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The Future of Technology Funding and Support

Will Richardson and Chris Lehman shined a light on what I found to be horrifying statements. At the Education Innovation Summit Lehman reported defeated former Mayor of Washington DC Adrian Fenty said "if we fire more teachers, we'll have more money for technology."This happened a while ago - back in April, but this morning it came back to me as I contemplated the future of technology funding and support in schools in the face of ever-decreasing budgets. In my opinion, people are more important than machines for our kids. I can buy an iPad or laptop, but a personal teacher/mentor/advisor that's a little more pricey. Can we find ways to use technology to lighten the load for teachers - of course - but as a parent, a school flush with laptops and tablets, but devoid the necessary number of caring professionals to support learning is not a school I want my kids in.

To contradict Mr. Fenty, "the more technology we don't buy, the more caring professionals we can hire." Does this mean BYOD on a massive scale? What does that look like from a support perspective? Obviously a great deal is spent on an infrastructure that can support many devices wirelessly and resources that are accessed via a web browser. Do we still provide a few high powered machines? But who really knows or needs to know how to use Final Cut Pro in K-12 education? What else would/could this mean?

Would we provide a $1000 stipend to teachers every 3/4/5 years to go out and buy whatever they want to bring to school?

What if you're a school district with high free and reduced lunch totals? Would a school-owned device become a stigma?

What about traditional computer lab-type classrooms - photography, drafting or business ed? I would say it would be good-bye to CAD, Adobe CS # whatever and Quickbooks, hello whatever teachers selected online resource is out there. Isn't it all about using whatever it is in front of you and not mastery of a single program? Most businesses have their own accounting software, so basic spreadsheet knowledge is more important than knowing Excel inside and out....understanding good design and engineering principals is more important than knowing CAD vs Google Sketchup.

Does support end at the wireless connection? User responsibility doesn't just simply increase, it goes through the roof. Not saying that's bad, just a big change to many. Words not working...sorry, Google your problem and fix it or call Geek Squad. Boy that's going to be a tough interaction at first...

What over ideas are out there?
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Comments

  1. doug0077May 23, 2012 at 1:39 PM

    Hi Nathan,

    Just to play devil's advocate here, would we ever say we should have less medical technology so we can hire more doctors? It seems to me this a matter of balance, not an either or scenario. Lots of ineffective teachers are no better than too few teachers with lots of toys.

    Doug

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  2. UnknownMay 23, 2012 at 8:05 PM

    Good point Doug. I just find it appalling that someone - right or left - would say we need to fire teachers to bring in more technology, as if that's a good answer to solve our K-12 ills. How about, lets council ineffective teachers to a different profession and give someone else a try. Heck, John McCain said something to that effect in a debate four years ago. Or even lets find ways to use technology so great teachers can reach more students - not lets pass out the pink slips so the Ultrabooks can roll in.

    I'm also envisioning the worst case senario budget wise. There doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel where anything like balance, or moderation from the "radical middle" is going to win out anytime soon. What would that worst case senario look like? How would we manage it.

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