Recently, Dale Basler and I were recognized for our efforts in educational podcasting. Dale and I create a weekly podcast for the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers [Link], and Dale has also been creating a weekly podcast review/preview for his classes [Link]. This is wonderful PR for the district, especially considering our district recently passed a technology referendum.

However, after this article broke, we received a ‘slap on the wrist’ from our IT department, stating that they are not ready to implement new technologies that could potentially be costly and consume too much storage and bandwidth. Here was their reply:

At this time we are concentrating some central areas which have to deal more specifically with accountability and tracking. These areas include data entry for special programs, ability to trace lessons to state standards, and broader communication tools for community, parents, teachers and students.

It seems to me that our podcasting efforts do exactly what the last part of this statement requests! It is obvious that our district has succumbed its technology resources to NCLB resources, instead of focusing on innovative technologies that are being utilized in classrooms all over the nation. What about No Technology Left Behind? This should be our new mantra…

What struggles have others had, and have you had success in overcoming them?

See recent article: Bandwidth Quandary Looms for Districts from techLearning.com [Link]