Expert Perspectives


The Meaning of Innovative

The 5 Keys to Educational Technology

What is educational technology? What are its purposes and goals, and how can it best be implemented? Hap Aziz, director of the School of Technology and Design at Rasmussen College, explores what he terms the "five key components" to approaching educational technology.

Why BYOD, Not Banning Cell Phones, Is the Answer

It's difficult to have a conversation about using cell phones for learning without someone complaining that the phones will be a distraction. These complaints are presumably made by those who have never been in schools where cell phones are used as learning tools. Those who have know that not only do teachers find distraction is not an issue, they also find students are more engaged and excited about learning.

Getting Schools to Embrace Collaboration Tools

The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN; http://www.cosn.org) recently released a report titled Collaboration in K-12 Schools: Anywhere, Anytime, Any Way. I helped produce the report as a volunteer member of CoSN’s Emerging Technology Committee, and will use it as the basis for my column.

9 Tips for Developing Classroom AV Requirements

Defining appropriate room characteristics can simplify classroom design and improve the chances of its success as a teaching and learning space.

Rushton Hurley on Data-driven Deception

Does educational research data tell us anything? Can it prompt us to improve what we do? The important question for me is whether research of any kind prompts me as an educator to think about ways to improve my teaching.

Second Life: Do You Need One? (Part 2)

Second Life is a 3D digital world, imagined, created, and owned by its residents, which number more than 7 million from over 100 countries at the time of this writing. It has generated excitement for entertainment, business, and education. And the number of colleges and universities, libraries, museums, and organizations exploring its possibilities is growing. In part 1 of this three-part series, I introduced some resources to help you learn about SL, join, and get the basics about navigation and communication. I also alerted you to some frustrations that you might experience getting your feet wet. Hmm ... did it happen to you when you stopped flying?

5 Skills for Blended-Learning Teachers

In the seventh installment of their monthly column, blended learning experts Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker outline the five skills that will increasingly be important for many teachers in the future.

6 Early Learning Apps Reviewed

T.H.E. Journal recently invited Carolina Nugent, education director of startup app finder KinderTown, to review a few of her favorite apps geared for the K-1 set.

Social Media: How to 'Sell It' to Your Team

Social media is something that many younger teachers will have a familiarity with outside of the classroom. Ask any colleague under the age of, say, 30, and it's fairly likely that he or she will have a profile on a social network like Facebook or MySpace. Business-facing social networks like LinkedIn have also seen explosive growth from educators in the last year.

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