The 2018 Honor Roll: EdTech’s Must-Read K-12 IT Blogs
In the digital age, using your voice has taken on a whole new meaning. With powerful publication and distribution tools within reach, blogs remain one of the most potent ways to spread your ideas and thoughts. The results from building a blog, a readership, and subsequently, a following, can lead to incredible opportunities, wider impact and transformation.
Our list of Must-Read K—12 IT Blogs includes a mixture of teachers, instructional technology specialists, IT leaders, administrators and consultants. This diversity of thought and experience should ensure that you’re getting a realistic sampling from across the education spectrum.
A Must-Read blog for us is one that offers interesting thoughts, unique ideas, useful information and remains regularly updated and active.
For five years, we’ve highlighted some of the best and brightest blogs within K—12 education. If you’d like to check out the Must-Read IT blogs from previous years, view our lists from 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.
If your blog made our list, grab a Must-Read IT Blog badge to let your readers know that you’re among the cream of the crop. You can also bookmark this list as a resource and refer back to it throughout the year.
Please enjoy our 50 Must-Read K—12 IT Blogs below and if there’s a blog you think we should consider for next year’s list, please let us know in the comments.
Alice Keeler
Google’s education solutions just keep expanding. Thankfully, there’s Alice Keeler, a Google Certified Teacher and self-described super-nerd. Keeler's Teacher Tech blog helps make sense of the maze of updates the search-engine giant pumps out every few months. Keeler has more than 50 tips for Google Classroom under her belt, with an e-book on that series in progress.
Alice Keeler
Assorted Stuff
Virginia educator Tim Stahmer talks all things STEM (science, technology, education and math) on his blog. He also recommends tools for educators and other contributors who produce content similar to his.
Tim Stahmer
Class Tech Tips
Curriculum and ed tech consultant Monica Burns offers up her expert advice on the best ways to implement tech tools in the classroom. Her blog focuses in on particular tools and apps and what teachers can do with them in the realms of their curriculum.
Monica Burns
Computing Education Blog
Mark Guzdial, a computer education researcher and professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, explores the future of computer science education in K–12 schools.
Mark Guzdial
Control Alt Achieve
Tech integrationist Eric Curtis blogs about how to add technology into almost every K-12 subject from math to art.
Eric Curtis
Dangerously Irrelevant
Led by Scott McLeod, associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Colorado Denver and former director of innovation at Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency in Iowa, this blog informs readers on the value of tech-empowered leadership.
Scott McLeod
FCPS Office of Instructional Technology
The tech team at Fayette County Public Schools in Kentucky offer what they call “tech snacks,” or bite-sized pieces of advice to help transform learning and teaching. The target audience is obviously their own educators, but IT teams at other school districts can take notes from FCPS’s IT team on how to digitally engage their own educators.
Fayette County Public Schools
ISTE Blog
As one of the most prominent organizations in the ed tech space, ISTE commands significant influence among educators, technologists and administrators. The organization’s blog offers useful insights and advice on classroom technologies, digital citizenship, personalized learning and more.
ISTE
Keller ISD Digital Learning Blog
If you’re looking for a practical roundup of easy-to-follow tips and tricks on digital learning, you can’t go wrong with this blog from Keller Independent School District in Texas. The posts offer up simple steps complete with screenshots of digital tools and applications the district's educators are leveraging.
Keller ISD Digital Learning
Renovated Learning
Makerspaces and creativity are the focus of media specialist Diana Rendina’s blog, Renovated Learning. After pioneering a makerspace at her school, Rendina decided to share her knowledge and best practices.
Diana Rendina
Shake Up Learning
Kasey Bell is a Google-certified instructional technology consultant with a ton of personality. Her blog features fun ways to incorporate technology into the classroom without it getting in the way of the learning process.
Kasey Bell
TCEA TechNotes Blog
The official blog of the Texas Computer Education Association is brimming with valuable advice on today’s modern educational technology strategies. For Texas educators, there’s no better place to stay in touch with what’s happening in the world of ed tech.
Texas Computer Education Association
Techie Teacher Pie
Elementary teacher Amy Pietrowski adds a dash of STEM into all of her classes. Her blog is a place where she showcases the new tools she is using with her students, sometimes through posts created by students themselves.
Amy Pietrowski
The Principal of Change
Former K-12 principal George Couros blogs about his experiences in leadership and focuses on how to facilitate innovation in the classroom.
George Couros
Bau Teacher Adventures
Sometimes the best way to learn is by observing others. Sarah Bau, a teacher and information and communication technologies leader at a Catholic school in Australia provides useful insights and experiences on tech that she’s put to good use in her classroom.
Sarah Bau
Caitlin Tucker
Innovation isn’t a noun for Catlin Tucker, it’s a way of life. As a teacher at the Windsor Unified School District in Sonoma County, California, she has years of quality teaching experience under her belt. But her prowess and knowledge as a teacher who understands tech has set her apart and made her an in-demand speaker and author on all things ed tech.
