Working in public education is an eye opening experience. Naturally, everybody wants the best education that can be provided for their children, and school districts strive to meet that objective. But when it comes to technology, we seem to want to have our cake and eat it too. This is a technological age we live in, so we expect there to be technology in the classroom. What we seem reluctant to do is pay for that technology. Technology has a price tag.
When someone tells me they want to buy a new computer, my first two questions are always the same. How much do you want to spend? And what do you want to do with the computer? I think it would be diligent to ask those questions regarding technology in our classrooms as well. How much are we willing to spend on it? And what do we expect to do with it?
For many years I’ve enjoyed working in large companies, with significant IT budgets. They almost always have state of the art technology because they’re willing to pay for it, and they’re willing to do that because it turns a profit, or better positions them to meet a customer’s needs.
Some school districts today have little or no IT budget for classroom technology, but high expectations for what they want to provide to the students. The outcome can range from discouraging to complete failure.
How much are we willing to spend to provide our children with the education we expect?