Increasingly, we recognize many of the things that are “true” in society are myths. In education, we hear lots of folks promote “learning styles,” but that idea is a debunked myth. In education, we also hold that curriculum and teaching should not be political. It is reasoned teachers’ job is to teach the facts and Read More
Category: Schools
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
It Is Time for Metamodernism
Over my career, I have been a natural scientist; my undergraduate preparation was in science education. I spent many delightful hours in science labs gathering and interpreting data, and I was fortunate that my professors (in botany) included original research. As a science and math teacher, my thinking and teaching was dominated by modernist Read More
Why I Recommend Community College
Especially late in my career working in k-12 schools, I often drew the ire of guidance counselors and school leaders by recommending students consider community college for their first stop in higher education. For context, late in my career, I worked as a licensed teacher, but my role as an educational technology specialist found me Read More
Ethics are Active
Stephanie Moore and Heather Tillberg-Webb’s Ethics and Educational Technology: Reflection, Interrogation, and Design as a Framework for Practice by Stephanie L. Moore and Heather K. Tillberg-Webb (9780415895088) continues to deliver on the promise summarized on the cover. Ethics, we have seen, should be approached from a design perspective. As designers, we are encouraged to be Read More
Lets’ Be Clear: Schools are Not Business
We often hear that schools should be run as businesses are run. We also hear we should support school choice as it will increase competition, thus improve quality for all. Those who advocate these stances appear to misunderstand the realities of schools that make them different from businesses. The practices used to make business successful Read More
On Applied Course
For generations, one of the questions teachers must contemplate and answer for themselves is “What do I want my students to be able to do with the lessons I teach them?” As I have answered that question, I have come to view my answers along a continuum. My continuum of goals I have for students Read More
On Problems in Education
In education, problems are not so easy to isolate and fix. Students and teachers are vastly more complicated than IT and their lives are affected by far more variables than even the most sophisticated IT systems. When looking carefully at problems in education, we discover they cannot be isolated; and solutions may resolve symptoms but Read More
IT for Education Leaders: Networks
Because Google Workspaces and cloud-based data systems are used for all aspects of teaching and learning as well as school operations; secure, robust, and reliable network infrastructure is vital to schools. For many decisions about what to install and how to configure it, school IT professionals must engage educators and others who are affected by Read More
On User Devices in Schools
Cell phones have been arriving in schools in the packets of students for the entirety of the 21st century. For most of this century, the cell phones they have been bringing into schools are smartphones which can distract students with a myriad of channels for communications and apps. Those channels for communication and apps can Read More