VLE - extra man hours needed to support?

[Paid_Peanuts]

We need an extra technician (in my eyes):

Currently there are 3 of us who look after:
• 525 machines
• 225 laptops
• 105 digital projectors
• 18 servers
• 2000 users
• 38 network switches
• 66 interactive boards
• And various other devices which have plugs on… 

There are proposed plans to add an additional 90 laptops to our current levels and a VLE before the next academic year.

We are currently in the phase of putting together a bid for the governors giving a costing breakdown. I want to include in this the extra cost an ICT technician based around 37 hours a week. I am basing the extra member of staff on the fact that a VLE will push us all over the edge and we’ll have too much work to cope.

Can anyone point me towards white papers or research material that outlines the additional staffing resources needed from a technical point of view that is needed to maintain a VLE?

What are your thoughts and experiences based around the addition of a VLE within your school?

[strawberry]

we use moodle, took a day to build, 2 weeks to beta and refine with head of ict and ongoing training provided by the curriculum staff ( its a curriculum tool afterall)

[danIT]

I wish you the best of look with getting a dedicated member of staff to look after the VLE or additional member of staff. Although i sympathise with your situation, i think many of the users of this forum are in similar or worse state then your school.

With the introduction of a VLE what would it be that ICT technicians would be required to do? Look after the system? update user accounts? etc?

[Paid_Peanuts]

The intended extra ICT Technician would be to deal with classroom issues and student issues, whilst our existing technican would currently did all intranet and internet development would look after VLE. i.e. user provision and keeping on top of it, cleaning shared drives up etc and staff training.

[maniac]

We have 4 technicians to support a simelar level of quipment to yourself. However our VLE is looked after by other admin staff. I only sort out technicial aspects of it, all other parts are looked after by ICT teachers, heads of department and other admin staff.

You will need to provide evidence of your workload to the governors, it's no good just telling them as they tend to only listen to factual figures in B/W on paper. I'd suggest keeping diarys of your days for 2 weeks, and log every job and issue you deal with, and time you get for lunch, what time you leave etc. If you are already at your limits, this should provide factual evidence to back up your case.

Mike.

[beeswax]

There was a vacancy for someone to maintain and populate a school VLE in one of my neighbouring boroughs, term time only, maxing out at £16.5K a year. For this they wanted someone who could find their way around the Macromedia suite of products, could liaise with teachers and put their ideas into action and develop new material themselves.

[webman]

I was forced into a VLE Manager role in 2005. The silly thing is I'm not a teacher (thus not best candidate for the job) and we didn't even have a VLE.

Thankfully this madness didn't last for long. We now have a ethusiastic teacher take this on under a TLR.

[Sylv3r]

I was forced into a VLE Manager role in 2005. The silly thing is I'm not a teacher (thus not best candidate for the job) and we didn't even have a VLE.

Thankfully this madness didn't last for long. We now have a ethusiastic teacher take this on under a TLR.

Have they seen the VLE they are so enthused about yet though?

[webman]

Have they seen the VLE they are so enthused about yet though?