Schools 2.0 (or just more industrialization?)
As some of you may know, I read a magazine called “Geek Parenting.” I have generally been pretty happy with the writing and material produced by the Geek Parents for my $2/month. This past month, I was a little miffed (to say the least) by one of the articles which was boldly titled Schools 2.0. Before I start my rant about the article, I feel like I must make a confession. I am not a geek parent – but I am aspiring. As it turns out, and as a Technology Director for a school of 500+ students, I am the Geek Parent of 500 youngins who are in my charge for 8 hours a day (and...
read moreWhat is Ed.Tech?
This past week, I received a wonderful email from a friend of mine (Dr.Z). Since he is a philosophy addict, we often have vibrant discussions about the importance of technology and education. Being obviously fed up with the technology at his fingers… this is what arrived in my inbox: Dr. V! Google Drive vs. Dropbox Open Class vs. EduBlog by WordPress Evernote vs. whatever Power School vs. can we blow them up? Atlas Rubicon vs. wooo! Schola … something and then there is Mendaley Have you ever tried to integrate Box with Dropbox, I mean, why do we need two? The list is long …...
read moreTweet-le dumb!
If you know me, you know that I seldom look at the news in my everyday routine. I generally find that life is better with fewer headlines in it. Yesterday was an exception to that rule. When I woke up, I checked the local news station to see if their was a snow day (alas there was not) and was greeted by a headline about a local High School. Thankfully, the news was not in my school district but in a local school nearby. Check out the story: I have a multitude of concerns about this particular case, but what is most troubling to me is the fact that there is a growing population of the...
read moreThe Merits of Curriculum
As it turns out, I am in the process of working with and developing curriculum as part of my Johns Hopkins program. In my course, we have spent the last month critiquing the four aspects of curriculum (written, taught, assessed, and hidden) to determine if the goals of a specific curriculum align with our hopes for that specific curriculum. In the middle of doing these readings and assignments, I came across two resources that are making me rethink our process and goals. 1) Below is a talk that was given by Sir Ken Robinson at the AERO Conference (Alternative Education Research Organization)...
read moreStudent Engagement
It is here, the University of Delaware Student Engagement Conference! I am very excited to be invited to present at this conference and I am even more excited to be presenting and debating with Dr. Duncan from the University of Colorado. As I progress through the day, I will periodically update this post to show what is going on at the conference. Follow along with me and my view into what Dr. Duncan is presenting. 9:00am EST: Doug Duncan Great presentation! His slides about the effectiveness of PowerPoint are very conducive to discussion among the faculty.
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