Unit 3 - Consortium for School Networking

 

·        Did you find the CoSN website useful?

o   I found the website to be both useful and informational. There are so many aspects of technology cost that one does not think of when looking at purchasing for the district. This helps provide the superintendent, technology committee, and school board a better insight into the overall cost of pieces of technology. It also puts repairs, staffing needs, professional development in the forefront. This would also pair nicely with a strategic plan.

·        What information on the website was most useful to you?

o   The TCO Assessment Tool seems to be very useful and user friendly. I would highly recommend its usage next time we look at our strategic plan/technology purchase. I would need a great deal of help from our tech director and other people in the school to help fill it out. The Tips and Recommendations that came with were important and helped provide some much needed guidance.

o   The case studies were also useful. It gave the user an idea of the information they were looking for, but it was more narrative than I thought it would be. I got a feel for the school and their technology needs instead of just looking at data.

·        How will information from this website help your Technology Committee?

o   The information from this website and the Assessment Tool will make us dig deeper into our technology purchasing process. It will help us highlight in the areas we have been lacking in.

·        What implications does this information have for technology planning in your school?

o   I believe the main implication is providing the big picture to the school board and other stakeholders. This lays out how technology purchases are much more complicated than simply how much does it cost. Things that are forgotten about during the initial purchase eventually become financial burdens or staff moral killers.