Miguel Guhlin Another Think Coming Challenge Claims, Uncover Reality

Education

Reading Simple Things

When I was in second grade, on account of learning two languages, and having a terrible teacher who didn’t teach, I failed second grade. I ended up in summer school at Ft Clayton A

AI: Products Or Services

How do education consultants leverage AI for their business? How do schools do so and is there any comparison possible or worthwhile? These questions from [Isar Meitis, CEO of mu

Afraid to Speak Up

"The younger you are, the more likely you are to speak up against authority, or to act. The older you get, the more you realize what a waste of time it is. The reason why is people

AI-Powered Students? Part 3

What do you think the next five years in education will look like in regards to AI? Complete integration or total ban of AI? I struggle with this question. Is the matter entirely

Framing of Education: The AI Consumer

In thinking about how much school district treasure will be spent on AI, on angst about preparing children and teachers for AI, I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with these 20

AI Empowered Students? Part 1

"Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word, 'No." So says Betteridge's Law of Headlines. It's a great quote that almost persuades me to NOT use a questi

AI-Powered Students? Part 2

Should students be using AI? If yes, when and where should it be introduced in school? These are tough questions. It's easy to say, "Introduce it when appropriate," but WHEN is it

Why I Read

As a boy, one of the first books I read was a science fiction short story collection, No Way Out . The collection introduced me to terms like "eater of worlds," a phrase I had

Technology Makes Us Stupid?

The more research I read, the less inclined I am to reach for a keyboard when taking notes. That's because our brain makes more connections when we do things with pen and paper tha

Prolifically Creative

If you've worked in a small group in a class, as part of a team at work, you know what happens. In spite of the best efforts of the committed, there's always someone who steps up a

Writing Malpractice

"The most recent research shows that millennials in the U.S. workforce, once the best educated in the world, are now among the least well educated in the industrialized world,"

When Community Fails

"The role of community in schools consists of the connections between schools and individuals, businesses, and formal and informal organizations and institutions that can leverage

A Process for New Things?

"How would you construct a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program at your campus or organization?" What a great question, and one that I wanted to explore from my own perspective

A Matter of Strategy

It's no surprise I'm attracted to the idea of instructional strategies, or strategies that work, that are evidence based and guaranteed to work. Or, if not guaranteed, have a certa

A Quick Look Back

I had stumbled on a Academic website that wanted to sell me on the idea that I could find all the places I'd been published or cited. It described itself as even better than Google

People Over Profit

"Fund people over stuff," my mentor, Mark Gabehart, would often say. Of course, he may not have said it in such a blunt way. But that's definitely the message that came across. It

Just-in-Time Learning

In March, as I started Spring Break, I remember the frustration and tears of teachers, mainly one, that spurred me to ask, "How can I make this remote teaching journey a bit easier

Leadership That Works

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to work with many different supervisors. The best found a way to inspire those around them. I was fortunate to have three principals. Of th

Not Really

[youtube I’ve been in classrooms where I’ve seen teachers using technology effectively — frequently, I’ve seen teachers using smart

Stop Doing Lists

"The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say 'no' to almost everything," says Warren Buffett. The truth is, teachers lack

A Simple Style

This acclaimed book is a master teacher's tested program for turning clumsy prose into clear, powerful, and effective writing. A logical, expert, easy to use plan for achieving e

Happy Co-existence

In education, it's difficult to imagine being rude. It's unprofessional. Yet, sometimes, we need to be direct, to say the hard thing. Too many tools in your toolbox can be just a j

Discarded Toy? Facebook

As any parent knows, your children will play with a few toys at first, then when a new toy arrives or as time goes by, the toy is forgotten. This happened often with our first chil

Gone To Texas: Flipgrid

Isn't it amazing? The Team Flipgrid folks are coming to Texas next week. I'm going to detail their info in the blog post below. If I mention certain FREE TEXAS CONFERENCES, I'm not

Make Text Bigger

Did you read my TCEA blog entry on making text bigger on the screen? Facilitating a session in San Angelo, I took advantage of a few ways to share my resource links with others. Th

