Directing Technology/Maintain/Supporting Technology

Receiving Shipments

Boxes of monitors stacked in a cubicle.

Again the key word here is preparation!

Obviously, the tech director will have information from the purchase team as to what exactly is coming (hardware and/or software) As for when it is coming, most shippers today will have a notification service so that one can be paged when a shipment is imminent. So wherever one is in the district, one can get to the drop off point quickly. And, the tech director NEEDS to be there! It will mean many less headaches for all involved.

As for the items that are coming, one needs to be in close contact with the purchase team and insist on an exact list of what is coming. So one can be ready to check off items as they arrive.

One needs to check packing slips that are required to be attached to each separate item with the contents of that box and make sure what is in the box matches the slips.

Finally, a storage spot with lock and key needs to be arranged where the items would be placed. (Most schools will already have such a spot, even if the school is brand new. Check into this well before any deliveries will be made.) This obviously needs to be quite secure, given that thousands of dollars of equipment that will sit there for a period of time.

Cataloging or Inventory Management

Initially, it needs to be pointed out that there are legal reasons for keeping an inventory. Organizations (in contrast to individuals) are required by law to keep a record of, at least, fixed assets. Such record keeping is usually also a requirement of having insurance on any of the assets. One's district, likely then, will already have a district-wide inventory system in place. That system, however, may not necessarily include all the assets related to technology (e.g., software). Thus, the tech director will need to consider a second system that catalogs all aspects of technology and links them together in the database. Some software options will be mentioned below.

Having a technology inventory system or database is important for a number of reasons besides the strictly legal requirement and breaks down into two main concerns: a) keeping a record of the hardware, installed software, and users/locations in the school district and b) physically marking the hardware (and software) with a permanent tag of some kind. The former is important for convenience as well as legal reasons: the school district can know at a glance the exact specifications of hardware owned by the district, the purchase date, and thus depreciation or repurchase schedules, as well as software legally installed on that computer. The latter is important in the event that computers are taken for repair or, for other reasons, moved around. A more or less permanent tag like this also serves to contribute to the feeling of ownership of a computer—i.e., an end user might take better care of or feel greater responsibility toward a machine if it is marked with his/her name and location. The software used for inventorying, cataloging, and identifying should be chosen carefully, because it may be difficult to change to something else after it is in place. The right kind of software will make everyone’s life a lot easier. Of course if one's predecessor already has something in place, you may be stuck with it unless you wish to start over from scratch; there may, however, be import features to move your data to the new software. What kinds of things to keep in the inventory system? The following is a solid list:

1) Specs of the hardware (computers, monitors, printers, projectors, cameras, scanners, and technology-related furniture, including model, serial number (a unique identifier), processor, RAM installed, hard drive capacity, screen size, each where applicable 2) Photos of the hardware 3) Vendor and manufacturer of hardware 4) Purchase date and warranty expiration date (if applicable) of hardware 5) Location (building and classroom) and user of asset 6) For convenience safe, specs of monitors that accompany computers should be attached in some way to the computer in the inventory database, with its own specs listed, of course, also. In the same way, specs of printers, digital cameras, scanners, and other hardware should be entered into the database and also connected to either a specific computer or a specific building or classroom. 7) Licensed software installed on the hardware asset: version and build of software installed, purchase date, PO #, cost, and anything else that one will want to know about software. The licensed software will then be attached to the computer it is installed on and in this way one knows when software that shows up on a computer is in fact licensed or legal software. 8) A place for even small accessories like network cables should also usually be included, wherever they reside in the district.

If feasible (see below), one may also want a way of creating and connecting trouble tickets to an asset in this database, so that one can see a history of issues associated with an asset. This allows the tech director or help-desk tech to check repeat issues for faster troubleshooting as well as see a history of issues with a particular computer or model. Keep in mind that as the inventory software grows more integrative, the software will, at some point, be something installed on a server and accessed through your network in contrast to accessed from one workstation only. There are advantages to this, but also disadvantages such as slowness issues and an increased (monetary) cost.

Next, what are the kinds of things to put on the physical marking tags? The goal here is ease of identification for the tech director and end users as well as a deterrent to theft. Thus, the tag should make sense, be relatively easy to decipher, and, to the degree possible, permanently affixed. The software we use for inventorying should have the capability to print these labels. Some schools have used metallic barcode tags, reasoning that these are more permanent; however, it would be difficult to generate these from most inventorying programs and they are, in fact, not necessarily more permanent.

