a research study in 2014 on the topic of Typing skills and employment. This is what they found out:

Almost 1/3 of British employers say they will not hire someone if they can’t touch type.

41% of employees, 38% of students and 29% of parents believe there is not enough emphasis on typing at schools and universities.

38% of employers say that typing enhances productivity.

45% of British workers do not know how to type ergonomically which has resulted in 24% of employers’ sayings they have received reports of typing related injuries such as Repetitive Strain Injury. Source: @MSAccessoriesUK

It's a skill that should be hard wired to our digital native generation. They should be taught that not every device can be operated through a touch, a pinch or a voice command. Typing and touch typing in particular increases productivity because it allows us to write, jot down ideas and notes without thinking about the process. It's an example of cognitive automaticity where the ability to do things without thinking about it. We never really forget to ride a bike and instinctively pick it up after years of absences from it. It is for this reason at my current school I have introduced compulsory touch typing lessons from grade 1 to 5. Students spend at least 30 minutes a week learning the required skills to touch type with the view that by grade 5 students should be proficient. We use the web based software ‘Typing Club’ which allows our students to practice at any time wherever they have access to the Internet. With this in mind I would like the parents to get involved. More practice at home means greater benefit in school. This offer is also extended to our parent community.    

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To email or not to email

Ray Tomlinson pioneered the email system while working for ARPANET in 1971. He has also been accredited for using the @ symbol that everyone is now accustomed to when sending an email. Emails had revolutionized communication in its early days and in many ways have not developed much since the 70's and is still one of the common ways of communicating between professionals. Even with the development of Web 2.0 where everything is at your fingertips and emails seem like the snail mail of the 21st century, they are still used by more than 600 million users. Whether you love or hate emails, there is one thing that no one really looks forward to and that is maintaining their inbox. Software developers have produced apps and software that claim to organise your emails and make it easier for you to control your inbox. Fundamentally you cannot escape from the dreaded email chore. It has to be done and no app or software in the world is going to do that for you. Added to this is the frustration of using email as a tool. Many users simply do not know how to use an email system affectively or simply take the lazy route which I do sometimes and end up paying the price later on. Some companies have gone as far as banning emails in their work environment. Although I understand the sentiment, I am not sure if banning something that works pretty well is the answer. Sometimes changing our habits can do wonders. Below are some of my tips to stay on top and still use emails productively.

Check your email regularly. Ignoring a message is discourteous and confusing to the sender.

It is good practice to reply to all messages after you have read them, even if it is only an acknowledgement of its receipt.

Once you have read the message file it or delete it.

Deleting messages that will not be needed again conserves hard disk space.

It is important to keep messages short and to the point.

Be diplomatic when you are emailing. Criticism is always harsher when written.

Think if you need to reply to all.

Add a subject title that is appropriate and always add a subject title.

Do not always replay immediately especially on sensitive matters.

Check the size of the attachment before sending, as large files can clog up the email server.

Be careful what you write. Remember emails can be easily forwarded.

It may sound obvious but check for spelling and grammatical errors.

Check for the tone of your email, use emoticons where appropriate. They can do wonders.

In short: Read it Reply to it Keep it short File it Delete it

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Google Custom Search Engine

Like most educators we want to build independent thinking amongst our students. Part of that involves students independently researching and trying to answer a given question or completing a project over a certain time period. Google being one of the largest databases in the world means you bump into information you were not looking for. In most cases it's nice to wonder off in the world of Google and find something new, learning something new. However if you have a 45 minute to an hour lesson you need to ensure your students are on target and focused. This is where you do not want your students to wonder off and get lost in the black hole of the Internet. In this circumstance a not so well known solution by Google might be what you need. Google Custom Search Engine allows teachers to create a Google search engine with options of editing the sites that students search for. You can create a Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) by logging into your gmail account and visiting the Google CSE site here. You first chose a name for your CSE and then simply add the list of sites that should be available during the search. You can either share the link of the CSE with your students via a link or a Google search box can be embedded to your homepage or website. It's that simple. Here is an example of a Google CSE I used during the 'Safer Internet Day 2015' week. The free option is sufficient for most teacher needs, however if you want more of a Google experience you can pay a starting price of $100 a year for that service. For me the free account (linked to your Gmail) is sufficient. For more information please visit www.google.com/cse Enjoy customizing:     // <![CDATA[ (function() { var cx = '016576990326868802380:6tytbluxpoy'; var gcse = document.createElement('script'); gcse.type = 'text/javascript'; gcse.async = true; gcse.src = (document.location.protocol == 'https:' ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//www.google.com/cse/cse.js?cx=' + cx; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(gcse, s); })(); // ]]