The Place Where They Cried

"The trail where they cried." That's one translation of the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Will Texans rejoice in our border with the rest of the world as the "place where alien minors c

Take Flight: Your First Interview

Earlier today, I chanced upon an email from someone going for their first interview: I've been called for an interview for the instructional technology position. They didn't ask

AL DíA: Automation Hope

Hope in being hard to automate... The hardest activities to automate with currently available technologies are those that involve managing and developing people (9 percent automa

AL DíA: Maker Taxonomy

When I first saw this maker education stages, it made me think of Bloom's Taxonomy. A little about the stages from Dr. Gerstein: My contention is that learners often don’t know w

AL DíA: STEM Specialization?

I read an interesting statement today. Something along the lines of, "Forcing our kids to specialize in sports is bad for them." The [ reasons why it isn't good for youngsters are

Texas STEM News

Thanks to TexasISD.com for a roundup of STEM projects schools are jumping into. Here's the list (click district title to access the source): [ Bryan ISD: ](

My Dear Abby Column

Earlier this year, I had a brainstorm. Usually, they don't amount to much but this one has been so rewarding to write. I wondered if I could create a "Dear Abby" column but for edu

Politicians Hurt Students Again

While I don't care to delve into politics here at Around the Corner, I am forced to remark at the steps politicians take to protect their financial interests and hurt students and/

AL DíA: Animal Webcams

Check out Google Earth's live cams and learn how to use them in the classroom. There are many ways to incorporate livecams in the classroom. Explore Google Earth’s Brown Bear Liv

Activate Learning Innovators

Change can be difficult. But it’s almost always necessary. So how can we activate learning innovators in schools? In this blog entry, we will explore key technologies and action st

13 Tips to Increase Your Reach

"How do you differentiate yourself from others in a hyper connected world?" What a fun question. Since my first blog entry over 10 years ago, I've watched great [teacherpreneurs](h

Untitled

Looking for a way to engage students with video and video creation? The Apple iPad’s rich ecology of video editing apps empowers students to be directors of fantasy and science fic

3D Printing Apps

“He’s not a programmer!” cried my Mom when my father bought me a $3,000 Apple //e computer, dot matrix printer, and software (e.g. VisiCalc, The Print Shop) at age 13. “He’s terrib

See, Think, Wonder!

"See, Think, Wonder," the words have taken on new meaning for me since I read an article online about the importance of thinking routines as a way to model meta cognition for stude

Organize Your BYOT Classroom

"How do I get started?" It's a question that many teachers ask when considering Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT). It flows from a lack of awareness of what others are already doing

Keep the Faith

"We’ve had years, if not a couple of decades," says Tim Stahmer ( Assorted Stuff ), "of research questionin

Beyond Fear

A superintendent in a small school district gave a talk at the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) Midwinter's Conference a few years ago. She moved her hands quickly

.@voxer improvement requests (please RT)

In December, 2015, while most folks were Xmas shopping from home, or worse, braving traffic and stores, a bunch of folks were having awesome conversations via [EdCampVoxer](http://

5 Key Areas for CTOs

While sitting at home, waiting for the cramps around my mid section to pass today, I paged through an old notebook, stumbling across notes from a conversation with a friend. I reca

Easing Past Technology Provincialism

When my father took me to buy an Apple //e, I had no idea it would change my life. In fact, I imagined it would ruin it. My father, driven inexplicably to the Computer Solutions st

Looking for Jobs

If you’re an American educator, then chances are you have applied for different jobs in various school districts. Aside from the value inherent in the process of getting to kno

Revisiting Big6 - 5 Actions

Note: I previously published this article via the Big6 web site a few years ago. I'm sharing it again here since info problem solving strategies for students and teachers in

MyNotes: Student Data Privacy

Student data privacy is a topic that's grown in interest over the last few years, and I suspect that CoSN has also been advocating on this topic, too. Keith Krueger, in an intervie

The Unanswered Question

"Can you lock down the computers even more? The kids are using Firefox to bypass content filters. Oh, and can you turn off the internet on the iPads? We just want them to use the

Addicted to Learning

What a joy it is to learn something completely unexpected while standing in line at the grocery store, waiting for dinner to arrive at a restaurant, a few moments after waking up v

When You Fall Out of "the Box"

What's it take for you to think "out of the box?" For me, it's the juxtaposition of two ideas (or activities) that force me to compare something I hadn't previously considered. It

Higher Eds are MOOCing It!

