Posted by:
Sheila Cory
University
Chapel Hill, NC

Topic:
Balanced funding

Message:

In most schools and districts, technology funds to date have been allocated in large measure to hardware and infrastructure. It is time to look at funding in a more balanced way. It is important to keep an eye on the goal as you allocate your technology funds. If the goal for technology in your school is to improve teaching and learning, then significant funds must be put into professional development. No matter what the size of the annual technology budget, a significant percent of the funds (30% or more) should go toward professional development. If the technology a school has is not being used or not being used well most of the day, the school leaders should consider not purchasing hardware for a year or so and putting most of the funds into professional development and technical support. Schools should also consider using less expensive technologies if they will do a job that a more expensive technology is now doing. A good example of that would be to use an AlphaSmart Keyboard instead of a desktop computer for pre-writing, drafting or keyboard practice. Another strategy to get maximum use out of limited hardware as funds are appropriated to professional development and technical support is to place five or so computers in the rooms of teachers when they are ready to use them for a unit that involves lots of computer use.

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