May 25, 2005.  That is the date of the current acceptable use policy in my school district.  It’s 10 years old!  As I read through it I like that fact that it give clear definitions of terms immediately.  After that it seems to become a legal mumbo jumbo for district CYA.  The funny thing is, I think most users are violating bits of the policy on a daily basis!  The document needs an undated time and specific examples. “Students will not be advised or encouraged by school staff to obtain free e-mail accounts through commercial providers (e.g., Hotmail, etc.) for … Continue reading Acceptable Use Policy

As much as I hate the ubiquitous cellphone intrusions in the classroom the word ubiquitous may be a misnomer.   The go to gift and/or child desire has been various electronic devices (beats headphones, tablets, laptops,) but none like the cell phone.  With each new iteration, teenagers and adults anticipate releases in stores and online as if a new family member were coming home. But, does that mean everybody has one?  Can a person survive without one? Can a person survive without a ….SMART one?   Can a person be educated without one? Does a person need an unlimited data plan to … Continue reading BYOD

Mind mapping is digital  brainstorming.  Anyone can contribute anything to the framework and solve each others questions (hopefully these solutions/answers are correct).  Instead of having a bulky awkward hard copy of the framework, constructed only by those physically present, the digital framework allows for input from around the world and stores simply as data.  So sayeth the text book by Mcleod and Lehmann. Continue reading Mindmapping

This chapter of our text book may as well be title Google Stuff.  Google cloud, docs, maps, apps, mail, calendar; it’s all free.  Put it on their servers not yours. Be organized and efficient. One should be that Google or not! I work in a large school system and worked in an even larger one before that (9+ high schools!)  Choosing online tool suites,  and course management systems are the kind of decisions that are made by a designated person in the district.  Typically it is neither organized nor efficient as the two systems cannot operate together or at least … Continue reading Online Tool Suites

Story telling was once education: morality training, passed on experience for youth preparedness, community bonding, instructional allegory. As with nearly everything in our society, technology simply changes the way in which actions happen. So telling a story now is done with pencil, paper and the written word, then ink, paint, and a storyboard, then moving pictures and sound.   Making a movie is telling a story. Telling a story is teaching.  In any teaching, learning also takes place. Students making movies or digital videos can be a way to take hours of effort and funnel it in to mere seconds … Continue reading Digital Video

The title says it all: where ever you have a cell phone, you potentially have a classroom.  Individualization, instant feedback, world access, are all benefits to such practices.  But is it worth the fight? Our text suggests providing cell phone to students and restricting their capabilities.  To the expense of whom?  Don’t forget the repair contingency? The book also suggests rules (many of which are already in place at many schools causing an unbearable backlog of disciplinary referrals and punishments) by which to govern the perfectly obedient children. Okay, so yes, cellphones are essentially tiny computers that could entertain/engage students … Continue reading CS 710 Mobile Learning