One of the things I like to do is skim the past tweets of folks who follow me, or take the time to retweet me. I often find real gems after all, if they RT'd MY blog entry, they m

In the Moment

But more often than not, we still lasso technology for the more traditional purposes and practices of education: for content delivery. We keep designing education technology with

Replace vs Integrate

As a leader, one of my tasks involves "labelling" initiatives, changing what we call what we're doing. Sometimes, it's clear that the labels are disingenuous, inaccurate reflection

Same Old, Same Old

"What do you mean technology in schools won't work?" I was having a discussion with a college professor 12 years ago one summer day. His cynicism, for that's what I perceived it as

Wrapping up the #PBL Series

Note: The following article is a revised version of one I've shared in the past about Problem based Learning. I revised it to match a new site

Stain-Proof Teacher

Driving to visit my 85 year old Mom, I glanced over at my son, whose head was down staring at the screen of his iPhone. I started to say, "Hey, how about giving the gadget a break?

TLT Continuum

This past week, highly esteemed colleague Jonathan "DataMan" Hulbert dropped by the office for a chat. It was a wide ranging conversation focused on Jonathan's interests for bringi

MyNotes - Quick Stats

Over the last few months, quite a few magazines have stacked up on my desk. I'm amazed at how little I read these free offerings from various organizations; most of my input comes

Hope of Redemption

"What's the path for this person to find their way back into the good graces of the organization?" You know, when people have behaved in ways that are out of alignment with o

Make Straight the Way

Recently, I've been trying to ask the question, "How can I help?" When I ask it, I'm not expecting people to say, "lend a hand or pitch in and help me finish my work faster." I exp

The Uh Uh Approach to Risk

"Why aren't we integrating technology into teaching, learning and leadership more? Nothing we do seems to get through to teachers. It's like they just don't care and no one is will

Continuums of Learning

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to explore some thinking with colleagues. I immediately realized that I was in over my head in regards to the curriculum technology connec

Who Can't Wait

Ran across this poem and loved it: "Many things we need can wait; The child cannot. Now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, his mind is being develop

Blatant Advertising #moodle

Published Articles/Blog Entries I've Written About Moodle (or that refer to it): 1. [How to Manage Your District's Online Learning Opportunities](

Presentation Setup for #iPad

I am a national presenter and use air server to show my ipad on the big screen for demonstrating apps. Is there any reason why I would want appleTV instead? I often present in ho

App Smashing Madness! #ettipad

I love this picture that GregKulowiec shared via Twitter during his time at ettipad (whatever that is, presumably a conference). While I'd seen it before, it really does serve as

OCR to Text to Speech

"I'd like to find a way to scan text, then have that text read to the student." Isn't it great to have these kinds of questions that just wander in? While there are a variety of co

Techapathy

No, this isn't a positive blog entry. I'm not out to coin a new term, Techapathy. Instead, you can summarize it in the same way Rodney Dangerfield's character did in Back to Schoo

Not In It For Money

Colleague Randy Rodgers recently shared this video and it's sadly ironic to hear some of the remarks made by 1981 newspaper editors captivated by the technology: [youtube=

GarROTE Learning

Have you ever noticed that when you're doing something new or for the first time, that it seems to take forever? And, that the memories of those first efforts are richer in detail

Go Crucial

Trying to summarize what I know, make it easier to share with others, I found myself playing extensively with Haiku Deck earlier tonight. What started out as a short play session t

Favorite #iPad Apps

Over the last year, I've had the opportunity to work with lots of different iPad apps. I've spent lots of money (about $200) on all the different paid apps, as well as some that I

Uploading Pictures

Recently, someone on the GCT list shared this problem: We had our official school opening today (yay) and have photo's from all sorts of places. I haven't used Picasa for quite a

Get It Done For Free

If you're a school district that still using Microsoft Office on most desktops, you need to stop . Really. Curious about Bring Your Own Technology? [Read Embracing Bring

Of Few Letters

Men of letters are dead. William Zinnsser puts it quite well in this essay for The American Scholar : Men and women

No More Lists?

