The state of Indiana has taken a bold stop and redefined the term “textbook.”  In Indiana it now means

“systematically organized material designed to provide a specific level of instruction in a subject matter category.” The board interpreted this section “… to allow school corporations to use computers and other data devices, instructional software, internet resources, interactive, magnetic and other media, and other ’systematically organized material.’ As technology continues to evolve, Indiana’s broad and inclusive definition of a textbook will enable districts to evolve in their use of such materials, whether packaged for them or packaged by them.”

Read the Open Letter to Indiana Educators About Textbooks.

You can read more about it in this article.

Should we follow Indiana’s lead or are they off base?

Schools have historically been on the tail end of technology advancements, seemingly always playing catch-up to what businesses have been doing with technology for years. This is not surprising considering the limited budgets schools have to work with and the fact that technology has been viewed with skepticism as to its real value in the classroom early on. Now, as a new software distribution model called Software as a Service (SaaS), has become popular, touting costs savings for all, the question schools need to ask is “What are the real values of the SaaS model in education?” Software investment is huge for education, and the costs of implementing and maintaining that software must be evaluated in light of emerging technology.

continue reading "The Value of Software as a Service in Education"

The schools that I visit are clearly places of learning, of hope, and of love. I see strong relationships between faculty and students. I see fun, challenging activities that push the students view of the world. I see God revealed through both nature and His Word. Further, as I’ve looked at the findings from CognitiveGenesis study (both last year and this year’s preliminary findings) I see much to cheer about!

So what is the big deal? Do we really need change in Adventist education? Are things really that bad? Change will be the theme of my posting over the next few weeks.

Watch this 10 minute movie and then answer the question for yourself: Why the call for change in Adventist education?