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
Author: Gary Ackerman
What is “Good” Technology-Rich Teaching?
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
A Teacher’s Realization that Literacy is Changing
I have been talking with teachers about the role of technology in their courses and the changing nature of the schooling experience. This one particular English teacher is realizing the traditional curriculum is no longer sufficient for her students. She described her recent realization: We have to face the fact that things like reading are Read More
Jerome Bruner’s Observation of Education
In describing education as a social invention, Bruner (1966) suggested each generation of educators engages in a process of revising educational theory and realigning the resulting practice in response to changes in human understanding. Bruner reasoned (a) the need to update education arises from advances in understanding of human growth, development, and learning; (b) advances Read More
Hermeneutic and Naturalistic Approaches to Research and Planning
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 II
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
Negotiating #edtech Educational Usefulness versus Device Management
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
Negotiating #edtech Capacity versus Information Task
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
Negotiating #edtech Price versus Capacity
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
#edtech for #edleaders: Negotiating Capacity and Price of Devices
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