Moses, A. (2008). Tech Without Support: IT Snags Hamper Schools' Technology Use. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/ikid-school-technology-support
Article Summary:
It seems that technology is being pushed into education at a rate that technology support can't keep up with. The National Education Association surveyed teachers and found that half of the teachers don't bother using new technology in their classroom because of insufficient support. There wasn't anyone to help them set up the technology, show them how to use it, or fix it when it wasn't working. Many schools or districts have one support person for thousands of students. It could take days to weeks to fix a problem. Some schools are incorporating the help of tech-savvy staff or students to stay on top of the need for tech support people. A school in Illinois has a student club called, TechCrew, that meets after school to fix computers and works in the summer time for $8-$9 an hour to fix and upgrade the school's computers. Other states incorporate the Mouse Squad program that trains students to be tech troubleshooters. The students are given limited access to the server for security purposes, but are still able to update software, set up printers and other time consuming tasks saving the schools about $17,000 a year in tech support.
In order for schools to move forward with technology use, support needs to exist and be readily available regardless of who is doing the support. Teachers, students or support staff can all be useful if trained to do so.
My Thoughts:
This has been a constant frustration in my district. We have good tech support staff in our district, but there are few of them and many students and teachers. We put in help tickets when there is a problem but sometimes it takes weeks to months for a support person to address the ticket. Meanwhile, teachers are giving up on incorporating new technology into their lesson plans because it becomes more of a hassle to the teacher than it is beneficial to the students. The article states that tech support is setting the speed limit for technology use. It isn't ideal for teachers and students to perform tech support duties, but it is an option that more districts might lean toward using just to keep up. I think that districts in the near future will be giving serious consideration to funding of tech support and having more people on staff to keep up with the ever growing use of technology in schools.
Article Summary:
It seems that technology is being pushed into education at a rate that technology support can't keep up with. The National Education Association surveyed teachers and found that half of the teachers don't bother using new technology in their classroom because of insufficient support. There wasn't anyone to help them set up the technology, show them how to use it, or fix it when it wasn't working. Many schools or districts have one support person for thousands of students. It could take days to weeks to fix a problem. Some schools are incorporating the help of tech-savvy staff or students to stay on top of the need for tech support people. A school in Illinois has a student club called, TechCrew, that meets after school to fix computers and works in the summer time for $8-$9 an hour to fix and upgrade the school's computers. Other states incorporate the Mouse Squad program that trains students to be tech troubleshooters. The students are given limited access to the server for security purposes, but are still able to update software, set up printers and other time consuming tasks saving the schools about $17,000 a year in tech support.
In order for schools to move forward with technology use, support needs to exist and be readily available regardless of who is doing the support. Teachers, students or support staff can all be useful if trained to do so.
My Thoughts:
This has been a constant frustration in my district. We have good tech support staff in our district, but there are few of them and many students and teachers. We put in help tickets when there is a problem but sometimes it takes weeks to months for a support person to address the ticket. Meanwhile, teachers are giving up on incorporating new technology into their lesson plans because it becomes more of a hassle to the teacher than it is beneficial to the students. The article states that tech support is setting the speed limit for technology use. It isn't ideal for teachers and students to perform tech support duties, but it is an option that more districts might lean toward using just to keep up. I think that districts in the near future will be giving serious consideration to funding of tech support and having more people on staff to keep up with the ever growing use of technology in schools.
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