mikeTP Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 At the school where I work we have a small war going on regarding provision of IT Support staff during lessons in computer labs. Without prejudicing the replies by stating my own position/viewpoint I'd be interested to know how other schools cater for this. Do you have a technician present in each and every IT lesson? Do you have one technician based in each lab to provide assistance but also responding to calls nearby? Do you respond to issues if they arise from a central support section? Do you have a different approach? Any and all replies gratefully received!
plexer Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 No, No, No. With a high enough staff allocation it may be possible but if issues arise during lessons if they affect whole class teaching then we will respond as soon as possible otherwise it needs to be logged on the helpdesk. Ben 1
K.C.Leblanc Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 I don't think you'll find any UK school who have a tech for every IT suite. We have 6 suites for generally use (IT teaching and other subjects). We also have a 28 machine suite in our Design Technology block and 20 machines in our music department. Also computers in every class room used with interactive whiteboard. We have a team of three. Urgent calls tend to come in via phone or by a runner sent by a teacher (4 of the IT suites are very near the IT support office). Less urgent stuff is reported via a helpdesk system. At the end of the day you need to be asking questions about any teacher who sets a task that they're not capable of completing them selves. Why should this be different just because they're using ICT. 1
dayzd Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 We don't provide support staff to IT classes like that by default. For one thing, we can't - we've twice as many IT teachers as technicians! Certain classes on certain days may get support upon request, though. For example, logging new users into our Media Studies Macs at the start of the year. 1
Popular Post strawberry Posted February 10, 2011 Popular Post Posted February 10, 2011 No we dont , largely because if you need a IT tech on hand for a lesson then you either have a computer network that is incapable or a teacher that is incapable. 5
rad Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 no, no, no Fancy chopping me up and placing 1/10th of me in each room, or spending 5 minutes per room every lesson, got enough to do than babysit teachers. 1
pavlovs_dog Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 I think this is easily solved - do the job descriptions of the IT Techs in your school state that they will provide support in all ICT lessons? If so, that is the school's choice. The role of the IT Techs is to support where applicable the Network Manager to ensure the capacity and availability of the ICT provision for teaching and learning, administrative and management purposes of the school and NOT to be the sole ownership of the ICT Dept. 1
webman Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 Same as above - no. Teachers in ICT lessons log calls via the online helpdesk when problems arise just like the rest of the staff, and we then respond appropriately. 1
jcollings Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 Do you have a technician present in each and every IT lesson? No - IT runs most periods here for one thing and another so we wouldn't have enough staff and nothing else would be done Do you have one technician based in each lab to provide assistance but also responding to calls nearby? No -we have central IT support office which someone is generally always in so they can usually call someone up for assitance. We are happy to accept faults by email, phone call or student runner. Depending on the severity or busyness of the team we try to react instantly. Do you respond to issues if they arise from a central support section? See above 1
Willott Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 No technicians placed in rooms. We try to respond either remotely or in person to issues reported during lessons. We've educated our IT teachers on some of the simple problem solving bits (if computer says domain not available, check network lead as some little darling has pulled it out, check leads for non-working keyboard/mouse). We also leave a spare mouse with the teacher in case of ones being removed. Our main bookable IT suite is just off our office, so we do get some requests when that's in use - but will only really go out if we can't solve remotely and only if we have time to deal at that moment. 1
teejay Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 No chance, with a technician ratio of 1 to 300-600 computers depending if part time staff are in it's just not feasible. I do send a technicina on walkabout once or twice a day if we're not snowed under with urgent jobs, seems to keep them happy. 1
glennda Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 Similar to what everybody has said - If i had a tech for each IT suite i would have the biggest department in the school - as we have 11 suites dotted around the building with further little rooms around. 9/10 the major problems are not in the classroom then are server side. So we only go to lessons if there is a problem with pcs. if not then helpdesk it is. We only carry over 2/3 tickets a day at max. 1
NikChillin Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 Why would there be a need for a technician in the classroom? Everything should be working, if not then logged and fixed as and when. If there is a need for an assistant it should be a classroom assistant not a technician. We support the school site, not a department. 1
pete Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 Do you have a technician present in each and every IT lesson? Do you have one technician based in each lab to provide assistance but also responding to calls nearby? No and No. Do you respond to issues if they arise from a central support section? Yes. Our take is: If you're a newbie teacher (new to subject or just new generally) who lacks confidence we may wander in as a comfort blanket at the start of the lesson, but once all looks fine we'll leave. If there's a way we can add value to the lesson (explaining something tricky / a "practical lesson"), we're happy to help out provided a) it's pre-arranged b) we have a lesson plan so we understand what you're doing c) there's nothing more vital going on. What we refuse to do is hang around in lessons "just in case". Our stuff works. If you're incapable of delivering a lesson past the initial newbie period without a comfort blanket, then we need to address this as part of your development priorities. 1
sonofsanta Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 The only time we've ever done that is in an exam situation, one of us has sat in and worked quietly in a corner so that if anything goes wrong, we're on hand to fix it quickly without an invigilator having to leave the room. We've drifted towards "first fifteen minutes and less ten" recently though, because there just wasn't the need for it. A week of sitting in on exams did give me a nice opportunity to get our AUP re-written though, no chance of interruptions if you're in an exam session! 1
mikeTP Posted February 14, 2011 Author Posted February 14, 2011 Thank you to all who contributed - you've pretty much confirmed my own view of the situation but it is always worth checking other people's processes to see if it is just me being difficult or, as I'm often accused, too corporate.
