Integrating tech in the class rooms

An article I found on twitter called "involving teachers in technology" discussed the overall concern that many people including myself have when thinking about my future class; what is the general feel about using more tech in schools? The article touched on three main points that I have been thinking about. One, how do we get this new and improved tech in the schools? The schoosl in the article were based in Illinois and they were very good at applying for grants and joining contest. This helped me because I can imagine the main answer to improving tech is "we dont have the budget". This can be a great help to school on urban communities where money needs to be distributed wisely. The second question I always thought of  was what do we do with the equipment once you get it? I personally have seen a school purchase 20 fancy new digital cameras and never use them. The teachers either said they didn't know how to work them or they didn't want to be responsible for breaking them. The article talks about the importance of holding PD with the sole purpose being tech training. With all of the new products coming out, it can be little intimidating to not only use them, but to use them in front of your class (kids can be cruel, especially when you mess up). The training from an actual IT person is so important , not just one teacher fiddling with it, then trying to teach everybody else. That brings me to the last point I had, which the article actually confirmed as one of the issues of upgrading tech in the schools. There's an influx of new technology in the school, all of the teachers and students now know how to use it. But who is going to fix it if something goes wrong? Some schools only have one actual IT person around, if they have one at all. That is a big job for one person and out can really slow down the use of the tools if there isn't anyone there to support it. The article gives a specific example of the school crashing or over acceding its bandwith. I think this is another reason so many schools dont increase their tech, because they dont think they can afford to pay someone to be available all the time to fix the problems that will naturally come up with technology.

http://tinyurl.com/3q2lawr