We are busy working on a new three-year technology plan, which must be submitted to the state for approval in mid-April. It is tougher this year than it's been in the past, with more uncertainty about where the money will come from and who will be around to make the plan work. At least the goals are still the same: to help the students learn and the teachers teach. We know that we need more staff development to help them feel comfortable with technology. We know that we need to keep our network and computers updated and running smoothly. We have a vision of people using tablet pc's and projectors and SmartBoards and digital cameras and so forth. We can only hope that the money will be there to support this vision!

I've gotten behind with my postings here, since things have been in some upheaval at school. We are in a budget crunch, and the administration has been forced to make some tough choices. One of their proposals is to eliminate the job of technology coordinator as a full-time position. This means that I might be reassigned for next year, in ways that won't be clear for several more weeks. So I am trying to get things done with a great cloud of uncertainty about the future.

Computers are supposed to be good at remembering things, right? So how come they force us to remember so much stuff. Web page addresses, PIN’s, e-mail addresses, user names and passwords, buttons, menus, commands… All we want to do is get the information that we know is out there, but sometimes the computer can be a balky tool.

I teach my students how to use the programs, where to find the commands, how to format the text, how to add new slides, how to put the keywords in the search box and how to put the address in the address box. But I don’t really teach them how to use the computer as a tool for managing their information. That really won’t make any sense to them until they start using their computer to manage their bank account, sign up for health benefits, download music, file correspondence, shop, subscribe to online newspapers, and maintain three different e-mail accounts. That’s when it gets tough.

You know that you’re not supposed to use the same user name and password for everything although it’s so tempting to do so. You’ve heard the argument: if one site is compromised, all of your passwords are compromised. (Although I’ve never understood what good it would do a hacker to log into the New York Times under my subscription.)

So you try to use different ones, especially for the financial sites. Sometimes a site forces you to choose a different password. It took me three tries last week to sign up for the Cornell online site for alumni because it insisted that the password have at two numbers and both upper-case and lower-case letters. None of my usual passwords fit the bill, and I had to invent one specifically for this logon. What are the chances that I will actually remember that password the next time I want to log on there? Somewhere between tiny and non-existent.

The good news is that I discovered a solution, and I really love it because it is so simple and low-tech. I bought a set of little file cards, smaller than the usual 3x5 card. Each one feels like just the right size for one piece of information, like a user name and password. They come with a little Lucite box with tab dividers for alphabetizing and sit neatly on a shelf on my desk. A low-tech solution for a high-tech problem.