Anyone who works with a budget knows that there comes a point where lists get made with “must have”, “need to have” and “like to have.” I wonder if anything other than cuts to teachers ever makes the school spending lists. Today’s Advocate reports:
Last week, the Common Council approved Valenzisi’s request for $85,385 to purchase 14 of the 77-inch Smart Boards, plus interactive software, a multimedia projector, small speaker sytems and DVD player packages for each. The purchase was part of the district’s $875,000 capital budget.
And what is a smart board? A piece of technology destined to fail in the real world. I speak from my perch as someone who has integrated technology in all sorts of venues including classrooms. I’d be interested in what most teachers think, but my experience is that more time is spent fiddling with the technology than actually accomplishing an educational goal. This is the master problem with technology in general.
You average windows computer can’t be run with out spam and virus software and most of the time the computer is under threat of some thing that will prevent you from using the computer quickly and efficiently. And yet schools, not just Norwalk’s, march forward with grandiose plans to integrate computers in classrooms, without the attendant commitment to two very important details. Kids will subvert the computer to do whatever they want it to do and each computer will never be free from the threat of viruses and other malware.
And what do we know of the fifth grade in Norwalk? The last class had a problem with the three “r’s”, reading, writing and arithmetic. I don’t think a smart board will do anything about that.
source Advocate, High-tech board engages students, city teacher says, By Alexandra Fenwick, August 3 2007
I wonder if I still have the longitudinal lung cross sections that he gave me…?
