I am curious to know if and how the economic recession is affecting your =
technology budgets and programs for the coming year.
We are re-examining a number of our practices including email (FirstClass=
versus Google), productivity suites (MS Office versus Open Office and Go=
ogle Docs), databases (FileMaker client versus FileMaker web access), web=
servers (hosted site versus our
own Drupal server). These are good things to examine, anyway, and we woul=
d have done so. But there's no doubt that the economy has built a fire un=
der us to look at these sooner rather than later.=20
On the hardware front, we'll be purchasing more RAM to nurse computers al=
ong for at least a year beyond their normal retirement schedule (typicall=
y 3 years for laptops, 4 years for desktops), and will think twice about =
CPU-sucking upgrades to
applications and OS that we would normally roll out on an annual basis.
Our administration has heard from other schools that they, too, are retre=
nching by delaying hiring, minimizing tuition increases, setting aside mo=
re funds for tuition assistance, and - cutting tech budgets.
So the challenge for us, perhaps others as well, is to keep moving forwar=
d with technology initiatives, to continue to provide great professional =
development, and not lose sight of "21st century" learning and teaching. =
Indeed, as an environmentalist I
have often thought that much of the 21st century could well be marked by =
scarcity rather than the abundance we've grown so accustomed to.
So once again my question to the group: how are you coping with the curre=
nt situation as you plan for the coming year?
s
-----
Treat each piece of paper as precious and reduce waste - don't print elec=
tronic documents.
-----
Steve Taffee 650.470.7725 (office)
Director of Technology 415.613.6684 (mobile)
Castilleja School 650.326.8036 (fax)
1310 Bryant Street steve_taffee@castilleja.org =20
Palo Alto, CA 94301 www.castilleja.org | taffee.edublogs.or=
g
Women Learning, Women Leading
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