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In part one of this two-part series, we discussed technology for overall communication and safety/security in schools. Today we highlight classroom learning technologies January 14, 2008 By Jenny Carless, News@Cisco It is not always easy to reach consensus on important education issues. Concerned people, all of whom have children's best interests at heart, may not be able to agree on content or strategies. But one thing a majority of Americans do agree on, according to a recent poll, is the importance of information technology to the future of learning and 21st century skills.

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), builds on Shulman's idea of PCK, and attempts to capture some of the essential qualities of knowledge required by teachers for technology integration in their teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted and situated nature of teacher knowledge. At the heart of the TPACK framework, is the complex interplay of three primary forms of knowledge: Content (CK), Pedagogy (PK), and Technology (TK).

In March 1987, the AAHE Bulletin first published "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." With support from Lilly Endowment, that document was followed by a Seven Principles Faculty Inventory and an Institutional Inventory (Johnson Foundation, 1989) and by a Student Inventory (1990). The Principles, created by Art Chickering and Zelda Gamson with help from higher education colleagues, AAHE, and the Education Commission of the States, with support from the Johnson Foundation, distilled findings from decades of research on the undergraduate experience.

Discussions in Distance Learning are a series of audiocasts featuring Del Mar College faculty discussing issues and trends in the fields of instructional technology and distance education. Each session is approximately 15 minutes in length and can be listened to by clicking the episode title. You can also subscribe to Discussions in Distance Learning by using a podcast subscription service, also known as an aggregator. Subscribing will download the latest episode directly to your computer each time you log in to your aggregator service. Popular aggregator subscription services include iTunes (www.itunes.com), Yahoo (podcast.yahoo.com), and Juice (juicereceiver.sourceforge.net).

In 2007, the Sloan Consortium issued a report on the extent and nature of online learning in K-12 schools. Entitled, K-12 Online Learning: A Survey of U.S. School District Administrators, this report was welcomed by professional organizations and the popular media interested in the use of online technology for instruction in the public schools. It was based on a national survey of school district administrators during the 2005-2006 academic year. It was one of the first studies to collect data on and compare fully online and blended learning (part online and part traditional face-to-face instruction) in K-12 schools. The purpose of this current study is to replicate the original study in order to substantiate its findings and to examine what if any changes occurred in online learning in K-12 school districts. The current study was conducted two years later and was based on a national survey of school district administrators during the 2007-2008 academic year.

The Medium is NOT the Message