Agenda: Week 8

ET 680 The Role of the Technology Specialist

"It is May..., and the district superintendent has just informed the director that he is confident that approximately $100,000 may be available for renovating the computer facilities. The cost for improving the physical facilities (air-conditioning, electrical rewiring, window treatment, etc.) will be $70,000, and $30,000 can be used for purchasing new equipment and furniture. He would like a proposal from her regarding how she would use these funds. He wants to present it to the district's equipment and facilities planning subcommittee on June 1." Picciano, p. 274

"Software piracy can result in both civil and criminal liability. Specifically, piracy can expose your company to heavy fines per work infringed. While many Software Managers and Senior Executives think there is no chance their comapny can get caught, they are wrong. On average, at least one company is caught and confronted with the threat of legal proceedings every working day." --Business Software Alliance

"At the school district level, the methods used to cost technology should provide answers to questions other than just 'How much will the plan cost?' Such questions might include: Which technology model best allows the attainment of our goals? Should all schools in the district implement technology at the same time? if not, which schools should go first? What factors can jeopardize the success of the plan? Is a technology leap required or can a series of intermediate steps be taken? Can the technology plan be funded? If not, what can be done to bridge the gap between resources in hand and the total need." --Investing in School Technology, p. 14

"Using schools' existing budgeting framework, there is a real danger that staff development and training costs, a significant part of the initial investment and a large component of ongoing costs, will not be funded adequately simply because the framework provides no easy way to cover these expenditures. For a district, one of the worst possible outcomes would be to have technology deployed in all of its schools only to find that it is not used to its full potential." --Investing in School Technology, Chapter 3

"Effective staff development programs will focus on the larger goal of improved student learning and performance, rather than on learning technology as a goal in and of itself: 'Learning to use Microsoft Word is not the same process as learning to teach writing across the curriculum using Word.'" --Frazier and Bailey, p. 45

"Without this training and support, teachers are likely to use the technology resources available to them only for lower-level tasks, such as word processing." --Frazier and Bailey, p. 47
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This page was prepared by Dr. David M. Marcovitz.

Last Updated: April 4, 2011