Futurist Alvin Toffler predicted in his 1991 book, Powershift, that product lines would become much more segmented, and foresaw products like shoes being manufactured to suit the wants of specific groups. He forecast that, because of the shift to a world dominated by information and technology, consumers would be able... (read article)
Violins vibrate, colours smell and books have texture — isn’t that wondrous? In order to exist, wonder must observe something either unexpected . . . astonishing . . . perhaps verging on miraculous. We must be careful, when weighing the benefits of technology within the classroom, to secure a sense... (read article)
The sight is a familiar one — a youngster excitedly chasing objects across a computer screen. In this case, however, the child has several electrodes attached to his head. The process is called neurofeedback, a relatively new drug-free approach to the treatment of attention deficit disorder (ADD), available through places... (read article)
USB pen drives | Small but mighty
Over the last several years, Universal Serial Bus (USB ) pen drives have slowly increased in popularity as their capacity and speed rise, and their price decreases. With almost every new computer sold on the market today supporting USB devices, and the USB standard... (read article)
Recently, a friend told me that the same degree of technology it took to put a man on the moon now can be found in a digital watch. He commented on how lucky we were to live in an age where technology improves so quickly and is so readily available.... (read article)
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange, pronounced “ask-ee,” is a code for representing letters, numbers and punctuation. In ASCII, each character is associated with a number. For example, lower-case “p” is 50. This common coding system allows data to be transferred from one computer to another.
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A method of publishing on... (read article)
Collaboration has become a buzzword in the field of technology. As technology becomes ever more diverse, and the idea that “no man is an island” becomes ever more real, collaboration between schools with similar philosophies about technology is now a requirement for success. The Bishop Strachan School... (read article)
Jacqueline Shaver is no slouch when it comes to teaching science to the girls of St. Clement’s School in Toronto, Ontario. A theoretical physicist by training and head of the school’s science department, she knows her stuff.
But even good teachers sometimes must step outside their comfort zones to give... (read article)
Today’s students are a techno-savvy group; they play computer games, host their own websites and chat endlessly on cellphones and online. And when it comes to their academic careers, students (and their parents) demand the same level of commitment to technology from their schools.
In recent years, many schools have... (read article)
Are they learning? That insistent question keeps bubbling to the surface as more and more private elementary schools embrace computer learning. Are computers in the classroom a fad or are they a huge advance that will produce a better-educated generation of children?
The one sure thing is that computers are here.... (read article)
Digital technology in the classroom is transforming the traditional education model and reshaping the dynamic between teacher and student.
For centuries, the educational system embraced a one-way, teacher-centred broadcast model of learning. The teacher transmitted information from the front of the classroom to students, who were supposed to absorb the facts... (read article)
The notion of a school principal running a for-profit private school is a century-old tradition. Canada’s earliest schools were primarily run by churches, but 100 years ago religious groups began to assume less responsibility for private schools, while lone owners picked up some of the slack. According to Carol Gossage... (read article)
After salaries, the financial outlay for information technology is rapidly becoming the largest line item in the budget of many independent schools in Canada. But it has become increasingly clear that little or no consensus exists as to how that money might best be spent.
To examine this issue, the... (read article)
First it was the whole-language movement, then it was new math. By the 1980s, when computers started to make their way into the classroom, it seemed someone, somewhere was constantly peddling a new, better way to get kids to learn. Is it any wonder that teachers were skeptical about computers?
But... (read article)
Does technology belong in our schools?
This may seem a very odd question to be posed by a head of school in the year 2004. I think a certain amount of skepticism, even towards something as seemingly commonplace as technology, is healthy. No aspect of school life is exempt from... (read article)
When investigating whether or not to send his now 17-year-old son to private school, Ken Wong turned to the web to do some research. “I didn’t go to the web to pick a school, but I used it to find information that I thought my son would be interested in,”... (read article)
In 1985, Steve Jobs and the ingenious folks at Apple Computer started a $25 million US educational experiment called Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow. The project began with a handful of schools; a decade later, 13 schools from across the United States had been picked and wired up, with the goal... (read article)
In the nine years since Bernie Dodge and Tom March developed the WebQuest model, this technique has become synonymous with useful web-based learning. Teachers everywhere use WebQuests to guide students online and extend their learning in a real and interactive way.
Like all good things, WebQuests came about by necessity and... (read article)
“On the morning of June 11, 1978, 27 boys and four leaders from St. John’s School in Ontario set out on a canoeing expedition from the wharf at Timiskaming, Quebec, headed for James Bay along an old voyageurs’ route. The day was warm and they made good time by noon;... (read article)
"A blueprint for those communities who are attempting change within existing educational structures. . . . Parents, teachers and school administrators, business and community leaders, and policy makers will find this book instructive. . .well worth reading."
--American Secondary Education
"Every education, business, and community leader who wants to cut through the... (read article)
“People only call me a guru because they can’t spell charlatan,” says Michael Fullan in a May 1, 2004 Globe and Mail article.
And yet, only one week earlier, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Education Minister Gerard Kennedy had appointed Fullan — guru, charlatan and former dean of the Ontario Institute... (read article)
The majority of schools, boards and parents in Canada have embraced technology and computers as a key element in the education of our children in the 21st century. Many schools have spent thousands of dollars acquiring computers, software and other technology for the classroom and for administration. With this spending,... (read article)
Kawarthas Trips Classes make three-day fall and winter trips to our own outdoor education site in the Kawarthas. There are opportunities for practical math, science and environmental studies coupled with activities like hiking, canoeing and cross-country skiing. Students develop new social skills and problem-solving skills as they function together outside the classroom setting.
Below are some comments that we heard at our last editorial advisory board meeting for Dialogue magazine and Dialogue Online. Please share your comments, feedback and ideas.
"The use of technology in schools is changing so quickly. It might be an area you want to cover in every issue."
"School marketing. Every school is always struggling with how to market themselves and increase enrolment."
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