‎"I love reading another reader’s list of favorites. Even when I find I do not share their tastes or predilections, I am provoked to compare, contrast, and contradict. It is a mo

Facilitating Creativity in the Classroom

After reading John Spencer's sharing about (what appears to be) writing a book: I stare at a blank document. The flashing cursor taunts me. It's the same emptiness that led me to

AVID Conference Notes

A few years ago, I attended AVID Training...these are my notes. I doubt the audio links or others will work. []( "permane

Void the Future

Cleaning out old files today, I ran across a yellow piece of paper upon which the following was typed. The source for the wisdom shared is listed as follows: [![](

And? @timholt2007

Check out Tim Holt's (Holt Think) slidedeck...I thoroughly enjoyed it. How are you answering that question at work? At home? [slide

Kindling the Flame

In a Twitter conversation where some were lamenting Dr. Gary Stager's inflammable reproof of BYOD efforts in schools, Wes Fryer (Speed of Creativity) reference a blog entry he'd re

Solving Real Problems

Education technology, whether it's a smart board, blended learning curriculum, computer, or iPad, is merely a tool. It's only as good as it can be effectively used to solve a nee

#iPad Palooza

Into iPads in Schools? You may want to attend the iPadPalooza! Westlake HS and TCEA are hosting their first iPadpalooza on June 19, 2012 at Westlak

Inspiration - Technology and Autism

I've shared a video of Carly at some of my keynotes, and I was thrilled to see this more in depth one. When I watch it, it just blows me away. If technology can do this for Carly,

Defining Success in 1 to 1

If you can't learn, your leadership will be seriously impaired. If you can't set goals and measure progress towards them, holding yourself and others accountable, then you're setup

In the iPad's Defense

Yesterday, I scratched and scribbled through a quick blog entry on computer science and ran across something that was perplexing. I have to come back to it in light of blog entries

Feed Skimming

This morning, I struggled with the volume of content in my RSSOwl feed aggregator. So, here are 5 quick take aways that are stunning (for me, of course): 1. Either we will raise o

Embrace Encryption

Update 01/3/2012: I now recommend the free, open source AESCrypt in lieu of AxCrypt as a simple, easy to use cross platform encryption

FISHing for IT

Note: This OLDYBUTGOODY was written after I read the book FISH. I know you have better things to do this weekend than to take some time and do some reflection. We have begun a

Earn as You Learn

Note: This "OldyButGoody" article came about as a result of what Somerset ISD was doing many years ago. I liked the "Earn as You Learn" approach since it was one that I had imple

A Species Like Us

I really enjoyed this video...the line that jumped out at me is, "a species like us." Yes, it's nice to imagine that our species will improve...and yet, I hope we always remember o

MyNotes - Revenue Level Dip

From: A new era of innovation for the states? A new era of innovation for the states? By Dan Balz Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, December 25

Job Posting -

Two technology positions open in Illinois, working with the great Henry Thiele! Network Manager and Computer Technician [

Making Music with Mac

And old word pusher, my feelings of inadequacy increase when I reflect on the gap between my non existent music skills and the level of skill required to play. But then, I see tech

Should I have Helped?

Yesterday, I received a request for help from a student in a small Texas school district. Here is the request: Hello Mr. Guhlin I'm a student at [removed] High School. The ot

Fascinating list of blogs

What a fascinating list of blogs...will have to check to see how many aren't on the Google Reader list...thanks to these folks for compiling the list,

Google Science Fair

Press Release.... On the 11 January 2011 Google is launching the inaugural Google Science Fair. We have partnered with NASA, CERN, National Geographic, Scientific American and th

iPad Purchase Proposal Solicitation

I had fun throwing this together...no mean remarks! iPad Purchase Proposal Goal: In this section, please provide an overview of the need for the iPad as aligned to instruct

Come Alive

Note: The following is a rough draft of a blog entry that I'm "throwing out here" for feedback and see what happens. I won't critique it in this short note. ![](

Lagging Behind - Again?