Caitlin Tucker
Homeroom
As the official blog of the U.S. Department of Education, it’s important to keep up with the policies and advice doled out by the agency. While tech isn’t the sole focus of the blog, the agency does highlight unique and differentiated learning styles and schools that are bolstered by tech.
Homeroom
Laura Bradley
How do you make middle school English more exciting and engaging for a generation that has known what a smartphone is from nearly birth? Infuse a little tech into it. Laura Bradley is an educator who has embraced the internet-connected, one-to-one model of learning and she offers her best practices up to the world for other educators.
Laura Bradley
Teaching Above the Test
Being data-driven in and of itself can be a good thing, but there are numerous benefits to evolving and engaging educational models beyond subjecting your students to tests in the name of student analytics. Mariana Garcia uses gamification, project-based learning and the Genius Hour to stimulate and inspire her students in “the age of technology.”
Mariana Garcia
Yes Tech!
You’ve heard of people starting a year of “yes,” but what if that yes was applied to all things ed tech? Pam Shoemaker, an Instructional Technology Coach for Walled Lake Consolidated Schools in Michigan, offers a positive outlook on education technology and gives her two cents on where other school leaders can find success with tech.
Pam Shoemaker
The Tech Edvocate
With a track record as an established blogger for the Huffington Post and Education Week, and a long-standing career in education, Matthew Lynch has been tireless about advocating on behalf of the best that ed tech has to offer. This blog hones in on the value that technology can provide to education and offers some thought-provoking conversation starters for schools as they consider and evaluate different technologies on the horizon.
Matthew Lynch
Cult of Pedagogy Blog
While it’s playfully called a cult, this blog is really more of a support group for teachers. As a former teacher and current advocate for educators, Jennifer Gonzalez has teachers’ backs and she views technology as a valuable tool in a teacher’s toolset.
Jennifer Gonzalez
Ask a Tech Teacher Blog
Ask and you shall receive. The Ask a Teacher Blog, which is run by a group of teachers and headed up by Jacqui Murray, offers its readers a slew of “tech tips, advice, pedagogic discussion, lesson plans” and more in order to make educators’ lives easier.
Jacqui Murray
Educational Technology Guy
With an extensive career in education technology, David Andrade has quietly turned himself into “that guy,” and we mean that in a good way. As a CDW-G education strategist (and a ConnectIT Blog contributor), Andrade works regularly with K-12 schools to help them secure the right technology for their needs. His blog offers straightforward, digestible overviews of various technologies that might be appealing to schools.
David Andrade
Learn with John Eick
Though he’s serving as an executive director at the Westlake Charter School in Sacramento County, California, John Eick has a more than 20-year track record as an educator in varying roles. This diversity in experience makes John a sound adviser when it comes to ed tech topics and challenges.
John Eick
Golden Age of Education
It’s the dawn of a new era and there’s a major opportunity ahead for educators, technologists and administrators alike to flourish and thrive. Lee Araoz, the district coordinator of instructional technology for Lawrence Public Schools, in Nassau County, New York, heads up this blog and serves as the guide for this new age.
Lee Araoz
The View from My Window
As an instructional technology integrator at Yarmouth High School in Maine, Alice Barr is on the frontlines when it comes to understanding the needs of teachers and challenges that come with classroom technology. Her blog is a reliable one-stop shop curation of news and interesting tidbits in the ed tech realm.
Alice Barr
ARVRinEDU
The promise of immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality is great, but honing in on the specific education-focused use cases is even more exciting. Jaime Donally is the force behind this blog. She was a math teacher before shifting her focus to instructional technology.
Jaime Donally
Tech Tips
A little advice can go a long way. Karen Arrington, a digital learning specialist at Trinity Valley School in Fort Worth, Texas, takes a hands-on approach to evolving the education model. Her blog offers up real-world tools and applications that teachers can put into practice in short order.
Karen Arrington
WUSD Technology News
The Washington Unified School District IT team's blog is a standard-bearer that others should look to. It's frequently updated, provides tactical information for its users and it has a helpful, supporting tone that makes you feel like your problems are their problems.
Washington Unified School District IT
BVSD Technology Blog
The role of the CIO is shifting in many ways from being solely focused on the technology to being more cognizant of how the technology he or she manages impacts the users and the organization as a whole. Boulder Valley School District CIO Andrew Moore embodies this spirit and theorizes and hypothesizes on ed tech thoughtfully on his blog.
Andrew Moore
The Tech Lady
As a computer science teacher and technology integration coach for the Hamilton Township School District in New Jersey, Kimberly Mattina has some serious street cred when it comes to ed tech. Her blog offers snapshots and walkthroughs of useful and unique apps as well as major ecosystems such as G Suite.
