Your Edtech Questions

Open educational resources are the education world’s version of the sharing economy. OER is curriculum and other learning materials that are shared without cost and without copyrights. That allows users to adapt the materials any way they want and freely share their new creations with anyone. That’s different than copyrighted materials, which are protected intellectual property that restrict sharing. With OER, there’s no revenue st...

Michael Bonner, a teacher, author and speaker, has attracted much attention for his innovative teaching methods at an elementary school in North Carolina where the vast majority of students come from low-income homes. The school went through 14 administrator changes over the course of six years. So, the school’s 1:1 iPad initiative foundered as the lack of administrative continuity resulted in an absence of leadership for technolog...

For Danielle Feinberg, computers and technology have always been about creativity and beauty. And that’s especially true now in her job at Pixar Animation Studios as the supervising technical director. In her work on such films as “WALL-E,” “Brave” and “Coco,” she knows firsthand the beauty and wonder that can come from math, science and computer code. 

Sharing that perspective is part of her efforts to narrow the gender g...

Teachers often feel that conversations about education are happening all around them, and yet they’re not really included. That’s the case for many educators when it comes to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Sure, you’ve heard the acronym, but what does the policy and related funding mean, and how can teachers be sure their voices are heard when it comes to edtech policy creation and implementation? On this episode of “Your E...

Educators are used to the alphabet soup that’s part of the education industry, but there are a couple acronyms that could use further explanation. CS and CT, or computer science and computational thinking. This episode of “Your Edtech Questions” explores the definitions of these two terms, breaking them down into understandable processes and showing what they might look like in various subject areas. Guest Jorge Valenzuela, an educ...

We’re all guilty of it. Responding to email, checking messages, doing some reading while holding a conversation or attending meeting. And students do the same, swearing they’re able to multi-task. Research proves that’s just not the case. This episode of “Your Edtech Questions” tackles the question of how educators can successfully address device distraction in the classroom. Guest Liz Kolb, Ph.D., educator and author of Learning F...

Today’s youngest students are learning to read in a world of screens, both at home and in many classrooms. And it’s a world that can be a game-changer for PK-2 teachers. This episode of “Your Edtech Questions” explores what educators need to know when teaching young learners to read in classrooms that include digital devices. Lisa Guernsey, director of the Learning Technologies Project and deputy director of Education Policy at New...

We’ve all been trained to look both ways when we cross the street, but what does it mean for students and for educators to look both ways before crossing a “digital street?” This episode of “Your Edtech Questions” explores the Digital Citizen standard from the ISTE Standards for Students and unpacks all aspects of digital citizenship, from using tech to make your community better, to engaging with people respectfully online, to det...