Expert Perspectives


HTML5: The Web Beyond Web 2.0

The implications for HTML5 technologies on learning are profound. As technologies become more "intelligent" and requirements shift away from the manual skills needed to use them, teaching and learning can focus more clearly on the processes of thinking and application.

Data Protection: Make a Wise Decision

It's not unusual for school district staff members to emulate Lewis Carroll's Mad Hatter, wearing six or eight hats simultaneously in their everyday efforts. Sometimes, the hat hardest to wear is IT management, which is important and challenging at the same time.

Note to Tablet Companies: Education is an Enterprise

Schools are one of the biggest markets for tablets. So why do districts have to do workarounds to manage the devices?

A Presenter's Highlights of FETC 2012

Each person who attends the Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) arrives feeling the same buzz. For those who have a hunger to learn about technology and its effectiveness in education, it's like a natural high. People everywhere, all friendly faces, some you know from social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, while so many more are new faces. All are open opportunities to engage in great conversations focused on one goal: to become better educators.

Should We Ban Cell Phones in the Classroom?

There are good arguments on both sides of the question. What's yours?

UNESCO’s 2nd Annual Mobile Learning Week

Mobile learning is really taking off! In developing nations, at least! We present a few highlights from UNESCO's 2nd Annual Mobile Learning Week, held at UNESCO’s Paris HQ, that we participated in recently.

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.

What Value-Added Assessments Won't Tell You About Effective Teachers

There's more to being an effective teacher than raising standardized test scores, yet test scores have gained widespread acceptance among the public as the key indicator of performance.

Job Skills? Try World Peace Skills

This may be the first generation of educators whose students know more about their literacy tools than their teachers. When monks taught writing, they were also the experts on the quill, but today's teachers are more likely to be taught by their students on how to set up a blog.

The End of Liberal Arts Education?

Historic forces in higher education may have serious repercussions for K-12.

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