Quote:
Originally Posted by CTinline-six
I agree, but the only issue with your statements is that you are dealing with a completely different environment. The first line of your response is that your job is to help professors with online courses. That is 100% different than what most people on here will be dealing with, which is public school systems. I've worked in the university environment as well, and they have almost unlimited funding in comparison. Universities base their tuition on making a profit, so for the most part their operating costs which go towards instructing students (among other things) are covered, which allows them to explore and implement better online options. With public schools it is almost the opposite, they are given a set budget (usually less than last year) and told you must teach students with these allotted resources. In many of the schools I work with, they upgrade some of their teaching tools every year, but technology has been on the back burner in many districts because they view it as a necessity that is needed for basic function, not an investment. This is why we are seeing the problems we are when they are forced overnight to go virtual.
|
Oh, I know there's a big difference. I've seen schools in some of the poorer Chicago areas where the teachers supplied most of the classroom material out of their own paychecks. And then other schools where every kid has a laptop. The difference between school systems in this state is mind boggling sometimes. That said, the university where I work is run on a shoe-string budget when it comes to IT. The U of I up the road has the bucks to run a great online system with lots of support. We do what we can with what little we have.