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"At New Milford High School, it is not uncommon to see students finishing homework assignments on their MacBooks in the cafeteria or using cellphones in class to text an answer. "It's giving them the freedom and autonomy to use the devices to support what they are doing in their classes," said Principal Eric Sheninger."

"During her search for videos, Chellani discovered that many of them didn't cover foundational concepts. So she started creating her own using the digital content creation software Adobe Captivate. She also started evaluating the concepts she teaches and decided to move away from teaching "to the textbook." Without this built-in time every week, Chellani said she wouldn't be able to work on these projects. Through end-of-year conferences, Sheninger found out that other teaches had students blog in their English classes and create YouTube videos instead of traditional lab reports. "I don't know if that stuff would have happened if this time wasn't made available," Sheninger said."

"the staff needed to educate them­selves on how per­son­al de­vices could be used as a learn­ing tool. New Mil­ford's teach­ing staff set out to teach students about three main focal points when it came to al­low­ing per­son­al de­vices in their classrooms. They star­ted with de­monstrat­ing di­git­al re­spon­sibil­ity, di­git­al citizenship and creat­ing positive di­git­al footprints. These points would es­tablish a learn­ing en­viron­ment that would in­form students about what was ex­pec­ted of them, as well as set a foun­da­tion for years to come when they enter the work force."

The conventional wisdom in education is that any school reform--be it curriculum, instruction, assessment, or teacher professionalism--is most likely to take hold in schools that have strong leadership. The same holds true for technology. Any educator will tell you the most successful implementation of technology programs takes place in schools where the principal sees him or herself as a technology leader.

"Twitter and Facebook might soon replace traditional professional development for teachers. Instead of enduring hours-long workshops a few times a year, teachers could reach out to peers on the Internet in real time for advice on things like planning a lesson (or salvaging a lesson that's going wrong), overcoming classroom management problems, or helping students with disabilities."