Dealing with Digital Distractions in the Classroom

The pattern of behaviour resulting from the ubiquitous access to technology at our school is the perceived level of student distraction. Overtime we hope that students develop coping mechanisms to deal with digital distractions and the risks of multitasking. The long term impact of not dealing with this, is that student develop bad habits that …

Googling Better – how to search the internet

In IB Diploma Economics, students have to write four commentaries about economic events that are published in the news. Therefore students are always searching the internet for good sources of articles. Google has always been a pretty reliable tool to search for articles but students seldom use the advanced features to refine their search and …

21st century learning – opinions and perspectives

Lots of people have discussed what 21st century learning is about and everyone seems to come up with a slightly different opinion. I think it relates to the development of skills that will allow students to be successful partipants in society, regardless of how what the future brings. These skills encompass digital literacy, communication and …

Helping high school teachers adjust to a 1:1 laptop environment

In my spare time I have been reading a book by Chip and Dan Heath Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. The book has been on the best seller list for a while, and I was reminded of the book in a Apple Educators presentation a few months back. I think the …

Teaching tendencies in a 1:1 laptop classroom

In a 1:1 laptop school it is very important to provide support and advice to teachers. Due to the initial excitement of having technology in the classroom many teachers often go too far, too soon with laptops to the detriment of student learning. I always highlight to staff that laptops are an aid used to …