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Chapter 3: Knowing What You Have
Most education organizations have physical, human and fiscal resources on which they can build a new technology solution.
What Technology Resources Do You Have Available?
Computers can be found in nearly all schools, universities, and libraries; some were purchased, some were leased, others were donated. All of them consist of hardware and software, and many may be networked. Another type of resource is people. Some people are quite skilled at using computers; others have no experience with computers whatsoever. In order to determine what you need, you must determine the resources that you currently have available.
When we refer to resources, we are talking about any of the following:
- Existing computers, including hardware and operating systems.
- Peripherals, such as scanners and printers.
- Software programs.
- Networks and networking capacity.
- Staff with assigned technology responsibilities.
- Staff who are interested in helping out with technology.
- Parents and community volunteers with technology "know how."
- Allocated budget funds.
- Other current and potential sources for technology support.
To a technology novice, distinguishing between computers, operating systems, memory requirements, processing speeds, peripherals, networks and other technical issues can be daunting. When you are talking about management systems, save yourself time, aggravation, and intimidation and find someone who is knowledgeable about computers to help you document the technology resources that currently exist in your organization. Almost all schools, districts and states maintain some kind of technology inventory. That would be the first place to look to see if any of the information you need has already been collected.
Documenting this information need not take a lot of time; however, the more complete you make the inventory, the better able you will be to determine what existing resources can be used to develop your new computer and networking technology. In the long run, this can save you time and money.
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