Until recently, Elkhart Community Schools lacked formal teacher leadership district-wide. The closest implementation historically was department chairs and/or school improvement team members, whose main responsibility was to transfer information between the teaching faculty and administration. In this article, the authors, who are district…

U.S. colleges and universities are facing the challenges of eroding public confidence and financial support, along with high failure rates, especially at a time when increasing numbers of students are matriculating. The demographic profile of students going to college is also more diverse, with students coming from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.…

Social reading can broadly be described as the experience surrounding the reading of electronic books, more commonly known as eBooks. Utilising eTextbooks and social reading at a university offers some powerful potential to engage students and help them succeed in their studies. A broad overview of the current landscape and recent initiatives…

This publication highlights how state policies and guidance are supporting the transformation to personalized learning through digital instructional materials. Specifically, the report includes personalized learning approaches and the policies and processes around the selection, curation, procurement, professional learning and funding of digital…

Physical education is at a crossroads in the 21st century. With government mandates related to the No Child Left Behind Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2001) emphasizing core subjects, such as math and literacy, non-core subjects have been deemphasized. The most recent "Shape of the Nation Report" (National Association for Sport and…

Many teachers are organizing interactive Skype sessions. By taking advantage of Skype to allow students to interact with guests outside the classroom, sometimes thousands of miles away, teachers from all over the world are creating new opportunities for students to make academic gains in a motivating way. In this article, the author discusses the…

The May 2012 State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) report, "The Broadband Imperative: Recommendations to Address K-12 Education Infrastructure Needs," pushed educators and policy makers nationwide to increase high-speed broadband access in schools, with specific recommendations regarding access, funding, and policies…

This report explains the key role that school librarians and libraries should play in state- and district-wide efforts to transition to digital learning, or the effective use of technology to improve teaching and learning. The report calls for district and school leaders, policymakers, and boards of education to support, encourage, and fund the…

Integrating digital age technology into an industrial age educational system is hard enough. Imagine introducing ed tech to a 450-year-old Jesuit educational paradigm. Find out how to seamlessly combine the NETS with a centuries-old framework to create an effective ed tech strategic plan. This article describes how the author successfully…

Greater Clark Schools in Indiana enrolled with a STEM education program, Shining Star with Indiana University, integrated Nova 5000 data-loggers in their curriculum reported success improving students' standardized exam scores and interest in science and mathematics courses after a three year period. The success of the data-loggers, determined by…

The annual Campus Technology Innovators awards recognize higher education institutions that take true initiative--even out-and-out risk--to better serve the campus community via technology. These top-notch university administrators, faculty, and staff demonstrate something more than a "job well done"; their vision and leadership have…

Research and theory-building activities in Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University revolve around several thematic threads: message design, instructional design/development, technology integration, systemic change in education, and change management and human performance technology. A dozen or more student-faculty research groups…

Jon Carl's vision is simple: get students passionate about history by turning them into historians. To accomplish this, he created a class centered on documentary film-making. Students choose a topic, conduct research at local libraries, write a script, film video interviews, and create video segments of four to 15 minutes. District technology…

A recent survey of 74 building-level school administrators in Indiana challenged many of the assumptions regarding 1:1 laptop initiatives and how 1:1 access would affect teaching and learning. It also revealed disturbing realities regarding instructional practices of teachers, as well as efforts to improve school technology integration. The intent…

Distance education has dramatically increased the educational opportunities for underserved populations. This is evidenced by the fairly recent proliferation and success of online universities, and it is happening in spite of criticism of e-learning and online degree programs among academia and the popular press. As a result, many institutions,…