Accounting is a technology that accompanied the creation of writing, and counting changed when “we” decided accurate records we needed. Whereas many cultures with primary orality do not differentiate numbers (many unwritten languages quantify using words for “one,” “two,” and “many”). Accounting necessitated accurate calculation of numbers including decimal places. The familiar base 10 and Read More
Category: Technology
Effective Teachers Use Technology
Early in the history of computing, no one could predict the degree to which digital information and devices were going to affect communication. Early in the 21st century, it was common to quantify the speed at which humans communicate and the vastness of the information available, but those comparisons are no longer relevant. With the Read More
Thoughts on Digital Information in Culture
In the 20th century, electronic media (such as radio, movie, and television) became widely used throughout the industrial world. In the last quarter of the 20th century, electronic media also included computers. In the last decade of the 20th century, telecommunications networks to which computers could be connected further extended the media landscape in many Read More
Using the LMS
Every instructor can expect their college will provide a course shell on the learning management system they support. The shell may be largely empty, or it may be completely filled with the materials for the course, or it may be partially filled. Student are likely to be enrolled in your course shell without the instructor’s Read More
Another View of Appropriate, Proper, and Reasonable
In this blog, I have reasoned educational technology must be appropriate, proper, and reasonable. As I think about this more, it seems there are three separate and related, but largely independent groups that must give input into the management of information technology in school organizations. Steering Committees are diverse groups comprising representatives from across the Read More
What Tenner Wrote About Technology
Edward Tenner (1996), who served as the editor for physics and science at Princeton University Press, suggested in many instances, the actual outcomes of technologies are contrary to the intended outcome and even make the original problem worse. Tenner used the term revenge effects to describe the outcomes of technology that are opposite the intended Read More
Thoughts on “Education for Misinformation”
I’ve been kicking around the concept of “red herrings” for a few years, at least since I started to recognize them. I attribute this skill to the habits I developed while a doctoral student, but we all know how “reliable” such stories are about ourselves. For me, red herrings always appeared in our school structures, Read More
Yeah, I’m Not a Conspiracy Theorist, but…
Last week, one of my wife’s colleagues had a medical emergency. It is a rather rare condition and she was asking me what I know about it (noting really), so I said it a few times as I through what it might be from the words in the title. When I started typing it into Google for a search to Read More
On Ethics in #edtech
In the recent move to remote teaching, the interest in and “need” for online proctoring of tests students complete at a distance has come to the front of many educators’ and instructional leaders’ attention. increasingly, as well, this discussion focuses on the question “Should we use these tools?” Personally, I see little value in these Read More
Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology
For all of the rhetoric around being data driven for the last few decades, educators are generally woeful users of data when it comes to making classroom decisions. In my opinion, this is due to the fact that data (quantitative date that is) can only be meaningfully be applied to large data set. We might Read More