Expert Perspectives


Hats off To Kyle! Education Needs More Like Him

Kyle Menchhofer kicked mobile learning off in rural, blue-collar, St. Marys, OH in 2007. But, in May, 2013, St. Marys voted down the school bond, and the visionary, pioneering program that Kyle created ended. Well, a chapter ended. Check out what Kyle did in 2007 to bring mobile learning to 160 students.

Are American Schools Going Backward? Can We Learn from Singapore?

A program in Singapore is bringing smartphones into the classroom as part of an effort to transform instruction to an inquiry-based model. The results? Let's just say the United States needs to take note.

Using Data to Drive Educational Change: The Bad, The Good, and The You-Decide

Student performance data is playing an increasingly important role in America’s classrooms. From scientifically based research to survey data to clickstream learning analytics, the volume of data is most definitely increasing. The question, of course, is this: for the better?

To See Increases in Student Achievement in 1:1/BYOD Classrooms Teachers Must be Given Curriculum with Technology Activities Baked In

We can't ask teachers to use 1:1 computing devices (BYOD or school-purchased) while still giving them only pencil-and-paper curriculum and askign them to figure it out on their own. We need to give teachers new curriculum, with detailed lessons that exploit the affordances of the computing devices, if we want to see increases in student achievement.

The Age of Mobilism Has Hit Puberty: Prices of Smartphones and Tablets are Going to Plummet! YAY!

According to its CEO, HP is becoming a tablet and smartphone company; PCs are becoming small potatoes. And T-Mobile has disrupted the telcos' pricing scheme -- big time! Brace yourselves: price wars for mobile devices are soon to follow. Yes folks, the Age of Mobilism is definitely upon us and big changes are afoot! This is all good news for K-12.

Higher Ed v. Lower Ed: Pursuing Personalized Learning — in Opposing Directions?

Both higher ed and lower ed are seeking to provide learners with personalized instruction. The issue, however, is this: Who does the personalizing -- the individual or the computer? We argue that higher is choosing the former approach while K-12 is choosing the latter approach. Has K-12 made a good decision?

The $10 Data Plan: 2 Game-Changing but Simple Proposals

The FCC needs to act now to support K-12 and solve the "connectivity access problem." Here's where to start.

E-Textbooks: Points to Ponder on Pixels and Paper

Why bother with a printed textbook? Adopting an e-text seems like a no-brainer when you consider the potential advantages of learning in a multimedia environment that can be tailored to the needs of all learners.

Professional Development is Hot, Hot, HOT!

Steven Paine, superintendent of education for West Virginia, recently mentioned at a conference that West Virginia requires 18 hours of professional development time for teachers every year.

Know Your NLEs

More and more schools across the country are bringing digital media into the curriculum--from digital painting and graphic arts to digital print production to digital video editing. In particular, there seems to be a surge of activity in the digital video editing space, with schools offering courses designed as either electives to fulfill an art requirement or as prep for students looking to pursue careers in production and post-production.

Whitepapers