IT professionals can expect to be asked to support accessibility checkers in the productivity suites they deploy. These tools (which may be built into the applications or may require add-ons to be installed) will identify parts of the presentations that are not compliant with ADA requirements. For example, they will identify missing metadata, missing navigation Read More
Because schools are public institutions, they are compelled to follow the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This means teachers who create multimedia for use in their classrooms must ensure the materials are accessible. Accessibility of multimedia means, for example, video is closed captioned, slides have unique names, descriptive alternative text is added to Read More
There are testing protocols that have been incorporated into many curriculum programs that have been adopted by schools. The rationale is that all decisions about curriculum and instruction must be made to create measurable changes in students. Many educational theorists reject this assertion, and the evidence supporting the claims that more data is associated with Read More
Especially when educators include significant amounts of deeper, active, and authentic activities in their classrooms, there is frequent need for students to be reminded of how to perform certain tasks or to solve particular problems. This need often arises at different times in different students as they study independent inquiries, therefore demand is irregular and Read More
For much of the history of computers in schools, the “timeliness” of repairs was ill-defined and repair deadlines were not critical. When computers were only one or two per classroom and they were only marginally used in the curriculum, a computer being inoperable for a few days or even weeks posed little disruption to students’ Read More
Data can become evidence only if it is reliable. Reliability is based on the degree to which the same observations can be made under similar circumstances but at different times, and also one the degree to which different measures of the same effect agree. Theory allows managers and leaders to make predictions about what they Read More
As educational professionals, we have unusual access to computer systems and data. We are likely to be users of many computing devices. At work, you have classroom computers, computer rooms, library computers, and mobile devices that you and those around you use. These are the devices that are most tightly secured. There are sophisticated firewalls, Read More
Perhaps the most impressive capacities of computers are those related to information manipulation and analysis. Computers can remember with precision and longevity, and computers can follow algorithms at billions of steps per second. The keyboard strokes that become digital displays that humans recognize as words and sentences are actually a series of digital signals. Those Read More
40: Let’s Diversify Computer Education | RSS.com I heard through the grapevine—one comprising trusted individuals—that a former student was interviewing for a job as an IT professional. My name came up in their conversations as members of the interview team know me and knew the candidate had been my student. The message I got through Read More
Education is fundamentally an endeavor grounded in guesses. Well, that may be hyperbole, but our curriculum is a guess at what our students may need to know for their future. We really can’t know what they are going to do, how things are going to change, or what we missed that we should have taught. Read More