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Section D: Hardware Acquisition and Facility Development

Situation:

Advances in technology development are extremely rapid. One of the underlying truths of technology is a phenomenon called Moores Law, which states ... for every eighteen months of time, the power of computational capacity roughly doubles for the same cost, or, in other words, the cost of computational technology is roughly halved for any single machine (assuming no new developments to the machine). This quality of technology leads to great concern for educational institutions, as equipment quickly becomes obsolete, compared to facilities and non-technological equipment. Financial considerations and curriculum adaptation to rapidly changing equipment bring about several concerns for a school district with moderate funding.

The Montague Area Public Schools does not maintain a formal inventory of equipment, though an informal survey used in the development of this plan revealed the general scenario of available equipment for the district, distribution of equipment, and relative age of computers, presentation technologies, and other technological tools used within specific content areas. (The general results of this survey are found in the appendices. A more detailed database will be available on disk.) The current situation is as follows:

Montague High School is almost fully equipped with televisions, due to use of Whittle Communications Channel One program. There is a central video editing and playing center, and a number of video cassette players available from the media center. Support for these technologies is adequate and competent. There are two networked computer laboratories in the school, each with basic software capabilities but little hardware for specific applied uses. There are two other collections of computers in the school; one network of eight computers in the library, and another set of non-networked computers in the technology education area. These two collections are over four years old (according to mainstream marketplace). Few other teachers have computers in classrooms, and these computers are over six years old. Most all of the computers in the school are Apple II or PC systems. Support for these computers has been adequate, though this is supported by volunteer efforts of teachers, which has resulted in motivational and technical concerns by school staff.

Nellie B. Chisholm middle school is also equipped with televisions and central video playing due to the Channel One program, though video editing and recording equipment are only available on loan from the high school. There is one computer laboratory located within a mathematics classroom, with all computers being at least six years old. There is no equipment for extensions or applications, and many of the computers are unmaintained and in various forms of disrepair. Some teachers have a computer or two in their classroom, though at least half of these computers are over six years old (the others are approximately three). Most of the computers are Apple II systems, with the remainder being Macintosh computers.

Oehrli Elementary School is equipped with technology on a classroom by classroom basis, with no laboratory space. The new facility is wired for various electronic networking, though most classrooms do not have equipment currently connected to this network. Most teachers have televisions and other presentation technology available to them. Teachers generally have one or two computers per classroom, with approximately half of these over six years in age (Apple II) while the remaining systems are 1-3 years old (Macintosh).

The district has recently passed a bond proposal for facility development for the Oehrli Elementary School and Montague High School. This has resulted in the rehabilitation of the industrial arts area of the high school to become a manufacturing technologies laboratory, and the reconstruction of the entire elementary school. For financing purposes, the district has one more year to pass an enhancement millage proposal which could result in some facility redevelopment. A bond proposal for additional facilities or rehabilitation could be developed at any time, though the political climate of the community regarding such a measure in uncertain.

Concerns:

Funding for additional facilities may be difficult as a result of the recent bond referendum. Community members may be concerned about another large capital expenditure for the schools so soon after approving a $7+million bond issue. The same measure holds true for the proposal of an enhancement millage. All of these efforts could sour community support for the districts actions, and could affect approval of operational millage referenda.

Differences in budgeting priorities between the three schools of the district and lack of communications regarding these policies has led to frustration and discontent regarding acquisition of technologies for teachers in these schools. Faculty and staff regard technology acquisition as a building by building issue, and attribute ownership of equipment to a building, rather than a district.

Computing technologies are not available to an entire classroom of students at any level in the district except for technology specific courses offered at the high school. In addition, there is little specialized equipment (except in manufacturing technologies at the high school) for specialized tasks involving media development or application of technology to specific content purposes.

There is a lack of technology-proficient and knowledgeable leadership with regard to hardware acquisition and facility needs. This lack of knowledge may lead to inappropriate decisions regarding hardware acquisition and inefficient use of technologies. In general, faculty and staff are unaware of technical terms and specifications with regard to hardware as well, and do not understand fully the technological needs and requirements for efficient and appropriate use of technology in the classroom.

A large portion of the current stock of computers available within the district are nearing total obsolescence and are falling into disrepair. Over half of the computers in the district fall into the category of developmentally obsolete, in that any new software developed for educational use is no longer developed for systems with similar hardware specifications. New operating systems environment being developed will render another 20+% of these computers obsolete in the next year and a half. Continuing use of these systems is possible, but only using the current software available.