griffin Posted February 14, 2011 Posted February 14, 2011 In one school I set it up so a tech could be booked for the beginning, end or all of a lesson. This was for lesons booked and not for timetables lessons. Over time this resource was used less and less as teachers confidence improved
JPS Posted February 14, 2011 Posted February 14, 2011 Come September we wouldnt even have the option as we will commence with our managed service and Capita/Ramesys will not be paying their techs to support lessons! In an ideal world perhaps, if a school could afford a kind of IT Tech/TA and assign them to each of their IT teachers....
Bev Posted March 16, 2011 Posted March 16, 2011 We are a small school, with one ICT suite and one ICT Technician/Network Manager (ie me). My Office is adjacent to the Suite, (as it is infact the classroom cupboard) so whilst I am not in lessons, I am always immediately available. I do find that different members of staff view my role in different ways, and the head of ICT would like me to spend more of my time in ICT lessons, but it really isn't the best use of my time.
clareq Posted March 16, 2011 Posted March 16, 2011 Here IT does not equal ICT. ICT is only one subject, and not actually the biggest user of IT. We have an office in the centre of the school and resopnd to calls as they come in.
Theblacksheep Posted March 16, 2011 Posted March 16, 2011 At the school where I work we have a small war going on regarding provision of IT Support staff during lessons in computer labs. Without prejudicing the replies by stating my own position/viewpoint I'd be interested to know how other schools cater for this. Do you have a technician present in each and every IT lesson? Do you have one technician based in each lab to provide assistance but also responding to calls nearby? Do you respond to issues if they arise from a central support section? Do you have a different approach? Any and all replies gratefully received! No, No, No. Teachers teach, classroom assistants, gtp and pgce assist and IT techs fix proper stuff.
Andie Posted March 16, 2011 Posted March 16, 2011 Why would there be a need for a technician in the classroom? Everything should be working, if not then logged and fixed as and when. If there is a need for an assistant it should be a classroom assistant not a technician. We support the school site, not a department. Quite! When I started my job here (junior school with one IT Suite and me as only IT support), I was employed as IT Teaching Assistant and IT Technician jointly. I was in every IT lesson, assisting with the teaching. I was then (still am) only part time, and was left with VERY little time to actually do IT Tech stuff. As soon as I got the chance, after struggling on for a few years, I dropped the Teaching Assistant bit. If there is a technical issue in an IT class, someone now sends a runner.
Gatt Posted March 16, 2011 Posted March 16, 2011 As above - No on all counts - and still the case now that RM have taken over.. Tech to PC ratio here is 1:400 over 6 IT Suites... Ain't going to happen anytime soon... Our Head of IT has been demanding this for the past few years and insisting he get preferential treatment He and I have had many arguements about this and he has been told repeatedly to log IT faults on the helpdesk Case in point.. On one occaission he called me up, wanting to me to create a user account for a Polish student.. I asked him to either raise it on the helpdesk or email me it - easier due the amount of letters in the Pupils name. He then hung up.. I then try and ring him back - several times within 10 mins only for the phone to go unanswered.. What he had done was: Hangup, stomp off out the room, past my office, and down tot he DHT ranting and raving about things and how he was too busy to log calls - blah blah - DHT eventually emailled me the info (username was 16 characters long!) and the account got created there and then.. (just under 2 mins from receipt of the email to sending one back saying "done") So in total that entire call must have taken about 20 minutes... had compaired to the 2 it should have taken.. As for IT presense in suites - I ONLY do that if there is something like an IT related exam - and that is only as far as them loggin in and the exam starting - I then make sure I am available for the duration whilst I continue my work - 9/10 I am never called back... As long as you have an effective way of dealing with IT calls (helpdesk / email) then there is no need to be in the IT suites unless you are needed It also stops you being used as a cheap TA..
Max_Power Posted March 16, 2011 Posted March 16, 2011 Everything goes through helpdesk unless its MEGA urgent in which case there is a phone in each ICT suite that can be used. Generally we have ICT suites bigger than the class size to allow for hiccups that might happen, i.e. blue screen of death, keyboard broken etc. Head of curriculum ICT is all for the helpdesk, and teaches his staff of the importance of it. I guess im lucky when compared to reading some of your comments.
chrisbrown Posted March 16, 2011 Posted March 16, 2011 My $0.02: Our tech to PC ratio is 1:830...Every student has a notebook...We do just fine!
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now