For several decades, several variations of the technology acceptance model have been used to explain and predict the use of technology by individuals and within organizations. In general, when users perceive IT to be easy to use, effective for their tasks, and similar to that used by others; they are more likely to use it Read More
Author: Gary Ackerman
What? Why? And How?
Throughout my career as an educational technologist, I frequently used a “What? Why? And How?” structure to organize my presentations to students and to faculty. The earliest evidence I can find in my teaching of this organization is in 2000 when teaching the information technology course in the school librarian sequence at our state university. Read More
QR and Data Security
Today, URL shortening services and quick response or QR code generation tools are widely available to internet users. While these are useful services when (for example) sharing links to your conference presentation materials with the in-person participants, they can easily be used by phishers for spoofing. Notice in the complete URL, you do have the Read More
On Student Autonomy
A recent tweet and my reply (along with the replies of others) got me thinking about students’ role in deciding curriculum, learning activities, and products through which they demonstrate their learning. Earlier in my career, colleagues and I spoke of “student voice and choice.” As with all dimensions of classroom organization and activity, there is Read More
IT Policies and Procedures for Different Users
Protocols and practices are ostensibly objective. The same rules apply to all users and, especially those that are controlled by technology are applied with precision. The reality in schools, however, is that not all users have similar capabilities and some protocols and practices appropriate for one group of users may not be appropriate for others. Read More
IT Policies and Procedures
The policies that guide the definition of IT-related protocols and procedures are also affected by rules that regulate school operations. Because many IT users are children, and much of the data collected and stored by schools are about children, school and IT leaders are obligated to conform to certain laws and regulations that vary by Read More
Web 2.0 & Privacy
Teachers are always in search of lessons, units, and activities that will help them teach. In the decades since web 2.0 tools arrived on the world wide web, teachers have been able to (for example) create online quizzes and make them available to students; after they take the quizzes, teachers can then check their progress. Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: More Network Security
The most effective way to prevent network security threats is to avoid them. For that reason, network security efforts are primarily intended to prevent threats from access the network and its data. We require complex passwords and multi-factor authentication for even more identify protection, we teach users to recognize phishing and how to respond. We Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Malware
Most computer users would not knowingly spread malware, so hackers must use stealth methods to install the software. One example of a brute force attack is bots that search the internet for computers with unpatched operating systems that can be used a backdoors through which malware is installed. One of the most common methods of Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Browsers
Computer users have many choices for web browsers. It is not unusual to find some computer users who have multiple web browsers installed on their computer; while some use different browsers for different purposes, most keep multiple browsers because they know one of the first steps for troubleshooting a malfunctioning web site is to use a Read More