Tag Archives: Technology in the Classroom
Teaching with Technology in the Facebook Era
As educators, we know all too well how prevalent Facebook has become in the lives of today’s students. While almost all students use Facebook, many have a love/hate relationship with it. They like staying constantly connected with their friends – and their friends of friends – but they also know how much time they waste on it. They might not be willing to admit it, but students actually want to get away from Facebook in order to study. At StudyBlue, we learned this lesson firsthand. Continue reading
Should Students Be Allowed to Use Digital Devices at School?
I taught high school for 10 years and I’m still a certified teacher. I know that battling academic dishonesty in the classroom is like battling a Hydra. Every time you think you’ve lopped off the cheating monster’s many heads, it sprouts two more.
Yesterday on Twitter’s Tuesday #educhat, educators discussed student use of digital devices in the classroom. For the most part, cell phones aren’t allowed in schools; however, some schools are beginning to not only allow them, but also to encourage students to use their mobile devices in the name of learning. I had a guest post about using cell phones as clickers last year. I haven’t tried it myself, but I know that the technology works in classrooms Continue reading
Protecting School Computer Systems from Cybercrime
K-12 and higher education school computer systems are under attack. Cybercriminals are targeting school computer systems because if they can gain unauthorized access to these computer systems, then they can steal student and staff private information, such as Social Security numbers, medical records, and other private data. Cybercriminals are also motivated to commit other crimes, such as changing grades, causing damage to school computers’ hardware and software, and other crimes. Some examples of these crimes can be found by doing Internet searches for articles related to school computer security breaches. By typing “hacked school computer systems” in the Google search engine, you will find over 600,000 hits related to this topic. Some links even provide guidance on how to illegally hack into school computer systems. Some important stories are: Continue reading
Four Online Resources for Classroom Images
May means a lot of things. It’s the unofficial field trip month: just try reserving a school bus in May and you’ll find out just how many field trips occur in your district. May is test month. Students take state standardized tests and AP tests in May. They’re stressed until the middle of the month. May is senior month with another senior activity every other day: the senior banquet, the senior field trip, the senior graduation practice, the seniors’ last baseball game or track meet. It’s concert season, it’s the rainy season, and kids are squirrely. You’re packing up, tearing down, collecting, cataloging, figuring grades, and making sure your seniors are on track for passing your class.
May is also project month. We have just weeks left of school; no one wants to lecture students who squirm in their seats and watch the clock. Better to keep them engaged with the content and let them direct their own learning with a project. Continue reading
Students Online: Time Wasters or Innovators?
Your students are spending a lot of their free time online. Think of the number of hours you estimate they spend online. Double it. The doubled number is probably closer to the truth.
According to the Norton Online Living Report 2009, parents believe their children spend 21 hours online. The reality is that students in twelve countries reported spending 39 hours online. Don’t tell me these kids don’t have time to finish their assignments or clean their rooms. Continue reading
Overcoming the Technology Resistance Movement
Despite many recent online learning inroads in schools, many professional educators and administrators remain hesitant, reluctant, and perhaps even highly resistant to try online learning and teaching with technology. However, with accelerating demand for online learning, significantly reduced budgets, and the emergence of hundreds of free or relatively inexpensive Web technologies, that resistance is coming to a sudden halt. While some may prefer to wait for massive instructor attrition, lightning to strike, or made-for-movie serendipitous events to occur to change this situation, I prefer more direct approaches. Listed below are 10 such ideas. Continue reading
Study Finds that Students Are the Digital Advance Team
If you’ve ever had a technology failure in your classroom, you know that your best resources can be your students. When the DVD player spins and blinks, but doesn’t play, a half dozen students will volunteer to fix it. If your presentation file becomes corrupted, chances are you have a guru sitting in the front row who can open it and save your lesson plan.
Students as technology guides. The latest research proves what you already know: our students are digital experts. Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up National Research Project has interviewed 281,000 K12 students in all 50 states for its latest report “Speak Up 2008 for Students, Teachers, Parents and Administrators.” The researchers call our students the Digital Advance Team. These students are an asset to adults, especially those whose job is to plan these kids’ education and prepare them for 21st century jobs. Continue reading
