AMARILLO, TEXAS -- All of us hear school districts talk all the time about how important it is to integrate technology into our schools. The people at Region 16 say they too are helping make that happen. Region 16 works with teachers so they can keep up with the latest gadgets to teach their students better.

Pronews 7 is focusing on their efforts in this week's Region 16 Spotlight Education report.

"We talk about it all the time that kids are different now and it's not much anything more than the technology that they start at the earliest ages with technology in their hand, 18 months to 2 years, they have cell phones that they're playing with and we've got to change our teaching strategies," said Tammy Swartz, Region 16 Coordinator of Technology.

Region 16 says it prides itself on making sure their schools are not selling their students short. From bringing in special speakers to having a "Technology for the 21st Century" program. It's people want educators to be tech savvy, so students aren't having to power down at school.

"As a school we're in the business of sending kids into the future.

When they graduate, they're going to have to succeed in the future. So if all they do is rehearse the past we haven't served them very well," said Kevin Honeycutt, Educational Technology Specialist.

Honeycutt is an educational technology specialist who is brought in to speak to educators. He says students are already using the latest technologies at home, and it's the teachers' job to keep up and be comfortable with it at the same time.

"What's being invented is what our kids are going to get in their hands, but the work world does too. You think the work word isn't leveragimg smart phones? They're not making a living with smart phones, and web 2.0, and skype, and teleconferences between Shanghai from Boston? Yes they are. so are our kids getting to get to do those things?," said Honeycutt.

During his conference, Honeycutt also gave examples of ways to use technology in the classroom. One of those was showing teachers how to Skype.