Humankind is innovative. Just think of how far we’ve come. Thousands of years ago, ancient man stared deep into the embers of the campfire and decided to change things up a bit. Now we are staring intently into the glow of a computer screen or portable device, and still, we want more. It seems that [...]
Archive for the ‘Why Tech?’ Category
Technological evolution
Posted in Random Stuff, Why Tech?, tagged ed tech, learning on May 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Adora Svitek’s take on technology and distracted teenagers
Posted in Why Tech?, tagged e-learning, Educational technology, web 2.0 on May 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I think it on a daily basis, something along the lines of I sure wish those kids would just leave their phones in their pockets for just a few minutes. I’ll even admit downright irritation when trying to give the directions for an assignment and a student is slyly texting under the desk. There is [...]
Read blogs and exercise the brain
Posted in Online Tools, Why Tech? on April 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I have been writing this blog for just over two years now. In that time, on several occasions, I have had fellow teachers ask if I could send them the links to new sites or apps that I have ran across. I have also been asked if I could send the links to instructional pages [...]
Students can be involved in global projects
Posted in Movie/Video, Why Tech?, tagged education. video, learning, web 2.0 on April 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
A year and a half ago, I worked with a group of 7th grade students to submit video for the One Day On Earth Project. Basically, people from around the world shot video to show what was happening in their lives on 10/10/10. The class I worked with had maybe 3 minutes of video that [...]
Show students their voice is heard
Posted in Online Tools, Why Tech?, tagged blogs, classroom, ed tech, education on April 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
As a part of a 7th grade Current Issues class, my students watch CNN Student news a couple times a week. Usually, once a week, students have an opportunity to write on the A-Z Blog to give their opinion about a current news story. Generally the students enjoy the activity. This is in large part [...]
Pencil vs. computer in education: And the winner is….
Posted in Why Tech?, tagged ed tech, education, technology on April 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
In her recent article on Mashable, Sarah Kessler examines data from a one-to-one laptop program in Peru. The title of the article gives the final conclusion in the study: “2.5 million laptops later, one laptop per child doesn’t improve test scores.” This is a hard pill to swallow for those of us who spend everyday [...]
Academic rigor vs. student engagement
Posted in Random Stuff, Why Tech?, tagged education, learning, school on April 2, 2012 | 2 Comments »
This past week, I spent quite a bit of time preparing for presentations that I was giving at a conference. In both presentations, I was talking about different technology projects that enhance the learning experience for students, but before I got down to the meat of the sessions, I wanted to talk about they “why” [...]
Don’t drown in the technology ocean: Learn to swim
Posted in Why Tech? on March 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Just Google “web apps classroom” and it won’t take long for your head to spin with the top 10, top 20, and top 100 lists of best apps for education. There seems to be no end of the different activities that can be designed with technology. Here’s the problem. Many educators see a list like [...]
Posted in Why Tech?, tagged ed tech, eduation, learning, Twitter, web 2.0 on March 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“We have to get away from just drilling knowledge into students and create environments where they create, they discuss, they measure, and they collaborate” – Eric Sheninger, Principal of New Milford High School, New Jersey. This morning, I found a cool site called Ed Tech Talk, which I’ll be honest, I know nothing about. Up [...]
Waldorf School of the Peninsula: A school without technology
Posted in Why Tech? on March 20, 2012 | 1 Comment »
A recent story on CNN Student news mentioned a school that did not use technology as a mode of learning. The school is the Waldorf School of the Peninsula in Los Altos, California which is located in the heart of the Silicon Valley. I wasn’t going to ask this cliche question, but isn’t this a [...]
