Transition from face-to-face to the online classroom is an enlightening journey. This is the cutting edge of a paradigm shift in K-12 education, and it is important for teachers to understand it. Many teachers may not receive a formal training program and should realize that it is not always an easy transition. Anything can happen, and never…

Good learning experiences ask students to investigate and make sense of the world. While there are many ways to do this, K-12 curriculum has traditionally skewed toward reading and writing to interpret and express students' sense-making. But there is another way. Infographics represent data and ideas visually, in pictures, engaging more parts of…

In the fall of 2009, Van Meter Community School in Iowa adopted a one-to-one laptop initiative in grades 6-12 and a strong technology focus throughout the district. Since that time, an atmosphere of respect, creativity, collaboration, and connection as well as independent thinking and learning has prevailed at the school. Today, Van Meter has…

In a seminal article published in 2006, Jeanette Wing described computational thinking (CT) as a way of "solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior by drawing on the concepts fundamental to computer science." Wing's article gave rise to an often controversial discussion and debate among computer scientists, cognitive…

The ability to distract has put the use of laptops, netbooks, cell phones, PDAs, iPod/MP3 players, and portable game players on the banned list in many schools. Educators are discovering that students are more interested in online resources, such as Facebook, game sites, chat, and YouTube, than classroom lectures and textbook chapters about the…

For students, field trips can be the best of both worlds: a welcome and exciting break from day-to-day classroom activities and a memorable, real-world experience that will solidify the curriculum in their minds. Unfortunately, the most desirable trips--those to far-away, enticing destinations--have long been inaccessible to all but a select few,…

Successful technology integration must focus on standards-based, curriculum-related learning outcomes rather than on the technologies themselves. In the first installment of a seven-part series, we offer a grounded approach to technology integration based on content, pedagogy, and how teachers plan instruction.

From one-to-one learning initiatives to laptop carts, schools all over the country are using portable computing models to achieve flexible technology access. To maximize learning and engagement at a sustainable cost, selecting the appropriate computing device is of utmost importance to best meet the needs of teachers and students. After all, a…

For many states, it's been a long struggle to fund positions dedicated to helping schools integrate technology. But in Virginia, thanks to the state's forward thinking educational leaders and lawmakers, every school division has its own team of technology-integration specialists. It started with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the…

As educators, the authors continually strive to improve the quality of time spent in class with their students. As chemistry teachers, they know that lectures are necessary to convey content, but experiential learning is more effective at constructing and solidifying knowledge. Podcasting and vodcasting their lessons at first proved to be an…

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…

Education technology leaders are ever seeking new ways to eliminate the traditional social and geographic boundaries that hinder communication and collaboration for both K-12 students and educators. Larger districts with geographically dispersed schools often find that innovative ideas for technology use and integration are balkanized into…

Educators in K-12 and university settings have begun to embrace blogs for a variety of reasons and in a variety of ways. Blogging provides technical advantages that paper diaries do not, including the elimination of the notebooks themselves and the possibility of linking to relevant materials online rather than just citing them. In addition, the…

Each August, teachers from around the state gather for the Arizona K-12 Center's Tech Camp, a week-long immersion in technology for the classroom. The Arizona K-12 Center's mission is to improve teaching and learning in Arizona's schools through high-quality professional development and teacher leadership. The formula Tech Camp follows is a simple…

This paper, the first of a two-part article, addresses ways that project-based learning is being used in countries around the world. It introduces Microsoft's worldwide K-12 education initiative, Partners in Learning, and provides some background as to why Microsoft is interested in developing project-based learning curricula for teachers to help…