Schools and Technology - cont'd

I am not surprised by the article posted on the website of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette lauding the success of Pennsylvania's high school laptop program. As I noted in my commentary a few days ago, a critical component in the success of this kind of program is professional development for teacher.

In the case of Pennsylvania, teacher training was and is an essential component according to the Post Gazette article. "Education Department spokeswoman Sheila Ballen said...Pennsylvania's program places special emphasis on training teachers to use the technology and know how to incorporate it into their lesson plans,...'There would never be an argument against putting chalk and blackboards in the classroom,' Ballen said. 'In this day and age, these [computers] are the tools that you need to teach.'"

BTW, the theme of the 2008 Journal of Maine Education is "Technology Today: The Changing Role of Technology in Schools" and in the call for papers, we are looking for teachers, tech coordinators, and school administrators who can write about what they've learned, successes they've had, and pitfalls to avoid in integrating technology in Maine schools.

~John Brandt