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Evaluating the use of technology in a classroom environment is not something most administrators are trained to do. It is easy to walk into a classroom and see that every student is using a computer, but how do you really assess if and what type of learning is taking place?

Indicator Web Sites will include links that might be of interest to students, teachers, parents, administrators, or anyone that is looking for resources in Reading, Math, Social Studies, and Science. They are in the form of hyperlinks that match to the tested standards for grades K - high school.

Video parodies are used to make teacher training interesting A Texas district is producing videos parodying well-known commercials to make teacher training more interesting and to send messages to students. The videos have been so effective that there are plans to produce more. "We've been doing these videos since 2006. This way of delivering a message has more appeal," said a district administrator. The Dallas Morning News (9/8) http://www.youtube.com/user/MesquiteISD#play/all

Wes Fryer and others created Unmasking the Digital Truth. If you're a school administrator or a teacher who works in a district that doesn't create a least restrictive internet environment, please visit Unmasking the Digital Truth.

Upon becoming Principal of New Milford High School over three years ago, it was decided after a needs assessment that more resources and professional development had to go into the area of educational technology. I was fortunate enough to participate in two television shows that resulted in funds that normally don't just fall into the hands of a high school administrator. After researching and learning about how iPods and MacBooks were being utilized to engage learners, I quickly decided to purchase a mobile iPod learning lab.....

"5 K-12 Technology Trends for 2010 A look at the top technology tools and trends to keep an eye on in the coming year * By Bridget McCrea * 12/10/09 With technology evolving at the speed of light, and everyone looking to benefit from the latest, greatest hardware and software, keeping up can be challenging for educators, administrators, and school districts themselves. To help, THE Journal spoke with a handful of technology experts and came up with a short list of top tech trends you'll want to watch in the new year. Here they are: "

Betrayed - Why Public Education Is Failing Betrayed is a new online chat forum for parents, teachers and community members to offer their thoughts on what's wrong with public education and how to make it work better for the students. The comments within are based on extensive research by Laurie H. Rogers. If you would like to learn more about this research, please contact Laurie Rogers at wlroge@comcast.net.

"he great classroom technology debate is on: Cell phones or no cell phones? Many districts and school administrators laid down rules that cell phones are not to be used in schools. If students are caught using cell phones they are typically confiscated for the day and may have to be picked up "

"Does your school or school district provide a moderated, interactive web platform for video sharing among students as well as teachers? While education-specific video sites like Edublogs.tv, SchoolTube, and TeacherTube can and are being used by learners around the world to share video interactively (as well as YouTube and YouTube EDU) there can be a number of benefits when schools provide "homegrown YouTube" video services. Often school district network administrators are loath to unblock / open access to YouTube. A homegrown video sharing site can be moderated and controlled (an extremely important word in the lexicon of IT directors) in ways a public video sharing website outside the school network cannot. Bandwidth limitations are often cited as the reason video sharing sites in schools are blocked. While software and hardware solutions exist to limit the percentage or total amount of bandwidth allocated to services like video streaming websites, many school networks are not presently configured to implement these types of imposed limits. "The fight to unblock YouTube" even for teacher access and use is an uphill struggle in many schools, but the case for a homegrown video sharing site can be less contentious."

" A national survey of more than 368,000 K-12 students, parents, teachers and administrators documents the increasingly significant digital disconnect between students' beliefs about how technology can improve the learning process and the practices of educators who are less comfortable with using technology in the classroom. The findings of the 2009 Speak Up Survey, conducted by Project Tomorrow and sponsored by Schoolwires, are being presented today at the first of two congressional briefings in Washington, DC."

If you learned it you should have got an A on it (Scholar Ladies video and Beyoncé remix) Singing and dancing students, teachers and administrators in the YouTube video, "Scholar Ladies (Get An A On It)" share a positive message about high expectations for school learning and good grades.

If you loved the Bloom's Taxonomy Blooming Butterfly Poster for Elementary Teachers or enjoyed the Bloom's Taxonomy Blooming Orange Helpful Verbs Poster, you will love the new poster of the week series by Learning Today.

"Today, the entire public school system of Oregon will embrace Google Apps. 400,000 Students, teachers, and administrators will have access to a common e-mail and chat system, cloud-based collaboration tools, and a robust multimedia streaming service. Traditionally, statewide adoptions of any kind in education are hotly contested, with the most minute details up for extended debate."

Lisa Nielsen is an educational administrator and permanently certified teacher with more than a decade's worth of experience working in educational innovation at the city, state, and national level. Working as an innovative educator in New York City, Ms. Nielsen was honored as Teacher of the Year and was her district's nominee for Technology Educator of the year. Ms. Nielsen has worked in various capacities in educational innovation at the NYC Department of Education and Teachers College, Columbia University including as manager of instructional technology professional development, literacy coach, instructional technology coach, teacher, librarian, and staff developer. She currently serves as Technology Innovation Manager for the NYC Department of Education. Ms. Nielsen is a Google Certified Teacher, International Edublogger, International EduTwitter, and creator of The Innovative Educator blog, website, learning network, and wiki. In addition to her blog (http://TheInnovativeEducator.blogspot.com), her work is published in "Learning and Leading," and "Tech & Learning," magazine as well as the following online media Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, Ed Reformer, and The Huffington Post. An outspoken and passionate advocate of innovative education Ms. Nielsen is also covered by local and national media for her views on "Passion (not data) Driven Learning," "Thinking Outside the Ban" and determining ways to harness the power of technology for instruction and providing a voice to educators and students. Her first book "Teaching Generation Text" is set for a fall 2011 release.

Blog post writting by a school administrator provides several recommendations to capturing and engaging those non-involved students.

everal years ago, as I was driving home from work, I noticed a bumper sticker on the back of the car in front of me. It read: Making Molehills out of Mountains. A simple phrase, but a great perspective regarding our daily approach to life-taking those difficult moments and making them achievable. There is no shortage of challenges in our world, but we all possess the ability to make a difference, to turn mountains into molehills.

"When properly configured, tablet devices like the iPad are great tools for school leaders. There are all kinds of productivity and utility apps that can be used to streamline tasks and help leaders make better use of their valuable time and resources. Use the links on this page to explore the possibilities. "

video and PDF tutorials