Pub. 2 2012-2013 Issue 2

20 continued from page 17 the wiring of walls, and the data connection coming to your schools like telephone lines. It doesn’t include the peripherals, like phones or computers. Dave McBride: E-Rate is a program of USF (Universal Service Fund). Everyone pays into USF via any communications bill, like a cell phone bill. Quite early, your school needs a spin number, which will allow you to apply for funding. You then have to work with E-Rate to bid on RFPs and get funding for your school. There are E-Rate consultants, companies as low as $2,000-2,500 a year, who will do all the paperwork and walk you through the process, because if you don’t dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s perfectly, you’re going to be at the very end of the list and likely be rejected. A consultant could get you your money a lot faster. Even though you’re paying them around $2,500, it will be worth it when you get something like $140,000 in reimbursement funding. How can school boards implement profes- sional development for teachers to help them be more comfortable with the technology and utilize it in a smart way? Galen Manning: First, with any administration, teachers just need a clear directive of what is expected. Secondarily, teachers need to adopt the idea that technology is a muscle that needs to be exercised. As long as they can see an engagement level with the new technology and they can see and feel and taste the improvement happening in their classroom, and it’s not just making it harder for them to meet their math, reading and other criteria, then you’re only going to have a problem with utilization in the first few months of implementing it, and the rest of the school year it won’t be an issue. Jacob Johnson: YouTube is underutilized and has been blocked through many schools, but it can be a great professional devel- opment tool. It’s a way that each teacher could answer about 90% of their own questions, receive a concise amount of video instruction, or have professional development on a daily basis, and it doesn’t cost the school a dime. Matt Densley: When a policy is brought down from the board, it needs to be transitioned in. You can’t say “From this day forward, every lesson plan you create is going to be on the computer and everything you play is going to be given to the class from an iPad.” It should be a transition so that the teachers know that there is an end goal that they have to reach by a certain time, but they have time to play with it and get comfortable with using whatever technology is being used. Jacob Johnson: Schools should put forth money for profes- sional development whenever putting together technology plans. Professional development is not something that happens in a classroom for one hour every quarter; it needs to happen on a consistent basis.