The necessity of computers in the classroom is forcing school districts into an awkward tango between needs, wants and the ever-present knowledge that no matter how fast administrators dance, they will always be one step behind.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, by fall 2008, all public schools had at least one instructional computer with Internet access, and the average ratio of students to computers was 3.1 to 1.
But these days, it’s not just a beige monitor plunked on a table in the corner. The big monitors have joined laptops, iPads, iPod Touches and Smart Boards plus BlackBerries, iPhones, Kindles and Nooks.
For every one of those devices, a superintendent is wondering how to pay for it all, and a technician is trying to keep up with upgrades and troubleshooting.
But how well are cash-strapped local schools meeting the challenges of preparing the next generation to participate in the global economy? And do the gee-whiz gadgets live up to the hype?
Dollars and sense
Technology isn’t cheap. The Oktibbeha County School District spends between $75,000 and $100,000 a year buying and maintaining technology for its 950 students. With decreases in state and federal funding, they’re becoming more dependent on local sources and grants.
“The technology is changing almost daily, and school districts just don’t have the funds to keep up as rapidly as tech trends happen,” Oktibbeha County schools Superintendent James Covington said.
They try to save money where they can. At West and East Oktibbeha County elementary schools, every classroom has at least five computers, and each of the district’s four schools have at least one cart of 20 laptops per cart. The district has 10 iPads and a Smart Board in every classroom at both high schools.
But unlike some schools, they’re not using iPods, and instead of Smart Boards at the elementary schools; they’re using eBeams, which transform whiteboards into Smart Boards.
Chris Carter, technology director for the West Point School District, said his district has been “extremely lucky” with grants, and they’re working on following Tupelo, which recently implemented a one-to-one laptop initiative.
It’s particularly important in places such as West Point, where parents can’t necessarily afford a $500 to $600 machine at home, Carter said. “We kind of felt like it’s our obligation to get a device in these kids’ hands.”
Something old, something new
Then there’s the issue of keeping hardware and software up to date. At the Columbus Municipal School District’s December board meeting, Director of Information Systems Beth Tippett told board members that 37 percent of the district’s 700 desktop computers are more than five years old, preventing upgrades of operating systems and software.
“These computers need to be replaced,” Tippett said. “It does concern me that we’re getting to this point. For the past two years, we haven’t been repairing on our cycle.”
They’re better off when it comes to laptops. Of 1,500 laptops, only 3 percent are more than five years old.
Crash and burn
Maintaining CMSD’s array of devices keeps Tippett and her four technicians busy. Since the beginning of the school year, they’ve handled 1,025 trouble tickets, and 281 tickets were still open.
“We’re working as hard as we can, but some of those tickets take 15 minutes, and some take two or three days,” Tippett said.
Carter has a similar problem. He and a part-time technician manage more than 3,000 devices. He’d prefer to be proactive, but sometimes the nature of the job and being understaffed forces him to be reactive.
“It’s really hard sometimes to get others to understand that even though we may have part of a network go down and we’re working on that, teachers are trying to enter grades, and there are so many related issues,” he said. “That’s where it gets nerve-wracking.”
Digital divide
From school to school, there is sometimes a sharp digital divide in terms of available technology. Sometimes, the variances occur even within a district.
According to figures Tippett released at CMSD’s board meeting, Columbus Middle School has 64 whiteboards, and Stokes-Beard Elementary has 21, while Columbus High School only has 16. Then again, the high school has 11 Smart Boards, whereas the middle school has none and Stokes-Beard has 17.
School board member Tommy Prude expressed concerns about the imbalance at the December meeting.
“I think it’s shameful we’re competing at the high school less than K-five,” Prude said. “When we were able to buy computers, we didn’t invest in the high school. I think it’s absolutely critical we invest in the high school.”
Tippett said she’d like to see every teacher have a whiteboard, which she considers the best investment, as well as a laptop.
That’s already happening in Oktibbeha County, where every classroom has a whiteboard.
Love at first byte
The benefits are often first seen on the faces of technology’s youngest denizens.
In Kellen Lane’s Algebra I class at Columbus Middle School, students are using SMART Boards to play math games, have contests and engage with the lesson instead of just watching a lecture.
The kids love it, he says, and he loves it, too, because it gives him the opportunity to see at a glance how well every student is understanding the material. He knows who gets it and who is struggling. With the instant feedback, he can record the results and review them later or share them with his colleagues for advice.
The results have been similar in West Point.
“Every little bit we introduce, they just swarm to it,” Carter said. “It’s amazing to see how you can just do a couple of things and really change a child’s life by giving them something they don’t necessarily have at home.”
Getting the most bang for the buck
So what can school districts do to ensure that the money they’re spending is money well-spent?
The first thing administrators and decision-makers need to do is make certain the technology is being used to do things that couldn’t be done through traditional teaching, said Devon Brenner, professor and interim department head of curriculum instruction and special education at Mississippi State University.
“If technology just becomes like fancy flash cards, then it isn’t worth the expense to the school district,” Brenner says.
One way to use the full potential of technology is collaborative learning instead of low-level knowledge. By working in groups of three or four students and being encouraged to synthesize material from multiple sources, students develop critical thinking skills, she said.
The main thing is to make sure teachers are trained adequately and aided in sifting through the plethora of choices now available to teachers looking to integrate technology into their lesson plans.
“Just putting computers in classrooms is not enough,” she said. “The teachers really need a lot of support.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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