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"It's becoming difficult to read the news in Los Angeles these days without running across yet another article about the problems faced by the sputtering LAUSD iPad initiative. Finally, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy announced this week that they were suspending the contracts with Apple and Pearson amid increasing scrutiny and investigation of the bidding process. According to Deasy, "it will also give us time to take into account concerns raised surrounding the project". There were always valid questions surrounding a bidding process that granted enormous contracts for digital courses that had not yet been developed. It's unfortunate however that an investigation into the bidding process became the catalyst for the project's suspension when it was the planning and implementation that fell woefully short in so many areas. Hindsight may be 20-20 but many were already pointing out substantial flaws in the plan at its initial announcement. As educators we know that failure is the breeding ground for learning and adapting. With that in mind, here are 5 lessons that can be drawn from the LAUSD iPad experience."

for high school educators trying to incorporate technology into their curriculum

"Did you know that you can view multiple web pages and/or applications at once on your digital device? My friend, Jennifer Kimbrell from Tech with Jen, and I were talking the other day about Chrome extensions that make viewing multiple webpages easy for students. I discovered that my "go to" extension, Split Screen, no longer was available and I started to look into other options. Just like everything else involved in the world of ed tech, I am constantly learning something new. Therefore, I wanted to share with you what I discovered last week! "

"The internet doesn't come with an instruction manual, but it should-to give users the skills to separate truth from falsehood so they can distinguish between propaganda and the indisputable and confirmable. And colleges should be the place leading students through this reference book. That's the argument of Michael Caulfield, director of blended and networked learning at Washington State University Vancouver, and it isn't just some "hot take" designed to be provocative. He actually wrote the manual. And he has already convinced more than a dozen colleges to adopt it (and more than 100 college libraries to prominently link to it). Recently, he's started research in an effort to prove that it works (and can help preserve American democracy). Plenty of people are talking about the importance of information literacy these days, and many educational institutions see it as part of their mission. And yet it's more complicated than it seems. Earlier this month researcher danah boyd gave a provocative keynote speech at SXSW EDU arguing that media-literacy efforts at colleges are "backfiring," turning out graduates that are good at questioning everything, and selectively believing what their gut tells them is true."

""No TV until your homework is finished" used to be the easiest way to separate school work from screen time. Today, with IMs, YouTube, texting, and social media, that boundary is super blurry. And because middle and high schoolers often have media and technology as part of their lessons and take-home assignments, it's tough for parents to know where to draw the line. Fortunately, the folks whose job it is to prepare kids to take on the world (including the digital one) know all about managing screen time, multitasking, online privacy, and even using tech tools at home. And they know your tweens and teens pretty well, too. Teachers -- who are on the front lines of the tech-infused school day -- are experts at helping families manage this stuff so that kids can learn. Here are the questions teachers wish you'd ask about the issues that affect students the most. "

"There are already a lot of apps in Apple's App Store for iPad and iPhone (over 1.5 million), and more are added each day. In fact, this month an average of 1,400 apps have been submitted to the App Store. Despite the outrageous number of apps, only a small percentage end up piquing my interest. The apps I get most excited about are ones that are open-ended. I like to make things, and I love it when an app empowers students (and teachers) to create digital productions. Shadow Puppet Edu, Adobe Voice, and TeleStory are three apps that facilitate creativity. They provide students a way to retell stories, explain concepts, or persuade an audience."

"A few days ago we shared with you a new Google feature that allows you to easily fact check online content. Today, we are sharing with you 10 good tips that will enable you to critically assess the veracity and credibility of online content (e.g. news stories).  These are guidelines Facebook Help Centre provided for it users to help them spot fake news. However, these tips can also apply to any other type of content. Students can use them to evaluate digital content and enhance their critical reading comprehension.  We have embedded these tips into the visual below so you can print and share with your students in class. You can also download a PDF copy from this page. Enjoy."

"Data is on overdrive. It's being generated at break-neck pace, flooding out of the dozens of connected devices we use every day, and it shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, the number of internet users has grown over a billion in the last five years, more than half of the world's web traffic now comes from mobile phones. In its fifth year, Data Never Sleeps shows exactly how much data is created every single minute. From tweets to swipes, likes to shares, the digital world is exploding. Have a look."

"The big day was upon us. Hundreds of man-hours of preparation. Thousands of dollars invested in equipment and supplies. An untested, unproven design incorporating materials not usually found in schools. How would students react? Would we achieve our objective: creating a student-centered, flexible learning space that inspires creativity, curiosity, and wonder?"

"This week is Computer Science Education Week, and millions of students across the United States will participate in an Hour of Code. Over the last four years, the Hour of Code has been instrumental in offering children the opportunity to try coding. Computer science, however, is much more than just coding, and students need much more time to learn and practice computing skills and dispositions to be prepared for the world in which they're growing up. These skills and dispositions of a computer scientist are commonly referred to as "computational thinking" and increasingly, computational thinking is being introduced to students within the subjects they study every day."