Image Source In 1937, F. Dean McClusky was asked to study why there had been a failure of commercial film makers to make successful educational films. In McClusky’s report: “Commercial interests have failed to grasp or to study the nature of instruction and the complexity of educational organizations.” (Paul Saettler, 1990, p. 106). It appears … Continue reading The Deregulation of Education II: The Measures of Quality
Category: Technology
Help me with this picture!
Image Credit Help me with this thought. Recently, I listened to other technology leaders talk about virtualizing iPads so the schools could run Windows applications and Flash content on those devices. This seems counterintuitive to the idea of portable technologies as well as vastly increases the costs of putting mobile technologies in schools. Several years … Continue reading Help me with this picture!
The Deregulation of Education: From Bubbles to Clicks
Image Credit We need leaders who can work with the education community and the "education reformers, proponents of " the status quo" and the "change agents." Finances, changing demographics, and performance measures are putting pressure on the current system. We need change, but is it "market-driven" change? Does market-driven change focus on students and their … Continue reading The Deregulation of Education: From Bubbles to Clicks
Notes from District 219 Technology Conference, 04/09/11
Notes from the D219 Technology Conference, April 9, 2011 Keynote: Cracking the Native Information Experience -- David Warlick Handouts at http://Handouts.idave.us Starts presentations with something he did not know yesterday. (Books everyone should read, info graphic) Teachers must be master learners. They must be able to teach themselves something new. The question is, how do we … Continue reading Notes from District 219 Technology Conference, 04/09/11
Written Comments to IL House Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee
Illinois State Capitol The Remote Education Act, passed in 2009, is under revision to allow school districts to count student attendance in online programs for days that are not in the districts' approved calendars, such as weekends, holidays and other non-attendance days. [This revision is known as HB3223.] Illinois residents, please send communications of … Continue reading Written Comments to IL House Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee
ICE 2011
(Image Credit) Just returned from two days at the Illinois Computing Educators (ICE) annual conference where ICE was celebrating 25 years as an organization. The ICE conference is always an outstanding way to see what's happening in classrooms with technology, paw the latest hardware in the vendor area, reconnect with the professional contacts, and … Continue reading ICE 2011
Sensible Tech Support
In the February 2011 issue of Kappan, Kevin Fitton offers fundamental tech support principles that should help before employees call for help. In his article, Fister offers a two-step plan. First, "start with the wall;" that is, start with the wall to make sure all the connections are intact. If everything is connected, reboot the computer. … Continue reading Sensible Tech Support
Moving Schools to Transformation
How do we move schools to transformation and away from "tool use" and "integration?" The diagram above is from my dissertation research where I recommended a planning model, I called the "Technology Planning Web." In that research I concluded that technology policy formulation "focused on collecting the objects of technology . . ." Today … Continue reading Moving Schools to Transformation
Students Need Digital Fluency
Vocabulary is important. In my last posting, I wrote about the technology levels I observe in schools and that largely these waste time and money. We need effective steps based on strong trends. Students need more than skills, they need digital fluency. Frequently schools focus too much on "Internet Safety," rather than looking a strong … Continue reading Students Need Digital Fluency
Push Schools to be Transformative
As I listen to my peers and observe the actions of school districts, my conclusion is that there are two levels of technology use in schools: tools and integration, although these levels do not justify the expense of hardware and software in schools. At the first level, the organization considers "technology is a tool." This … Continue reading Push Schools to be Transformative