OpenEuphoria

Re: Thanks Rob! (should we change this subject to Cost of

• Posted by "Michelle Rogers" <michellerogers at bellsouth.net> Jun 03, 2004
• 456 views

It's either a fear..or a "it's just easier to do what i've done every year
before now"..I don't know which.

Michelle Rogers
----- Original Message -----
From: "irv mullins" <guest at RapidEuphoria.com>
To: <EUforum at topica.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 1:36 PM
Subject: Re: Thanks Rob! (should we change this subject to Cost of





Michelle Rogers wrote:
>
> That's only true if there is a limit on the amount of money to be
> spent.  I
> teach in an elementary school on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in
> Cherokee, NC.  Basically, there is no limit on money for school use
> whenever
> either technology or Cherokee Cultural Heritage are concerned, because
the
> Casino contributes unheared of amounts of money specifically for these
> purposes.  So, in the three years that I have been here, I have seen the
> school purchase a $25,000 mobile lab of labtop computers, which no
teacher
> in the school uses except me (it is supposed to be used by all
> teachers on a
> "check-out" basis).  I have seen licenses for NovaNet and other similiar
> subscription type software purchased.  The figures that I have heard for
> these subscriptions is around $14,000 per year for the number of
licenses
> that we purchase.  If anyone uses these subscriptions, I have not heard
of
> them using it.  I don't use it myself because I don't think it was even
> worth $5.  A SmartBoard setup (see <a
href="http://www.smarttech.com">http://www.smarttech.com</a>) was
> bought and
> placed in the library, for teachers to sign up to bring their classes
> in to
> use it.  NO one used it all year (this was the first year it was
> there).

<snip>

Interesting post. I have seen the same thing in Georgia in what are called
'magnet schools' (which get lots of technology). For a while, I installed
networks in these schools. It wasn't uncommon to find a 5 or 6 year old
who knew FAR more about computers than the teachers.

I can't help thinking that a lot of this effort and money is just wasted,
if teachers aren't willing (or able) to use it.

Is it fear of new technology, or something else?

Regards,
Irv