tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18677687.post5837776358374695699..comments2024-03-27T15:13:24.764-04:00Comments on Computer Science Teacher: What is your School IT Department’s Mission?Alfred Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05575057876858763822noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18677687.post-7145402377221438582020-05-15T09:57:31.255-04:002020-05-15T09:57:31.255-04:00Having no budget and no time actually makes things...Having no budget and no time actually makes things easier for me. I am a full time teacher and the only IT guy. My staff knows this. They call for help only when things go really bad. They also know I will get there when I get there. The staff also understands the budget. They have no expectations, just hopes. I tell them to submit tech equipment requests and if money comes along I will do my best to fill it. We survive. I have teacher friends in the public school. Their tech support system is very adversarial. It is an us vs them system. One of my friends is a tech teacher (architecture, robotics, computer controlled milling), all requiring pretty fancy towers with high end graphics cards and serious RAM. The techs have told him he is getting laptops in his new lab even though they do not have the ability to run his software. They are trying to get the same computer school wide to reduce their work load. The needs of the tech department are being met, not the needs of the teacher. Fascinating approach to tech support. Garthnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18677687.post-47072358940678558962020-05-15T09:22:09.156-04:002020-05-15T09:22:09.156-04:00This past year I attended the HighEdWeb conference...This past year I attended the HighEdWeb conference. I had a chance to spend a lot of time with a lot of school IT people. Mostly college but some K12. It gave me a new appreciation for many of their positions.<br /><br />I came away feeling that a lot of the adversarial stances are not from jerk IT people but rather lack of resources - time, tech and money.<br /><br />Teachers want their thing to work but if 5 teachers want their thing then the IT person has 5 more things to maintain, 5 more things to keep upgraded, to keep secure, to keep integrated. It soon becomes a nightmare.<br /><br />That of course is just the tip of the iceberg.<br /><br />When I was at Stuy there was one full time IT person who was payed VERY little money. This was for a school with 300 computers and around 4000 students. Depending on the administration and DOE regulations they might not be able to use students to help them .<br /><br />It's a rough situation.Mike Zamanskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15069276938781711576noreply@blogger.com