Items to be included on a label that is then placed on every piece of hardware:

1. An indication of building, classroom, and user (where appropriate). Shorthand should be used, but something also identifiable at a glance.
2. Model # and serial # of each separate piece of hardware (computer workstation, server, monitor, external drives, digital camera, scanner, projector, printer, furniture, etc.). This should include even small accessories like keyboards, mice and even cables.
3. As for software, no media will be left in a classroom, so this is not applicable. (Software will be installed for users and master discs kept in a secure, centralized location such as the tech director’s office or on a secure network drive).

Inventory Software Options

It ends up being in the hands of the tech director in his/her specific role what all the inventorying software should do. Most would agree that one program that integrates hardware and software cataloging with all the relevant specification and license information, linked to its associated asset is a requirement. Others might want another database program for cataloging more extensive information about the software, such as the, sometimes, very involved information about licenses, their timeframes, and fees. Still others might see the need for a third database that catalogs accessories and stockpiled parts. All applications one uses should have robust reporting functions as well as a place for adding user-defined fields and printing labels/tags. One would think that the software a district uses to keeps its computers patched and updated (see below under updating section) is much more critical than the inventory software, so often a homemade application for inventory will be appropriate. Schools have profitably used Microsoft Access (TM) and Filemaker Pro (TM), each with a little Basic programming thrown in to great cost savings and usability. Depending upon time and the extra features one might want (such as the inclusion of a helpdesk call tracking system), a commercial product might prove itself a better choice. Two good examples are Intelli-Track and Expressmetrix. The cost for using Intelli-Track must be obtained by emailing a sales rep, but there appear to be both one-time and monthly fee options. For Expressmetrix, it can be obtained by plugging in values on their website. Expressmetrix is the fuller feature program by far. See a screen below of Intelli-Track that shows off the main inventory entry screen. Also click here for a nice online demo of Intelli-Track.

Deployment

Assuming now that new computers have arrived at one's base of operations and the software that will installed on each machine has been determined (through the planning and purchasing processes), one is now ready to talk about deployment. This word usually refers to how one gets software installed, in the quickest way possible, on many computers. Deployment in an educational institution will usually be a good bit more difficult than in a corporate setting. Companies have standardized lists of software (e.g., M.S. Office) that goes on every computer and relatively little variation on that “core load.” Educational institutions, by contrast, often present a more complex mix of software. They have their core load also, but there will also be different apps for different grades and different subjects. Thus, there are potentially several different “images” and installation may have to be accomplished in a more manual fashion.

An “image” is a copy of all the software one needs to install on each workstation at the school district. Basically, one installs software (including the operating system and other software that will become standardized) on one computer, with all its specific configurations and restrictions one wants in place and then makes a copy of that setup (using software especially designed to do that). The copy (can be on CD, flash drive, or network drive or one or more of these) is then used to image every other computer so that all the same software and settings are installed there. The image is also used when a computer experiences some kind of severe software related failure, such as blue screen, and the image can then be restored on that computer. In this scenario, there is other software that will be used to first rescue the user’s files. When one talks about the “specific configurations and restrictions” on a computer, this is a reference to some or all of the following: the installation of the specific drivers for the hardware in the system, the creation of various default settings like display settings, Internet settings, and network settings to match the institution’s parameters, the creation of network account properties, and the placing of certain restrictions on the computer, such as, for instance, allowing the users to install printers or change their background or screensaver, but not install any software of their own. A tech director needs a way to keep the school’s computers free of unlicensed software, but at the same time not unduly restrict or slow down users, such as having teachers call a help-desk or tech director every time they need to change some setting on their computer. If the method of selective restriction becomes too time-consuming during the image creation process, another approach is to allow users to install applications and change settings, but once they reboot, all the changes go away. The image will include an install of the operating system and each piece of software, with serial numbers input, based on the purchasing agreements established.

Deployment Software Options

Clonezilla Information screen, courtesy of Clonezilla

Clonezilla Information screen, courtesy of Clonezilla

An imaging program many companies and schools use is called Ghost, made by Symantec. The software is now up to version 12 and runs in both PC and MAC environments. Current costs for the software can be obtained by going to www.symantec.com; there are usually fees based on how many machines will be imaged with the tool, but the cost is not excessive. One company has an agreement to use Ghost for free and on unlimited machines based on deals struck with Symantec by their parent company. An excellent tutorial for Ghost (and something to be used for getting a feel for what is involved in making an image) can be found here. The tutorial for actually running the image on destination machines is found here. Reading over these helps also shows the tech director how many persons might be involved in pulling off the imaging process when it needs to be done. During the actual transfer of the image to a host machine using Ghost 9.0, there are three times when a key on the keyboard has to be depressed for the process to continue. One also has to look for errors, which, while generally seldom, can crop up.

