Learning with Technology Individual Project Phase 5 Post

This blog post will evaluate how I would expect a technology-based lesson plan to have gone, and what I would change to deal with any expected problems. Because I did not teach this lesson before the end of the class, this is purely hypothetical, and largely consists of my worst-case scenarios.

The Lesson: The lesson itself is straightforward - students will conduct research to write a paper about an assigned emerging nation, explaining that nation's process of emergence.

The Problems:
There are several problems I could imagine cropping up. First and foremost is a computer shortage due to some of the computers not working. To compensate for this, I would pair students who have the same topic for their papers, and allow them to research together, so that fewer computers are needed. I would then contact the school's tech support staff member, to have the computer issue fixed.
The next possible fail point is language issues with English language learners. To compensate for language issues, I would pair the ELL student with another student who is either fluent in the ELL student's native language (as well as English), or with a student who has a knack for helping others, so that the two can work together on one topic, so that the ELL student has the support they need from a peer.
Third, are computer-illiterate students who can barely figure out how to log on, let alone run a competent search in Google. My solution here is similar to that used for ELL students - pair them up with kids who can teach them the skills they need. As with ELL students, I only have so much time to devote to helping them - I could spend all class helping one kid, but I have 30 students in each class - I can't justify spending that much time with just one kid. In order to be fair to as many of my students as possible, that means I have to get the kids to help themselves and each other.
Fourth, something could go wrong with the search engines and databases themselves. That, I can't do anything about. However, it's extremely unlikely that all the search engines and databases would be down all at once. What's more likely is that one or two search engines or databases won't be accessible when they should be, and I'll just direct students to use other engines/databases, while I write a report/complaint email to the customer support for the database or search engine to get the problem resolved.