Techno-babble is the use of fancy terms to make new products look cutting-edge. Discusses five terms-their meaning, and strengths and weaknesses. Technology-support staff should relate complicated technical terms in simplified but not patronizing words. (MLF)

The widespread adoption of information and communications technologies (ICT) in higher education (HE) since the mid 1990s has failed to produce the radical changes in learning and teaching than many anticipated. Activity theory and Rogers' model of the adoption of innovations provide analytic frameworks that help develop our understanding of the…

The job of overseeing a school district's technology program has grown exponentially in recent years as computers, the Internet, and other technology applications have become essential to the daily operation of schools. What are the essential skills needed to oversee a school district's technology program? The Consortium for School Networking…

A frequent criticism of technology applications in classrooms is that they are little more than extraneous bells and whistles pointlessly tacked onto routine instruction. The flash and splash of a PowerPoint presentation may look good, but many question the value added to student learning. This leads to the question, how can technologies genuinely…

Because of its interactive and multimedia nature, the Internet has been touted as an increasingly important aspect of both elementary and secondary education. A recent survey, however, indicated that the Internet and all of its apparent potential is not often used by K-5 social studies teachers. One possible reason for this is that sorting through…

Imagine a classroom where students beam their assignments to the teacher instead of handing them in. Imagine a classroom where technology is ubiquitous yet nearly invisible. Imagine a classroom where all students simultaneously work together using technology. This is the reality for students in the fifth grade classroom of Jan Kelly, an elementary…

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of technology that can enhance learning in physical education and exercise science instructional programs at the K-12 level and in colleges and universities. Although technology is widely used in physical education programs, it is generally limited to software and equipment that assesses…

A visit to most any technology education laboratory or classroom will reveal that computers, software, and multimedia software are rapidly becoming a mainstay in learning about technology and technological literacy. Almost all technology labs have at least several computers dedicated to specialized software or hardware such as Computer-aided…

In this article, the author reports on how several models are meeting the challenges of time, technology, and motivation. Some of the models discussed are videoconferencing models, the Anytime, Anywhere learning initiatives, and Educational Impact, a larger-scale provider of professional development resources that addresses this challenge by…

The authors provide a version of a double-auction market simulation designed for classes too large for most computer labs to accommodate in one sitting. Instead, students play the game from remote computers, wherever they may be and at any time during a given time period specified by the instructor. When the window of time expires, students can…

High-quality multimedia products make use of technology to further the understanding of a topic in ways that traditional media cannot accomplish. This article describes the use of multimedia in collaborative student projects dealing with an area of study in the standard curriculum for their state or country. The projects facilitated the…

This brief article describes how one young man who once was unmotivated and uninterested in learning more than just the minimum required for graduation transformed into an active, motivated student through a program called MOUSE (Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools and Education), a NYC based non-profit dedicated to empowering students…

Higher education has an important stake in the national effort to widely deploy a state-of-the-art broadband public network. The Broadband Policy Group (BPG) developed a set of three principles to provide a consistent frame of reference for pursuing policy initiatives: (1) affordable broadband access; (2) a new regulatory structure; and (3)…

The frequency and form of computing for children are still open to definition at the classroom level. There are three major classifications of general-purpose computers to consider: desktops, laptops and handhelds (PDAs). However, despite the final commercial realization of a "computer" teachers should consider the physiological and cognitive…

Electronic discussion sections can create a learning environment that will elicit quality student discussions in classes with large enrollment (i.e., 100 to 150 students). Redressing problems encountered during the first year using electronic discussions, I made changes such as establishing grading criteria for evaluating each student contribution…