Educational reform in the last several decades has been horizontal as schools commonly jump from one initiative to another with little reason. The typical cycle is familiar to many: First, an initiative (supported with little or dubious evidence from the learning sciences) is introduced and implemented (with little or dubious support and rationale). Second, problems Read More
41: Communication in Preliterate Societies Walter Ong (1982) concluded only about 100 of the 10,000 human languages that survived into the 20th century had a written language; leading to the conclusion that most cultures demonstrate primary orality. Adjaye (2008) observed indigenous communications systems that rely on oral traditions are based on structures and procedures that Read More
36; Three Important Papers | RSS.com In the closing months of World War II, Vannevar Bush (1945), who had served as Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development during the war, published “As We May Think” in Atlantic Monthly. His article captured the essence of digital electronic information technology just as it had Read More
43: Media and Attention The emerging sophistication of digital media and the accompanying sophistication of media skills are captured in the observation of Seels, Fullerton, Berry, and Horn (2004) that interest in and attention to media is characterized by a bell-shaped curve. Media that are familiar, simple, redundant, and expected are associated with low interest Read More
44: The Human Social Brain Beginning in the early 1970’s, cognitive scientists began studying two opposing hypotheses to explain of the anatomical differences between the brains of humans and the brains of other primates: the social brain hypothesis, which posited social factors are the primary force driving the development of the human brain and the Read More
Teacher education has traditionally been informed by a framework comprising the content dimension (what is to be taught or the curriculum) and the pedagogy dimension (how it is taught or instruction). Shulman (1987) suggested teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge cannot be developed in isolation, so he proposed “pedagogical content knowledge” (PCK) to describe the Read More
37: Natural Technology | RSS.com Technology has been a part of human existence since our species first evolved. Anthropologist Timothy Taylor (2010) approached a tautology when he suggested that “the intelligence that makes us inventive was enabled by inventions: the baby sling, the stone blade, and the cooking hearth” (194), but he continued “these are Read More
45: Three Questions About Assessment These ideas are further supported in Technology in Support of Diverse Assessment which was prepared for the 2017 AECT Annual Conference. “Assessment” has been an important aspect of teaching and learning (or perhaps more accurately, it has been a buzzword garnering much attention) for most of my career in education. Advocates for Read More
47: The (Overturned) Standard Model of Education Words are powerful tools for human thought; once “something” is named it can be recognized and humans can both communicate about it and interact with the concept in a way they could not previously. When the named thing is not an object, but an action (or collection of Read More
Leaders often defer to the IT professionals when it comes to making decision about which IT systems to obtain and how to configure them. Unfortunately for those who want to avoid using up valuable synapses with information about IT systems, leaders are assuming an increasing role in making technology decisions. The reason leader must participate Read More