Many schools issue laptops to their faculty. The premise is simple enough: you want to encourage your teachers to use technology across the curriculum. Most of your intra-school communications are Web or email based. Much of your teacher/student interaction is electronic.
So, who supports the equipment and what are the limits to that support? Get this right and your over-worked tech support staff will be able to function normally! In addition (no pun intended) your technology maintenance and repairs budget line item will not get out of control.
Here are a few practical suggestions to help you solve the problem.
Set Expectations Up Front
The school should be responsible for the hardware and the operating system during the warranty period. In other words, if the hard drive fails or the operating system develops a glitch, the school will fix it or arrange to have it fixed.
Set reasonable hours for support and adhere to those hours. Nobody should be on call 24/7 unless it's for mission critical issues.
Develop a response mechanism such as a Help Desk. Publish the email address for this and a telephone number as necessary.
Hold your faculty responsible for any software they load. That way, if a favorite screensaver crashes the system, you are not responsible.
Faculty, not the techs, are responsible for backing up their data.
Faculty must also download and apply software updates faithfully.
Stolen Laptops
You know the scenario: Several of your teachers attended a conference recently in a neighboring town. One of them left his latop on the seat of his car. It was stolen. Who's responsible? If the school owns the laptop, it should have insurance to cover theft. Make sure you detail laptops and their coverage when you meet with your school's insurance agent.
Provide Training
Many teachers have resisted learning how to use computers. It is important to engage them with technology by providing training. Don't let them be mystified by or frightened of technology by using jargon when you train. Put yourself in their shoes. Show them the benefits of everything you are training them to do.
Be proactive and provide basic training so that they can function with minimal frustration. Include software training in popular word processing, spreadsheet and presentation programs. The point of providing teachers with technology is to bring them up to speed with the real world and the students whom they teach.
Be pastoral and understanding when you train. Keep training session objectives reasonable and useful. (A teacher doesn't need to know how to program, but she does need to know how to use the plagiarism site competently.)
Keep a log of the materials you cover, lesson plans, if you will. That will keep your instruction focussed and tight. Furthermoe it will help prove that you did indeed inform your teachers about support policies.
Since e-mail is the 'killer' app everybody uses, show teachers how to use it effectively with parents, students and their colleagues. Simple things like avoiding writing in block capitals will make them begin to appear professional in their communications.
Show them how to use the Internet for research. Your efforts will help them enhance their lesson plans and their teaching.
Security Concerns
Do not allow anybody to keep sensitive information on a laptop. Sensitive information includes names of students, phone numbers and addresses.
Teach your faculty how to lock their latops with a screensaver after a minute or less of inactivity. This will help prevent unauthorized access when a teacher has to leave the classroom or other public area unexpectedly.
Teach your faculty to exercise common sense when accessing a public wireless network such as found in Starbucks or a hotel. While you and I know that these networks are generally pretty secure, you just never know who might be intercepting your data.
Teach your faculty to set up a HotMail or Gmail account for personal email use. They should never use your school's email account for personal email. This is a generally accepted practice in the corporate arena and one which will eliminate many problems for the over-worked and under-paid school IT director.
Conclusion
Technology is expensive and complicated. It represents a major investment of money and time for both school and end user. Try to make the experience a happy one for all concerned. Then watch the creativity flow!
