Ten tips for wringing every bit of educational
value out of the technology already in your schools.
F 1. 8 Leadership
inding the money for new technol- ogy purchases isn’t easy in the best budget years. In today’s economy, we’ll be lucky to keep the lights on
and the Internet connected. So if we’re as smart as our phones, we’ll make sure we’re wringing every bit of educational value out of the technology already in our schools. But how do we do that? Knowing that the hive as a whole can
be wiser than the brightest bee, I sought the counsel of professional friends and colleagues through an informal survey, to which 126 people responded. Their com- bined contributions resulted in 9,379 words of excellent advice! The 10 tips that follow are my best effort to synthesize the results into simple, actionable items.
Start by stopping. Take time to revisit your vision – or get one if you don’t have one. Where are you
trying to go at your school, and how might technology help you get there? Pull your staff together and remind yourselves of the
big picture. In fact, one respondent urged, “This is the best time to do technology plan- ning with vendors, consultants and vision- aries. The ones who show up when you don’t have money and who can help you are going to have the best solutions and provide the best long-term value.”
Another respondent said we should re-
member that being intentional in the first place is the Holy Grail. Back up “to ask the strategic question, what do we want in the way of results? Rather than focus on a par- ticular solution, best practice, tactic or de- vice, look at all of your resources (technical and non-technical) and ask what is missing, the presence of which would get us to the content, skills and feedback necessary to ensure achievement.”
2.
Take stock. Do a thorough inven- tory of the hardware, software and other technology resources
By Michael Simkins
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