New Technologies in Schools

Stacy Zeiger explains how Glogster EDU is changing the way educators look at traditional projects. She shows you what you can do with Glogster EDU and provides firsthand experience from her classroom. 

Ever noticed that not all e-book formats are compatible with all devices?  As a matter of fact, it seems that most devices have their own set of formats that it reads and these are rarely congruous with other readers. This poses quite the issue for school libraries looking to incorporate these devices.

Mobile Motivation http://t.co/Wn8XqC4E
BTW. .

"...But before we go "beyond the textbook," I think it's very important to consider the question of "why textbooks?" in the first place -- how and why did the textbook come into existence? What systems and policies perpetuate its ubiquity? How and why is the textbook used, both by teachers and by students?

I pose these questions not just in terms of the "thing" that we currently call a textbook or a "thing" that could, when digitized, replace it. Rather, I want us to weigh classroom practices, power, authority, politics, publishing, assessment, expertise, attribution, and the culture(s) of the education system. I would argue that the textbook in its current form -- and frankly in almost all of the digital versions we're also starting to see now -- is tightly woven into that very fabric, and once we tug hard enough at the "textbook" thread, things come undone.

That's exhilarating -- the whole "beyond" thing. And for many folks, that's terrifying.

Even if you have the most up-to-date edition of the very latest textbook, I think it's recognize that the textbook -- as an object, as instructional practice -- is still a relic. It is a relic of a time when information was scarce. It's a relic of the way in which we manufactured and scaled the industrial model of education -- a teacher at the front of the classroom, assigning the lessons and readings from an authoritative text. One that was bound by print. One that was distributed state and even nation-wide. One that was uniform. Somewhere along the way, "textbook" became "curriculum" -- and under today's testing regime, that all became wrapped up in "assessment..."

This coming Thursday, Apple will announce tools and platforms to expand digital publishing to the masses and help transform the textbook industry, according to our sources.