Pub. 2 2012-2013 Issue 2

16 Charter School Technology Planning By Shauna Guerrero, The newsLINK Group, LLC T he challenging process of integrating technology into our school buildings has been around since the first comput- ers were introduced to classrooms in the 1980s. Technology allows teachers to move away from the lecture-driven classrooms in the past. Teachers become more of a guide or facilitator of information rather than the main source, and students become more active in their learning with the opportunity to generate their own choices on how to receive and use information. As such an important part of today’s education, technology needs to be included in your board’s agenda early on in the planning of a charter school. UAPCS had the opportunity to meet in a roundtable interview with several specialists in technology planning and building for schools, and discuss how best to prepare for technology in the school. Specialists included Aaron Metcalfe – Hogan & Associates Construction; Jacob Johnson – Eminent Technical Solutions, LLC; Greg Hartley – iSchools; Galen Manning – iSchools; Matt Densley – ClassroomSmart, SkyWire Technologies and Consulting; and Dave McBride – ClassroomSmart, SkyWire Technologies and Consulting. Define technology in relation to education? Jacob Johnson: Technology in and of itself isn’t the solution. It’s a tool to reach a solution. It’s not going to solve a problem unless it’s applied to something. First, we need to know what the school board is hoping to accomplish and then we can start looking at the tools in the toolbox. When should charter schools start planning the technology part of their schools? Aaron Metcalfe: It can start from the very beginning. If the plan to use an integrated technology is there, that should be put in place throughout design and construction so you aren’t doing change orders. Dave McBride: At the very beginning, schools really need to sit down and walk through a day in the class. What’s going to be happening, where’s the teacher going to sit, where will the teacher present? Map out the classroom. What are they going to be doing in this classroom? Are they going to have a TV, a projector, iPads? Decide what curriculum will be used, so we know what the server requirements are. You want to build it backwards. A school might think they want fiber optics, but they may not need it, based on their system requirements. What you don’t want is to start planning A Roundtable Discussion