TechAccpetancePresentation

#edtech for #IT: Copyright

One of the most challenging issues related to digital information in schools is copyright. This is especially true in the time since one-to-one initiatives became common. One rationale for adding computing devices for each student to the budget was that textbooks (traditionally a very expensive resource) would no longer be necessary. While textbooks that are Read More

TechAccpetancePresentation

On Collaboration in IT Planning

Humans have a long history with technology. It is reasonable to conclude that humans and their technologies cannot be separated. Without our tools, our species would not have become the Earth-altering species we have become.  When reviewing the history of our technology, we see that information technologies are a relatively recent invention, but for several Read More

TechAccpetancePresentation

#edtech for #IT: FERPA

Most IT professionals are familiar with the need to keep data secure. In schools, the importance of privacy takes on special importance. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is law in the United States which is intended to safeguard sensitive information about children in schools. While there are some types so information that Read More

TechAccpetancePresentation

Why Testing is Meaningless in Schools

It is widely known inside education (but much less so outside of education), that we really don’t know what to teach or how to measure learning. Educational researchers will dispute this, as they spend their entire careers defining learning and measuring it. In science that is allowed, and we accept the conclusions of studies, but Read More

TechAccpetancePresentation

On Open Resources in Schools

A wide range of expenses consumes educational technology budgets. Very obvious expenses marked the cyclic spending that characterized the first decades of educational computing; computers arrived in boxed, as did software on disks to be inserted into the computers. As networks were installed, expenses became more hidden from users. Servers, routers, and switches (each with Read More

TechAccpetancePresentation

On the Changing Nature of School IT Systems

One of the most significant changes faced by information technology professionals in schools (and other organizations) has been the adoption of cloud-based data and productivity systems. Whereas previous generations of IT professionals configured servers that were physically located on campus to provide necessary services (for example file storage and print management) and they installed applications Read More

TechAccpetancePresentation

Elevator pitch on gaps in education

Education is a field characterized by gaps: Teachers and school administrators view scholars with suspicion as they believe scholars are disconnected from the realities of the classroom. Scholars are suspicious of teachers and school administrators as they believe educators are unsystematic in their work. Educational theorists advocate for reform of schooling so that students are Read More

TechAccpetancePresentation

On Digital Information in Schools

Schools have always been places where information is consumed and created. For most of the history of schools, that information was created as physical artifacts (works written on paper, images drawn on paper, songs recorded on tapes, and similar creations). Once physical or analog media is created, it must be copied on to bits of Read More