-
A Clear and Easy Web Presence
We are very used to interacting with many businesses through their website. When you call a company on the phone, you often hear, “Please visit our website…” Airlines even offer incentives if you book flights online instead of through a real person on the phone. For example, check out JetBlue’s Contact Us page and how…
-
Struggling with Chaos
My friend Steve O’Connor, whom I met by chance when we were presenting in the same room at NYSCATE a few years back, just tweeted about a poster titled, “The Internet Will Not Be Another TV”. Here is the poster: There are many things I like about the poster. It is an argument for Net…
-
On Space and Learning
One of my favorite hobbies is architecture. I am a huge fan of spaces that evoke meaning and emotion by their design. Living in Buffalo we have many such spaces including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin D. Martin House Complex. I had the opportunity to visit a new space yesterday in Frank Gehry’s recent addition to…
-
Linking Design Questions, Instructional Strategies and Technology Tools
This coming school year our professional development program is focused on Marzano’s Art & Science of Teaching. Cross-district teams organized by grade or subject area (“Design Teams”) will be meeting to focus on design questions brought up in the book. Over the course of the next 3-4 years we will undergo district-wide conversations around the…
-
Educational Administration vs. Educational Leadership
As I finish the first couple of weeks of my first administrative job (assistant principal for our summer high school), it is very clear that there is a distinct difference between being an administrator and a leader. A principal needs to be both, but it can be easy to favor the former over the latter.…
-
Fear of Google Docs
This fall we will be rolling out Google Apps for Edcuation district-wide. With the snap of a finger, all 12,000 students and staff will have access to Google’s cloud services. OK, so it’s more than the snap of a finger, but with the skillful work of our dedicated IT technicians and developers, it will appear…
-
Transforming
Typically my last post in June relates to how it is time to power down the blog, do some updates, tinker with the theme, and move into summer mode. This year this won’t happen for a couple of reasons. First, I’m very happy with how the blog has developed and become part of what I…
-
MUVEs Finally Make Sense in Education
Multi-User Virtual Enrionments (MUVEs) have been around for a number of years. Second Life is by far the most well known. For at least a couple of years I have had a Second Life avatar (Coffee Roffo), and participated in a number of different events “in world”. As hard as I have tried, I have…
-
How the iPad Can Change Students’ Game
At the end of last week’s post, How the iPad has Changed my Game, I wondered what it would be like for students to have an iPad for school. I did some very informal research and sent my iPad off with different students this week for a day and asked them to use it however…
-
How the iPad has Changed My Game
Since I purchased an iPad a couple of months ago, I have been really enjoying using it and seeing how it fits into my work and play flow. My kids really enjoy using it to see how it fits into their game playing flow. Students in school enjoy seeing how it fits into their before-school,…