Are those other smaller, more nimble districts leaving you in the dust again? You know, the ones that have adopted GoogleApps for Education (or MS LIVE or Zoho suite), embraced blo

iPad App Licensing Questions

Problem: "We purchase ONE license for an app and the Apple people have made it clear that we are good to install on any/all iPads here at school. Normally it’s a limit of 5."

How do you handle Sales Calls?

A technology director (Chief Technology Officer) colleague recently asked: I believe about 60% of the call traffic to my office is from vendors trying to setup appointments or te

Nook Goes Color

As much as I love my Nook from Barnes and Noble, news like this is irritating. The sad part, it is a neverending story of disappointment when I buy technology, the new version come

GoogleApps in Texas

A colleague recently emailed me and asked: We are exploring Google Mail for our district. I would love to talk to some districts that have made the leap. Can you provide me a lis

Stop Cyberbullying

Kudos to students at the San Antonio ISD Rhodes Campus, their teacher William Davis, and those that supported the effort to create the video below, which is the [feature of a WOAI

Area 20 Robotics News

A note from Jennifer Faulkner, Area 20 Director...check her contact info at the bottom of post: Mark your calendars! The combined Areas 20 and 13 Robotics Contest will be held:

MyNotes - Cutting to the bone

Everytime I read one of these types of articles (this is the second this evening), a part of me starts to ask, "What about your job? The team that works with you? What about their

Why the iPad

A colleague (Don Hindsley (Email: Don.Hindsley@whitefaceschool.net), Whiteface ISD in Texas) recently responded to why use an iPad in sch

MyNotes - iPads for All

Isn't it funny that most educators implementing new technologies use the same kind of language to describe it? Immersed in tech innovative fun better way to learn natives

Not Segregated Anymore, Texas?

In a memo entitled "Order on Civil Action 5281," Commissioner of Education Robert Scott points out the following: The federal court with jurisdiction over the statewide desegrega

Records Retention

The Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) was kind enough to share information on a 1 hour recorded presentation on Records Retention from the Texas State Library and Arc

5 Actions to Twitterific Teaching

In this short, 650 word article that I wrote to order for TechEdge a different feeling for me since I usually write, then seek a publishing outlet I try to explore some actions t

eReaders in Schools?

Based on my own experiences, as well as attached info, I'm prepared to recommend the B&N Nook WiFi ($149) for school district use. Here's why I think it's the best choice (over the

Reflections 2 - Rewired

Note: As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm working my way through Dr. Larry D. Rosen's book, Rewired . This is the crux of our educational dilemma. Technology is

Shape Poems

Note: Another blog entry I didn't want to lose and I'm reposting here. To begin my search, I decided to pursue an interactive that matches this screenshot below: ![](

The Lady or The Tiger

One of my favorite stories of all time, one I've cherished since I first was introduced to it by Father O'Shaughnessy (sp?) in Freshman English in High School, is Frank Stockton's

TxVSN Update at #tecsig

Barbara Smith from TxVSN shares the following at TCEA TEC SIG Meeting in Austin on April 23, 2010: 1. Increasing number of TxVSN Providers 2. Participating districts: 271 current,

ESC Adopts GoogleApps?

There's a rumor going around that a regional education service center yes, I've heard which one in Texas has adopted GoogleApps for Education. While it's not fun to repeat rumors

Meeting Wallwisher

I've never used WallWisher.com, but found out that one of the teachers in my District was using it. This was a fascinating tool to use. Of course, now that I'm sensitized to it, I'

Education Budget Cuts

Thanks to Stephen Downes for highlighting this video...will Texans be hoping someone made a video for them, just like the Califo

Writing Workshop Videos

A few interesting videos on facilitating writing workshop...they are all from YouTube so be warned you may not have access to them if you're at work. I've included a complete list

URGENT ALERT - EdTech Funding

You know, in hard times, it doesn't matter who you vote for, Education Technology funds get cut. URGENT ALERT: Write Your Representative Today and Take Our Survey to Keep the Enh

