Uh-oh, What Now?

This past week in class, we were making videos for a class project, or in the case of my group, we were trying to make a video. For some reason, despite all of our best laid plans, things did not work for us. Therefore we are having to make our video this week, when everyone else will be done theirs. This leads to an important issue that every teacher will face in their class, what do you do when things are not working, either with technology in general, or a specific group of students wanting to use a specific piece of technology.
In our case, we just talked to our instructor and he gave us permission to work on our video after everyone else will be done theirs. This won't always work for people though, if they are counting on a piece of technology for in class use. There are ways around this though. The first thing to do is arrive at class early, so that you can make sure that you have time to set up your technology and test it out. This is particularly important if you are not in your own classroom, or if you are in a new school, where you might not know how things are set up. If this works, then you are golden, your technology is all working and you should not have any problems. If this does not work, then you need to have a back-up plan. This might mean knowing how to find the video you want through a search engine, or having your presentation saved to a USB, as well as having it saved in a file sharing program. Make sure you know how your back-up works, by having used it at home, in a controlled environment, where you have the opportunity to work out any kinks in the system. If this does not work, then you need to make sure you know how to contact someone who understands the IT set up for the school. This might be the computers teacher, or someone from the IT department for the division. Before you find yourself getting any more panicked and frustrated, call them, since they will most likely be able to solve any issues you might be having. Be prepared to follow their instructions, or to wait for them to come and help you, they are busy to, but they are their to help.
Some other things that might help to avoid this situation, is to talk to people in advance of your technology needs.This might mean setting up a time with an IT person to get lessons on how to use a specific piece of technology, or it might mean just asking the office for the WiFi password, so that you don't have to try and find it for half an hour. Teachers also need to pay attention to technology, so they know what is out there. By knowing what is available, teachers will be able to use technology in the classroom that students might not expect, and hopefully that will mean that they are then paying attention (to both the technology and the information being presented).
Overall, teachers just need to be prepared when they are using technology, as with technology Murphy's Law tends to come into effect, anything that can go wrong will go wrong.