Troubleshooting Technology

Computer Troubleshooting for Teachers and Students

This is a website that is meant to help provide online technical support for teachers and students, for some of the most common technology issues that occur on a regular basis. It is broken down into categories for easy location of helpful information: Common Input/Output Devices, Internet and Networking, SmartBoard and Projectors, and Microsoft Office Applications. And then those categories are broken down into various subcategories that, when clicked on, take you to the troubleshooting page for each example device, program, or issue. Each troubleshooting page is setup as a table, with a typical Problem listed on the left side, and possible Solutions on the right. There are also usually helpful links on the far right of the web page, related to whatever issues are being shared in the main content area. The whole site is operated by a group of current and aspiring teachers from Pace University in  New York. 

My Thoughts: I really like this website--what a great reference for troubleshooting common problems! I have bookmarked the site and I'm sure I will use it in the future as the need arises. I think I am going to send the link to my mentor teacher for my practicum. She is a computer teacher at the local elementary school and she often gets overwhelmed with tech support requests, even though that's not really her job. She doesn't mind helping the other teachers at all, but she gets so busy sometimes helping others that it can take too much of her time. I think this site would be something she can share with her teachers that may help them resolve a lot of common problems they may have.

A Computer for Every Student and Teacher

This article is about a pilot program that began in 2008 at twelve high schools in North Carolina that implemented a 1:1 learning initiative, with the goals to "improve teaching practices; increase student achievement; and better prepare students for work, citizenship, and life in the 21st century." The schools were evaluated using a variety of data, including teacher and student surveys, focus groups, classroom observations, interviews, and other existing data. Their most notable lesson from this program is that "it takes administrators, teachers, and students time to adjust to the significant, systematic changes enabled by the introduction of a 1:1 learning environment." The article goes on to list all their recommendations based on the results of what they learned from the study. Eight interrelated critical issues were found to be vital for the success of the 1:1 program.

1. Deployment: They recommend six months planning and preparation before the distribution of the laptops, and teachers should get theirs the semester before the students and get extensive professional development on how to use them.
2. Wireless Network: The infrastructure for the technology needs to be able to support the use of it, so an evaluation of existing infrastructure should be conducted before implementation with regard to retrofitting, upgrades, and connectivity.
3. Hardware & Software Tools: Selecting the most appropriate devices and tools is of the utmost importance for successful 1:1 implementation. Power, Peripherals, Repairs, and Laptop Loaners are important considerations as well. As are Resources for Teachers (which apps, programs and websites), and Resources for Students.
4. Policies & Procedures: Policies and procedures for acceptable use must be implemented, and issues like "student participation, security and storage, virus protection, access privileges, filters, student email accounts, saving student work, discipline, cheating and cyberbullying, and classroom management also must be considered in those policies.
5. Support Personnel: Different types of personnel are recommended to help ensure a successful program: Technology Facilitator (to help teachers and students use the technology to improve learning), On-site Technicians (for tech support), and Student Technology Teams (student volunteers to help support the program). 
6. Professional Development: Specific types of PD were recommended for the program's success. These include content-specific PD, hands-on activities, instructional strategies, lesson planning sessions, site visits to other 1:1 schools, assessment with technology, differentiated levels of PD, classroom management & policy issues, opportunities to collaborate, ongoing support through social networks, more planning and practise time, and just in time mentoring from the technology facilitator. 
7. School Leadership: Leadership must be consistent, supportive, provide a vision with goals, include teachers in some decision-making and allow for teacher feedback, create advocacy, provide appropriate infrastructure, PD, and training, evaluate the program and student outcomes, and utilize effective communication. 
8. Sustainability: A couple of important factors here include budget planning and stakeholder engagement. 

The article concludes that all of this work in necessary, for the sake of the students, to better prepare them for "their futures in a globally-connected, technologically-supported world.

My Thoughts: I hadn't really thought about all of the different factors at play in implementing a 1:1 program in a school or district. There are really a lot of things that have to be considered, and a lot of planning and ongoing support that must occur in order for this kind of program to be successful. It's definitely a lot of work, but I think it's necessary and important if we're going to help our students live and work in the 21st century.

Reflection

I really think that the website for computer troubleshooting is something that I will use in the future when I'm teaching again--whether I'm teaching art or a computer class. I'm fairly tech-savvy as it is, but I don't know everything. And it's very good to know there's a website that is available, focused on teachers and students who may need technical support for common tech problems. This is especially true considering that there is often inadequate technical support available in many schools due to budget constraints. I also found it very enlightening to read about the factors necessary to help ensure the success of a 1:1 program. There are still many schools that haven't yet gone 1:1, so there's every possibility that I may teach in a school that hasn't. But even if I teach in one that does, this article provided me with some insight that may be helpful in either case.