Because evidence of tools accompanies evidence of humans, it is difficult to decide if humans preceded tools or if tools were created by pre-human primates. In his book The Artificial Ape, archaeologist Timothy Taylor (2010) claims the question cannot be answered because the human species and the technology we have created cannot be separated. He Read More
Placing a technician in every school to be the primary source of IT support does improve efficiency of repairs but, coincidently, it increases dependence on that technician, thus efficiency can actually decrease. When teachers and others depend on the technician, they are unlikely to develop their own troubleshooting skills, so rather than resolving a problem Read More
Especially in large and diverse organizations in which the logistic goals are only achieved by individuals who have greater expertise than others in the organizations, the division of labor and responsibility is more marked than it is in other organizations. Efficacious IT management is clearly an example of such a situation, so it is helpful Read More
141: Rogers’ Stages of Adoption Everett Rogers’ (2003) influential work on the diffusion of innovations explains much that we see on how new idea and practices spread throughout populations. This excerpt from my book Efficacious Technology Management which was released under a Creative COmmons license about a year ago is one summary I use when Read More
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The literature surrounding organizational change often uses the terms “change” and “innovation” interchangeably. When organizations deploy innovations, the leaders and members adopt new tools, follow new procedures, and are driven to meet new purposes. Scholars and practitioners in the field also recognize change can affect different levels within the organization and also the purpose of Read More
While imaging is a reaction to software changes that have adversely affect the performance of a system, freezing is a strategy that prevents software problems from occurring. A technician installs the application that provides the freezing function and then configures the system exactly as he or she wants it to function. Just like imaging, all Read More
ICT systems that are embedded in everyday teaching and learning must be highly functional and have high effort expectancy among educators. These characteristics are not necessarily coincident. For example, systems designed for highly controlled access may be safe from accidental or malicious misconfiguration, thus highly resistant to change and highly functional. Complicated rules for accessing Read More
I opened a random file on a hard drive I use to store archived files just for the fun of it. I discovered a draft of a piece written about 10 years ago; it contained this account of my entry into computing: As an undergraduate science education major, I concluded that computers were certainly a Read More
For many years, we who teach teachers spent part of out sessions discussing computer ethics. We reasoned that educators had a responsibility to both teach about and model ethical computer use. Over time, I have seen this sense of responsibility wane. One of the resources I used most often when this was higher on my Read More