Engineer showing off our town school’s new solar power setup.
I’ve been asked by several state legislators here in Vermont to offer ideas on how technology can help reduce K-12 school costs. (This is part of a larger topic, my role in local school boards. More on this later.)
I haven’t written back yet, but took the question to social media, which triggered a torrent of responses*. Here are the ideas that came up. What else should we consider?
- Replace expensive curricular materials with open content.
- Use videoconferencing and social media to less expensively support professional development.
- ” ” to let teachers teach remotely across schools and school districts.
- Share curricular materials between schools online.
- Increase the automation of back-office operational and business functions.
- Build solar and wind power to save electricity costs (credit to Jason Mittell).
What else should we consider?
*Many thanks to these kind collaborators via Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and email: Ben Harwood, Amanda Sturgill, Jason K, Jeff Shramm, Genevieve Gallagher, Jon Pratty, Heather Stafford, SFFAudio, Riven Homewood, Ed Webb, Peter Feltham, Jon Breitenbucher, Michael David Cobb, Rolin Moe, Karin Sconzert, Cristián Guary Opazo, Jason Mittell, Jennifer Sader, Michael Berman, Joe Murphy, Bret Kulakovich, Paul H. Davis, Virginia Lloyd, Sue Mantle DiCicco, Michael Huntsberger, Mark McBride, Terry Simpkins, Jaime Townsend, Doug Reilly, Hank Vandenburgh, George Brett, Jeffrey Broussard, Kimi Wei, Stephen Landry, Jon Chapman, Steve Koppelman, Anne K Gray, Mark Vickers, and John Lawler.
