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Permalink Reply by Suzanne Ludlum on February 23, 2008 at 7:02pm

Greetings! I'm the Technology Resource Teacher for Oakland Adult and Career Education and a TIMAC menor. I write the Technology Plan for my agency. I would like to suggest we talk about widespread budget cuts and how they will impact especially technology professional development. How do we keep what we've started (learning circles, peer teams, collaboration, conferences, etc) alive and and well amidst budget cuts and layoff (that's what looks like wlll happen here in Oakland).
Thanks for asking.
Peace,
Suzanne Ludlum

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Permalink Reply by Karl Forest on February 23, 2008 at 9:58pm

Excellent idea. Thanks Suzanne for the suggestion. We'll try to generate some ideas.

Karl

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Permalink Reply by Barbara Bray on February 23, 2008 at 11:37pm

Suzanne - this is a great question and am hearing this around the country. Tough times! Major concerns will be burn out and apathy. Doing more with less. So one strategy has been building on what you've already developed - finding intrinsic motivation. Discuss what makes people spend so much time on social networks, adding friends, blogging, etc. without compensation and try to take what motivates people to do this to continue what you've been doing. How have learning circles and peer teams impacted teaching and learning? Showcase, celebrate - build excitement so teachers want to continue everything next year. I had been involved with showcases at Oakland 3 years in a row with teachers and their students - opened to the community. We had lots of support from the community, giveaways, and raffle prizes.

Hope to be part of this discussion at the SIG - Barbara

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Permalink Reply by Tammy Stephens on March 16, 2008 at 10:59am

Here is a good article entitled the Digital Leadership Divide. http://www.cosn.org/resources/grunwald/index.cfm . It is based on a survey done by Gruenwald and Associates. The Study found that "Positive attitudes and strong commitment to technology are deciding factors in technology budgeting, the survey reveals. Schools that are committed to deepening the impact of technology are finding ways to raise or repurpose funds to maintain or increase their level of support for technology, even in difficult budgeting cycles. But schools that are less committed to using technology are falling behind - cutting budgets, reducing staff and forgoing the professional development that would enable educators to use technology more effectively".

I just returned from Washington DC and met with staff from Rohrabacher, Feinstein and Boxer's offices to discuss the importance of increasing funding for technology funding in K-12 Schools. If you are not a member of ETAN http://www.edtechactionnetwork.org/ please consider doing so. They send periodic updates of what's happening in Washington. They also make it very easy to send an email to your legislators. All you have to do is add your zip code and they give you a draft email with the email addresses filled in that you can edit. It seriously takes about 2 minutes. The way these offices work is they count how many emails, letters and phone calls they receive on an issue. If they get enough they will take action. Now is an important time as the president's budget for 2009 calls to cut all EETT funding.

If you are going to NECC this year consider attending ISTE's ABCs of Advocacy http://www.edtechactionnetwork.org/ on 6/29. It only costs $69.00

Perhaps we could help staff an ETAN booth at CUE next year. We could encourage people walking by to send an email to their legislature through the ETAN site right at the booth.

The CUE Technology SIG is 900 members strong. Your collective voice could make a big difference in educational funding for technology!

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