An important step is for you, as a teacher, to understand where the IT person is coming from. They are certainly not coming at the issue of computers from the same perspective as you! For the IT people, those computers you want to use as teaching tools are all about funding and budgets, and time constraints.
They want the best, but each year they have to fight for a budget that is almost always remaining constant or shrinking. They do not have funds for large investments in new equipment (like a bunch of new laptops), and even if they do get a one-time windfall, they worry about what will happen in two or three years when that equipment needs replacing or an upgrade.
Their time is sliced up, so much so that they often have only a single hour each day for what they themselves call “tech work.” The rest of the time, they’re coordinating e-Rate, transportation, lunches, grants; acting as electrician, supporting the fire alarm system, coaching athletics, even teaching!
The average ratio of students to district IT staff members is almost 500 to 1.
The ratio is over 1,000 students for every technician to keep the machines running.
“Most of my staff’s time is spent on end-user [or] workstation support. I would [like to] reprioritize my staff’s time to be used for training and working with [teachers] on projects using technology,” said a typical district technology administrator.
The IT people want to help, work with you: but 2/3 or more of their time on technology is tied up on Help Desk issues. And they still don’t know what teachers really want.
KDI is a professional IT practice assisting North American clients take advantage of new business opportunities, improve their cashflow, reduce operational expenses, and protect their data and people on the Internet. Click here for more information.
