So I write my new curricula and because of budget short falls I am given a choice to make. Administration, or someone on their behalf, approaches me and asks which one of the three, new computers, new software, or the textbooks, would I pick to purchase if I could only have one. We run a four year curriculum writing cycle and I may only purchase books or software in "my year".
My admin also hopes I will grow my program but I may be left with old software that the kids are not interested in using. Pagemaker, the software currently used in desktop publishing is outdated. I think that with new software, the students will be more interested in taking the courses. They did not sign up to take the the courses next year because the students don't believe that I will get the computers and software that I am hoping for.
Keep in mind this scenario. The current computers are 8 years old, running 512 MB RAM with the CPU running pentium 4 at 1.6 GHz. The new curriculum for web page design and desktop publishing courses wants to introduce students to Adobe Creative Suite 4. CS4 wants at least 2+ GB RAM and the CPU running at more than 2 GHz. In order to do any DVD work the computers will need DVD-ROM drives at a minimum, which the old machines don't have, they have CD-ROM only, and preferably DVD-R burner drives for students to create DVDs.
Okay, so right away I can decide that the textbooks are out. If I go without the software and get computers, I will just be running the same old software but on newer machines and have to wait 4 years to maybe get software. If I get software, I can't run it now but maybe the tech staff will upgrade my computers in the meantime from their budget and then I can run the software.
So back to my title, what would be your choice?
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I think there is a better solution to overcome your question. If you get them to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 you can do terminal services which would turn those machines into thin clients capable of running CS4 (Photoshop/InDesign). You can use the server as an Application server, using the old machines as thin clients allowing for reuse of those older machines with newer software. The investment here would be upgrading the server hardware/software total cost would be much lower than purchasing new computers and softwares. You would need to purchase CS4 licenses for the application server.
ReplyDeleteI think that employers should be able to look into employees social networking pages. It is a good way to see if hiring that person is a good choice
ReplyDeleteI think that we should be able to use social networking web sites in school. it can be helpfull in many cases and should be aloud but still monitered.
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