Digital Learning Program Development

Technical Support Models

Because of the fact that the ITF is the only “tech person” that is in a school full-time, the bulk of the tech support tends to fall on the shoulders of the ITF, even though that should be outside the scope of their responsibilities. Also, the line between tech support and training can sometimes be blurry:

The Technology Support Team

While the CTO is the lead IT contact for the district, they don’t always do it alone (except in very small districts). A CTO with an instructional background typically has a staff member designated as the Technology Support Manager (sometimes called the Director/Coordinator of Technology Services or similar) which leads and supervises all aspects of technology infrastructure and support in the district. This position reports directly to the CTO and supervises all of the technical support staff in the district. A district may also have a Network Analyst responsible for managing the switches, routers, firewalls, wireless access points, and other technology infrastructure in the district. Because these positions typically demand high pay, some districts will contract out for these services as well. Technology Support Technicians are responsible for conducting the day-to-day support and repair of equipment in the school and the deployment of new equipment. Level I technicians are typically the most numerous, assigned to a small number of schools or to a central helpdesk. They do “first pass” technical support, fixing a majority of the routine problems. In the event there is a problem they cannot solve, they refer problems to a level II technician who has more specialized skills and can solve more unusual problems. Some districts also have level III technicians who deal with the most difficult problems and may also tackle long-range technology projects for the district.

Alternative Methods

In some schools, the media coordinator or ITF or computer lab facilitator may serve as the level I technician because of funding and may refer more difficult issues to the level II technician. In some districts, this is built in to the job description for these personnel. Other districts may pay for 1-2 hours of overtime per school per day for this work.

Ticketing Systems

Regardless of how your district organizes their technical support, record keeping is critical. Getting teachers to log support requests, and then getting technicians to update them is always a challenge (most districts allow technicians to log in and close the request on behalf of the teacher to streamline the support process). However, having data on what’s unresolved, how long it’s taking to resolve issues, who is having issues, any trends in issues provide critical data to the CTO. Paid tools such as Freshdesk and Open Source tools such as OsTicket capture the intake process and provide workflow options for tickets to be claimed, routed to level II/III support, and resolved all within the app.

Student Helpdesks

An increasing number of schools are experimenting with implementing student helpdesks. With a custom curriculum based on the needs of the school, interested students can get first-hand experience with the technical support process, can find a way to leverage their strengths, and develop new skills. Schools benefit by having students offset the support burden and can also use instructional funds to train these students. Some student helpdesks work through the library, and others work through CTE programs. Some helpdesks also provide training and pay for students to become CompTIA A+ certified or certified through a vendor to make repairs under warranty (i.e. AppleCare Technician Certification) - both of which can provide income opportunities for students to earn income outside of school doing technical support. Some schools may also have students take on special projects, including web and app development (fun fact: this is literally how I got my start in education - I started developing dashboards for the old SIMS app when I was in 9th grade; one thing led to another and here we are – long story short, I’m very much a believer in the power of this approach).

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