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.
A math program that endorses drills and pain as the foundational element of math instruction (rather than a supporting element) and as a prerequisite for creative mathematical thought (rather than a co-requisite) inhibits the student and the teacher both, diminishing the student’s interest in producing that creativity and the teacher’s ability to notice it. Source: Drill-Based…
To be effective tinkerers, students need to achieve a state of mind in which they are primed to play and make joyful discoveries. Young kids who are playing don’t worry about making mistakes. They’re just playing, and the idea that they could make a mistake—that there’s a wrong way to play—doesn’t enter into their consciousness. It’s this freedom that…
For those of you using Chromebooks in their instruction, the chart below is a great resource to keep handy. The chart is based on insights collected from Chromebook Help. As is the case with Google Drive Guidelines chart, the purpose of this work is to provide teachers and educators (and students) with a quick and…
As educators, we often seek out not only one ecosystem but also one app to solve all of our problems and meet all of our needs. For example, over the past several months, I have engaged in a number of conversations about technology with educators that began with an either/or question: Should I use Google…
In the space of just five years, Google has helped upend the sales methods companies use to place their products in classrooms. It has enlisted teachers and administrators to promote Google’s products to other schools. It has directly reached out to educators to test its products — effectively bypassing senior district officials. And it has…
Because implementing artificial intelligence would create new positions—such as people who would train machines or ensure that the machines do not, say, hurt humans—the Accenture analysis found that employment could increase by 10 percent due to the increased need for human-machine collaboration. Humans would need new digital skills to collaborate with machines, and “human-interface designers”…
