How-Networks-Arrived-in-Schools

edtech for IT: Elevator Pitch on Users in Schools

Assumptions about the users’ capacity to operate the devices, adapt to changes, and operate the systems effectively all affect how systems are designed. For those who have experience managing IT in organizations where all the users are adults and those who have completed typical IT programs in schools (including trade schools, community colleges, and universities) Read More

How-Networks-Arrived-in-Schools

edtech for IT: Creative Commons

Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Harvard, founded the Creative Commons in 2001. This non-profit organization supports authors who apply Creative Commons licenses to the works they create. While materials published under any Creative Commons license (as of 2022 there are seven different licenses) are available at no cost, they are still copyrighted, but—depending on Read More

How-Networks-Arrived-in-Schools

#edtech for #IT: On Instructional Technology

Of the digital information technology available in schools a part is used by teachers and learners for their interactions; this is the technology I define as instructional technology. The technology that falls into this category must be affordable, usable, and operational and used to engage learners. Affordable. Traditionally, schools have small budgets for technology, and Read More

How-Networks-Arrived-in-Schools

Teaching by Technology 

When using test-preparation software, skills-building websites, typing tutors, and similar tools, students are experiencing teaching by technology. For previous generations of technology-using teachers, “edutainment” software was a popular method for teaching by technology. This software found students (for example) playing games in which they earned points by quickly answering math problems.   One of the more popular uses Read More

How-Networks-Arrived-in-Schools

On Information

Another observation from ca. 2008: For educators, the penetration of computer networks into the classroom has been simultaneously a great advantage and a great distraction.  Using media in previous generations, teachers could be sure an editor working within some system of accountability had approved the information, and one could be reasonably sure that media selected Read More

How-Networks-Arrived-in-Schools

On Internet Publishing

I recently discovered this prargraph that I wrote about 15 years ago. I was prescient: The milieu of information sources is further complicated by the fact that the hardware and software necessary to publish to the Internet is available on even the most modest computer systems in use today, and that connections to the Internet Read More

How-Networks-Arrived-in-Schools

On Human Communication Technology

Prior to the invention of digital electronic computers, humans had a long history of using information technologies. Even before the invention of writing, humans were inventing soft technologies for string information outside of a single human brain. Pre-literate cultures used communal storytelling, myths, and poems are all inventions used in cultures to share and store Read More