For much of the 20th century, educators were adults who had earned an undergraduate degree which typically requires four years of study in higher education. As undergraduate students, these adults had become skilled users of print which was the dominant information technology in both society and school. As a result, educators were the most skilled Read More
Category: Technology
Technology Acceptance
89: Technology Acceptance In 2003, Venkatesh, Morris, Davis and Davis modified the TAM into the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Through the UTAUT, the scholars sought to compare and unite into one theory eight different theories that had emerged for measuring technology use. According to the UTAUT, four factors are directly Read More
Three Important Papers in Information Technology
36; Three Important Papers | RSS.com In the closing months of World War II, Vannevar Bush (1945), who had served as Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development during the war, published “As We May Think” in Atlantic Monthly. His article captured the essence of digital electronic information technology just as it had Read More
TPCK: A Framework for IT Planning in Schools
Teacher education has traditionally been informed by a framework comprising the content dimension (what is to be taught or the curriculum) and the pedagogy dimension (how it is taught or instruction). Shulman (1987) suggested teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge cannot be developed in isolation, so he proposed “pedagogical content knowledge” (PCK) to describe the Read More
Natural Technology
37: Natural Technology | RSS.com Technology has been a part of human existence since our species first evolved. Anthropologist Timothy Taylor (2010) approached a tautology when he suggested that “the intelligence that makes us inventive was enabled by inventions: the baby sling, the stone blade, and the cooking hearth” (194), but he continued “these are Read More
IT and Users: An Inverse Relationship
Leaders often defer to the IT professionals when it comes to making decision about which IT systems to obtain and how to configure them. Unfortunately for those who want to avoid using up valuable synapses with information about IT systems, leaders are assuming an increasing role in making technology decisions. The reason leader must participate Read More
Curriculum Repository
A curriculum repository is a web site where one finds a collection of resources to support teaching and learning. In the ideal realization, it will be a file sharing site (with tagged and searchable contents) as well as tools for interaction. There are a wide range of repositories available for any users, but local school Read More
Technology Acceptance– Understanding Decisions to Use IT
49: Technology Acceptance Model This except is from my book Efficacious Technology Management: A Guide for School Leaders Technology acceptance model was first elucidated to understand the observation “that performance gains are often obstructed by users’ unwillingness to accept and use available systems” (Davis, 1989 p. 319), and it has been used to study decisions Read More
Making Files Accessible
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted to ensure those who cannot use media (text, audio, and other methods of communicating) have access to the information they need in a format they need. (Of course there are many aspects of life affected by the ADA, but this post focuses on digital media.) Teachers are Read More
IT Users in Schools
Educators import technology expertise from other industries—the individuals who manage your school network and repair malfunctioning computers probably learned their craft in a field other than education. What they learned about keeping devices functioning and providing you with robust and reliable service can be transferred from business or industry into schools. There is an important Read More