Configuration in Ghost imaging process

The task Configuration in Ghost imaging process

Thus, a tech director, faced with imaging 500 laptops during a period of a month or so in a summer, might need 3 persons to assist in the process. These might be students who want to learn more about computers during part of a summer, and one will want to pay these persons as well, since we need competent people with an attention to detail. Computers also must be staged (or setup with all available peripherals plugged in) when they are imaged. Imaging may have to be done at other times of the year also. Imaging of servers will also occur, but will generally be much less frequent.

Another excellent program for making and running an image is called Clonezilla, which is freeware for institutions as well as individuals. It runs on MAC, Windows, and Linux and contains a great number of features and also comes with excellent help files. Some good video tutorials on the program are found here as well as on the Clonezilla home page

There are trade offs, as mentioned, when doing deployment. What is the media that will hold the image (CD, flash drive, network) and what all will go on the image? Experience teaches one that the all-important image should be backed up in multiple places—thus, you put your image on a network drive and CD and/or flash drive just in case the files get corrupted in any of those locations. Depending upon how large the image grows, it may not fit all on one CD (today, usually it will not). Ghost allows one to span CD’s, but the people running the image then have to insert the second or third CD in the process, slowing things down a bit. Compression can be used when making the image, such that it all fits on one CD, but this then also slows done running the image. Imaging a computer from a network drive, on the other hand, will be more convenient, since one does not have to make multiple copies of CD’s to run several machines simultaneously. Just hook them all up to the network. However, the speed of a school’s network may prevent an image from running smoothly or even cause it to crash. CD’s, on the other hand, have been known to crop up with errors, and then one has to create a new image disc. CD-R’s usually work best for image files. Normally, one would want to test running an image using the various options and see what works best, all things considered.

The last trade-off or decision about imaging has to do with what goes on the image, given the variety of software used by schools. The only choice here appears to be to isolate all that will be needed by the various buildings and users and then make images for these different permutations—computers for high school classrooms, for elementary, computers for students, computers for administrators, etc. It may not end up being as bad as one might imagine.

Distribution FAQs for the Technology Director

Barcode

When the technology director or coordinator receives a shipment of hardware or software they have to know how to securely distribute those components throughout the school district. There are cases that point out the inventory procedure does have its flaws. The Bethlehem Area School District has unfortunately lost computers and that has to be due to poor inventory keeping. Read this article about more information about the missing computers BASD. This current article from a school district in Rhode Island also shows the theft of computers Rhode Island. One can deduce that there is not one way to prevent situations like these from occurring. If someone wants to steal these computers, they are going to find a way. Technology directors and school officials must stay one step ahead by figuring out the best possible method to properly safeguard school district equipment.

Here are some key questions that may come up for a technology director: •How can the technology director assure that the inventory of equipment is carried out in an effective manner?

The technology director should review first the technology plan and consult with district and building leaders when making allocation decisions. A variety of software solutions are available to help technology coordinators manage the technology inventory and keep this critical information up to date (p. 74). Furthermore, the technology director needs to have a central hub that stores the material to be distributed. From that point, the technology director makes signs off on all of the contents being accounted for. Serial numbers are recorded and there should be some form of identification tag on the computer.

•What information should be on the ID tag?

The ID tag should not be easy to remove. There should be the serial number of the item, the name of the person or department it was issued to, some sort of color scheme that personalizes the item. There should also be a bar code for further identification. The ID tag will correspond with the information the technology director has in the database.

•How are the computers scanned?

It is very easy to create a bar code system and each hardware component should have that. The information is recorded and saved in the school district.

•Are the computers protected under school-district insurance?

Every item that the district buys is insured. This is important because if a faculty/staff or student breaks the device, there is coverage to repair and/or replace the device. The cost of insurance is dependent on the amount of items bought.

•How else can the technology director protect the computers from viruses?

