Technology is not inherently harmful. But it does have a way of amplifying our character traits. Think about how many emails you’ve sent that you wish you hadn’t. It’s also not inherently beneficial, either. One battle we have fought in education and continue to fight is the battle of “we’re using technology, so everything must be all good.” This is far from the truth. The goal with educational technology should not simply be to use more technology.
I’d like to propose a model for a technology-infused lesson that could be modified to fit any curriculum, any topic, almost any level. Over the past several years, among other things, I’ve tried to develop a tangible, realistic way for students to engage in inquiry, harness the power of technology and learn to do the things they will need to be able to do in the real world — and for teachers to spend their time being facilitators, guides, and coaches of their students. This is where I’m at so far…
One of the things we are often asked is for a good way to convert PDF documents to Word or Google Docs. There are several resources available to do this, none of which really do a consistently good job of it. However, one was brought to my attention recently that actually works pretty well and is quite consistent…
Over the past 12 years, many teachers in our district have tried using Moodle (in Dearborn, we call our Moodle site iLearn). A few absolutely took off with it. Many of those teachers are still using it, and at increasingly higher levels each year. Most, however, got...
Please allow me to get a little personal with this one: My point of view from another role.
Just because one part of an assessment requires paper doesn’t mean the whole thing needs to. If you can automate part of what you do, you should.