Report from this Conference for Educational Technology Leaders
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - Seattle, WA

Thanks to the right hardware and software, Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart is seeing some exciting things happening in the classroom that they never expected.

Building out a new educational environment requires a fundamental rethinking of what we do, and it requires that schools ask some questions, some deep questions about their way of doing business.

Our challenge is to explore and adapt the tools, and participate in the online, worldwide discussions about how they can improve teaching and learning-our own, and our students'.

In today's entertainment-oriented culture, encouraging students to become active participants in the learning process can be a major challenge.

Many teachers will find this year the perfect opportunity to begin incorporating a new approach or a new idea into their practices. One of these will surely be blogging. Here are ideas to help get you started!

As more and more classrooms look to the use of the latest web 2.0 technologies, focusing on the why in the planning process is a sign of best practice and should be the norm for educators, facilitators, and administrators.

So many new websites, so little time! Thousands of new websites come online each day but too many have little educational value. However, there are others that can provide helpful resources to teachers and students. How can we find those "nuggets" without wasting hours surfing the net?

So many new websites, so little time! How can we find the best ones for education without wasting hours surfing the net?

If you spend some time observing the best, most-respected, teachers you will discover that one of their essential skills is good classroom management.

If you take the time to sit and watch the rhythm of the learning experiences in almost any classroom, you will likely encounter at least one unique integration of technology to adopt.

Believe it or not, better teaching and greater student achievement does not end with merely acquiring hardware and software. It must be supported by an assessment of needs, not merely wants, and that must relate to the plans for school improvement.

Video editing is best done in stages where you put the footage together in an Assembly Cut, add in extras for the Rough Cut, and end up with a finished product called the Final Cut. Here's how to do it.

As teaching and learning involve integrating 21st Century strategies, professional development to make it happen has to be updated as well. By following these ten tips, you'll have a head start on effective professional development.

Just like when you get a hair cut, you can make photos look better by cutting them. It's called "cropping." Knowing what and when to crop can make the difference between a good photo and a great one.

At the Milwaukee Public Schools, James Davis is building one the nation's first WiMax networks.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a unified, collective vision for 21st century learning that can be used to strengthen American education.

It's good to learn from one's mistakes...but a lot less painful to learn from someone else's. So here's a painless way of learning -- by using the author's mistakes.

Our students are ready to read and write information beyond words — to use the media technologies of our era for effective communication. Here are the steps that will help them do it.

Teachers and students need new literacy skills as more and more of the resources they turn to are web-based. Here are tips on what to help them learn.

All great pictures have one thing in common: They are composed well. Composition is also called "framing" and there is no right or wrong way to do it. The only rule is that there are no rules. But there are a few tips to help you take better pictures or show teachers how to help their students develop an "eye" for well-composed pictures.