Two capabilities of networked computers that can be anthropomorphized are listening and shouting. When humans listen they attend to the sounds in the air and attempt to differentiate meaningful sounds from noise. When humans speak or shout, they can communicate with those who are listening. This system requires only the anatomy and physiology of the Read More
Category: Tech for Educators
Cheap, Good, Fast: Choose Two
Conflicting goals or purposes is a theme commonly encountered in technology planning. There is a well-established heuristic that originated in project management that is used by technology leaders to describe computer and network system design and purchase options for the organizational leaders. It is frequently with humor that technology leaders will say, “Cheap, good, fast, Read More
How We Protect Networks
When we are responsible for managing information technology networks, especially those that are used by children and those that contain data that needs special security, we take steps to control the data that makes it onto and out of our systems. In general, we deploy three types of protections. While these will not prevent all Read More
A Harsh Reality About IT and School Leaders
Information technology. All schools need it. All schools have it. All schools hire individuals with expertise in managing it to… well… manage it. In this post, I describe a reality that many recognize in their schools, but they are reluctant to admit it. This post calls out the inability of school leaders to provide effective Read More
Thought on Network Security & Educators
As educational professionals, we have unusual access to computer systems and data. We are likely to be users of many computing devices. At work, you have classroom computers, computer rooms, library computers, and mobile devices that you and those around you use. These are the devices that are most tightly secured. There are sophisticated firewalls, Read More
What Computers Do
Perhaps the most impressive capacities of computers are those related to information manipulation and analysis. Computers can remember with precision and longevity, and computers can follow algorithms at billions of steps per second. The keyboard strokes that become digital displays that humans recognize as words and sentences are actually a series of digital signals. Those Read More
Let’s Diversify Computer Education
I heard through the grapevine—one comprising trusted individuals—that a former student was interviewing for a job as an IT professional. My name came up in their conversations as members of the interview team know me and knew the candidate had been my student. The message I got through the grapevine is that my former student Read More
Some Observations of Generative AI
Generative AI has been a “thing” for more than a year. My colleagues in education seem to be surviving despite the warnings that “the sky is falling.” Some are working to integrate it into their instruction; some are avoiding it. I was a student when handheld calculators became ubiquitous, I was a teacher when computers Read More
Elevator Pitch: School IT Decisions
It is important for all IT professionals who work in school to understand the nature of the users and their specific needs. Every decision made and every action taken by IT professionals (regardless of their role) affects end users either directly (by providing troubleshooting, training, and other support) or indirectly (by installing and configuring systems Read More
On Computer Mediated Communication in Schools
The events I recorded in the papers I wrote as an undergraduate student and in my journal kept during my first few years working as a teacher and the few surviving lesson plans and resource folders from my pre-Internet years (recall that I entered the teaching profession using an Apple IIc computer in 1988), all Read More