October 2005 — Special Reports
Print this articleClick here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal
Teachers Talk Tech
Taking Action
The Teachers Talk Tech survey led us to a
number of conclusions and recommendations
for educators, IT professionals, and
administrators:
Prepare for the inevitable. There’s no time like the present to plan for future growth. Prices are dropping, machines are becoming more powerful,and students are living out a technology experience that their parents and teachers never had. If technology is commonplace in the workplace, it is going to be commonplace in the schoolroom—if not today, then tomorrow. If we’re going to prepare students for 21st century citizenship, we need to prepare them by putting technology in the classroom and in their hands.
Commit to incremental change. Just because schools can’t do everything they want d'esn’t mean they shouldn’t do anything.Even if instructional dollars are in short supply, schools and communities should revisit their technology vision, do some strategic tweaking, and take incremental steps toward a reasonable classroom technology goal. Schools should gradually improve computer-to-student ratios—even if 1-1 access currently is not an option. It is my experience that many schools implementing 1-to-1 today started by planning and taking small steps about a decade ago.
Go wireless. Has your school thought of introducing wireless labs? Mobile computing and wireless technologies are a great way to stretch your budget while improving student access. It’s also a steppingstone toward handheld devices and tablet PCs.
Hold a bake sale. Some schools are charging their students an annual technology fee in addition to a special levy on sports and other school activities. Take creative financing a step or two further by having car washes or holding a bake sale to buy computers for your classrooms. Or think green by recycling toner and ink cartridges, and using the proceeds to supplement the high-tech budget at your school. Information on recycling cartridges and other high-tech equipment can be found through the FundingFactory Web site (www.fundingfactory.com).
Listen to the teacher. Classroom educators have a ringside seat for technology’s transformative powers.They see changes in student motivation and performance behavior on a daily basis. Encourage them to document these changes and share their insights with the community. This provides a way to justify the costs and benefits of instructional computing.
Methodology
Quality Education Data (QED; www.qeddata.com) administered the
Teachers Talk Tech survey and follow-up
focus group on behalf of CDW•G. During
February and March 2005,QED completed
phone interviews with a thousand K-12
public school teachers nationwide. During
a follow-up focus group, researchers asked
nine teachers how their technology expectations
are changing in light of the current
standards-based, accountability-driven
environment. The random sample was
drawn from QED’s National Education
Database of K-12 schools,which is a census
of all schools and districts in the United
States. The survey’s margin of error is +/- 3
percent. For further information and
specific data from the survey, visit
www.cdwg.com/ttt.
Chris Rother is VP of Education for CDW•G.E-mail: crother@cdwg.com.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
