My current workplace is just now catching up with technology. Most students bring in their own laptops but there are a variety of operating systems, age and software packages. There currently is no standard which makes assigning various projects difficult at times. A strategy to change this has been the implementation of a Mac Store for the school as a slow changeover is taking place. The other major flaw at my school is the network system. We are a small school and the system was initially set up with home networking equipment. Now that the numbers have increased the system runs slow or not at all at times (usually when teachers need to get online for presentations). On a simpler note, my room does not even have a whiteboard or chalkboard, so most of my work is done on my computer hooked up to a projector (there are 2 in the school for all to use).
Personally I have purchased a number of adaptors in order to use my computer with various available hardware. I have also made a number of software purchases in order to teach my subject area. I also bring in a lot of my own music tech equipment such as microphones and interfaces to teach recording and/or record performances.
Wow, this so brings back memories. I remember setting up an Appleshare so that students could access the class content and then I discovered that only 10 could access the server because I wasn't officially running the server software and was using the built-in sharing software in the OS. That was wonderful fielding student complaints bounce around the room as one access shut out some and allowed others... ah, the good ol' days.
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