Should schools have an IT Suite?
This is a question that comes up regularly in courses I attend. The answer from the ‘people in the know’ is usually “No.” The key reason for this seems to be the assumption that schools are stuck in the dark ages of the 1990s where the only use of technology was an hour each week timetabled and rigid! Of course, this is not how technology should be taught or used to enhance learning. That said, I believe that if used correctly, the IT Suite is still a very valuable facility to have in school. Let’s consider the advantages of a Suite: it is a room, inevitably with hard-wired PCs or laptops which tend to work more reliably than some laptop trolleys, they don’t run out of charge and can be set…