Free Technology for Schools

I stumbled across this image the other day of the launch of Antares/ Cygnus from Virginia. Apart from the fact it is absolutely breathtaking, it really made me think about what we are capable of when we collaborate using technology.

When you think of the teams of people who need to communicate to make this possible, is this why technology integration fails in schools? How many schools integrate a new technology by asking what we want to be able to do and working towards it? It is more likely that someone in the leadership team saw a sales presentation and thought that looks great, we should get it. In the presentation, they were told that the product could do x, y and z. What they didn't realise was that to get it to do x, y and z, you need a team of people to troubleshoot, experiment and develop the solution to meet the needs of the school. Even if you get the technical side down, the teachers often don't see how it will help them to help students learn more effectively.

Even the most expensive rocket will get nowhere without fuel. When I hear of schools investing in expensive learning platforms (the rocket), I really think they need to think about whether they have the fuel to get it to lift off. The fuel for most schools has to be a willing body of staff that see the purpose in the mission and work together to make it a success.