Why Firefox

One of the challenging issues for some schools is, "Why support more than one browser?" For example, some schools only want to use Internet Explorer or Safari, the default browsers

Teacher Breaks the Rules

Breaking the rules isn't all bad. However, what happens when a teacher does what Tami Brass says in this comment on my blog entry, "My Teacher Made Me Do It

Quantify Tragic

Reviewing David Warlick's blog, which I enjoy tremendously, more so than reading the blogs and published writings of his detractors, I ran

Teaching Residency Program

Please share with folks who want to be teachers.... Teaching Residency Program for Critical Shortage Areas (TRP CSA) who: are committed to teach in in a high need secondar

U.S. Dept of Education Toolkit

Thought you might find this interesting.... We would like to make you aware of some great free resources for school and district strategic planning available on the US Dept. of E

TCEA Area 20 Council

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in the TCEA Area 9 Conference in Jacksboro, Texas. It was a fun event for me I moodled all day; [check here for workshop ma

Writing Lesson

I wrote this a few years ago, and adapted it again recently in October, 2009. Since I don't want to lose it, I'm posting it here! How To Write a "Talking to Animals" Poem Aut

Eracism

What a fascinating concept...ERacism. [Have your students apply t

Games

While the topic of games has been beaten into the ground, IMHO, I found the following assertion a bit teacher centric (as opposed to learner centered, which is a desirable goal, ri

Challenging Assertions

Would you agree with assertions like these about students learning online? Do you know of any research that support/disproves these assertions? 1. Engagement in Social networking i

TCEA Needs You!

I encourage folks in and around San Antonio part of TCEA Area 20 to nominate themselves or others! In the interests of full disclosure, I have decided to run for TCEA Area 20 Dir

2010 TED Fellows

I received the following email.... The TED Conference has begun the search for 2010 TED Fellows. Please help us reach interested candidates by sharing the following announcement

CDC Requests YOUR Input

Today in my workshop on Intro to Moodle to Languages Other Than English teachers, one of my selling points for creating, learning and teaching in virtual learning spaces was, "What

Work for Hire

Adina Sullivan recently tweeted: Remembering work I'm doing is "for school" but not paid, so doesn't belong to school. Need to set up on personal page/site, not school. To which

MyNotes - ePlan Notes

Below are some of Diana Benner;/ 1247629692661 /)'s notes thanks to Diana for this work! on the webinar held earlier today about Texas ePlanning. Definitely worth che

Essential Videos

Here's my list of essential videos to introduce teachers to Read/Write Web...what am I missing? [Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com](

Revising AUPs

Someone in Texas wrote... Did you ever receive any input from the forum on updating your AUP? I have been given the job of updating ours to reflect the "newer issues" and am havi

Virtualization

Check out this presentation by Steve Young at the Texas CTO Clinic 2009 on virtualization.... [Tx K12 Cto Clinic Virtualization Presentation](

Be Like Them

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. High school students are going to be held accountable for what they post on blogs and on social networking Web sites such as MySpace.com. The board of commun

Freedom to Speak

As I struggle with my own fear, my own self censoring, I realize how controlled many of us really are. I've been aware of this for a long time so there's no excuse for it. But bein

Idiot-Proof Technologies

One of my favorite expressions to rail against when I was a campus instructional technologist and teacher, was, "Idiot proof technology." That's right, we want technology so simple

Inevitable

“The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too

Remembering CBAM

Two years ago, a district I know well decided to invest in tablets and laptops for everyone. Due to a variety of factors (such as locking down the machines so that teachers/admin c

Resist

The pressure is insistent. "Write something educational." But what it really means is, "Write something safe. Write something no one will object to. In other words, write for educa

School Is Irrelevant

As I've been working on doing research, I occasionally run across articles that have stuff like this in them...and it hits me how appropriate this is for describing the malaise we'

Weakness-Common Ground

When I walked into the open area where my team is housed, a young teacher was sitting alone in one of the waist high cubicles. She was speaking into her iAudio U2, recording a digi

Supporting HB 4294

Jennifer Bergland (TCEA TexTAN) shared this note in support of HB 4294. I sent my email into Gov. Perry but didn't grab a copy (well, I tried but it didn't take...heck). Here is Je

