Abbe Kya

How To Fund Technology Abbe Kya

With the impending implementation of Common Core Standards and the increasing reliance on classroom technology, many schools and school districts are finding it difficult to budget for technology. Funding technology is not about buying new computers for teachers and then claiming mission accomplished. There are many challenges that need to be accounted for and funded such as bandwidth for connectivity due to the increasing number of teachers going online, software costs and yearly upgrades, technical support due to increasing demand, and what about obsoleteness? If you own a smartphone, you know very well about this. The average lifespan of computers is about three to five years, far longer than smartphones these days where a new iPhone shows up on the market every couple of years. Hardware upgrades are necessary because of processing power and compatibility issues with newer versions of software. There are also behind the scenes upgrades that are needed for the smooth functioning of the classroom computers such as the servers, switches, cables, and more software. All these can strain the general budget of a typical school district and the individual schools. The only way to succeed with technology implementation in education is to have an ongoing technology funding that adequately meets the needs of the student demographics. What this means is that if the school district manages to find some money to buy some computers for some classrooms and does not have a long term plan to fund all classrooms for technology and then to refund those classrooms when the technology becomes obsolete, then the school district does not really have an adequate technology plan and in all likelihood, the technology implementation program will fail after a few years. It will be far more expensive to restart the technology program down the line than to maintain it. This book will explore these issues and provides some suggestions for funding technology which goes far beyond the responsibility of the school district.