Top ten skills needed to succeed as a teacher (and technology)

photo credit: davidsilver
This article started out as the top ten skills needed to use technology effectively, but as I wrote the list, I realized that technology shouldn’t be separated out. As we proclaim that technology is a tool, we also shouldn’t single it out when talking about what skills it takes to educate. The [...]

The Kindle DX is available for pre-order, does anyone care?

Today’s announcement of the Kindle DX, a 9.7″ version of the Kindle is being hailed as some sort of savior of the newspaper industry and a breakthrough for the college textbook market.
At almost $500 I don’t see it as either. The biggest negative about the Kindle will also be the last thing fixed, if it [...]

Attention education vendors

After reading Miguel’s article The Bad PR List at Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org, it got me thinking about the vendors in the education community and some of my pet peeves. My biggest complaint with education vendors is the lack of pricing transparency. If I’m going to take the time to visit your website and examine your [...]

Teacher covers copy costs with ads

Ads on tests add up for teacher – USATODAY.com
“Tough times call for tough actions,” he says. So he started selling ads on his test papers: $10 for a quiz, $20 for a chapter test, $30 for a semester final.
Interesting way to deal with cost cutting, but I don’t know the sustainability of the model. Right [...]

HIW (How I Work): The Apple MacBook

I am asked quite often how I can keep up with everything in regards to educational technology, software, and hardware. After some reflection, I realized that it would make a good series of articles, so I’m going to write up How I Work.
First up is probably the most important component of my technology arsenal, my [...]

New page: About Me

I’ve create an About Me page that gives some background information on how I got to where I am today.

Would a rose by any other name smell just as sweet?

According to a recent study, names really do make a difference:
Parents are being warned to think long and hard when choosing names for their babies as research has discovered that girls who are given very feminine names, such as Anna, Emma or Elizabeth, are less likely to study maths or physics after the age of [...]

Where’s the outrage?

photo credit: jigpuAfter I first read this story, I thought that it was a pretty cool:
When Victory Baptist School, a small private school in Sherwood, Ark., was struggling to keep its computer network together last year, an 11-year-old student named Jon Penn stepped in as network manager.
Upon reflection I realized that this story [...]

Paradox of choice

photo credit: javYliz

In the technology world it seems we’re continually confronted with new products, services, software, hardware, etc. And for those of us who have a tough time focusing on one thing at a time, this dizzying array of choices can easily distract us or keep us from finishing previous tasks.
In The Paradox of [...]

The Science of Star Trek

A very cool article descibing what is possible and what isn’t possible in Star Trek:
So, what are the features of Star Trek that a person interested in science can enjoy without guilt, and what features rightly tick off those persnickety critics? Well, many of the star systems mentioned on the show, such as Wolf 359, [...]