Supporting CSHB 4294

Here is a copy of the email I sent to my representative today...I adapted the text from the urging email sent out earlier today via the Technology Education Coordinators' Special I

Surveillance in the 21st Century

Surveillance is one of the benefits of a technological society. No one complains, after all, when the security camera above the Mall parking lot captures an assault and is later us

Latest on Swine Flu 05/06/2009

At last... Federal officials now recommend that schools stop closing when a case of swine flu is confirmed at a school, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said

Brain Blip on Web 2.0

I'm presenting this summer for about 10 minutes at a COSN CTO event, and entirely unbidden, the idea came to mind of how to frame the presentation on Web 2.0 and Policy in school

Help with Data Collection

Please consider helping Kim Caise, a graduate student, complete some research...here's her write up and links to the data collection instruments...[Kim Caise writes](

edTech09 in San Marcos, Tx

A colleague, Diana Benner, is presenting at the following conference THIS weekend in April, 2009. Note that there is NO COST to attend, so I encourage those of you in close proximi

Dealing with Home Computers

How does everyone deal with employee's asking you to "update" or "load" software on their home computers that they bring in for you to work on (without checking first) and sinc

Texas Stimulus Funding Update

The following update was shared with me.... This is a link of a new posting at the US Dept of Ed site about the new $44 billion in funding. In particular, look at the section ent

Stimulus Money for Texas Districts

The following update was shared with me via email...it originated at one of the Education Service Centers: The Regular NCLB Title IID is on schedule and will be released as u

Revisiting Domesticating Education

I wrote this in response to Al Upton's situation, and when I read it again, I realized I didn't have a copy on my new blog (the one you're reading now). So, to make it a bit more g

A Special Invite Just for You

JOIN US! 2009 Education Technology Site Visit March 21, 2009 Greetings Colleagues, I would like to extend a personal invitation to you and other technology leaders in

Cost of Testing vs Technology

A month or two ago, a colleague in Texas shared the following information with the TEC SIG list: TEA has recommended that we do online testing in conjunction with the replacement

Solving Budget Problems

Ric Murry recently shared a snapshot of the kinds of conversations happening around solving budget problems. What he didn't realize is that he missed the conversation happening beh

Sharing Tips

Love these remarks... In her recent comments, fellow teacher and moodler Mary Cooch (known als

Why Not New Tech High Schools

In an earlier post, I lamented that the LOTI folks had switched their language and were eschewing their support of technology use to focus on instruction. Jerram Froese writes in r

Facebook Generation

Will school districts need to open access to Facebook now that Colleges/Universities are embracing it as institutions? [Ray Ulmer shares the news](

Has LOTI Abandoned Ed-Tech?

You'd think that after years of struggle to integrate technology into the curriculum, the folks behind the LOTI wouldn't just throw up their hands and walk away...but that's exactl

Sharing How You Use Moodle in K-12

Sharing is one of the wonderful activities educators engage in every day. It's for that reason that I hope Moodle users reading this will share how they are using Moodle in K 12, w

What Advice Would You Give?

What advice would you give a brand new C&I Superintendent? That's the question that popped into my head earlier today, and for some reason, I can't get it out. It's a tough questio

EdTech Info

Saw this update from COSN...anyone in Texas worried that the state tech allotment won't survive this legislative session? Obama Administration Makes Ed Tech a Priority

Lit2Go

Recently, I [shared a podcast Tim Holt had recorded of a conversation where Janice Schlottmann pointed out Houghton Mifflin's poor decision](

Copyright Question and DMCA

The following copyright scenario was shared... We have a faculty member that has several older VHS tapes of stuff she has bought in ht epast, not recorded off the TV etc. and wan

House Stimulus Bill Information

From a colleague.... The National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities has a very detailed summary on their web site of the proposed House Stimulus Bill. Details include what

Is Your School Network Irrelevant?

