ED 634 - Blog Post #2 - Funding: Response to Lynn W. , Lawrence University, Interview

Lynn, from Lawrence Tech University is extremely knowledgeable and spoke articulately about the different resources for funding, implementation and evaluation of technology in the educational setting.  Her experience in different capacities have given her unique insight to the obstacles as well as motives involved in getting funding for technology iniatives for school districts and universities.  

I have been on many technology planning committees and understand the process and challenges involved in first getting buy-in at the front end as well as continued support.  I have also been exposed to the reality of how much is costs to roll out a 1:1 initiative.  However, one thing she mentioned that was a bit of a shock to me was how much money districts spend on personnel costs.  She stated that 80-92% of a districts general fund go to funding personnel.  That doesn't leave a lot for other things, especially not technology.  This makes it even more crucial to have buy in from the community (tax payers) because if you ask for a technology bond, they need to understand that the funds available for technology are slim to none.  

I wasn't aware of E-rate until reading about it in this class and in her interview. I'm wondering if our technology director (who is no longer with the district) or director of finance knew about this.  I'm definitely going to follow up on this when school resumes.  This would probably be something I would look into as a funding source if I were to head up a technology bond proposal or other technology iniative.  

I also found some of the "hidden resoures" she mentioned to be valuable.  These are more "intangible" funds but do effective the bottom line in the end.  For example going to a BYOD and at the same time relaxing district policy and network settings to free up monies for other things is a creative and realistic way to achieve the goal of ubiquitous technology.  

Lynn also discussed how the level of priority technology has in K-12 vs higher education stating that at the university level, it is considered as an essential.  For K-12 she stated that it is more of a value added item.  I would have to agree with her on that and add that because you are dealing with mostly digital natives who have been using technology for most of their lives, they expect it.  And for the most part many already know how to use many of the digital tools that are available to demonstrate learning and to help them be more productive.  There is simply just a different mindset for this student population. However, in my experience, I would have to say that many university professors are slow to adopt and integrate technology tools effectively in their instruction. I think this is where universities need to work on buy in....at the faculty level.