This book provides a straightforward approach to developing a school or district s vision to guide all stakeholders toward a common goal with educational technology. This book is intended for educational leaders to provide a structured methodology for a school or district to develop their own vision of educational technology. This book discusses educational technology in a non-technical manner and addresses ideas and concerns about 1:1 computing and bring your own device solutions (BYOD). This book will answer the following questions: - Why do we need a VISION for Technology in Education? - How do we develop our own VISION for Educational Technology? - Does our VISION for educational technology support our District Strategic Plan? - How do today s infrastructure requirements, instructional applications and equipment impact our VISION?"

This book provides a straightforward approach to developing a school or district s vision to guide all stakeholders toward a common goal with educational technology. This book is intended for educational leaders to provide a structured methodology for a school or district to develop their own vision of educational technology. This book discusses educational technology in a non-technical manner and addresses ideas and concerns about 1:1 computing and bring your own device solutions (BYOD). This book will answer the following questions: - Why do we need a VISION for Technology in Education? - How do we develop our own VISION for Educational Technology? - Does our VISION for educational technology support our District Strategic Plan? - How do today s infrastructure requirements, instructional applications and equipment impact our VISION?"

N3xt Practices is a ground-breaking advisory book for education decision makers. Its purpose is to challenge the top trends and initiatives of the previous decade in educational technology and bring light to their short-falls and misses. It also highlights successful endeavors and strategies and details a common-sense methodology to move your school/district forward in its technology initiatives while insuring sustainability, and longevity and ultimately, success through results. Next Practices identifies technology-based initiatives, such as Interactive White Boards, Data Centers, and 1-to-1 Computing, and reviews actual implementations and case studies - both successful and unsuccessful - to provide a structure to plan and implement educational technology initiatives practical for schools and districts of all sizes. Next Practices goes beyond the examination of current best practices and redefines for educational leaders NEXT Practices for successful technology initiatives in support of 21st century learning.

This book seeks to understand why almost all commentators on the Irish economy were unprepared for the scale of the recent economic crisis. It analyses the public contributions from a broad range of observers, including domestic and international agencies, academics, the newspapers and politicians. This approach gives new insights into the analytical and institutional shortfalls that inhibited observers from recognising the degree of the risk. The book demonstrates that most commentators were either impeded in what they could say, or else lacked the expertise to challenge the prevailing view. The findings have significant implications for a broad range of institutions, particularly the media and the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament).

The desire to have some experience of God is widespread. Many persons of all ages have a genuine yearning for communion with the spiritual world. The trouble is that we are never quite certain how we should invest our energies to ensure that we are moving closer to the truth and not deeper into delusion. It seems prudent, therefore, to look for guidance from those who have actually made the journey and are skilled in initiating others. This is why we approach the great contemplative traditions: to find out something about prayer and the sort of life that facilitates its growth. We cannot always generate our own solutions because our horizons are limited. The first thing we need to learn is to look at life from a different perspective. Here the ancient spiritual masters can serve us well... The key idea that is common to these teachers is that contemplation is possible only for those who have puritas cordis: an undivided heart. The act of communion with God is one which engages the whole person and calls upon all the interior energies. It can occur only when these energies are working together, when inner disharmony has been overcome and unity reigns within. Such a state is not achieved quickly but only by the grace of God and the labor of decades. It involves a radical conversion of life and a persevering will to live in accordance with the Gospel. Spiritual growth is thus seen as a matter of progressively purifying the personal center of will and knowledge, eliminating inner division and becoming more intent on seeking the one thing necessary. Michael Casey is a monk of Tarrawarra Abbey in Australia. He is well-known as a retreat master and lecturer on monastic spirituality and holds a doctorate from Melbourne College of Divinity in the area of the life and writings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

Casey invites us to embrace the challenge of gospel living, with thoughtful reflections on the values of asceticism, silence, leisure, reading, chastity, and poverty.

This book seeks to understand why almost all commentators on the Irish economy were unprepared for the scale of the recent economic crisis. It analyses the public contributions from a broad range of observers, including domestic and international agencies, academics, the newspapers and politicians. This approach gives new insights into the analytical and institutional shortfalls that inhibited observers from recognising the degree of the risk. The book demonstrates that most commentators were either impeded in what they could say, or else lacked the expertise to challenge the prevailing view. The findings have significant implications for a broad range of institutions, particularly the media and the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament).

The Bible is the monk's book. The thought and teaching of St Bernard of Clairvaux was so saturated with Scripture that the reader often cannot decide where the Bible ends and Bernard begins. From direct quotations to fine allusions, Bernard assumed that his readers were as familiar with the Bible as he was himself. It is therefore no wonder that Bernard chose a book of the Bible, the Song of Songs, as a vehicle for expressing his deepest and most personal longing for God, his striving for 'full knowledge, clear vision, a strong bond of union, a relationship which cannot be broken apart, and perfect likeness'. Michael Casey, a Cistercian monk in Australia, writes from the same tradition that formed St Bernard. His study of the background and teaching of 'the last of the Fathers' provides insights into the saint's works and gives them contemporary meaning.

A first approach to understanding humility is to see it as that total self-acceptance typical of untarnished humanity. Those who are humble experience no shame. They do not need lies and evasions to inflate their importance in the eyes of their associates or to buttress their self-esteem. They have overcome the tendency to regard others as competitors or rivals, and so they work with whatever they have, and waste no time envying those who possess different qualities. The humble are equally content with both the gifts and the limitations that come from their nature or their personal history. Humility brings with it a fundamental happiness that is able to cope with external difficulties and sorrows.

Another classic from the foremost Trappist scholar writing today. Fr. Michael Casey, in his usual compelling style, covers many aspects of spirituality, including discernment, spiritual direction, pastoral care, and living in community-- applicable to religious and lay people alike. His reflections on Benedictine spirituality are vividly presented and filled with remarkable insights and advice.

As I was writing this book, I had the privilege of speaking to people from all over the world, and it helped me to realize just how common mental illness truly is. Mental illness is something that can affect anyone at any time. It doesn't matter who you are, where you're from or what you've done, mental illness doesn't discriminate. Unfortunately, mental illness is something that has remained in the shadows until now, and people have been too afraid to speak up because of the reaction they might receive. Use this book as a guide whenever you're having doubts or feeling alone to remind yourself that you're not. Everyone has a voice, and everyone has a right to use that voice. Mental illness affects us all. Now is the time to come together and use our voices to show the world that mental illness is real. No one need feel ashamed about mental illness ever again. The human mind is capable of many great and amazing things. But it is also capable of enduring a lot of suffering and hardships. Fear, doubt and self-hatred, are all emotions people endure every single day. Pain is a part of life, and it is natural and necessary for personal growth. What is not natural is hiding this pain. It is not right to hide your pain and pretend to yourself that everything's okay when your mind is giving you a sign that you need help. Breaking Free addresses these issues in a sensitive compassionate way. It does this through the power of short stories on the following mental health issues and ways to handle them. Self-Harm, Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety, Depression, Anorexia, Phobias, Schizophrenia, Addiction, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Bigorexia, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Bullying, Bulimia, Psychosis, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Balaam's Donkey is a series of daily reflections based on the homilies preached by Cistercian monk Michael Casey over his fifty years of priesthood. What remained of the original homilies was a large box full of index cards with a few talking points on each. From there, Casey has re-created the homilies and recast them into short reflections, arranged randomly for every day of the year. The range of topics discussed is broad and the approach taken differs with each reflection, most of them colored with a touch of Casey's whimsy and good humor.