Education
Dictionary: The Ultimate Educational Application
Charles Thacker February 7, 2008
As part of Farmington Municipal Schools’ Learning Initiative, we are focusing on providing quick and easy ways to take advantage of some great tools built into Apple’s operating system. One of these tools can help you with language (definitions, pronunciations, synonyms, and antonyms) and is an indispensable tool in any classroom. I’m referring to the built-in Dictionary application, of course. But it’s not just the application you launch and use directly that is so powerful in OS X.
How to Use Comic Life in the Classroom
Charles Thacker March 7, 2007
There’s a long history of comics in the classroom, and the list of references at the end of this article is a great starting point for learning about this concept. While there’s still resistance to this medium being used in education - whether by staff or students - there is also a growing movement to use every valuable tool available. Comics have some great uses in the classroom and in a variety of curricula.
District Spotlight: Jordan School District
Kelly Dumont February 21, 2007
Jordan School District (JSD) is the largest school district in the state of Utah. JSD currently serves over 80,000 students in 10 cities and other unincorporated areas. If you were to look at a map of the Salt Lake Valley and divide it into thirds going north to south, JSD would cover the southern third of the valley from the Wasatch Mountains on the east to the Oquirrh Mountains on the west.
Unified Communications in Education
Charles Thacker February 14, 2007
One Box to rule them all, One Box to find them, One Box to bring them all and in the network bind them. Unified Communications (UC) is most definitely becoming, if it hasn’t already become, the buzzword of networking companies talking about an organization’s next step in communication systems. There are few, if any, major networking companies—or even small and medium ones—that are not creating, marketing, selling, re-selling, or implementing unified communications systems.
Podcasts In Education
Charles Thacker February 7, 2007
Although the concept of streaming media has been around almost as long as the Internet itself, and Podcasts specifically since 2000, the use of Podcasts in education has recently experienced a growth spurt around the world. Education is not generally known for its quick adoption of new technologies. There are still districts that don’t have a presence on the Internet, although I would be surprised to find some that don’t communicate electronically.
Internet Safety for Families
Charles Thacker January 31, 2007
School districts across the United States provide Internet access for students and staff through their district networks. The purpose of this access is to provide an additional resource for the educational environment and meet the needs of an increasingly dynamic instructional model. Technology in general, and the Internet specifically, is just a tool. It is inherently neither good nor bad - it just is, until it’s used. Like many new advances in our society, the Internet has brought out the best and the worst in humanity.
Effective Technical Writing
Adam Engst January 31, 2007
Tip: This article was originally submitted to coach tutorial contest contestants. We liked it so much that we’ve left it online – hopefully it will help other writers. Greetings, writerly ones! I’ve been asked to offer you some sage advice, but since holiday preparations have left me rather short on thyme, I’ll settle for these recommendations for effective technical writing. First, and most important, write directly to your reader, and write in the active voice.
A Guide to Great Mac Books
Ric Getter January 29, 2007
We’re not going to do any conjecturing as to why, but it seems like some of the best computer books you can buy are written about the Mac. We’d like to think that the platform simply attracts the most talented and creative writers. Here’s a brief guide to some of the Mac’s most popular authors and publishers. Not Really For Dummies You may not see these books displayed prominently on your local computer guru’s bookshelf, but we bet if you look closely you’ll find a few.
District Spotlight: Farmington Municipal Schools
Charles Thacker January 24, 2007
We’ll occasionally reference school districts in our articles to illustrate concepts or identify how technology can be implemented, and it will be helpful if some general information about the districts is available. We’ll call these articles ‘Spotlights’. Public school districts in the United States vary greatly in many aspects. The size (in students and geographical distances), available funding, socioeconomic factors of the community, internal leadership, and age of a school district are all important ingredients in how technology is implemented.
How to Write Tech Stuff Really Good
Robin Williams January 23, 2007
Tip: This article was originally submitted to coach tutorial contest contestants. We liked it so much that we’ve left it online – hopefully it will help other writers. Be active. This is passive: In case of emergency, the red button should be pressed. This is active: In case of emergency, hit the red button. Passive is good only when you don’t want to hold anyone responsible: There was a red button pressed this morning.