Educational Technology and Instructional Technology

by Greg Green, Special to CNN

Editor’s note:  Greg Green is the principal at Clintondale High School in Clinton Township, Michigan.

I’m a principal at Clintondale High, a financially challenged school near Detroit.

3 Ways Digital Learning Is Just Different (Great article from TeachThought about 3 Ways Digital Learning Is Just Different http://t.co/EDj1eAa8OP Definitely worth the read!

Education via the Internet has been overrated and could produce more dropouts than degrees.

"My daily PLN reading seems to be full of stories about how to use iPads in the classroom. While this is certainly important information, I believe our Twitter feeds could use a few more stories about the positive impact the introduction of iPads are having in schools. Our school has been working with iPads for three years now and I can easily say that these have been the most exciting years of my educational career."

"Who will lead the way for innovation in education?" This is one of the big questions concerning higher education as the 21st century moves into its second decade. In a general sense, it would seem that brick-and-mortar institutions would be at the forefront of such innovation given their resources, easy face-to-face collaboration and infrastructure. The question remains though, are such institutional structures really supportive of innovation or is there a better alternative?

It’s probably too early to say whether Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a “tsunami” or a “seismic shift,” but, continuing with the natural disaster theme, the last few months have seen a massive “avalanche” of press commentary about them, especially within the last few days.

" This Taxonomy wheel was first discovered on the website of Paul Hopkin’s educational consultancy website mmiweb.org.uk That wheel was produced by Sharon Artley and was an adaption of Kathwohl and Anderson’s (2001) adaption of Bloom (1956). The idea to further adapt it for the pedagogy possibilities with mobile devices, in particular the iPad, I have to acknowledge the creative work of Kathy Schrock on her website Bloomin’ Apps."

But this time, he said, is different, because of new technologies like more-ubiquitous wireless internet, tablet computing, cheap video storage, and data in the cloud, and because of a tipping point in student demand.

"Access to successful learning for all students is a powerful equalizer that drives superior educational outcomes... The technological advances of online game-based instruction and the breakthroughs in neuroscience learning research bring us an unprecedented opportunity for achieving this equity and quality education nationally and internationally."

Almost 25 years have passed since Chickering and Gamson offered seven principles for good instructional practices in undergraduate education.

"Education is about to change dramatically, says Anant Agarwal, who heads edX, a $60 million MIT-Harvard effort to stream a college education over the Web, free, with plans to teach a billion students, Technology Review reports.... The rise of the MOOCs means we can begin thinking about how free, top-quality education could change the world."

"Integrating technology with appropriate teaching strategies can help stimulate participation and create a student-centered atmosphere conducive to learning... Here’s how it works. The typical class always begins with an overview of the student learning outcomes for that class session. It was within that context that we introduced students to the clicker/debate strategy, including the rules of behaviors. The primary rule is respect, which we define as a group to include things such as not interrupting others when they are speaking, refraining from side conversations, using professional voice and body language at all times, maintaining appropriate tone of voice, and keeping responses to two minutes or less. For the purpose of building self-confidence and enhancing communication skills, the students are encouraged to stand while speaking, however standing was not required."

Now that Stanford, Harvard and other top American universities are offering free online courses, will students one day be able to get course credits and degrees online from these schools without having to pay for it?

So what is the purpose of this site? It’s simple. We want to share how technology with people quickly. Each video on the site will be under ten minutes. This is about the same length as my attention span and perfect for showing at the end of a staff meeting. Of course there are some sites like this out there already and we will link to similar sites on the homepage.We may end up having a few different videos on a topic e.g. Beginner’s guide to Twitter and Advanced use of Twitter, but generally it will be short and simple. Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo.