Browsing all posts in August, 2009.
Adult Learners – How Do You Reach Them?
A vital element of 1-to-1 is that every teacher have a laptop, along with every student. In order for this to work well and be a transformative element in a school, district, or state, teachers need to embrace education technology in their practice. This means, even for the innovators and early adopters, continuous, varied, well-supported [...]
The ISTE10 Newbie Project is Underway! Meet this Year’s Newbie:
Back in April I wrote a post that appeared here on ISTE Connects which was titled “Demonstrate the Power of a Personal Learning Network: Help Send a Newbie to NECC.“ The post turned out to be incredibly popular and brought a lot of attention to the “Newbie Project.”
When I announced the Newbie project in April [...]
Learning & Teaching Around the World
Starting in Houston, Texas, earlier this month, North American grantees of the HP Innovations in Education program met to kick off a year of intensive professional development with ISTE staff and mentors. ISTE staff are also traveling this month to Australia, India, Singapore, and Mexico to meet with grantee teams in those countries. Here’s a [...]
Become a Guest Blogger on ISTE Connects
We’ve had some excellent contributors to the ISTEconnects blog, and we want to keep it open – making it a community driven place for you to connect with other educational technology enthusiasts. We’ve created a simple guest blogger functionality, and all you have to do to get published here is to sign up to be [...]
The Invisible Hand of Learning: Part 1
The Professional Development (PD) program at my school is broken and we need your help to fix it.
For the last seven years we have used what I call a “push” model and it has proven ineffective because it is the embodiment of 20th century learning. 20th Century learning is all about “pushing” information at a [...]
Digital Textbooks – An Economical Option?
Last week the state of California released a list of 10 free digital text books that meet state standards for science and math. The California government is suggesting that using free digital text books is a way for schools to save money during these times of deep budgetary cuts. But is it? Many schools are [...]
Google’s Android Phone Leads the Way: Augmented Reality
“The future has already arrived. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.”
-William Gibson
While for many the idea of using Skype in the classroom to enhance instruction still seems far off in some science fiction author’s vision of the future, others are already using it and what’s more, they realize that it’s only the tip of the [...]
Engage Me or Enrage Me! (Pt.2)
How to Start Engaging Students with Passion-Based Learning: (Continued)
Ideas for Engaging Students in Passion-Based Learning:
Discover and Consume:
First you need to support your students in finding area of passion and deep personal interest which is an ongoing journey. Next you may want to connect them with other students and teachers who share these interests so they [...]
Engage Me or Enrage Me! (Pt.1)
How to Start Engaging Students with Passion-Based Learning:
Recently I attended Alan November’s Building Learning Communities Conference where I participated in a session for educators exploring how to become transformational leaders. A participant at my table said, “This is all nice, but kids need to learn that school isn’t always interesting. Sometimes school is just boring.” [...]
“Transforming Classroom Practice” Reviewed
One of ISTE’s books has received some extra attention recently. Transforming Classroom Practice: Professional Development Strategies in Educational Technology, was reviewed by Educational Technology and Education Review. Both reviews found value in this book for slightly different, but related reasons.
In his review for Ed Tech, Wallace Hannum brings up an important point: professional development for [...]
