Almost all computer systems in the 21st century require a user account. These accounts are used to control which computer resources will be available to the user. This is done to protect the system and the information stored on it. Accounts are typically assigned one of these levels of control: > Administrator accounts have permission Read More
Category: Leadership
The Shape of Innovation
The s-curve as introduced when describing technology adoption. This curve illustrates the typical trend in technology adoption: slow adoption, followed by rapid adoption, and then a slowing of adoption as a limit is reached. Two trends are differentiating the s-curve describing the evolution of ICT in the 21st century form previous information technologies, and these Read More
Red Herrings
“Continuous improvement” has been a “thing” for much longer than it has been a “thing.” Leaders and workers, including school leaders and teachers, have spent generations trying to make the systems they use for economic, political, and cultural purposes more efficient and more effective. Today, I spend time with school leaders who act as if Read More
What Would Happen If…?
The question “what would happen if…?” has focused human inquiry since our species evolved. Those of with a curiosity and the desire to satisfy our curiosity with answers that accurately reflect nature turn to science. Science is based on inquiry that is grounded in observation that is controlled so we can attribute changes we see Read More
Should Educators Judge Initiatives?
At several times during my career I have found myself in a rather uncomfortable situation: I was philosophically opposed to initiatives being undertaken by the school leaders. Specific situations I remember include: The decision to replace good middle school practice with a junior high school model; The decision to replace coding, video games design, and Read More
Reflections on a Conversation with an ABD
(Please forgive the male pronouns in this post… the individuals featured in it all identify as male and prefer make pronouns, so I used that convention.) A school leader who is working on his dissertation asked me to give him some feedback on his project. He was defining his research question which focused on Read More
Triangulation
“Data” and “research” have been recurring themes in this blog: The Problem with Data On #Data and the Quality of Data On the Ethics of Data Collection in Education Data versus Evidence This post continues the theme, and is focused on one of the fundamental ideas of those who seek to use “data’ or “evidence” Read More
#Edtech for #Edleaders: Managing Users, Resources, and Data
Once IT infrastructure has been installed, IT professionals hired by the school adjust the configurations of devices installed by the engineers and technicians so the network is secure, robust and reliable. They configure settings to authenticate users; give them access to servers, printers, and other devices; and adjust addressing and security functions as devices are Read More
Experts and “Expertiness” in Education
In the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, an American comedian coined the term “truthiness” to capture an idea that individual or groups held as true although there was little evidence of the truth. That comedian applied this term to political situations and the satire was biting. I believe we can apply Read More
#Edtech for #Edleaders: Whom to Hire: Technology Integration Specialists
For decades, those responsible for organizing and presenting in-service professional development for educators have used a variety of models for providing learning experiences for teachers, and these have been designed to support all aspects of TPCK and to accommodate the needs of individual learners. These activities tended to reflect training in other professional organizations (especially Read More