About Better Teaching and Learning in the Digital Classroom

School spending on new computer technologies has mushroomed in recent years, as educators try to find every strategic advantage to improve teaching and learning in a high-stakes climate. But does the payout justify the payoff? Can such powerful new tools really make a difference in classroom practice? If so, what must teachers do to truly transform instruction with technology rather than simply dress up old practices in high-tech packaging?

In this follow-up to the bestseller The Digital Classroom: How Technology Is Changing the Way We Teach and Learn, educators and researchers from the frontlines of technological and educational innovation explore fresh ways of harnessing the power of new technologies to improve teaching and learning. Rich examples from real classrooms give readers specific ideas of what works in today's classrooms, offered in a context of tougher standards and increased accountability pressures.

Topics include:

-Home-School Engagement: Using Technology to Build Learning Connections among Teachers, Parents, and Students
-Multiple Literacies: Building New Skills for a New Millennium
-PDAs, Laptops, Wireless, and What's Coming Next: Making Sure the Payout Justifies the Payoff
-What Works Best in Distance Learning?
-Digital Portfolios and Assessments: Ways Technology Improves How We View and Judge Student Work
-Professional Development: How Virtual Environments Support the Unique Needs of Teachers and Administrators.
-How Can I Tell Which Websites and Software Work Best?
-Teaching after 9/11: Using Technology to Create Global Understanding and Connections
-Case Studies: "How Technology Changed My Practice"

Contributors include Elliot Soloway, Cathie Norris, Julie Wood, Andrea Oseas, James Moore, Louise Yarnall, David Niguidula, Kristi Rennebohm Franz, and more.

Better Teaching and Learning in the Digital Classroom is essential reading for any education professional or parent who wants to make the most of what the newest technologies have to offer.

David T. Gordon is former Editor of the Harvard Education Letter and winner of the 2003 National Press Club Award for newsletter journalism.

Back to top

Table of Contents for Better Teaching and Learning in the Digital Classroom

Introduction: Cassandra, Pollyanna, and All of Us in Between
David T. Gordon

Multiple Literacies: New Skills for a New Millennium
Andrea Oseas and Julie M. Wood

Way Technology Can Improve Assessment and Accountability
David Niguidula

Plagiarism.k12.us: What Educators Can Do About It
Michael Sadowski

Building Better School-Home Connections with Technology
Kristi Rennebohm Franz

Don't Make Me Think! I'm Trying to Teach: Designing Web Environments that Enrich Teachers' Work
James Moore

Curriculum Access in the Digital Age
David T. Gordon

Online Distance Learning: Is It Worth the Cost and Effort?
Louise Grace Yarnall

How Handhelds Can Have an Impact in the Classroom: The Teacher Perspective
Cathleen A. Norris and Elliot Soloway

Linking Teachers with Technology for Professional Development and Support
David T. Gordon
Click here to read an excerpt from this chapter.

Global Education for Today's World: Creating Hope with Online Learning Communities
Kristi Rennebohm Franz and Edwin Gragert

For Further Information: A Web Sampler

Back to top

Online Resources--A Web Sampler

There are literally thousands of websites devoted to education, and each may have hundreds of pages buried within them. Sorting out the helpful from the useless can be not only difficult but time consuming. But that shouldn't discourage educators from using these incredible resources. Instead they need to learn how to assess and exploit them, if for no other reason than to teach their students how to do so, for that is one of the primary skills 21st-century learners must have. What follows is a sampling of websites that offer helpful resources to K-12 professionals, parents, and students.

AllYouCanRead.com
http://www.allyoucanread.com/newspapers.asp
Neatly organized links to newspapers and magazines from all over the world, from China's People's Liberation Army Daily to El Tiempo in Peru to Michigan's Kalamazoo Gazette. Includes a "Country of the Week" profile.

ArtsEdge
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/
Sponsored by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., ArtsEdge offers a number of "mini-sites," described as "multidisciplinary, self-contained explorations of arts-related themes or subjects." Nested in these pages are instructional activities, multimedia features, and primary sources on topics such as the Harlem Renaissance, Irish culture, and Asian art, as well as biographical lessons about Louis Armstrong, Marian Anderson, and others. It also provides a place for teachers to exchange lessons, activities, web links, and more.

AskERIC
http://www.askeric.org
Drawing on the 16 clearinghouses of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) system, this "superportal" offers links, lesson plans, a searchable database, and a Q&A service to teachers, librarians, counselors, administrators, and parents. Literally thousands of helpful, research-based resources are available here with a few keystrokes.

Busy Teachers' Website K-12
http://www.ceismc.gatech.edu/busyt/
With a clean, easy-to-use layout, this site links teachers to lesson plans, classroom activities, and other resources, including connections to online teacher-to-teacher discussion groups and e-journals. Organized by subject.

Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education
http://www.enc.org
Teachers visiting this site will find a large, searchable database of K-12 math and science curriculum resources, as well as professional development tools and helpful articles about education research and practice. Assessment, technology implementation, and real-world math and science projects are also featured. Topics are well organized by subject.

EDSitement
http://edsitement.neh.gov/
A rich resource for humanities instruction at all levels. Includes lesson plans and links for arts and culture, foreign languages, literature and language arts, and history and social studies. Organized by subject matter, it includes indications of how lessons meet various standards.

Edutopia Online
http://www.glef.org
The nonprofit George Lucas Educational Foundation, organized by the creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies, is a superb multimedia resource for anyone with a stake in improving K-12 schools. Magazine-style articles, slideshows, and a video gallery demonstrate innovative classroom practices, professional development, parent involvement, and school-business partnerships. The video gallery includes more than 70 interviews with school leaders, researchers, and teachers, as well as 50 original documentary films.

Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM)
http://www.thegateway.org
This huge, searchable megasite sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education offers educators quick and easy access to thousands of educational resources found on various federal, state, university, nonprofit, and commercial Internet sites, as well as public school sites.

Global Schoolhouse
http://www.globalschoolhouse.org/
A clearinghouse of hundreds of online collaborative learning projects, web resources, and stories of extraordinary teachers. Includes tutorials on how to develop online collaborative learning projects, a place for students to write and post online newspapers, and much more.

Gloria's Writing Workshop
www3.sk.sympatico.ca/fiss
For classroom teachers who want to use a workshop approach to writing instruction, this site offers a plan for teaching the stages of writing, holding conferences to discuss work with student writers, and more.

Harvard Education Letter
http://www.edletter.org
You'll find articles by leading researchers, K-12 practitioners, and education journalists about the latest in education research and classroom-tested teaching strategies.

History Matters
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/
A rich, innovative site made for teachers of U.S. history, History Matters tells the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly of the past 200 years, with a special emphasis on social history. Lesson plans, links, references, and tips from master history teachers are all part of the package.

iEARN
http://www.iearn.org
This nonprofit network facilitates the creation of project-based collaborations among schools from all over the globe as a way of providing students with tools for international understanding, cooperation, and conflict resolution.

Internet Public Library's Ask Author
http://www.ipl.org/youth/AskAuthor/
Sponsored by the University of Michigan, this site includes an incredible list of resources for educators and students. "KidSpace" and "TeenSpace" sections are specially designed for students with links to helpful resources and pages.

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide
This comprehensive resource, produced by a school technology specialist, lists a wealth of websites for enhancing classroom teaching and learning, as well as professional development. Identifies links that are particularly content-rich.

Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov
A superior resource, this site offers an incredible array of resources, including video and audio, photographs, original documents, maps, timelines, and more. Special collections include American Memory, which archives more than seven million documents related to U.S. history and culture, and Global Gateway, a similar service focused on international themes. These teacher-friendly pages have lesson plans and activities, and teachers can apply to take part in summer workshops at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., to learn how to better use these extraordinary resources.

Lives
http://amillionlives.com/
A portal to biographical websites, listed both by individual (alphabetically) and by groupings. The latter are organized by historical era, profession, race, geographical location, events, etc. Also provides resources on biographical criticism and special collections.

Math Forum
http://www.mathforum.org/
For K-12 teachers who wish to "Ask Dr. Math" questions about instruction and curriculum, peruse a library of lesson plans, challenge themselves to solve tricky math problems, or join web-based conversations with other educators, this well-organized, pioneering site is the place to go.

MiddleWeb
http://www.middleweb.com
This colorful site deals with all things "middle school." In addition to curriculum resources, it offers links to articles in mainstream and education press about middle schools, teacher diaries, and listservs where teachers connect to talk about their practice.

NASA Quest Archives
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/hst/index.html
Space exploration continues to be a source of discovery and fascination for students of all ages. This site provides lesson plans and student activities for all grade levels, links to science and technology standards, a searchable Q&A section, and audiovisual resources, as well as inspiring biographies of astronauts and explanations of what they do.

National Center for Research on Evaluations, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST)
http://cresst96.cse.ucla.edu
This research-focused website offers a range of helpful reports on policy and practice, a glossary, a "Parent's Page," and even a Q&A service, through which you can email CRESST experts for answers to your questions about assessments, high-stakes testing, and more. Especially helpful in light of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

New York Times Learning Network
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/
This terrific resource for K-12 teachers, students, and parents offers a variety of lesson plans, including activities related to current news events. Also provides links to other educational sites, organized by curricular subject.

Refdesk.com
http://www.refdesk.com
This encyclopedic portal collects links to literally hundreds of helpful sites, including reference books, directories, almanacs, and more.

Story Place
http://www.storyplace.org/
Created by public librarians and targeted at a K-5 audience, this colorful site offers reading lists as well as reading-related games and other activities. Students get to post their own stories, too.

TappedIn
http://www.tappedin.org
This is an online, international "workplace" for K-12 professionals, where teacher education faculty and students, researchers, and others committed to improving schools can take part in professional development programs and informal collaboration with colleagues. Membership is free, and teachers can set up their own online offices where they can confer privately or in groups with colleagues, post lesson plans or articles they've written, and exchange ideas. A fun, informative place to visit.

techs4schools
http://techs4schools.techcorps.org/
Information technology experts from companies like Hewlitt Packard and Cisco offer their time and expertise to help school practitioners take advantage of the power of new technologies. Teachers can sign up for an online mentor who will answer technical questions about everything from getting a printer to work to using Microsoft products on an Appleshare system.

WebQuest
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/
For inquiry- or problem-based projects, check out this website developed at San Diego State University. A good site for teaching students not only how to find information on the Web but also how to evaluate and use that information in practical ways.

webTeacher
http://www.webteacher.org/
Created by two teachers and volunteers from TECHCORPS, a nonprofit support service for teachers, webTeacher offers training tools and tutorials to help teachers use the Internet, email, videoconferencing, and other new technologies. Not sure what is meant by animated gif, screen captures, and background tiling? Then this is the site for you. Includes a Spanish translation.

Publishing Information

Better Teaching and Learning in the Digital Classroom
Edited by David T. Gordon
©2003
ISBN 1-891792-17-2 $49.95 library, ORDER
ISBN 1-891792-16-4 $24.95 SALE PRICE: $19.95 paperback, ORDER
175pages

Buy both Better Teaching and Learning and The Digital Classroom and save on the set--$32.95-click here.

Back to top