JRTE Spring 2010 Issue – A Sacrilegious Review

Jim ShimabukuroBy Jim Shimabukuro
Editor

Three of the four articles that make up the spring 2010 issue (v42n3) of Journal of Research on Technology in Education caught my attention more for their assumptions than their stated purposes. These assumptions highlight, for me, some of the weaknesses inherent in efforts to introduce technology into schools and colleges.

In “Technology’s Achilles Heel: Achieving High-Quality Implementation,” the “heel” for Gene E. Hall is school and college administrators. According to Hall, “Education technology scholars and practitioners are engaged with some of the most promising and interesting innovations.” However, these innovations don’t find their way into classrooms because of the failure of administrators to implement them. Thus, our enlightened ed tech guiding lights are “confronted first hand with the challenges associated with disappointing implementation efforts and failures to go to scale.” Continue reading

Gov. Tim Pawlenty: iColleges Are the Wave of the Future


On 10 June 2010, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty appeared on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” One of the topics they touched on was online learning in higher education. The audio clip below is an excerpt from the TV show.

The following are transcripts of key comments by Pawlenty:

  • Do you really think in 20 years somebody is going to put on their backpack, drive a half hour to the University of Minnesota from the suburbs, haul their keister across campus and sit and listen to some boring person drone on about Econ 101 or Spanish 101? Continue reading

Online Self-Publishing: Wave of the Future?

Lynn ZimmermannBy Lynn Zimmerman
Editor, Teacher Education

This interview with one of my colleagues, Anastasia (Staci) Marie Trekles, who teaches IT (Instructional Technology) at Purdue University Calumet came about as a result of a comment she had made on Facebook. She wrote: “I just got a plug for my book from John and Adam on No Agenda – how awesome!” Continue reading

Ebook Readers vs. Ipad for Education?

Tom PreskettBy Tom Preskett

I’m doing a project on ebook readers at the moment, and it’s led me to follow closely the advent of the iPad. My interest is the potential impact on education. At the moment, the contest is in the commercial/entertainment market. Once things settle down, education will be looked at.

From what I’ve been learning, you can’t just give students and educators an ebook reader as is right now and expect it to transfer to education successfully. Looking at it just from a book replication point of view, I feel it has to, at least, perform certain tasks well and efficiently. Continue reading

iPad – Breakthrough or Misstep?

Totally Online, by Jim Shimabukuro
The iPad debuts today, and, as an educator, I can’t help but wonder if this will be the breakthrough portable communication device that will hasten the release of students and teachers from the grip of classroom walls. Continue reading