124: IT for Teaching The tasks that teachers accomplish using IT systems can be differentiated into two categories. First, are the highly predictable tasks that resemble those performed by business users. IT professionals can plan and test functionality. These tasks include many of the data management tasks such as recording attendance and grades for which Read More
Educators seem to view their practice as one of two evolutionary processes (here I am using evolution in the sense of change in a recognized direction). It is either: Those who have been in the field for more than a few years, will point out that these two often happen in cycles. The same change Read More
Some schools lack the structures necessary to change what happens in classrooms; schedules, departments, prescribed curriculum, and other systems are obstacles that are too great. Schools are social organizations, thus inherently political; changes in how teachers interact with students can be affected by the demands or threats of those who are more powerful. Some teachers Read More
Hackers (those who try to break into our computers) and phishers (those who try to trick users into letting them into the system) are generally after computing capacity or data. In some cases, they want to use our computers for nefarious purposes. For example, they may want to use our computers to spread viruses or Read More
Expertise arises from both knowing about the field and experience solving real-world problems in the field. In traditional classrooms, the teacher is the individual who has the greatest expertise in the field, and hence is the community’s expert. Increasingly, educators are sharing the role of the foremost expert in the classroom community.
I recently helped my son move about 1000 miles away. He was driving a truck full of stuff and I was driving one of their cars. This is a task parents and their children have been doing for decades. The details of doing it sure have changed. Our phones were connected to our vehicles, so Read More
Generative AI has been a “thing” for more than a year. My colleagues in education seem to be surviving despite the warnings that “the sky is falling.” Some are working to integrate it into their instruction; some are avoiding it. I was a student when handheld calculators became ubiquitous, I was a teacher when computers Read More
It is important for all IT professionals who work in school to understand the nature of the users and their specific needs. Every decision made and every action taken by IT professionals (regardless of their role) affects end users either directly (by providing troubleshooting, training, and other support) or indirectly (by installing and configuring systems Read More
Philosopher and scientist Michael Polanyi used the term tacit knowledge to describe understanding that is implicit and difficult to state with precision. For this reason, tacit knowledge cannot be stated as an algorithm, so it cannot be downloaded to digital devices. According to Polanyi, tacit knowledge is necessary to frame a problem, to develop a Read More
200: Is It an Innovation? Consider the overhead projector as an educational innovation. Prior to the overhead projector, a teacher wrote notes and drew pictures on slate boards with chalk. When writing or drawing, a teacher’s back was to the students and the contents were bounded by the edges of the slate. With the overhead Read More