Kimberly Mattina
Teaching, Tech and Twitter
Do you know the three T’s of modern education? For Karly Moura, a computer science teacher and teacher on special assignment (TOSA) for technology at Sun Terrace Elementary, those T’s are: Teaching, Tech and Twitter.
Karly Moura
SDW Technology Integration Now
You’ve probably heard people say that successful technology integration is the result of organizationwide investment. Well, consider this group blog by the instructional technologies coordinators in the school district of Waukesha, Wisconsin as solid proof of the value of broader ed tech buy-in.
School district of Waukesha, Wisconsin
Dr. Cook’s Blog
Change agents come in various shapes and forms, but when that transformational force comes from the top, as it does with Lakeside Middle School Principal Dr. Spike Cook, then teachers and students are poised for true innovation. As a tireless champion for seamless integration, technology depth and experimentation to find new paths to achievement, Dr. Cook’s insights on ed tech are incredibly valuable.
Dr. Spike Cook
Plano ISD’s Tech-tastic Blog
Educators helping educators is a beautiful, and oftentimes essential, thing. The Plano Independent School District is fortunate to have a group of educators who’ve assembled (take that, Avengers!) through this blog to spotlight ed tech successes and examples.
Plano Independent School District
Know Your Why!
There’s no such thing as a dumb question, right? Perhaps, but one question Steve Wick, the director of technology for Indian Prairie School District, wants educators to consider is this: “If you don't know why you are doing something connected to teaching and learning, why are you still doing it?” Follow Wick’s blog to find your “why” if you haven’t determined it already.
Steve Wick
MsEdtechie
While there’s obviously an important focus on the numbers and precision that goes into technology, there’s plenty of room for heart and soul. Ladue School District Technology Specialist Patricia Brown, aka MsEdtechie, brings a refreshingly personal touch to her coverage of ed tech, which makes her blog a truly pleasurable read.
Patricia Brown
P21 Blog
Transformation and innovation require partnership and collaboration. In that spirit, P21, a coalition of businesses, think tanks and associations, seeks to push the boundaries and standards for learning fully into the 21st century.
P21
EdTech 4 Beginners
While ed tech is thrilling, it can also be overwhelming for those entering into the midst for the first time. Neil Jarrett, an educator working at an international school in Shanghai, uses his blog to guide newbies through the basics of ed tech.
Neil Jarrett
A Principal’s Reflections
Leadership is often best done through example and also improves upon reflection. Eric Sheninger was a principal for many years and won accolades for his vision. He’s currently a senior fellow on digital leadership with the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE). But luckily for us, he’s still maintaining his blog, which provides potent insights for education leaders.
Eric Sheninger
21st Century Educational Technology and Learning
After more than 30 years of working with Southwest Allen County Schools as a teacher and a technology integrator, Michael Gorman has operated as a consultant for various schools and education organizations, such as ISTE. His blog reflects some of his latest and greatest thoughts and shares insights into his latest projects.
Michael Gorman
Brendan Fetters
As a third-generation educator, you can say teaching runs in Brendan Fetters’ blood, and he couldn’t be prouder of it. He’s the assistant principal in the Wake County Public School System and his blog offers a glimpse of his life, thoughts and ideas on education leadership and advancement.
Brendan Fetters
Principal Kafele Writes
Though it’s been more than six years since he actually served as a principal, the title has been with Baruti Kafele so long that it’s rolled into his business as an educational consultant and speaker. Kafele’s blog offers inspirational and motivational nuggets for K-12 administrators and leaders.
Baruti Kafele
Indy / Ed
Indiana Public Schools face myriad challenges and needs and Indy / Ed is an organization of educators from across the state who advocate for innovation, diversity and equity in education in Indiana. The blog associated with the entity provides educators, parents and supporters with information and resources that can help improve all school systems.
Indiana Public Schools
Susan Bearden
As a self-described “technology leader who approaches IT from an educator mindset,” Susan Bearden makes sure there’s little to no distance between her and the educators she supports. Bearden is a former director of information technology who now serves as an independent education technology consultant. Her blog gives readers insights into her experiences as an ed tech leader.
Susan Bearden
Technology Tips for Teachers
Familiarity with technology is happening earlier and earlier in children’s lives. As a kindergarten teacher in the Galena Park Independent School District, Angel Herring has been recognized by TCEA for being a kindergarten tech-teacher champion. Her blog shares useful tech tips that she’s picked up along the way.
Angel Herring
Around the Corner
Professional growth is one of the most sought after things in education and it’s Miguel Guhlin’s job at TCEA to ensure opportunities for professional development exist in abundance across Texas. His blog offers resources and advice on things related to ed tech and professional development.
Miguel Guhlin
Advancing K12
A relative newcomer on the scene, Advancing K12 is dedicated to “uncovering the most important stories at the intersection of technology, culture and leadership in K-12 education.” Offering up a mix of practical and aspirational content for educators, the blog has something for everyone.
Advancing K12
