The Future and ICT
ICT is changing the way we live our lives and for the most part, it’s for the better. However, there are some aspects which schools in particular need to consider and address when deciding what ICT they should incorporate into their school.
BUDGET
Technology costs money particularly if you want the latest and greatest. Therefore schools need to plan carefully to make the most of their ICT budget. I think Kevin Rudd is on the right track with providing a laptop for every student but schools need to consider the costs of maintaining their equipment and buying additional software. The lifespan of software is relatively short before it becomes out of date so this should also be considered.
Schools must work out what is best to spend their money on… computers, electronic whiteboards, projectors are some of the more expensive options.
TRAINING
With new technology comes more training. There is no point in having the best technology if your staff don’t know how to use it. Teachers need to stay up to date with the equipment they have access to in their schools. Once again, training costs money BUT it also costs time and schools must allow for this.
SECURITY
We hear every week about predators on the net and also about hackers and viruses. Schools need to be aware that they make themselves vulnerable to attacks with the technology they use. Students need to be kept safe and away from the threats that the World Wide Web brings. Computer use policies need to be clear and teachers need to monitor their students.
RELIABILITY
We’ve all had technology let us down and it can be so frustrating. Although technology is there to make our lives easier, it can also complicate them it ways we can’t imagine. Backing up is vital- unfortunately I myself have had 2 major problems with this- my hard drive crashed last year and I almost lost my entire photo collection as well as music and uni documents. I was lucky to salvage most of this but was taught an important lesson- a little costly too. My other problem was that I misplaced my USB thumb drive… it had about 2 years of uni work on it with only about half of it stored elsewhere. It’s still missing so let me know if you see it!
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