Many educators are interested in using technology to enhance their teaching, but feel they are behind the curve or are overwhelmed by the number of choices and do not know where to begin. This article presents tips for getting personal technology professional development in shape.

Pursuing professional development (PD) is contractual for some, and oxygen for others. As technology has increased access to anytime-anywhere learning, many of the hurdles for conquering time and space constraints have been addressed with online learning in web-based classroom environments, webinars, and even some of the newer social networking…

For technology to really work in the classroom, professional development is key. One has to craft a technology professional development plan. This sort of plan requires special aspects--assessing the technology literacy, usage, and attitudes of the faculty; designing individual educational technology plans for each faculty member; developing and…

As districts look at the millennials in their classrooms and plan for the most effective educational strategies to reach them, it is clear that technology can enable learning in ways that never before have been possible. It is also clear that this generation grew up with tools and techniques that are well integrated with their lifestyles. To these…

This article provides CIOs suggested training, development, and administrative tasks to prepare for the technology infrastructure challenges that lie ahead in the upcoming school year. These suggestions cover a range of subject matter from personal/professional development to data audits, social networking, acceptable risk policies, and data…

Professional development in most schools has a predictable look and feel: summer workshops, brown-bag luncheon trainings, and the infamous in-service day. These events can be successful, and there is no doubt they have helped numerous educators become better at what they do. Web 2.0, however, opens up a new world of professional learning. This…

Kershaw County School District in South Carolina may not be the first place that comes to mind when thinking about hotbeds of ed-tech innovation. Its student population is diverse and for the most part not wealthy: Camden High School is urban with 1,055 students, 45 percent of whom qualify for reduced lunch; Lugoff-Elgin High School is a large…

Irving Independent School District in Texas is not a typical candidate for a locally funded one-to-one computing program. With more than 31,000 students, most of whom are minority and economically disadvantaged, technology-rich classrooms and wireless laptops for all seems a lofty goal. Irving's recipe for success lies in strong leadership and the…

Describes online opportunities for professional development via the Internet. Includes descriptions of four examples that illustrate some of the possibilities; participant views; what to look for as a potential user; additional resources; and an annotated directory of online professional development options. (LRW)

This brief article describes the events and discussions that took place at the annual Fall Tech Forum event, hosted at the IBM Conference Center in Palisades, New York. At the Forum, practitioners and leaders gathered for a day of professional development sessions and networking with colleagues and industry experts. The highlights of the Forum are…

Laptop computing programs have been in K-12 schools since the 1990s, but in recent months one-to-one learning seems to have reemerged as a top topic in education technology circles. According to Tim Wiley, senior analyst at research firm Eduventures, about 1,000 of the 15,000 school districts in the United States currently have one-to-one…

Few have the long-term experience with one-to-one computing that Cincinnati Country Day School has. The small, private, grade 5-12 institution in Indian Hills, Ohio, began its pioneering laptop program in 1996. With six years of practical experience under its belt, the school made the decision to begin transitioning to tablets in 2002, with an…

Open source has continued to evolve and in the past three years the development of a graphical user interface has made it increasingly accessible and viable for end users without special training. Open source relies to a great extent on the free software movement. In this context, the term free refers not to cost, but to the freedom users have to…

This article relates the story of one California school district that is making laptop ownership for students a reality, despite the overwhelming financial burden. In January 1996, Clovis Unified School District found itself in a situation familiar to many districts. Fresh from a conference in Redmond, Washington, sponsored by Microsoft and…

As an educational leader, the technology administrator can and should take the lead in ensuring students benefit from the integration of digital technologies into classroom practices. This article presents numerous practical strategies for achieving a culture in which students can be more engaged in their learning, have multiple means of accessing…