Hermeneutic researchers fall into the hermeneutic cycle (see figure 1) in which an artifact is interpreted in light of the culture and then the culture is reinterpreted in light of the emerging understanding of the artifact. This cycle between the whole of the culture being reconstructed and the parts of the culture embodied in the Read More
How People Learn (National Research council, 2000) has been an important resource for scholars and educational practitioners for almost two decades. Google Scholar indexes more than 24,000 items that have cited the book. In 2018, a second version of the book was published. I am preparing a review of the book to be posted here Read More
In the previous sections, an oversimplified version of technology decision-making has been presented. Cost (a very important consideration for reasonable decisions) and computing capacity (also important in consideration for ensuring sufficient computing is available) have been identified as the factors relevant to purchase decisions. While cost and capacity may be the dominant factors when deciding Read More
Another common negotiation is between the available capacity and the nature of the information task in the curriculum. In situations in which the complexity of the information task is beyond the capacity of the devices, teachers may reconcile the complexity of the tasks with the capacity of the devices. Consider video editing, which is a Read More
When making purchase decisions, IT professionals must negotiate cost and capacity. In general, devices that have greater capacity are more expensive; this can be seen in comparing the cost and capacity of devices with full operating systems (most expensive and greatest capacity) with Internet-only devices (least expensive and least capacity). There is an inverse relationship Read More
School and technology leaders have an obligation to provide access to sufficient digital devices so that teaching and learning needs can be met. Sufficiency is a complex concept grounded in: The number of devices that are available (too few impedes access); The nature of the devices (to little capacity impedes sufficiency); The manner in which Read More
Educators appear to have an incomplete and inconsistence awareness of autonomy as a factor that affects learning. Blumenfeld, Kempler, and Krajik (2006) define autonomy to include the “perception of a sense of agency, which occurs when students have the opportunity for choices and for playing a significant role in directing their own activity” (p. 477). Read More
Eric von Hippel (2005), a scholar who studies technological innovations, suggested lead users, those individuals who tend to develop new applications of technology are most productive and contribute the greatest innovation when they are provided with a toolkit that affords: The ability to complete the entire trial and error process- This is particularly important for Read More
My grandfather graduated from the University of Vermont in 1939 and I have some of his textbooks on my bookshelves along with the textbooks I used while an undergraduate student at the same institution 49 years later. The content of the textbooks (we both studied biology) is vastly different, but the literacy skills useful for Read More
133: Planning and Goals For the last several decades, school planning has focused on first setting goals or defining expected outcomes and then designing and implementing systems to accomplish those goals. In this, educators are following the strategic and logistic planning that has been common for leaders of other organizations. In the 21st century, curriculum Read More