Educator, trainer, and presenter, Thomas Crawford talks about educational technology and how new and seasoned teachers can start using it more effectively in their classrooms.

Dorit:

Hello Thomas, I want to thank you so much for taking time to take part in this interview. You just came back from the blog conference in Seattle. Can you give our readers a conference brief on some new insights on educational technology happening for new and seasoned teachers? The conference was the T + L (Technology and Learning) event by the NSBA.

Thomas:

Schools are moving very quickly into the 21st century. The T+L conference sponsored by the National School Board Association (NSBA) allows educators, administrators and school board members to have access to the most current and insightful technology available to them. It is more than a vendor fair. It is an opportunity to share and discuss innovations in information technology through round table discussions and forums.

Dorit:

What advice can you give new and seasoned teachers who are just starting to express an interest in using educational technology, but don’t feel 100% comfortable using it?

Thomas:

Teachers can learn the technology by using it and not being scared from it, which makes things a lot easier. We tell our students that practice makes perfect. The same goes for us. I always tell teachers to ask for help if they need it.

Teachers should spend time getting to know any online learning resource or computer program before implementing it in their classrooms. Therefore, practice and asking questions is the key to adapting with any new form of technological instruction. Start small and use your colleagues as resources

Dorit:

In many of the schools I teach, I see whiteboards collecting dust and teachers are simply not using them. Can you explain why this is so? What are some alternatives?

Thomas:

Often, whiteboards are misused. They become a very expensive display device and their potential is not maximized. In addition, whiteboards loose a lot of interactivity and student engagement because the placement of the whiteboard. In many elementary classrooms it is often too high and out of students reach. As a result, students are not engaged and discipline problems can occur. There are some cost effective ways to deal with the issue by using a projector, wireless slate. This way, the teacher can move around the classroom and still maintain some degree of interactive control.

Dorit:

You spent a great deal of time in London working with some of the online educational resources. What are your observations and insights about how teachers use educational technology? How can US teachers improve their understanding of information technology in the classroom?

Thomas:

I worked in a primary school in London. Teachers like to share and they like things that are free or inexpensive. In the UK there is an abundance of teacher created web based resources that are readily available. The government even put together free web based resources for teachers. The more teachers used these resources, the more confident they became about creating their own. Here in the US, teachers can experiment with different resources from around the world to gain understanding of how the Internet and its resources can be used effectively in our own classrooms. We can learn a lot form what International organizations such as ISTE and BECTA (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) have to offer.

Dorit:

What makes an instructional design successful in terms of its ability to engage learners?

Thomas:

A successful instructional design is one that addresses all the needs of the students and has a multi-sensory approach. By this I mean it has a highly interactive web based activities, audio-video components at the very least, and is also easy to follow, understand and navigate.

Dorit:

Please share with our teachers the features of your website and how teachers can differentiate their instruction to cater to English language learners, (ELLs) group instruction and working with students of special needs. What makes it user-friendly and accessible for ALL teachers?

Thomas:

In addition to curriculum from a host of content providers that include full courses with assessments and individual learning objects, the IQity platform allows teachers to custom design classroom assignments, lesson plans or units to meet the needs of individualized learning style of single students, small group and large mixed ability classes.

In fact, custom designing lesson plans helps with the classroom management piece by catering to individualized instruction. Teachers can design multiple assignments based on a students IEP. There are several hundred schools using our platform successfully with positive results. Schools use IQity as a platform for a full time digital school, additional course offering and even credit recovery.

Dorit:

Great! Well, thanks very much Thomas for this interview.

Thomas: It was my pleasure and I hope new and seasoned teachers alike find this information useful.

At present, technology has been advancing at a rate that can be described as almost biblical and the best thing about it is that as it advances it takes everyone in its stride. Therefore, as technology improves it brings improvement in the automobile industry as well. Car technology has entered a whole new world and every year something different and new takes us by surprise. Many products related to car technology have been unveiled but are yet to strike the marketplace and this chapter discusses some of these proposed ideas which will have petrol heads glued to their monitors.

Humans unlike their electronic counterparts are imperfect and because of that they are not as much of conservative even as the world faces an acute shortage of renewable resources. For example, while driving we would simply leave the air conditioner on and roll up the windows even when we could do the opposite and save a significant amount of fuel.

Recent technological innovations have introduced in cars the “Economy mode”. This feature allows the car itself to decide what features are important at any moment in time and then simply turns off the features that it deems not essential. This not only saves fuel but also ensures longevity and durability of the vehicle. This feature has been tested in many hybrid cars and has been extremely successful.

Then there is the concept of the black box technology for cars on the cards. The idea is simple, if airplanes can have them so can cars. Black boxes have proven to be extremely useful in recovering information from airplanes in cases of mishaps. However, its concept is being debated still as it allows the car owners privacy to be compromised. At present general motors’ is using them in their newer models and has renamed them to “recorders” as it stores data on the speed, distance traveled and the visited places. This also helps amongst others, insurance companies who can use the data in case an accident occurs.

Then there’s the more interesting feature that allows a car to park for its owners. Cars with such features have been produced already and are being marketed successfully, all the owner has to do is press the brake pedal and the car will carefully avoid all obstacles, make itself parallel and then come to a halt.

Lastly and perhaps the most predictable of all car technologies involves cars driving themselves, this is now possible thanks to the recent advances in robotics and GPS technologies. All you will have to do is tell the car where you want to go and the car will take care of the rest. A lot research to perfect this technology is underway and it may not be very long before human drivers become a thing of the past.

After looking at some of these features one can say these are indeed interesting times as cars are evolving with changes in technology and may soon change the very shape of cars as we know them today.