This collection of personal accounts and essays explores issues related to electronic devices in schools. Readers will evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using cell phones, iPods, laptops, and tablets in the classroom. Are programs in which students bring laptops from home for use in school a good idea? Are school policies involving cell phones fair? Should texting be part of classroom learning? Answers to these questions and many more are provided in this book.
On average, children are around the age of twelve when they receive their first mobile device. We are ready and excited to welcome technology into our lives, but it doesn't come without controversy. Editor Jill Hamilton has arranged several fascinating essays that explain the issues relating to electronic device use in schools. Does YouTube belong in the classroom? Does the cell phone ban need rethinking? Should laptops for all be a standard? Do electronic devices enable bullying? These provocative questions are answered in this book.
Over the past decade, educational instruction has become increasingly digitized as districts rush to dole out laptops and iPads to every student. Yet the most important question, "Is this what is best for students?" is glossed over. Veteran teachers Joe Clement and Matt Miles have seen firsthand how damaging technology overuse and misuse has been to our kids. On a mission to educate and empower parents, they show how screen saturation at home and school has created a wide range of cognitive and social deficits in our young people. They lift the veil on what's really going on in schools: teachers who are often powerless to curb cell phone distractions; zoned-out kids who act helpless and are unfocused, unprepared, and unsocial; administrators who are influenced by questionable science sponsored by corporate technology purveyors. They provide action steps parents can take to demand change and make a compelling case for simpler, smarter, more effective forms of teaching and learning.
As technology advances, mobile devices have become more affordable and useful to countries around the world. The use of technology can significantly enhance educational environments for students. It is imperative to study new software, hardware, and gadgets for the improvement of teaching and learning practices. Mobile Devices in Education: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice is a collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of mobile technologies in learning and explores best practices of mobile learning in educational settings. Highlighting a range of topics such as educational technologies, curriculum development, and game-based learning, this publication is an ideal reference source for teachers, principals, curriculum developers, educational software developers, instructional designers, administrators, researchers, professionals, upper-level students, academicians, and practitioners actively involved in the education field.
This book consists of a collection of selected papers presented at the TARC International Conference 2016 held from 17 to 18 October, 2016. It offers a tool for empowering schools and teachers as a way forward for transforming education.
Impelled by a demand for increasing American strength in the new global economy, many educators, public officials, business leaders, and parents argue that school computers and Internet access will improve academic learning and prepare students for an information-based workplace. But just how valid is this argument? In Oversold and Underused, one of the most respected voices in American education argues that when teachers are not given a say in how the technology might reshape schools, computers are merely souped-up typewriters and classrooms continue to run much as they did a generation ago. In his studies of early childhood, high school, and university classrooms in Silicon Valley, Larry Cuban found that students and teachers use the new technologies far less in the classroom than they do at home, and that teachers who use computers for instruction do so infrequently and unimaginatively. Cuban points out that historical and organizational economic contexts influence how teachers use technical innovations. Computers can be useful when teachers sufficiently understand the technology themselves, believe it will enhance learning, and have the power to shape their own curricula. But these conditions can't be met without a broader and deeper commitment to public education beyond preparing workers. More attention, Cuban says, needs to be paid to the civic and social goals of schooling, goals that make the question of how many computers are in classrooms trivial.
The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.
Digital Citizenship in Schools, Second Edition is an essential introduction to digital citizenship. Starting with a basic definition of the concept and an explanation of its relevance and importance, author Mike Ribble goes on to explore the nine elements of digital citizenship. He provides a useful audit and professional development activities to help educators determine how to go about integrating digital citizenship concepts into the classroom. Activity ideas and lesson plans round out this timely book.
Your Groundbreaking Framework for Measurement and Reporting Most people find measurement, analytics, and reporting daunting—and L&D professionals are no different. As these practices have become critically important for organizations’ efforts to improve performance, talent development professionals have often been slow to embrace them for many reasons, including the seeming complexity and challenge of the practices. Few organizations have a well-thought-out measurement and reporting strategy, and there are often scant resources, limited time, and imperfect data to work with when organizations do attempt to create one. Measurement Demystified: Creating Your L&D Measurement, Analytics, and Reporting Strategy is a much-needed and welcomed resource that breaks new ground with a framework to simplify the discussion of measurement, analytics, and reporting as it relates to L&D and talent development practitioners. This book helps practitioners select and use the right measures for the right reasons; select, create, and use the right types of reports; and create a comprehensive measurement and reporting strategy. Recognizing the angst and reluctance people often show in these areas, authors and experts David Vance and Peggy Parskey break down the practices and processes by providing a common language and an easy-to-use structure. They describe five types of reports, four broad reasons to measure, and three categories of measures. Their method works for large and small organizations, even if yours is an L&D staff of one or two. The guidance remains the same: Start small and grow. Measurement Demystified is a great first book for talent development professionals with no prior knowledge of or experience with measurement and a valuable resource for measurement experts. Those adept at lower levels of training evaluation will grow their knowledge base and capabilities, while measurement experts will discover shortcuts and nuggets of information to enhance their practices. A more comprehensive treatment of these important topics will not be found elsewhere.
This comprehensive and cutting-edge book portrays a vision of how digital media can help transform schools, and what kinds of curriculum pedagogy, assessment, infrastructure, and learning environments are necessary for the transformation to take place. The author and his research team spent thousands of hours observing classes and interviewing teachers and students in both successful and unsuccessful technology-rich schools throughout the United States and other countries. Featuring lessons learned as well as analysis of the most up-to-date research, they offer a welcome response to simplistic approaches that either deny the potential of technology or exaggerate its ability to reform education simply by its presence in schools. Challenging conventional wisdom about technology and education, Learning in the Cloud: critically examines concepts such as the "digital divide," "21st-century skills," and "guide on the side" for assessing and guiding efforts to improve schools; combines a compelling vision of technology's potential to transform learning with an insightful analysis of the curricular challenges required for meaningful change; and discusses the most recent trends in media and learning, such as the potential of tablets and e-reading.
