Technology debt was a term that I heard during a department meeting this week and it intrigued me. Due to the recent financial difficulties, certain technology upgrades were skipped to help with the budget. Now as things are improving financially, there is a debt owed to technological improvements that needs to be addressed. I've had a chance to see this payback in action in many ways. There seem to be quite a few projects related to software upgrades or purchases and then the needed training for these additions. There are also improvements being made on the hardware side, including laptop upgrades, improvements to audio/visual equipment and probably many others that I wasn't involved in. The presenter at the department meeting talked about how Principal is usually a fast follower in terms of technology adoption, but tried to avoid the risks associated with being on the cutting edge or "bleeding edge" as it was stated. Not only do the improvements aid in efficiency, they also can help a business gain credibility with clients.
I think technology debt is something that is often overlooked in many areas in education. From what I've seen in my experience so far, an individual's experience and aptitude in dealing with technology is directly related to their effectiveness as an employee. If we are training our students on technology that is being phased out in business, we are losing at least some of the potential impact of that training. If education is to parallel what I'm seeing this summer, a significant part of each unit should include the collection, manipulation, analysis, graphing and reporting of information using software like Microsoft Excel. It's amazing to see how versatile this program is and the more exposure we give to students on how to use it and how it can be used will help prepare them for a required skill for many businesses. This was an observation I made last summer when working for Kemin Industries and it has been reinforced further. I need to make improvements to the way I teach to get closer to this reality.
Hi Aaron,
ReplyDeleteI'm a technology integrator in the St. Louis area and am from Des Moines. Your blog was sent to me by a friend who works at Principle because she thought I might be interested. I like the phrase "technology debt" and think it's so appropriate in education. We're working on getting more technology in our classrooms in my district but it's a long and arduous process. As I'm sure you know, it's not just getting the technology into the classroom, but also providing the teachers ongoing support. That's the hard part.
I look forward to following your continued posts.