It's a question that comes up periodically...as students and staff get access to high speed Internet access, does your school district network with all its content filters, blocks

Then A Miracle Occurs

When a senior in private, Christian high school, I wrote my single, major research paper (you know what I mean, those of you of that era) with required notecards, requisite 30+ pag

Transcript Liability

Howdy, now that many of us are using a learning management system as defined here to track professional learning that staff are participating in, are you aware of there being any

Gradespeed in the News

The family run Campusware's flagship product, Gradespeed, an electronic gradebook and attendance tracking system has [merited](

VoiceThread Reneges? A Survey

While we've had a fascinating conversation thus far thanks to Steve Muth from VoiceThread.com for sharing his perspective I wonder if the visitors who choose not to participate m

Advocate for Change

Alert...write your elected officials. URGENT: Tell Congress to Support “the Most Sweeping Effort to Modernize Schools” in Histo

TEA Update 12/19/2009

Received this in an email yesterday...shares updates on Ed Tech, Internet Safety, and Public School Library needs. Educational Technology Update The Progress Report on t

Voicethread Reneges?

[]( Please complete the survey that appears online here. What are the implications of Voicethread's decision to do away wit

Articles and Topics

It doesn't hurt to re share these, especially when I get emails asking about the content of the articles below... [ Five Essential Tech Tools for School Administrators (Part 3) ]

Remote Control of Student PCs

Two days ago, I received this inquiry: We are looking at a program (hopefully free) that allows the instructor to view the computers in a lab setting (LAN) and if necessary proje

Total Control

Tim (Assorted Stuff) nails it when he writes... So these not so flush times are an excellent time to take a break, reflect and take a good

Protecting Student Data

The following question was posed on an email list: If a school and/or a teacher wanted to create a website or portal that would allow students to login and take online classes, y

Don't Know Much About Copy-n-Paste

Reading my copy of the November 2008 issue of American School Board Journal, I had to laugh in shared frustration with this contributor author: For years, textbook publishers and

Texas Tech Literacy Assessment

It's nice to get emails like this one (slight modifications made to protect the identity of the author and anonymize it): I am the technology directory for [a Texas school distr

Texas CTO Awards

Members are encouraged to nominate both individuals and districts for the new Texas state awards. The deadline for submitting them is Friday, November 7. The recipient does n

Video Game Madness

Received this request...suggestions/ideas? We are in the process of coming up with a technology based intervention for high school students. The committee voted to use video game

YES WE CAN!

Like many Americans, I am watching all the candidates and how gracefully they concede or acknowledge their victories. For the South Carolina election, I was impressed by candidate

Podcast - Girls and Violence

A few days ago, I wrote a blog entry exploring what little I knew about girls and violence. This is a short chat with my daughter, a girl in a public high school. [Listen to Podcas

Podcasting at NECC 2009

In a recent email exchange, someone wrote (i've removed identifying info to protect the innocent): We’ve been really pleased with the podcasting/fair use discussion so far. It’s

Web Site Nirvana

"How can we expect a teacher to handle his or her regular work load and also keep up the campus Web site?" That is a question many schools and districts face. What individual can

YES WE CAN.

All my life, like most of you, I've been encouraged to be professional, to hold my tongue, to keep silent when it is best to speak up. After blogging for 4 years, I realize now tha

Administrators on Patrol

As I shared earlier this week, I had the chance to present to principals about embracing technology for reflective conversations. The focus of the presentation was on helping princ

Developing Voice

As a young writer, I was always reading about how powerful the writer's voice needed to be. Voice came to mean, as Susan Scott shares in Fierce Conversations, getting out from be

Twitter - Educational Apps

This past week, I found myself sharing Twitter as an educational app, a way to tap into the network of learners around the globe. Here are some of the Twitterapps that really caugh

Isolated Acts No Longer

This blog entry includes my notes from Dr. Don Knezek's presentation this morning. Podcast appears below. My notes are in square brackets. ![](

Students Writing

Yesterday, I spent my entire day at a UIL competition. All day. No connectivity. No computer. No internet...and, I had a GREAT time. One of the frustrations I have had with the way

Spectacular Failure

Yesterday, I quoted from the "quote of the month" appearing in January, 2006's Technology and Learning magazine. Today, I looked at the magazine again still open to that page (7)