Digital Eyes

*Co-written with Jenny Krzystowczyk and cross-posted at http://technologytools4teaching.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-blended-learning-environments-can.html Recently, my friend and colleague David Zukor, who lives in an extreme winter climate, made a point on our Google + page that a Blended Learning Environment would be a great solution to all the snow days they were experiencing. He is right. If an established Blended Learning Environment was up and running, school could be too, even when there is a foot of snow outside. I think educators view a Blended Learning Environment as a massive task to undertake. The simple definition of Blended Learning Environments is: “Learn ing is referred to as hybrid learning combining traditional face-to-face classroom instruction with online learning.”   The revised definition is: “A formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student contro...

There has been a great conversation going on about parents' concerns with 1:1 initiatives and helping kids manage screen time. Here are just a few of the great posts: Scott McLeod's When Parents Want to Opt Their Children Out of Ed Tech Patrick Larkin's A Great Conversation On The Technology Concerns Of Parents Regarding 1:1 Sandy Kendell's Parent Concerns in a 1:1 iPad Initiative Beth Holland's The Balancing Act of Screen Time Thanks to each of them and all the commenters for continuing this conversation. As a tech integration specialist who supports a 1:1 initiative as well as a parent of two children who are part of the 1:1 initiative, this is such an important conversation. I feel compelled to add my thoughts. First, limiting screen time has always been a goal of ours. From the time our kids were little we used an egg timer to help them monitor how long they spent on the computer. As they outgrew this, we still set limits and monitor how much scr...