GregACC

I like it!

That's not bad either... My title will likely end up being AV Technology Manager or something similar, My employee will take my current title, AV/Media Specialist. We're just struggling with what to call the division within IT that encompasses these two positions, since they don't fall under the structure of our existing IT department, and we're trying to keep them separate.

Oh we have plenty of of work to justify the positions, its more a matter of how to label them, and differentiate between the IT Techs and AV Techs. That being said, your point is completely valid! We're creating the positions out of need, not just to hire more people.

I wish I could have the IT Techs here trained to program Extron control systems, troubleshoot VTC systems, etc, but in our environment, it's simple not their responsibility. I wouldn't expect them to re-align a projector, or replace a speaker in a ceiling the same way they wouldn't expect me to re-image a classroom computer.

YES! All of my control systems (All Extron here), Cisco VTC systems, Apple TV's (That's an entirely different discussion!), etc all have IP addresses for remote management. I'm certainly thankful to have direct input to my network administrators on the needs for our AV environment. I currently report to the same manager as the IT Techs in my department, but my role is completely different. Of course, I can help someone if their mouse isn't working, or if they need a software update, etc, but ultimately the PC and network side of our classrooms and staff/faculty offices are not my responsibility. We all have to wear many hats, and it never hurts to cross train and share knowledge. As I'm only one person to manage our entire campus of ~140 classrooms for all the AV/Media setups + conference rooms, I appreciate any help I can get when one of our IT techs is able to troubleshoot a video issue with a projector, or sound levels in an AV rack! As I mentioned, we have a lot of assets to manage, hence the restructuring of my division and looking to hire someone to help me a bit. AV Developer would be a good title, how would you label the division within an IT department for a couple employees managed by this AV Developer? I am looking at moving into more of the design, project management role, with hands on for installation and maintenance as well of course, but having someone do the grunt work and routine maintenance is going to be a HUGE help. I like the idea of Educational Technology, or even classroom Technology, but they just aren't quite the right fit for the AV specific tasks when classroom PC's and networking is not really involved. Thank you all for your thoughts and input!

Interesting... My school is a state community college, and fortunately, our IT department is well funded still. The problem we're having is finding an appropriate job title for me. I am currently a Media Specialist, which encompasses some of what I do, but programming control systems and management of an entire campus of AV systems is a little above the pay scale for my current job title. In the state system, it isn't so easy to just adjust someone's pay to match the work they do if it happens to be above and beyond the state listed job classification. So we're trying to come up with a new sub-division under IT, where I can be a proper supervisor, just not sure exactly what to call the division, or my new job title. We're thinking along the lines of Educational Technologist, or Interactive Technologies Manager... That's the easy part, finding a new name for this sub-division of our IT department is the tricky part. We could call it Classroom Technology, or Instructional Technology, but there are fine lines in the naming of a department (or division) that become funny grey areas when the school sees the job titles and division name. If it includes the word 'Instructional', then it can be taken as a resource for instructors to bring in their iPads looking for support, which is not what I do! It all gets a little sticky when working in government institutions. You have to tread lightly and be extra wary of the implications of something as simple as a job title or division name.

Greetings, I'm kind of polling here for some ideas, but in a nutshel, I am the sole AV support tech at the community college where I work. The structure is such that I report to the IT department. This is a good thing, as we all know the integration of AV and IT is inevitable at this point! For the sake of discussion, I'd like to ask if/how your departments have differentiated the role of the AV technician from your regular IT technicians? Who in your IT department is responsible for classroom AV tech planning, ordering, management, etc? What is their title? I am curious, as it is now, our department is looking for a way to separate the function of the AV Technician from our regular IT Technicians. Thanks for your input!