School and technology leaders have an obligation to provide access to sufficient digital devices so that teaching and learning needs can be met. Sufficiency is a complex concept grounded in: The number of devices that are available (too few impedes access); The nature of the devices (to little capacity impedes sufficiency); The manner in which Read More
Category: Technology
What Turkle Said About Identity
Sherry Turkle, a sociologist from MIT studied computer users’ sense of identity early in the days of Internet-mediated communication. She observed that many users at the time were creating multiple online identities and that many users were exploring different senses of identity through those online spaces, and Turkel (1995) began her book Life on the Read More
Humans and Technology
Because evidence of tools accompanies evidence of humans, it is difficult to decide if humans preceded tools or if tools were created by pre-human primates. In his book The Artificial Ape, archaeologist Timothy Taylor (2010) claims the question cannot be answered because the human species and the technology we have created cannot be separated. He Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Technicians
Placing a technician in every school to be the primary source of IT support does improve efficiency of repairs but, coincidently, it increases dependence on that technician, thus efficiency can actually decrease. When teachers and others depend on the technician, they are unlikely to develop their own troubleshooting skills, so rather than resolving a problem Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Freezing
While imaging is a reaction to software changes that have adversely affect the performance of a system, freezing is a strategy that prevents software problems from occurring. A technician installs the application that provides the freezing function and then configures the system exactly as he or she wants it to function. Just like imaging, all Read More
My First Computer
I opened a random file on a hard drive I use to store archived files just for the fun of it. I discovered a draft of a piece written about 10 years ago; it contained this account of my entry into computing: As an undergraduate science education major, I concluded that computers were certainly a Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: 10 Commandments of Computer Ethics
For many years, we who teach teachers spent part of out sessions discussing computer ethics. We reasoned that educators had a responsibility to both teach about and model ethical computer use. Over time, I have seen this sense of responsibility wane. One of the resources I used most often when this was higher on my Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Imaging
This is one of a series of posts that introduce common information technology management activities to educational leaders. In the vocabulary of IT technicians, imaging refers to the process of creating a file that contains the copy of a computer hard drive, then sending that to the hard drives of other computers. This strategy is Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Edtech Professionals and Customer Service
Regardless of the role or she fills, all IT professionals who work in schools should be expected to demonstrate excellent customer service skills. “Customer service” is not a term commonly associated with education professionals, but they are skills needed for those who are providing technology support. Exactly what is meant by customer service also depends, Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Password Security
With the growing importance of accounts and the growing amount of information and communication that occurs on digital networks, password security is becoming very important. In the same way that you would not leave your house keys around for anyone to use your house, you should not leave your password around for anyone to use Read More