This position paper contributes to the field of critical educational technology (Ed-Tech) research by providing empirical evidence for the qualities of the phenomenon known as Ed-Tech speak. The research question, how does Ed-Tech speak in research articles about Apple's iPad contribute to promoting and validating the importance and utility of the…

In this issue, Cavanaugh, Giapponi, and Golden (2016) have discussed the new prominent role of digital devices in the lives of students; the possible impact of these widely-used technologies on developing, learning minds; and the relevance of new cognitive neuroscience research and technologies for better understanding the potential effects of…

Reading scholar Maryanne Wolf believes that every child needs an array of digital skills in their learning repertoire. Her research focuses on how best to introduce technology in terms of reading acquisition so children can develop deep reading skills over time. Educators must focus on a carefully considered trajectory in order to develop a truly…

In this article, the author offers reflections on the impact of mobile technology for liberal education. These reflections are based on his own experience of incorporating iPads in his communication courses during the 2010-2011 academic year. As a member of an interdisciplinary faculty learning community on the use of mobile tablets, he explored…

Despite the author's initial skepticism, a classroom set of iPads has reinforced a student-directed approach to writing instruction, while also supporting an inclusive classroom. Using the iPads, students guide their writing process with access to the learning management system, electronic information resources, and an online text editor. Students…

A subcommittee of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Executive Committee wrote the "NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing" in 2004. In over a decade since, the everyday experience of writing in people's lives has expanded dramatically. Increasingly, handheld devices are important instruments for people's writing,…

There is a dramatic shift in the tools that are used in today's technology-based distance education. While distance education is not new, there are new types of socially rich, mobile technologies that empower learners to be more in control of what they learn, when they learn it, and how they learn it. Students are taking more responsibility for…

Liz Kolb started her education career as a teacher of middle and high school social studies in Wyoming City Schools in Cincinnati. She was also a teacher and technology coordinator at Grandview Heights City Schools in Columbus, where she adamantly opposed cell phones in school until she had an "ah-ha" moment. She then founded the Web site Cell…

Two seismic forces beyond our control--the advent of Web 2.0 and the inexorable influx of tech-savvy Millennials on campus--are shaping what Roger McHaney calls "The New Digital Shoreline" of higher education. Failure to chart its contours, and adapt, poses a major threat to higher education as we know it. These forces demand that we as educators…

Today's high-end cell phones have the computing power of a mid-1990s personal computer (PC)--while consuming only one one-hundredth of the energy. Even the simplest, voice-only phones have more complex and powerful chips than the 1969 on-board computer that landed a spaceship on the moon. In the United States, it is almost universally acknowledged…