It would be easy for a self-proclaimed educational technologist to claim that technology is an indispensable component of modern education. It’s not. What do you really need to teach a child how to read? You need a child. You need a willing teacher. It’s helpful to have a book. Everything else is superfluous. When I visited Remba Island in Lake Victoria five years ago, I … Continue reading The Role of Technology in Education
One of the frustrations with the current conversation in public education is that we’re not all talking about the same thing. We’re all experts in education, because we’ve all spent thousands of hours in school. But when it comes to some of the fundamental questions surrounding education, we’re not all on the same page. Here are five things we don’t agree on: What’s the purpose … Continue reading 5 Things We Don’t Agree On
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
One of the disconcerting aspects of my role in education is that I always need to be thinking a couple steps ahead. In many cases, this means looking deep enough into the crystal ball to see the decline of technologies we’re just starting to use. I’ve written in the past about how 1:1 programs may not be the final answer, even as we continue to … Continue reading 4 Reasons Why Google is Bad for Education
Time. There’s nothing like a funeral to remind us that our days on this earth are numbered. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Time. I often hear that time is one of the greatest barriers to teachers doing innovative things in their classrooms. I don’t have time to flip my classroom, or start a student blogging project, or connect with … Continue reading It’s Time
My superintendent was looking for an event to attend. He keeps hearing about iPads and 21st Century Skills and digital textbooks and iPads and 1:1 programs and social media and iPads and YouTube and Facebook and Twitter and iPads and he needed some context. He wanted some way to make sense of it all. I suggested the 21st Century Skills Summit earlier this month in … Continue reading The Death of 21st Century Skills
Taste of Tech 