Scott McLeod and Chris Lehman have edited an excellent chapter book designed to help school administrators quickly get up to speed on technology.
What School Administrators Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media is due out this summer and includes chapters covering blogs, virtual schools, social networking, and one-to-one programs among other topics. I was honored to be asked by Dr. McLeod to write the chapter on educational gaming.
Teaming up to write the chapter on course management systems were fellow Texas bloggers and school technology administrators Scott Floyd and Miguel Guhlin.
This will be a great introduction to new school administrators, those working toward certification, and existing administrators who feel a tad “left behind” by all the changes in technology we’ve seen so far in the 21st Century.
More details and complete table of contents on Dr. McLeod’s blog here.
I’m spending a chunk of the week in Austin for TCEA 2010, and today was the day for LoneStar EduBloggerCon. This is the first year for the “unconference” at TCEA. A nifty promotional video is here:
A great session was delivered by Scott Floyd, who is the technology curriculum specialist over at White Oak ISD in east Texas. He is an outspoken advocate on the state level for students and technology, and runs the influential ed tech blog, A Piece of My Mind.
Scott is a former literacy teacher, and technologies that facilitate and encourage student literacy are always fascinating to him. I sat in on a session he delivered on using blogging to encourage reading and writing with students.
The interesting thing about using blogging tools, WordPress in this case, for students in the classroom is the way their use resembles gaming. Students are charged with a task, often collaborating with one another in producing their product, and complete the “quest” together.
But when the product is published, deep concerns arise among teachers and students regarding errors in the text. So, Scott said, what’s a teacher to do? Should she let an error-riddled post go live on the Web, refuse to allow it to go online without student editing, or just edit it herself? Interestingly, the problem seems to resolve itself through the students, and more concern on “getting it right” is displayed by them when they realize everyone in the world can see their work.
Cool stuff. Anything that helps kids read and write more gets a thumbs up in my book. For more neat stuff on technology and student literacy, follow Scott Floyd on Twitter here.
books | John Rice | 
January 25, 2011 6:40 am | 
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