Recent growth in the student population has limited the space available in each building for alteration of a regular classroom for use as a technology or computer specific laboratory. In addition, most classroom facilities at the middle and high school do not easily facilitate inclusion of computers or other technologies for a variety of reasons, including lack of appropriate cabling and communications technology, and inappropriate size and arrangement of classroom layout to appropriately foster inclusion of new technologies, including multimedia technologies being developed specifically for educational purposes.

Recommendations:

1. MAPS act to develop a position for technology leadership in order to address appropriateness and efficiency of hardware acquisition decisions. This position should fit with general suggestions made in Section C - Technology Leadership, as well as the recommended responsibilities of such a position described in the appendices. Though appropriate funding for such a position is not readily available, funds should be set aside to allow for full funding of this position by the 1997-98 school year (at the latest). In the meantime, one individual per school should be given the responsibility to head a school committee dedicated to technology development and acquisition. The technology committee for the district should also maintain a sub-committee devoted to hardware acquisition and facility development in order to centralize decisions made regarding such issues. Where appropriate (for major acquisitions), a consultant specializing in application of technology for education should be contracted to assist with technical decision-making. It is important that such an individual or organization not be affiliated with an organization devoted to sales or leasing of technologies.
2. The district should undertake a yearly inventory of technology for insurance and placement purposes. This inventory should address age and obsolescence concerns as well, in order to appropriately budget for maintenance, upgrading, and replacement.
3. Hardware acquisition efforts should focus on development of a technology/computer laboratory for each building, rather than inclusion of a few computers into each classroom. The following suggestions apply to each buildings laboratory:
• a. Each school should maintain a computer laboratory for use by teachers of any content area, and these laboratories should not be used solely for technology or computer centered courses.
• b. Each primary laboratory (one per building) should have a general set of computers and software to address general and content specific needs. This general set of computers should accommodate a class of 30 students adequately. Each laboratory should also maintain specialty computers and equipment, preferably in a separate but adjacent room, for use in specialty tasks (presentations, publishing, media development, etc.) with a wider array of computing and storage capacity and software availability. This may help alleviate purchase of network licenses for specialty software, and will allow for more efficient use of computing technology. This setup may also accommodate a large class and a small class or students/teachers doing individual work at the same time.
• c. Each laboratory should accommodate students and teachers schedules and remain open before, during, and after school for a reasonable amount of time.
• d. Each laboratory should be monitored at all times, either by the teacher using the laboratory, a staff member temporarily assigned to such monitoring in addition to other duties, or volunteers from the community. Though it would be helpful if the monitor was familiar with some aspect of the technology to assist with minor questions, this is not necessary.
• e. Computers in these laboratories should be networked with each other if and only if they are to be served by a machine with adequate processing speed, storage, and licensed software which makes their use financially efficient, or if supplemental equipment (printers, scanner, etc.) are limited. The network should include security measures as well as TCP/IP protocols for use of wide-area networking capabilities.
• f. Investigation of portable laboratories (use of portable computers) should be done by each school in order to allow for easier accommodation of content-area use of technology and to alleviate facility space concerns. Portable computers offer several advantages to teachers and students at marginal financial costs.
• g. Each computer laboratory should allow for adequate presentation to a large group. This may include large monitors, speakers, or LCD projection through a central server. This presentation aspect is important for instruction of basic skills and presentation or simulation of student data.
4. Older hardware present in the district should be pooled (when replaced) into laboratory spaces for use for purposes which do not require the power or speed of modern equipment. Tasks such as keyboarding and word processing can be carried out on older machines for basic uses. Should any documents developed on these machines require formatting capabilities of newer machines, this data can then be transferred to a more capable machine upon completion for this purpose.
5. Hardware acquired for each building should attempt to maintain similar operating environment and capabilities. This will ensure easier transfer of knowledge and software use between students and faculty at these schools.
6. Examination of leasing options should be examined by the hardware acquisition sub-committee of the technology committee for major acquisition purposes. Other measures to be taken for hardware savings are the offering of sales opportunities to district employees or community members, or combined purchases with neighboring districts in order to increase volume of hardware ordered, which in turn may result in lower per unit prices.
7. Networking of classroom computers be limited to machines which require networking capability for on-line information acquisition or use of site-licensed software. Lack of understanding regarding purposes of networking have resulted in inappropriate requests for connection of computers to the schools central network.
8. When dealing with the replacement of the districts PC compatible 286 and 386 computers, as well as the basic Macintosh computers, examination of upgrading options (rather than replacement) be considered. Most technologies of this era and beyond were developed with this possibility in mind.