Once computer networks are installed and configured (usually in consultation with external engineers and technicians), system administrators employed by the school ensure they remain operational and functional. These professionals listen for network problems by both attending to reports of malfunctions from users and by monitoring system logs, and they both resolve problems that are identified Read More
Category: Technology
Reflexivity: The Tools We Have and Use
Technology systems are evolutive; the systems and the components are in a perpetual state of development and refinement. This evolutive nature is exaggerated in modern ICT which evolves much more rapidly than other previous information systems. The forces that drive this evolution include both advances in the capacity of the ICT and changes in how Read More
Technology Transfer
Most technologies are local creations. Members of a population will identify a need, find naturally occurring phenomena that can be controlled and applied to meet that need, and then design a new hard or soft technology based on the phenomena or they will exapt an existing technology to meet a need. Different populations, even those Read More
Is #edtech Speeding Back to the 1960’s?
86: Is #edtech Speeding Back to the 1960’s? By the early 1960s the price of mainframe computers had decreased to the point where sales to educational markets were possible. At about the same time the potential of using computers in schools was recognized, but some cynics have suggested that the educational applications of computing were Read More
Edtech for Edleaders: Local Area Networks
84: Edtech for Edleaders: Local Area Networks Local area networks (LAN) entered most educators’ experience in the mid-1990’s when the first servers to be regularly accessed by teachers and students arrived in schools. Early uses of LAN’s in schools included connecting multiple computers to a shared a printer and sharing files using a folder (or Read More
Edtech for Edleaders: A Rationale
92: Edtech for Edleaders: A Rationale Opening the door and peering into the wiring closet where network devices are installed can be an intimidating experience. These rooms tend to be filled with white noise (generated by fans moving air which is cooled by air conditioners that operate day and night during all seasons) and racks Read More
Edtech for Edleaders: Computer Rooms Today
85: Edtech for Edleaders: Computer Rooms Today While computer rooms have largely fallen out of favor, they continue to be maintained in many schools. As more diverse computing devices have entered the educational market and Internet-only notebooks became more popular, computer rooms have become more important for providing capacity for specialized purposes that require sophisticated Read More
Edtech for Edleaders: What We Want in IT Systems
93: Edtech for Edleaders: What We Want in IT Systems When describing the IT systems they build and manage, IT professionals use three words to describe their systems (or at least they try to build systems that can be described with these three): Reliable systems are available whenever users need them. Internet services providers, web Read More
What Larry Cuban Said About Technology is (Discouragingly) Still Accurate
The computer technologies introduced to schools in the last quarter of the 20th century were part of a long parade of electronic information technologies that were introduced first into the popular culture and then into education throughout the 20th century. In 1986, Larry Cuban, a professor of education at Stanford University, reviewed the history of Read More
The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It
Jonathan Zittrain wrote this book a decade ago. It is worth reading again! https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/4455262/zittrain_future%20of%20the%20internet.pdf?sequence=1