A relatively new specialist to join the IT staff is the data specialist. The need for this specialist arises from both the skills necessary to manage the databases in which demographic, health, behavioral, academic, and other information that is housed regarding students and the increasing demand for data-driven practices. Schools store vast amounts of data Read More
Category: Technology
#Edtech for #Edleaders: Beta-Testing
116: #Edtech for #Edleaders: Beta-Testing “Beta-testing” is a term that is kicked around in the vernacular and in the popular culture, but it is actually a part of the system design and deployment work of IT professionals that is taken very seriously by the most successful IT designers. Beta-testing refers to the stage in design Read More
Edtech for Edleaders: Whom to Hire: Technicians
Technicians are the individuals who have one of the most important roles in IT system operations in schools as they are the face of the IT department to most members of the organization. A technician is likely to spend his or her day troubleshooting and repairing end users’ devices such as PC’s, laptops, printers, and Read More
#Edtech for #Edleaders: Whom to Hire: System Administrators
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
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
Appropriate Proper Reasonable 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 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