Over the past decade as many school budgets have remained stagnant, spending in educational technology has climbed to record levels, with no signs of slowing. As schools around the country consider investing in technology as a way to improve student outcomes, particularly for those students deemed “at-risk,” it’s imperative that district leaders understand the methods research has shown actually work.
Here are seven ways principals can use technology in their buildings to enhance learning. I firmly believe number 1, lead with a vision for learning, not technology, is the most important.
I received a Christmas gift in fourth grade that profoundly impacted my career path and thus the rest of my life. That gift was a VTech PowerPad Plus “pre-computer.” While just a toy, the PowerPad line of products from the late 1980s and early 1990s were functioning computers that featured, among a handful of educational…
Computer note-taking was a point of contention at my school. Almost every teacher used laptops. But we varied in how much we allowed students to take notes on them during class. Those in the no-computer-notes camp pointed to how often students were distracted by messaging and social media. Those who allowed laptops for notes argued that…
Would you like a text only version of a news site? Well, CNN offers one! The site is available in English and Spanish, and offers text only versions of the news. This could be a good site to use with easily dis-tractable students or as a way to use a summarizing service on news articles.
“This is nice, it tickles me,” Kaspar the social robot tells four-year-old Finn as they play together at an autism school north of London. Kaspar, developed by the University of Hertfordshire, also sings song, imitates eating, plays the tambourine and combs his hair during their sessions aimed at helping Finn with his social interaction and…
Students planning to catch up on “Game of Thrones” during class at Purdue University will have to find new ways to entertain themselves. When students return from spring break Monday, they will find access to Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Pandora and other streaming services blocked in academic buildings on the West Lafayette, Ind., campus if…
Many people are now far more familiar with their walls than they thought they would be. The walls in their homes, that is. Most every organization has been thrust into the future of work. What will determine failure or success in this brave new world? Every day, they stare at them, hoping for an idea…
