When Your School is Short on Tech (Cult of Pedagogy)

     Jennifer Gonzalez gives suggestions of the approach to take when your school is short on technology, in the Cult of Pedagogy blog post. She talks about how access to technology is no problem for well-funded schools, but is a huge issue for underfunded schools. This is exactly what I have noticed as well. My school is trying to transition into integrating technology as much as we can, but there are limited resources. Third through fifth grade has chromebooks, but the rest of the school is left to work with 3-4 classroom desktop computers, and a shared iPad cart. It is difficult to make technology an integral part of education, when there are limited tools. Gonzalez talks about 11 ways to combat being short on technology.

Work Arounds

1. Create centers or stations: Students take turn using the technology by rotating through activities. Gonzalez suggests reading the blog post "Spruce up your centers with technology" by Tony Vincent. It talks about how to set them up, create videos, provide instructions, and give students the chance to be creative.
2. Bring Your Own Device Program: Students can being their own tech tools from home to school. This is an option that should be carefully considered and make sure that their is a buy-in with parents and students.
3. Use Minimum Tech Tools: This only requires the teacher to have a device, but the students can still participate. Some options are: Plickers, GradeCam, and Skype.
4. Create a Tech Hub at your school: All the technology is available in one place that students can go to.

Fundraising Ideas

1. Partner with local businesses
2. Apply for Grants: Education World offers a great guide to applying for grants

Off Campus Solutions

1. Portable Wifi Hot Spots: They can be checked out by students, and it gives them internet access at home. Kajeet offers the SmartSpot, which only allows students to access educational material.
2. Wifi enabled school buses: Kajeet offers this, as well. Many school districts in California have their buses parked in front of neighborhoods, so students can use their wifi at home. 
3. Summer Device Check out Program: Students without devices can check out school owned devices for the summer months.
4. Build Community Connectivity: Districts can work hard to create WiFi kiosks within neighborhoods.

     These are great ideas to consider when dealing with tech scarcity in your school. If you have tried any of these options, let me know how it went!