Gary’s Blog

“Difficult” interactions between IT users and IT professionals are not unique to schools. The difficulties can arise from users’ frustrations that IT is interfering with their abilities to do their work, the perceptions that their priorities are not receiving proper attention, and other factors. In many cases, the IT professionals contribute to the difficulties by Read More

Most scholars and practitioners trace the origins of problem-based learning to changes in medical school teaching in the 1960’s. At the time, traditional lecture was deemed insufficient to prepare physicians for the field which was characterized by rapidly expanding field of knowledge and the emergence of new medical technologies. It was reasoned physicians’ capacity to Read More

All teachers plan. Those who are following the Standard Model of Education are likely to focus on content when they plan; they want to be sure they tell students everything they must tell them to cover all of the topics in the curriculum. They will also plan for how to best tell students what they Read More

As students experience deeper learning, they frame, understand, and attempt to solve problems as they interact with foundational knowledge. This facilitates their ability to remember what they learned, and they also become more skilled at assessing what they know and what they do not know. Advocates for deeper learning differentiate the use of foundational knowledge Read More

What emerges from the appropriate design process is a collection of IT tools and features the educators deem necessary for the IT to meet the intended educational goals. It is the role of the IT professionals to ensure that technology is properly configured to both provide that need, plus reflect the responsible configuration of the Read More

In almost all organizations, IT is a support function. Workers use IT to perform business-critical functions and improve efficiency and effectiveness, but—while being critical for business operations—IT rarely is an income center for any business. In schools, this is especially true in schools, as computers are a relatively recent tool in schools, and much effective Read More