Some advices

January 4, 2018

Comment from E-mail

I am a student representative on my high school’s technology committee. Based on your experience, what advice can you give to the committee and to teachers in general about computers in schools?

Woz

First, I’d advise you to have some clear ideas of what your purpose is and what you want to achieve. This should be in terms of what characteristics of the schools and students you want to promote. Let’s call it a mission statement. Educators and Administrators have to be included in forming this statement. It should have about a dozen or so key points (‘acedemic excellence’ might be one) and should be written. Perhaps your school already has a mission statement to work from. From that you can derive technical goals for your committee. When questions arise (platforms, access, services) you can answer those questions (sometimes) by looking at your overall mission statement.

You may want to consider the aspect of plurality and of minority platforms. It may be important that mixtures of platform be elevated so as not to give students experience with only on. This may override other efficiencies, depending on your mission statement.