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In this section:
- Thinking About Money
- Assignment: Designing a Financial Plan
Thinking About Money
Putting together a budget for a technology use plan can be daunting project. At first blush, it appears that you may only need to purchase computers, printers, and some Internet connections. If you plan to distribute an equal number of units throughout your site, the tabulation is fairly straight forward. After you determine how much equipment you need for your site, you can take a look at some typical retail prices for up-to-date hardware, and come up with a tentative outline for your budget.
Unfortunately, your costs will be much higher. Some other costs related to hardware will be updating the infrastructure of the facility. If you plan to put more than one or two computers in a classroom, will there be enough electrical lines? And what about Internet connections? Many schools are going to a direct connect line rather than via phone modems. Then there's also the routers and switchers you will need. And let's not forget about security.
To help reduce these costs, many schools have mobilized parents and community members in national Net Days, in which volunteers are used to pull wires and set up the wiring. Additionally, business partnerships not only can reduce the costs for the equipment, but can also serve as matching funds for the granting association.
Even with the best hardware, there's also the need for grade-appropriate software. Will teachers need more than simple word processing? Will attendance be taken online? What about grade books and printer programs? Will the school be using drill and practice programs for Math? Will you need multimedia or desktop publication programs? Does the library or classrooms have CD-ROM resources? These and a host of other questions will need to be examined to determine the software you will need to purchase. Fortunately,there are some software discounters on the Internet who provide reduced purchases for networked, lab packs, and multiple purchases.
Also entering into the financial picture are the teachers. Unless teachers receive support and training, only a handful who will adopt the technology. Teacher training (discussed in Session 7) might involve release time, paying for subs, and sending teachers to conferences where they may or may not have to have their travel, hotel, registration, and meals covered. Even if the training is being done in-house, you will need to pay the trainers, supply snacks, and provide release or developmental time for teachers to prepare lessons that integrate technology into their curriculum.
In calculating a tentative budget, you may want to plan according to the popular 30/30/30 model, in which 30% of the technology budget is spent on computer equipment, 30% on software, and another 30% on teacher training. The final 10% will go to administrative and other miscellaneous costs. And let's not forget yearly costs incurred for the support people and maintenance of equipment.
Because of the high costs involved in bringing a school up to current technological standards, many schools and districts create a five-year plan. A five-year plan allows the technology leader the ability to prioritize their school's needs and set up a plan to meet the needs without over burdening the budget in the first year.
Assignment: Designing a Financial Plan
One of the components for your grade in this course is the development of a realistic financial plan for your school or district. Although it will be impossible to have a perfect budget, there will be some specific components will be look for. Have you determined the hardware and software you would need? Have you computed the cost for the teacher training? Have you justified why these expenditures will be needed? To provide you with additional help as to how your budget will be graded, you may want to view the assignment rubric.
Now that we've got you thinking about money, in the Reflect section we'll ask you to consider how you will go about obtaining the funding you will need.
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URL: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596r/module5/apply.html
Last updated: January 30, 1998