I have spent a lot of time thinking about this particular topic today and kept coming up blank. What I have thought of, however, is an extremely common technology practice that I don’t agree with. All over the place, it’s the high schools that get the latest technology. Their old devices get pushed down to middle schools, whose devices get pushed to the elementary schools. I understand budget restraints. I really do. However, I don’t think it’s in anyone’s best interest that our elementary students are the ones who consistently get pushed aside, or left behind. The picture above is extreme, but I couldn’t resist.
I realize that many schools have good technology resources in elementary classrooms, as well. But most likely, they have a class set of devices to share among four (or more!) classrooms. I know of many school districts where the elementaries are sharing the old white plastic Mac laptops. They might have two carts/building. They are slow, heavy, and outdated.
With school technology budgets being what they are, I don’t have a solution. Just identifying the need, and always looking for ideas and compromises.
