Because schools are public institutions, they are compelled to follow the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This means teachers who create multimedia for use in their classrooms must ensure the materials are accessible. Accessibility of multimedia means, for example, video is closed captioned, slides have unique names, descriptive alternative text is added to Read More
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that was begun in 2001, had a reputation as an unreliable resource as it is edited by volunteers. Many who were responsible for managing school IT at the time blocked access to it on their internet filters; I was one of those who did. Over time, educators and IT professionals realized Read More
Education really has changed in recent decades. My reasons for concluding this is true are many, varied, and too complicated to detail here. It is tempting to blame education for the changes in society that we observe, but that will gain us nothing and the blame is not deserved. All schools serve the learners who Read More
It is an unfortunate reality that there remains a digital divide in the United States; disadvantaged students have less access to technology tools, and even if they do have access to the tools, they are more likely to be used for efficient instruction of procedural and declarative knowledge rather than more effective or efficacious purposes. Read More
Information that a learner remembers and can restate comprises their declarative knowledge. Having learned a large body of declarative knowledge adds to individuals’ efficiency with answering questions and applying that information. For this reason, many teachers facilitate students’ learning facts in classes. The default approach to learning facts has been memorization and teachers introduce mnemonics Read More
John Dewey, the American philosopher is often credited with differentiating traditional from progressive education. In general, traditional education approaches the curriculum as a known collection of content, and teachers select a path through the content, ensuring students learn by rewarding expected answers and correcting inaccurate answers. Progressive education, on the other hand, is designed to Read More
Some schools lack the structures necessary to change what happens in classrooms; schedules, departments, prescribed curriculum, and other systems are obstacles that are too great. Schools are social organizations, thus inherently political; changes in how teachers interact with students can be affected by the demands or threats of those who are more powerful. Some teachers Read More
Hackers (those who try to break into our computers) and phishers (those who try to trick users into letting them into the system) are generally after computing capacity or data. In some cases, they want to use our computers for nefarious purposes. For example, they may want to use our computers to spread viruses or Read More
Expertise arises from both knowing about the field and experience solving real-world problems in the field. In traditional classrooms, the teacher is the individual who has the greatest expertise in the field, and hence is the community’s expert. Increasingly, educators are sharing the role of the foremost expert in the classroom community.
It is important for all IT professionals who work in school to understand the nature of the users and their specific needs. Every decision made and every action taken by IT professionals (regardless of their role) affects end users either directly (by providing troubleshooting, training, and other support) or indirectly (by installing and configuring systems Read More