Among the studies summarized by Gary Small, a cognitive scientist who works at the University of California Los Angeles, and his co-author Gigi Vorgan in the 2008 book iBrain: Surviving the Technological Modification of the Modern Mind, were several documenting the effects of technologies on human brains. They described research in which scientists measured a Read More
The dominant information technology has been print for so long that it has been natural for generations of students and teachers to conclude skills using text should be the focus of what we do in schools. Many of today’s educators were adolescents when print still dominated culture, but print is being replaced by digital electronic Read More
Once writing is introduced to a culture, there are recognizable changes in the culture that are attributed to the changed information technology systems, and especially the ability to store information indefinitely. Scholars find evidence of similar changes as writing was introduced to cultures on different continents and in different centuries. Historians Michael Hobart and Zachary Read More
Steven Johnson, a well-known writer about popular culture and the influences of information technology on popular cultures argues that television and other media (including video games) are becoming more complex with richer narrative, more characters, and more complex plot twists. Compared to 20th century media, Johnson (2006) observed the modern media landscape is comprised of Read More
Once the World Wide Web became available in the mid-1990’s, the Internet changed from being a resource for academic and government researchers to being a tool for commerce and the people. Many educators recognized the World Wide Web as an opportunity for students to access previously unavailable resources. Because few schools had the network infrastructure Read More
In the 1970’s computers entered the consumer market, and hobbyists began purchasing computers. By 1982, personal computers could be purchased for less than $1000, and amateur enthusiasts (including children) were writing their own programs to satisfy their own interests and curiosities. In that year, Joseph Deken, a statistician working at Stanford University who had received Read More
One focus of professional development relative to information and computer technology (ICT) in schools has been managing it. When computers first arrived, and machines were stand-alone devices, individual educators were able to manage the computers in their classrooms with independence; software was purchased for single machines and printers and similar peripherals were connected to specific Read More
I have been workin with faculty who are trying to learn to use a new web service recently. They have been growing frustrated as the interface is not intuitive (and it is poorly designed, but don’t tell anyone I said that). Many have said they would stop using the service if they could but they Read More
Related to the digital generations’ interest in and desire to customize technologies is the rate at which the digital generations adopt new technologies. Members of these generations are willing to buy new devices as soon as they arrive on the market and they are enthusiastic consumers of innovative new devices. They both become users of Read More
I’m reviewing some recent observations I have made of lessons in which technology was used for education. One teachers explained her what she sees when she walks past some classes as they use the new Chromebooks for the math program that is recommended by the school district: You go in and see all of the Read More