Schools are ostensibly about teaching and learning. With the advent of desktop and laptop computers, especially now that they are networked, schools have had to add a whole new department, the IT or ICT department. Of course, deciding what that department should do is not as easy as most people at first imagine. Should it focus on harware, software, teaching about both of them, trouble-shooting, planning and developing better systems, or maintaining them? The answer is usually "all of the above." Unfortunately, the laughter that should accompany such a statement is, more often than not, absent. To make it all worse, schools want all of the above for little or nothing and are sometimes unwilling to support the further professional development of their tech people.

Understandably, schools need to get the most technology, and the most out of it, possible with the money budgetted. One of the hard pills to swallow about bringing computers into schools is that they do not last forever. They must generally be upgraded on a three year schedule for which schools need to budget. Add in the cost of software and maintenance and it's not surprizing that money (not just time) is not plentiful for training.

But accountants and school administrators are used to such problems. They are coming to realize that computer costs are a necessity if their students are to receive an up-to-date education. ITeachNet can make this bitter pill go down a little easier by decreasing its overall cost and spreading it out over a year as an affordable subscription.

By going with an ITeachNet Virtual Tech team you can regain your peace-of-mind. No longer will you have sleepless nights worrying about whether your software licenses are legal, whether the software has been upgraded or is vulnerable to attacks from viruses or intruders. No longer will you have to worry about the unexpected cost of an upgrade, a system failure or a necessary software modification. All this and more will be covered by your Virtual Tech Team subscription from iteachnet.org.

The Virtual Tech Team is prepared to take over the extra work you are giving your tech team for the equivalent of just one person's salary. Ordinarily a school will need a Web designer, a Web editor, a system administrator, a library software expert and an office database expert. Throw in online course, blogs, e-mail and you see why schools' tech teams tend to grow. For about the monthly salary of just one of your tech team members, iteachnet.org will take over the installation, configuration, maintenance and trouble-shooting of all of the above or one or more of the pieces of your tech system-puzzle.

We run top-of-the line servers and install the tools of your choice on them. Most schools need at least the Big 5 [1], Web site, E-mail, Courses, Library system, and School Database. We can link them together with a single login available from school and from anywhere there is a Web connection. We can also design and manage your local network, but that requires on-site visits.

ITeachNet is known for its responsible and responsive work for schools. Nobody does it better. Contact us today [2] about making your life easier.

• Outsourcing Rationale [3]
• Development [4]
• Example Sites [5]
• Hosting [6]
• The Big 5 plus 2 [7]
• Virtual Tech Team [8]
• Web Portal [9]