Rant....

This is in response to Christine's post:

I wonder if school boards will or have considered give us some professional development on a PA day about digital storytelling?


I agree Christine!!
When I think about what I have learned so far in this course in terms of ways to engage my students in the curriculum through technology, it makes me wonder why my school board is not promoting/exposing its teachers to this technology.

I have to believe that it is not for lack of knowledge or trying. In the end I believe it most likely comes down to resources (human, dollars, software and hardware) and choosing which battles to fight. Over the course of this assignment I noticed one particular website that kept coming up:

donorschoose.org

At this site teachers from around the States can post proposals for projects they would like to do in their classrooms/schools and include the cost to run the projects. Philanthropists can then view all the proposals and decide whether or not they would like to fund whole or part of the project. Very cool idea, 24% of donor gifts have gone to funding technology based projects. One downfall is that it is not available in Canada.

My point is that I think that teachers have a greater responsibility to keep up with technology on their own, I personally don't think that school boards are equipped under current funding models to provide adequate support. I also think that either government or boards should facilitate(subsidized tuition, greater tax break) teachers taking these types of AQ courses instead of the half day/full day inservices.

Speaking for myself, after I reach A4 there is almost no chance that I would be willing to pay nearly $1000 out of my own pocket to take another AQ.

Its not a perfect world but I do think that there has to be a way to keep educators as in the loop when it comes to technology in the classroom.