Jun 14, 2015 Filed in:
Technology IntegrationI hope that we can start with the premise that technology literacy is an essential content area in K12 education.
Reflect on how different this world is from 10 years ago - before smart phone / tablet technology. Or how different the world is from 20 years ago with the eruption of the World Wide Web; or 30 years ago with the personal (consumer) computer revolution. How we communicate, learn from and with each other, collaborate, research, shop, aggregate, curate, discern… almost everything is very different. We cannot expect to teach as we were taught.
Granted, there is considerable disparity between schools, school systems and segments of societies. Most classrooms, most days are not significantly different today than they were 40 years ago, especially with regard to what the students are doing. At educational conferences, we see great examples of modern learning activities, but there is that nagging feeling that this only represents a small group of students and often only for a week or two out of the entire year.
My essential question after attending the tech conferences is:
How do we enhance education in a systemic fashion, and sustainable fashion?
Earlier this year, a good friend and fellow ADE Lucy Gray published an About.com article: Tips for Educational Technology Coaches that provided some great suggestions about pursuing excellence as a Technology Leader in the local school.
For me this article triggered a question: Do education policy makers recognize just how important a Technology Specialist, Technology Integrator, or Technology Innovation Coach is at the local school level?
Read More...Tags: innovation, technology literacy, leadership, Policy, Political Action
Feb 13, 2015 Filed in:
Standards-AssessmentToday I participated in another political survey. I encourage parents, teachers and education professionals to take this survey as well.
Here is a list of my summary comments:
- The idea that learning occurs on a schedule, in a standardized fashion for all students is ill informed.
- The legitimacy of using a single test given one time and one time only is not a legitimate way to grade instruction nor the instructor.
Read More...Tags: Testing, Policy, Political Action
Jan 31, 2015 Filed in:
PolicyA former student and friend shared a Norwegian news article with me and asked me what I thought… a Facebook question and response turned into a blog post. You may want to start with the new article:
The school has a new task, namely to educate parents
Even though this article reports on education in Norway, we have seen similar policies in the good old U.S. of A. We have often said that student success has a high correlation with stable, healthy home environments and supportive, educated parents. So the big question is can (or should) teachers be held responsible or accountable for parent learning or educational involvement?
The Denmark regulation states: The school and now will: facilitate cooperation with the home and ensure that parents / guardians share responsibility in schools. Good teachers should already be doing that. The concern is when it becomes law and must be documented, assessed and enforced.
Read More...Tags: Political Action, accountablity, educational reform, classroom, collaboration, leadership, Policy
