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Smartphones effecting our brains?  

Brief article about how efficiency of e-books and tablets will make physical books obsolete, particularly in developing countries.

ISTE educational technology conference is a great way to learn about the recent developments in educational technology and a great way to meet other teachers and educators and to share and exchange ideas for professional growth. ISTE 2011 will be held in Philadelphia, PA, USA, with a theme of "Unlocking Potential." More than 18,000 education professionals and technology industry reps are expected to attend June 26-29, 2011.

Following up on the discussion we had in class today, do you think we are focusing too much of our attention on teacher training? If students have the ability to not only understand a certain technology but can also use that technology to self train, isn't the role of the teacher in that respect, highly reduced? Perhaps its easier and would prove fruitful if we redirected our strengths to developing software and devices that are intuitive and help children learn rather than spending the resources on helping a different generation of learners (i.e., the teachers) understand this technology? Also, if you think about it, we are probably only one generation away from the teachers who see the value of technology in teaching. This ideal generation is of course the current students who are using technology and find it extremely helpful. They wouldn't need any convincing or training to use technology in their classroom

The distraction of technology, especially mobile phone and computer, has always been a concern to us. When I was in middle school, few students owned cellphones or laptops. So we have no chance to be immersed in the virtual world. But apparently we couldn't enjoy the benefits of the latest technology either at that time. If I were able to choose, I would definitely choose the colorful school life which is enriched by the various technologies.

A look at Radio Instruction for pre-school children in Zanzibar.

Description of NASA-funded programs aimed at enhancing STEM education

yet another skeptic with doomsday predictions about kids and technology

Ways of helping educators learn about twitter

What is the impact of this trend on instructional materials development?

From the point of view of a policy maker (particularly in developing countries), incorporating technology in education mostly means finding an affordable technology resource and just giving it to schools. The cost of the technology becomes the focal point for these policy makers, and the actual teaching/learning takes a back seat. Michael Trucano proposes a little thought experiment to force us to think about what we want to achieve in the first place.

Let's not forget the hand that Professional Development offerings, or lack there of, around Ed Tech played in this "failure," too. Just because we put a Smart or Promethean board in every school doesn't mean that it won't get written on with a dry erase marker or used only as an LCD projector instead of as the interactive device that it was designed to be...teacher training is essential in the success of ed tech integration.

A ton of iPad related info in one place

Is this site promotional for Apple?

Allison, The Curator of the site, Dave Brown is described as "President of Interactive Elementary, a leading developer of educational apps for the iPad. Also an Ontario teacher".

#edchat A twitter sharing session for teacher's hosted every tuesday 12pm EST. Attempts to foster teacher professional development / updates to research in education. I can't comment till I've tried it. Check out the web site and tell me your thoughts.