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Advice for the K12 Tech Guy?
small fish asks: "I am a newly dubbed 'Technology Coordinator' for a K-12 school district. Things here technology-wise are not well. People here are ignorant technology-wise--which is fine, as being tech-savvy is my job. However, they do not seem to trust my judgment on anything except changing printer cartridges. I'm being measured against a former teacher who filled the role for a while and was VERY comfortable with using Microsoft products. Are there any other Slashdot readers out there in similar straits? If so, what advice do you have for me?"
"For starters, there is no firewall, all IPs are exposed to the public, they are relying on Windows NT 4 boxes to sustain operations, and they seem to love their Exchange for doing email and address books, although I have only one user who migrates between two different computers. The Exchange server died due to a spam overload and will not restart, so I set up a BSD box for handling mail and DNS. To make things worse, there is no real disaster recovery here and virtually no backup power. As I type my carpets are still wet from last night's rains that poured through the machine room wall - and this happens every time it downpours I'm told.
My coworkers do not want anything to do with Macintosh computers, they have never heard of Firefox, and Unix was a strange foreign word I had to explain to some before I gave up entirely. What tips do you have for surviving (even thriving) in this type of environment?"
My coworkers do not want anything to do with Macintosh computers, they have never heard of Firefox, and Unix was a strange foreign word I had to explain to some before I gave up entirely. What tips do you have for surviving (even thriving) in this type of environment?"
At any rate- try to be a teacher, not just a tech guy. You can do a lot by contacting FreeGeek in your area and getting a donation of a few linux boxen. In addition, NEVER refuse a donation, no matter how outdated you think it is- there's always a student living in poverty who could use a computer. Some of my most interesting high school computer experinces were spent learning ISIS II, the operating system of an old Intel Chip burning computer that was given to the high school that they didn't know what to do with.
Also, remember to think age-appropriate- nothing beats old TI-99 4/As (20 years old!) with speech synthesizers for kindergarteners- they're easy to maintain because the OS is in Rom, and the kid does not need to know how to read to learn how to type.
In other words, think outside the box- and don't limit yourself to one platform or operating system. Apples, IBMs, old 8-bit computers that might have been sitting in the closet for 20 years, all are usefull for kids.
OTOH, when it comes to the teachers- internet connected systems that are all alike but have Firefox, a standard IM program, and a floppy or R/W CD based e-mail program are the way to go. And don't forget Open Office for teachers- spreadsheets and word processors are the most usefull programs for their line of work.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
One of the most iportant things I've picked up from my aunt who worked in a K-12 schoolboard.
The tech's there, made a magic-marking system so that the creation of comments and maintaining of a permanent record. Sounds like a good idea, it is. Implementation of technology in moderation can increase productivity, but only with certian precautions.
Anyways, tis marking system was in its first year of operation, the teachers grudgingly entered in their marks (It was a webapp, in the sense that things can be done simpeler and from anywhere). On the second day of the designated marking-weekend for the teachers the system died and they had to revert to a 12 hour backup. If you go by something like this, be sure to backup. Any information that it is entered over a rapid period of time needs to be backed up at least every hour.
UPS-Wise, K-12 systems aren't that mission critical. If you can configure the bios and everything on the systems to boot up silently without any human intervention. Make it so that once the power gets back on, everything gets back up.
Warming teachers up for technology is very hard. It is easier to talk to the tech-teacher, and get him/her to migrate first if he already hasn't. To warm them up to firefox start talking about how annoying popups and ads are, then explain to him that firefox with adblock can stop them. No use catching them on the compliancy/usability, catch them on the annoyances.
The most important thing I see is to avoid CMS's integrated accross the system. My school started using FirstClass which which is marketed towards the K-12. Teachers will probably love this. In the end, students and teachers will end up hating it. (A freind of mine's in HS and his tech only knows two words; FirstClass and IBM). He dosen't get much email from his teachers or any contact because he can't have any email forwarded.
If you want to use something like this for assignment tracking/calendars, use a system that can integrate it with email. And offer the teachers the posibility of forwarding email to their home address.
If you can come up with enough old boxen suitable for linux, you can do what a freind of mine in the K-12 tech position did. He started some labs which cluster together for use with Firefox/OpenOffice. This only works for the kids, but it still makes a low cost environment.
Again, if you find that some kid gets into your system. Don't get all high and mighty on him, let him audit your network and school and *work for you*. It makes it better for the student as he dosen't get into trouble and still is nutrured for technology.
The fastest way to gain the respect of others is to start writing grants. Once you are bringing in new equipment and monies from grants, people will start to trust you.
No matter how stable and secure the network and computers are, staff will still believe they are unstable. It's just something you have to shrug off.
What, me worry?