Technological gifts to ask for school district

August 9, 2006 1:56 PM

Every year, my K-12 school hosts a fundraiser for technology where we come up with wish lists and patrons give us stuff based on them. What should we ask for this year?

In the past, the big donations has been a major upgrade to the network and BlackBaud software. At the moment, we're not in need of further network upgrades or actual computer equipment.
So far, I've come up with asking for White Boards (never actually used one, but heard fantastic things from other teachers) and physics equipment I used in high school which you can hook up to the computer to accurately record results in real time. Would be very cool to show off, as we do host a big gala showing off what was donated though OMFG factor is not necessary- actually being useful on a educational level is what I'm striving for.
I'm hoping the MeFi brains have some ideas of technological items to put on this wish list- especially things which teachers could use in the classroom to enhance the learning of students. Since this is all based on donations and we have received some monentarily substantial gifts in the past, assume money is no object.

posted by jmd82 to education (7 comments total)

My teacher-girlfriend swears by Smart Boards.
posted by Mr Stickfigure at 2:01 PM on August 9, 2006

By white boards, I was referring the whole Smart Boards thing not knowing the technological name- thanks for an actual link!
posted by jmd82 at 2:11 PM on August 9, 2006

You might look at Olathe KS schools use of Palm Pilots. Also popular (and up and coming) are "clickers" --- handheld assessment devices.

For elementary students, you could consider the Curriculum on Wheels (COW).
posted by mattbucher at 2:26 PM on August 9, 2006

Smart Boards are the cats meow, check that off for sure. At the high school level, GPS equipment and other outdoor field equipment type stuff would be at the top of my list.
posted by maxpower at 6:38 PM on August 9, 2006

A good digital SLR camera and/or digital photo editing software for the art department. Also, if you don't already have it, a mac capable of running garageband (and maybe even video software like final cut) for music.
posted by cholly at 7:09 PM on August 9, 2006

Probes are sweet. ELMO projecters are also pretty cool. A couple of decent digital video cameras would be nice as well.
posted by MadamM at 7:13 PM on August 9, 2006

I teach fifth and sixth grade, and have a Smart Board in my classroom. It's a fantastic tool, particularly for teaching math in a more visual way. Being able to draw all over maps helps a lot in teaching history. And I love being able to ask a discussion question, write down students' comments, and then refer back to them by loading them up the next day or next week, to remind kids of what they'd said before. I highly recommend it.

If there's any way that training can be a part of the package, I'd recommend that as well. The techno-savvy teachers at out school are doing amazing things, while the technophobes are using it only as a glorified blackboard and to play educational DVDs.
posted by Chanther at 7:34 PM on August 9, 2006