TP4 :: Wikibook Thinking and Planning

First off, so far, I have learned more about this field and position than I ever knew before. I absolutely have finally stumbled on something I can really sink my teeth into. I look forward to the final wikibook project and researching thus far has been rewarding already.
The hardest aspect for me personally will have to be budgeting. Budgeting has never been my strongest suit. I have always been more of a visionary, constantly thinking creatively about the big picture and trying to make things happen before thinking of money. If I had to design a new technology program, my approach would be to create my ideal situation and my minimum situation and shoot for somewhere in between to make sure I at least get funds for the minimum situation.
Since this post is about our wikibook, I am going to focus this post on what I believe is the most challenging in my team's section. Setting expectations seems easy at first glance. I figure, inform all staff, students, and teachers of the purpose of the program and exactly what is expected of them. Simple enough? After thinking about it again, there is much much more to take into consideration - perhaps so much so that this section appears to be a bigger challenge then maintaining the program itself. In fact, maintaining a program effectively partially hinges on the technology coordinator's ability to train teachers, students, and staff in the expectations as well as enforce the expectations.
Setting expectations is more than just creating an email or information packet with a list of what is expected of all parties involved. Expectations should play an integral part in training. For example, I expect teachers to have a solid working knowledge of computers, both Mac and PC platforms, and a very fluent working knowledge of each platform's operating systems. I believe that expectations like this should be assumed, but in many cases even today, some teachers have trouble figuring out how to use a mouse. I believe that these basic skills are critical in order to train teachers how to operate and troubleshoot software that they must use on a daily basis both for themselves and for the students. If students have questions about advanced software, I want the teacher to be resourceful and not be hindered by basic computer operation. However, I cannot merely demand this expectation and not train the teachers appropriately. So it is the technology coordinator's (or his or her staff) responsibility to train the teachers and work with them to reach these expectations. Once the teachers meet expectations, the process still continues. Newly hired teachers will need to be trained or screened for these abilities before they can enter the classroom if at all possible. Constant evaluation and maintenance and support needs to be happening and available for all teachers to ensure teachers continue to grow and nurture their skills, and that they ultimately continue to meet or exceed expectations.
The big question is, how do you do this effectively? The old adage is still true, time is money. So training and quality control would almost have to be a budgeted expense due to the requirement of more inservices, training sessions, and general support throughout the year. I am really looking forward to further investigation into how this is done effectively. So far, there seem to be many different approaches, and those approaches seem to vary mostly on the demographic and structure of the school district.
In my own research this week I came across a fantastic article about implementing technology into the curriculum and the article spoke about expectations for students as well as teachers. The article detailed seven (7) essentials for technology in schools. The article can be found at http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/jameslyn.php. Some of this article will most certainly be featured in my team's section of the class Wikibook.