A transformation is going on at Dunbar High School. Administrators, parents, teachers, students, and community partners are excited about the new opportunities offered to students enrolled in the award-winning technology programs. But this was not the case more than a decade ago. In the fall of 2000, Dunbar High School in Fort Myers, Florida, USA,…

Kids love augmented reality (AR) simulations because they are like real-life video games. AR simulations allow students to learn content while collaborating face to face and interacting with a multimedia-enhanced version of the world around them. Although the technology may seem advanced, AR software makes it easy to develop content-based…

Difficulty securing adequate professional development (PD) has long been a barrier to the effective implementation of educational technology. Concerns about the dearth of PD for helping teachers integrate technology into their instructional practices raised nearly 25 years ago appear to still hold true despite repeated calls for increased…

In the world of teaching with technology, there are constant challenges. Often that leads to tension between the teachers who are using technology in the classroom and the IT techs who are charged with installing and setting up new computers, ordering new equipment, making sure software programs are up to date, and securing the system. IT techs…

In a November 7, 2007, "New York Times" article "New Class (room) War: Teacher vs. Technology," author Michael Bugeja noted that "the baby boomers seem to see technology as information and communication. Their offspring and the emerging generation seem to see the same devices as entertainment and socializing." This became abundantly clear to Nueva…

Just as the democratization of information through personal computers was a key advance of the 20th century, the democratization of production through improvements in fabrication technologies will be a pivotal development in the 21st century. Digital fabrication is the process of translating a digital design into a physical object. At one time,…

Web-based applications offer teachers, students, and school districts a convenient way to accomplish a wide range of tasks, from accounting to word processing, for free. Cloud computing has the potential to offer staff and students better services at a lower cost than the technology deployment models they're using now. Saving money and improving…

Technology has changed people's lives. In fewer than 30 years, people have gone from barely hearing about cell phones, laptops, and MP3 players to almost not being able to live without them. Digital citizenship describes the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use. In this article, the author presents nine elements…

Reliable information on emerging technologies for learning is as vital as it is difficult to come by. To meet this need, the International Society for Technology in Education organized the Emerging Technologies Task Force. Its goal is to create a database of contributions from educators highlighting their use of emerging technologies to support…

The field of educational technology is under external pressure to provide evidence of identifiable learning outcomes that can be attributed to technology. Leaders within the educational technology research community agree about the importance of such evidence. Each year, ISTE and the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE)…

Given the financial constraints facing U.S. schools and the expense of cutting-edge technology, partnerships between schools and corporations that specialize in technology are becoming more vital in the quest to remain competitive in today's educational market. Schools can benefit from these partnerships by receiving the latest hardware and…

This second article in a series of four that explores the role of information technology in education focuses on our current view of information technology and argues for a new structure for using technology in education. Highlights include a framework for systemic change; and connectivity of physical settings, people, and knowledge development.…

If technology can affect student learning, shouldn't it be considered in making decisions? Data-driven decision making models include data from curriculum, instruction, test scores, lunch programs, budgets, and transportation. None of the current models include anything about technology. The challenge with any type of data-driven decision making…

The "standard" PC desktop is and always has been a moving target. Although the fear of obsolescence has diminished considerably from the early days of personal computing, it is still true that today's state-of-the-art system will eventually be too slow, too underpowered, and probably too archaic to warrant repair, or even use. To extend the life…

Leaders are barraged daily by teachers, administrators, and students seeking answers to questions ranging from the simplistic to the metaphysical in their complexity. The author is sure leaders wonder at times, "How in the world can I free up enough time to answer them all?" Well, the author states that he hates to break the news, but it is…