Category: Tech for Educators

Tech for Educators: Planning and Installing Networks

Enterprise networks are incredibly sophisticated and complex systems. They combine hardware and network software that must be scaled for hundreds or thousands of users on campus. There are three adjectives that describe every network if it is in a school or any other business:  Ensuring a network is all three necessitates expertise in network architecture. Decisions must be made about the hardware and software and configuration necessary to meet Read More

Tech for Educators: Three Classes of Networks

Ethernet is the dominant network technology used in schools (and just about every other organization). When connecting computers and other devices to Ethernet, we use the same protocols and the same devices no matter how many nodes are connected. The devices we use to create computer networks are designed to meet three different classes of networks.   One Read More

Capacity of Computers

When making decisions about the type of computing devices to install in schools, school and technology leaders must define the capacity of the devcies necesary for their purpose. This post sumarizes the factors that affect capacity. Capacity is determined by several factors. In general, these factors dictate the rate at which a system can access, Read More

Technology Companies “Certifying” Educators

I don’t often have time to listen to the radio during the afternoon, but today, I caught the last few minutes of “The start of social media’s legal reckoning” on 1A which I listened to on Vermont Public’s radio broadcast. I only caught the tail end of the commentary, but one of the guests made Read More

Elevating EdTech Professional Development: Training, Planning, and Design

I had AI create this post based on a chapter I wrote a few years ago. 188: Elevating EdTech Professional Development: Training, Planning, and Design If you have ever sat through a school professional development (PD) day focused on “technology integration,” you might be familiar with the following scenario: A room full of educators with Read More

Google and Schools

I recently had a series of conversations with educators about Google. I was anable to point these folks to the specific artcile I read a few years ago in which scholars challenged some of the assumptions we made how Google uses student data. I promised a blog post pointing to it. Here it is! In Read More

Open Source Licenses

168: Open Source Software Licenses | RSS.com Open-source software is also free to use, but “free” can be applied to its use in two ways. First, it can be used at no cost for the user. We download open-source software, just as well do any software, but installation proceeds without entering account information. Second, users are free to use the software in that they Read More

Multimedia in Schools

159: Multimedia in Schools Generations of students have created presentations using a series of programs that combine text, images, audio, and video (thus the “multi” in multimedia). Many trace the beginnings of this type of educational software to HyperCard and HyperStudio, programs that available were for Apple computers marketed in schools in the early 1990’s. Interest in multimedia grew when video cards, color displays, audio Read More

Supporting Education in Rural Schools With Open Source Technology

157: Supporting Education in Rural Schools With Open Source Technology I’m messing around with rehashing my old writing with AI… here is an example from a chapter I wrote several years ago. In the chapter, I described several projects in which we supported education in rural areas using open source technology. Rural educators and school Read More

Assistive and Accessible Technology

171: Assistive Technologies and Accessibility | RSS.com In today’s digital schools, providing students with technology is about more than just giving them laptops or internet access. It’s about ensuring every single student has the tools they need to participate, learn, and succeed. This is where two critical concepts come into play: assistive technology and accessibility. Read More