“We’re an educational organization. Learning is the heart of everything we do.” I was talking to my staff, explaining the purpose behind the TPS reports they’re required to complete each week. “We need to take a few minutes at the end of the week to reflect on what we’ve accomplished, what has challenged us, and what we have learned. If we’re not learning, we’re not … Continue reading Supporting the Mission
Nothing makes me worry more about technology in education than looking at it through my parent lens. I understand many of the issues. I know the backstory. I get the support issues, the irregular funding, the lack of time, the unfunded mandates, the pressures from outside sources. I also recognize my personal bias. I’m generally very jaded when it comes to new school technologies. We … Continue reading So Right, So Wrong
This is the finale of a three-part series chronicling my family’s experience with a potential child predator. You may want to start with Part 1: It’s Someone You Know and Part 2: Warning Signs. For us, the story is over. The neighbor has been sentenced. While he still lives behind us, I expect that his tenure in the neighborhood is probably drawing to a close. … Continue reading Part 3: Lessons Learned
This is the second installment of a three-part series about my family’s experience with a potential child predator. If you haven’t read it yet, you may want to start with Part 1: It’s Someone You Know. The concluding chapter is Part 3: Lessons Learned. It must have been around the time that our children were born, around the year 2000 or so. We were attending … Continue reading Part 2: Warning Signs
This is the first part of a three part series chronicling my family’s experience with a potential child predator. Parts two and three will be posted within the next few days. It was late on a Friday afternoon in February, and I was packing. We were set to leave on a vacation to Disney World the following morning, and there was still a lot to … Continue reading Part 1: It’s Someone You Know
I think I first became aware of the school game in middle school, though I was certainly playing it long before that. Do what the teacher expects of you. Don’t cause trouble. Complete the work that’s given to you. It doesn’t have to be your best work, but it has to be on time and “good enough” for the grade you want. Do your homework, … Continue reading The School Game
It’s been a grand couple of weeks. Our pilgrimage to Grand Canyon has been filled with mind-numbingly grand values of time and space. We traveled by train — our first time doing so — taking Amtrak from Cleveland to Chicago to Williams, Arizona. The journey, 1,944 miles from home to hotel, took 44 hours counting delays and layovers. From the Grand Canyon to home, the … Continue reading The Grand Picture
After a successful EdCamp Cleveland 2013 and a very hectic end to a challenging school year, the last thing I want to think about is hosting another big event at my school. But last week, four separate people mentioned that they’re interested in starting their own EdCamps, and it’s probably better to get some ideas down now while they’re fresh in my mind. It’s really … Continue reading So You Want to Host an EdCamp
It’s a funny thing about social media. Sometimes, it can be kind of social. That’s fantastic. It’s great for democracy. It’s a monumental shift in how information is managed. It changes the structure of power. Everyone has the means to widely disseminate ideas. Everyone has the ability to engage in the conversation. Everyone can reach a global audience. The gatekeepers are gone. No one is … Continue reading Listen: We Need a Community
This week’s Spark included a piece on data longevity. These days, we’re posting a LOT of content online. Every minute, 72 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. In that same minute, the Internet gains 700,000 Facebook posts, 100,000 tweets, and 571 new web sites. Much of that is stuff we care a lot about. Nearly every photo I’ve taken in the last five years … Continue reading The Semi-Permanent Internet
I’ve been talking about online learning for over twenty years, ever since I realized the power of online discussion forums in which anyone could participate from anywhere in the world. I did research studies in the 1990s on the effect of anonymity in the quality of online discussions among middle school students. I have been a curator of online professional learning networks longer than we’ve … Continue reading Blended Learning
One of the trends right now in educational technology is a move toward individual computing devices for each learner. Whether you go with a 1:1 program, a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) model, or a hybrid approach with several different solutions, it’s clear that we are moving to a world where computers are assigned to people, not places. This personalization of technology is a trend … Continue reading Places to People
Taste of Tech 