One bit of advice given to teachers that seems to be common in this year since generative AI stormed on to the educational landscape is “if your assignments can be done by ChatGPT, then it is time to update the assignment.” While that may be true, the reality is that few teachers want to hear Read More
Schools are characterized by large numbers of users all with similar technological needs. For example, in a school enrolling 500 students in the middle grades and providing one device for each student will need 500 identical devices. Deploying identical devices is particularly important for school populations as teachers must plan for all students to have Read More
When designing systems to move useful bits to people in most business settings, IT professionals can make certain assumptions about the abilities of the people who will be interacting with the systems. It is also probable that those people will have clear and well-bounded needs; workers in specific offices need the software and data to Read More
Teaching via technology describes teaching in which the lesson could be done with or without the technology. The technology may increase the efficiency of some activities, but IT does not influence what students do or how they think about the material being presented. Consider, for example, a mathematics classroom in which students solve problems on paper. When Read More
Computers are systems in the true sense of the word. For several decades, “computer” meant a box that rested on a desk; users controlled software that was installed on a disk inside that box and they created information by means of a keyboard and a mouse that were plugged into the box. The user saw Read More
Human cognition is largely understood to be a process that happens inside a single human brain. Well… in schools… western schools like the ones in which I was taught and in which I taught and still work are grounded in the assumption that our cognitive abilities are based on what we can do with our Read More
There seems to be increasing rhetoric around returning to the basics in education and focusing on the “easy” part of teaching which is having students recall information they have been told on tests. It is reasoned students must first know the information before they can use it. It is also reasoned if they know the Read More
Self-determination theory has been particularly useful in explaining and predicting the motivations and actions of adult learners in educational setting. (Rothes, Lemos, and Goncalves, 2017). According to this theory, motivation arises from either autonomous regulation, which arises within the individual and decisions to initiate and continue engagement are made by the individual, or controlled regulation, Read More
Early on my teaching career, my middle school team and I attended wildly popular institutes for middle level educators in Vermont. My team and I joined team from dozens of other schools for a week of intense (and fun) learning and program development. We had amazing presentations, reflected on what we had learned, and integrated Read More
Stress can be either good for brains or bad for brains, the effect depends on the level of stress that is experienced. What is true for physical stress (exercise) is true of psychological stress: none is bad, some is good, but too much is bad. Stress results in the release of a chemical called cortisol Read More