3 layers of teacher education

Half of all teachers quit the profession before their fifth year, and of those who remain, many reject the innovative, constructivist strategies they were exposed to during teacher training. We know that teacher education, once they are in practice – presents a challenge. These problems are not new, simply because some blogger said so. Posner, [...]

All hail the lightbringers

This post is about the need to help teachers aquire new schemas to use technology and the bottleneck preventing it. Experts are better able to recognize and reproduce briefly seen problem states than novices (Sweller & Cooper, 1985). It can be assumed that experts are better able to remember problem configurations because their schemas permit [...]

5 critical factors to technology success in the classroom

Facing the end of the first decade of a millenium where students are have been ‘born-digital’, we are painfully aware that some people are adapting better than others, and in the disagreement over what should be done about it AND the jokeying for financial and intellectual superiority (nope, I’m not on Huffington Post – are [...]

How to make QR Codes with Google

QR codes or Quick Response Codes are not quite new, but are increasingly visible in our daily lives.  They are quite simple to create, with many online services allowing you to make them, for example Kaywa QR Code Maker.  For those who have to know the details, here’s a more in depth look at QR [...]

Who’s the weakest link at this conference?

It costs a lot of money to get to a conference with travel, staff absent, entry costs and so forth – and if you’re heading there for educational technology – especially in Sydney you’d better pack your own 3G connection. “Wifi is ubiquitous” they say – except in your room, where they will slug you [...]

Are you in the eye of convergence?

Recent reports are strongly suggesting that technology is increasingly tap and touch, rather than click and scroll. For example, stand in a public space – who’s tap and touching, just about everyone. Think about a learning space – click and scroll. This is not to say that laptops are dead, but without wifi and 3G [...]