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Thank you for the shout out  @tdelillo ! I had a lot of fun doing that presentation, and also felt like the message resonated with the audience.   @kenneth_rogers , you've started a great conversation here, and I think all parents and teachers can relate to this. Despite being entrenched in the ed-tech world myself, I still look at my (now) 2-year old and question how much/little I should let him engage with media. As unscientific as it is, I choose to let him continue with using a device if I see him learning something (ex. he's currently watching/interacting with media teaching him numbers, letters, etc.), and I might stop him to go outside and play if the media he browses to gets too frivolous.  My background in education, and my current role with Instructure provides insight to the educational practices with technology. More often than not in K12, I encounter people whose depth of thought regarding blended learning is “should I buy Chromebooks or iPads?” In higher ed, I tend to get the question, “is Canvas easy for our faculty to use?” Lost in those conversations is exactly what you bring up with respect to training. The questions above are a shallow entry into the pool of what blended learning can be. The question I always push people to think about is, “what do you want teaching and learning to look like?” Then choose your device accordingly and use Canvas as a lifeblood for those devices, as well as the technology students will inevitably choose to engage with on their own time (ex. smart phone, etc.). Slightly adjacent to this conversation is also the concept of what attitudes teachers and students have toward the use of technology in the classroom. Those attitudes will also determine a lot with respect to engagement from both parties on this subject. I chose this as a topic to write my dissertation on, and am about to publish my findings. The preview I can give is that the teachers I surveyed and interviewed expressed that they understand students need to develop skills with technology for the workforce and general life skills, in addition to just enjoying the learning process more when it is technologically interactive. The high school students I surveyed and interviewed also expressed that they wanted this as a focus from their teachers. From the research I’ve seen and conducted, this is a fairly common theme. Now instructors just need to be equipped with the skills to do it meaningfully. ... View more

It was a pleasure talking to you today. Please let me know if you have any other questions that I can help you with. ... View more