I received an interesting email recently from a state agency that focuses on educational technology use in the schools. I was complaining that a survey tool they’re currently using lacks many of the features of its predecessor. This seems to be a trend with this particular agency this year. They’re introducing a number of new tools that are significant downgrades to the tools they’re replacing. … Continue reading Open Source

One of the many fields experiencing transformational change in this digital revolution is that of the journalist. As citizens, we struggle with the information firehose. We work to teach our students how to filter information, how to assess the reliability of sources, how to efficiently locate the really useful stuff. But journalists — good journalists — have to do this with much more data much … Continue reading The New Journalism

My wife is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. This is an organization that celebrates American heritage, promotes patriotism and the teaching of American history, and works to preserve artifacts and places of historical note. To be a member, you have to prove that you’re a descendant of someone who helped further the cause of American independence. I refer to it as … Continue reading The New Divide

The first day of Educon is supposed to be an opportunity for conference participants to see the host school, Science Leadership Academy, on a more-or-less normal day. We can go to conferences and talk all we want about inquiry-driven project-based learning, but it’s much more valuable to see what’s actually happening in the classrooms of these so-called experts. So Educon is designed to allow time … Continue reading Plan B

It’s 1995. I just got a new job as a middle school computer applications teacher. I visited my classroom for the first time to take a look around. Macintosh LC computers. Appletalk network. No Internet access. I dig through the software in the cabinet. Type to Learn. Kid Pix. MS Office. BASIC. I had met with my predecessor and she shared what she had done with this … Continue reading RIP RSS

Every six or eight months, I have to talk about books. It still drives me crazy that we pay a fortune for textbooks, and that no one is seriously looking at the e-book market for education, and that no one can seem to get an open source textbook off the ground (despite cool projects like CK-12, Wikibooks, and others). But despite the convenience factor with … Continue reading Here He Goes Again…

We’ve been inundated lately with students walking in to our office bearing flash drives. Usually, they’re accompanied by a staff member. “We need help opening a file.” “What kind of file is it?” “It’s an English paper.” “Right. But what program did you use to create it?” “I did it at home.” At this point, it’s easier to just look at the drive. Usually, the … Continue reading File Formats

Microsoft Windows XP reached a milestone last week when all new sales of the operating system ended. That’s not really new – most people haven’t been able to buy Windows XP for more than two years. But this latest nail in XP’s coffin affects netbooks. An exception to the 2008 end-of-life date for XP still allowed sales of XP on netbooks though October 22. Hereafter, … Continue reading The Microsoft Problem

“The kids are telling me that email is old-fashioned.” The message popped up in my Facebook chat. It was one of our high school teachers. “They say they don’t use email. Should I be setting up a Facebook group instead?” I didn’t like where this was heading. Setting up a Facebook group would likely mean teachers and students friending one another. While I don’t necessarily … Continue reading Reminding Students

My poor neglected blog. There was a time when I posted twice a week, 100 times a year. If I had something to say, I said it here. People were reading the blog, and commenting, and this was how the educational technology community kept in touch. I was out in the blogosphere much more than I am now, reading and reacting to the things others … Continue reading Still the One