We have spent billions on educational technology. What do we have to show for all the spending? Have teachers change their teaching with technology? The reality is that technology has improved communications and access to information. That's a good thing. Put computers in every classroom and we will revolutionize teaching! That was the mantra of mid-90's in educational circles across the land. Many experts sincerely believed that computers would somehow be a panacea for the legion of problems in our classrooms. They reasoned that the gains in productivity which technology had enabled in the business world could be replicated in the classroom. Well, I think that they were dead wrong. Why? Because you can't compare business and teaching. They just aren't the same. One of our problems is that schools are spending money on things that should come second to education such as buying a five hundred thousand dollar football field. Things like athletics should come second to education. Students are being effected by this because the material schools are giving them is old and out of date. Schools are starting to use portables as permanent classrooms which is not what they are made for. The portables begin to wear down and the heating and cooling systems begin to break. This creates a bad learning environment for the students. Also schools are buying poor materials for us to use. Then when it breaks they buy more bad material instead of buying up to date technology for the students. The reason they buy poor technology is because they are spending all the money on things that are irrelevant to the education of the students. February was the 40th anniversary of an important event in Florida history. In 1968, Florida teachers and other education workers belonging to the Florida Education Association staged the nation's first statewide teachers' strike and focused the state's attention on public education. Low pay for teachers made Florida noncompetitive with other states for high-quality employees. The cause of the strike was the chronic under funding of the state's educational system at a time when attendance was rising greatly. Although a special session of the Legislature approved more school funding, the budget increases didn't solve the problem. Forty years later, teacher salaries still were as low as nearly $6,000 below the national average and the situation is equally crucial for all the other important positions in our public schools, like bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and so on. Forty years ago, public school employees took a courageous stand to point out the problem, but Florida's political leaders continue to ignore the needs of our public schools. Constantly people complain abut Florida becoming competitive in the 21st century global economy, yet our political leaders continue to refuse to make significant investments in our future.
If we continue to have poor technology in our classrooms, the people will be the ones affected. The people will be affected in that the condition of all of the technology will basically just suck. It will be just a flat out uncomfortable environment.
To ensure that technology is effectively integrated into the schools, educators and community members must help to create a formal technology plan. Developing a plan for using technology to support education reform means more than providing for the acquirement of computers and software. To be successful, a technology plan must have meaningful learning to provide for the needed professional development and support, and respond flexibly to change. Schools that effectively use technology have a carefully designed technology plan that is a part of the overall school-improvement plan. A technology plan that is not basic to the overall improvement plan is likely to be short-lived. As part of the school-improvement plan, technology should support the curricular goals of the school. I believe this approach is the most effective for our situation. If we have an ongoing technology upgrade plan then it will be way easier to keep adequate technology in the class.