I thought it would be interesting to take a backwards glance to see what were the issues on this date last year.

This time last year I published two articles, one of which was about the launch of the then-new Training and Development Agency.

Here are the articles:

Development of the Children's Workforce

... and what it means for the educational ICT professional in schools and Local Authorities.

A recent UK Government publication contains useful information for those involved in ICT in education in Britain.

Interestingly, this document announced that the Department of Children, Schools and Families was launching the Training and Development Agency, part of whose remit was to attract more teachers of ICT into the profession. I tried to find out if they had succeeded, but the official statistics don’t seem to cover the relevant period yet. Do you have any information about this?

My bionic briefcase

Or... what is the well-dressed consultant carrying these days?

OK, so the title is a bit of a misnomer because my briefcase is not bionic (I just happen to like the alliteration), and the well-dressed consultant referred to is me. Here's a list of stuff I never travel without on business.

This was an article about the range of devices I carry around with me. I’m slightly embarrassed to say that nothing much has changed. I no longer carry an Alphasmart and/or a Digimemo around with me, preferring an Asus EEPC instead, but other than that nothing has changed. I’m still of the opinion that whilst there is a convergence of devices in the sense that many of them are becoming more and more multifunctional, having dedicated devices is best in terms of quality.

For example, my phone can take photos, video and record sound, yet I still prefer my camera, Flip video recorder and Edirol recorder for such things. The only thing is, if I happen to not have those things on me and something record-worthy comes up, I’ve always got my phone to fall back on.

I wonder if multifunctional devices will ever completely replace single function ones for most people most of the time?

What do you think? Please leave a comment.