Living in the 4th Screen

Exploring the use of mobile technology in education and life

Filed underOnline Learning

My goals with this blog is to share how mobile technology is impacting the world of education and our personal lives. If you read my first post you will see why I named the blog "Living in the 4th Screen."

I am an assistant principal at a public high school. I have worked in education for 26 years. Prior to my current position I served as a math department supervisor. For six years before that I was a district technology coordinator. My first 17 years in education were spent as a mathematics and computer science teacher.

I have always enloyed using technology in both my professional and personal life. I was excited when graphing calculators hit the scene and provided an opportunity to explore mathematical concepts in the classroom that had previously been very difficult. Then handhelds came along. I had alot of fun with my Dell Axim 3xi. After that I migrated my attention to Tablet PCs. I still think the Tablet PC is a great teaching platform. Then I purchased an iPhone and I have been exploring ways to use mobile technologies in schools.

I have a BA in Mathematics from The King's College, a Graduate Certificate in Instructional Technology from Georgian Court University, and a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

You can reach me on Twitter: @the4thscreen

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Remove the clutter from the webpages where you do most of your reading

If you like reading newspapers, magazines, or blogs online then Readability is for you. Readability removes all the clutter and advertisements that are so distracting on web pages. Below are the options you have in setting up your webpage for reading. Readability is free to use.

January 1, 2010

10.5 Million Students to Learn Online by 2014

According to this article in The Journal 10.5 million PreK - 12 students will attend school online by the year 2014. Below is a graph from the article:

I believe costs will be one of the driving influences on the push to move more of education to an online environment. Here in NJ local taxes pay the lion's share of the school bill. Homeowners are not going to be able to continue to pay the large property tax bills and schools are going to have to find a way to reduce costs. Using online learning is one way to reduce some costs. More and more schools are going to have to give a serious look into online learning as a cost savings measure.