• Integrating Technology for Meaningful Learning (5th Ed.)* by Mark Grabe and Cindy Grabe New York: Houghton Mifflin Company 2007 431 pp. softcover

  K-12 seems to be a less saturated market for elearning texts than higher ed. Mark and Cindy Grabes' Integrating Technology for Meaningful Learning , now in its 5th edition, offers applicable educational technology insights for K-12. These authors come across as technology evangelists and predict that K-12 itself may restructure around technology. As veterans in the education trenches, the Grabes point out the lack of widespread computer use in K-12 classrooms and the persistent underfunding. Integrating Technology... touches on a rich variety of educational technologies, from the mainstream office ones to informational maps, blogging, content management systems, and databases. They explore simulations for virtual frog dissections; they highlight role-playing simulations. They review educational games like Sim City, The Oregon Trail, and that old favorite, The Carmen Sandiego Series. They bring in creative learning through global positioning systems (GPSes), remote sensors that report back to portable digital assistants (PDAs), claymation productions, and the solving of the case of the missing virtual gerbil to showcase DNA-based technologies. Using sound pedagogical strategies, they focus on active and meaningful learning vs. rote memorization. They support hyper-composition through eportfolio development. Live human-facilitated interactivity through IM-ing, video chat, telementoring, and other methods also appear in this work. Mark and Cindy Grabe describe the skills that K-12 learners will need to take advantage of these various technologically-mediated types of learning. A concluding section offers insights on intellectual property, copyright and ethics and laws related to elearning.

References Grabe, M and Grabe, C. 2007. Integrating technology for meaningful learning. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.