And, Not Or
This school year, when asked if something should be x or y, try answering, "Yes -- x and y." Find an “and” solution that everyone can live with.
Fair Use of Fair Use
“Copyright instruction and enforcement needs to change from describing narrow limits to emphasizing how educators and students can fully -- and legally -- use copyrighted materials.”
Engage or Entertain?
“I am not convinced that today’s kids need constant entertainment any more or less than any of us do. But they are more insistent on learning that is engaging. We need to make engagement the focus of our instructional strategy improvements.”
Concerns About Creativity
“I have some concerns about creativity as the term is commonly used in schools, and teaching, and technology. I know I have a lot more to learn about enhancing and supporting creativity in education. Are any teacher-training resources being diverted from ‘raising test scores’ to ‘thinking outside the box?’”
Keeping Kids Internet Safe
Maintaining the concept of intellectual freedom, providing a healthy and educational online environment, and teaching students to be self-regulating Internet users should be the goals of all educators.
E-Books On Hand
“I’ve been looking forward to the next iteration of ‘the book’ -- when well-designed silicon replaces cellulose as the means for publishing -- for quite a long time.”
Filter Follies
What educators should know about using Internet filters.
Game On!
Does your district support or ban the use of games in classrooms and libraries?
Doug
Johnson has been the Director of Media and Technology for the
Mankato
Public Schools since 1991 and has served as an adjunct faculty
member of Minnesota State University, Mankato since 1990. His
teaching experience has included work in grades K-12 in schools
both here and in Saudi Arabia. He is the author of four books:
The Indispensable Librarian, The Indispensable Teacher's
Guide to Computer Skills, Teaching Right from Wrong in the Digital
Age, and Machines
are the Easy Part; People are the Hard Part. His regular
columns appear in Library Media Connection, Leading & Learning
and The School Administrator magazines and his articles
have appeared in more than forty books and periodicals. Doug
has conducted workshops and given presentations for more than
130 organizations
throughout the United States as well as in Malaysia, Kenya,
Thailand, Germany, Qatar, Canada, the UAE and Australia, and
he has held a variety of leadership positions in state and national
organizations, including ISTE
and AASL.
Doug
Johnson has been the Director of Media and Technology for the