The technology director must implement a multifaceted strategy for protecting technology resources. Network equipment and workstations must be protected from virus threats through the installation and regular update of anti-virus software. Users must be trained in proper procedures for avoiding problems with virus infection. It is also important to implement procedures to help district users avoid problems with spyware and adware. These procedures should include information and training about how to avoid the installation of these types of programs, as well as how to use tools that will allow for the easy removal of these programs (p. 75). Try these two websites to help protect and scan for adware and spyware: Lavasoft and Safer-networking

•What else can a technology director do to protect the computers?

Passwords can also be a security problem for those who manage computer networks. Users often choose passwords that are easy to remember but are also easy to crack by those who wish to gain illicit access to a computer network. Requiring users to change passwords on a regular basis will help avoid these problems (p70).

Further reading

Extensive Ghost tutorial

Video Tutorials on using Clonezilla

Intelli-Track Asset Management website

Novell’s Zenworks product info website

Supporting Technology

Technological problems and concerns can be very frustrating for the students and also teachers. These problems usually derive from different sources. For instance, these sources might be unreliability of the school technology system, not having enough on-going support or the quickly changing nature of the information technologies. As people who are directing the technology at schools, we can avoid these types of problems by having technical support. Technical support is critical for influencing the amount of technological problems and developing an appropriate and immediate response to the problems. Usually technical support has three different sources. First, there is basic hardware support—the familiar maintenance contract on your computer or printer. Second, comes systems support—most typically support for network server and operating systems and cabling. Finally there is application support—providing help with application software like Microsoft Office or a specialist application like an accounts package or database.

Technical Support Staff

Once the accessible technology is in place, including new technology, technology staff should maintain technology and continue learning. Technology directors should increase awareness of the accessible technology vision in organization or district, support employees in their use of technology. It is obviously important that school districts plan for adequate technical support for hardware, software and local- and wide-area network. The technology plan should state how teachers should obtain technical support, the expected response time, the number of full-time staff needed for technical support, whether students will be involved in providing technical support.

Requirements for Successful Technical Support

In order to have a successful technical support:

• Firstly, administrators should recognize that technology experts must be able to focus on their roles full time. Administrators should also be aware that school district should have one-support personnel for every 50 laptops or PCs. In schools that distribute computers to every student. For the certain number of technical support staff, you can take a look to section on this wikibook [1].
• Secondly, these individuals must have an understanding of the educational process, as well as computer technology.
• Thirdly, schools and districts must budget realistically not only to purchase technology, but also to maintain and upgrade it on a regular basis so that students and teachers can use it. This is a missing point, mostly administrators think that technology plan ends when the plan has been implemented. They should have a philosophy of maintaining and supporting the new technology.
• Finally, tech staff must be committed to making themselves key members of the school's planning process, not just crisis managers who keep the machines running.

Staffing for Technical Support

As it stated in Shaw`s (2001) technical support staffing model, we need these technical support staff. The director's job is an administrative position. This person is responsible for the overall management of the system and the support staff. Front-line technical support should be handled through a district call center. These technicians are trained to provide phone support to handle routine problems, such as forgotten passwords or "how-to" instructions for using applications. You can look for more information to the section of Help Desks and FAQ databases.

According to Wilkinson (2006), volunteers are good for cash strapped organizations may turn to volunteers for technology projects. Volunteers are most effective when the time frame for a technology project s flexible and the work is interesting to them. Using student experts to help with tech support and professional development: Some of the best-known examples involve schools that are working with the Generation YES project [2]. While the Gen YES organizers say it dramatically increases the level of technology support available, while offering students valuable and marketable technology skills.

On-site technicians take care of back-line support and problems that require physical contact with the workstation. These technicians are assigned to specific locations, such as a building or school, and have the skills to troubleshoot most problems. Problems they can't handle can be escalated to the director of technology or to a vendor's tech support staff. Technology directors can provide on site technicians in three ways: expert students, consultants and specialists, tech mentors Expert students, particularly enjoy dealing with technical problems can be good candidates. Another variant of part time staffing is to hire for a cross- functional assignment that is part time in technical support and part time in another department.

Consultants &specialists: if the school’s specific technology need is a one time event requiring highly specialized skill, a consultant or specialist is likely the best option. However, you can make these people to train the district-wide employees (such as administrators, teachers) train before you release them. Vendors managed services: there are good vendor organizations that offer specific services such as network and hardware infrastructure. Many vendors, in addition to selling products, can also provide highly specialized consultants.

Tech Mentors :In Columbia, S.C., for example, each school not only has an ITS but also one or more regular classroom teachers who have participated in an intensive two-year training program and now mentor other teachers at their own school.

Computer teachers or lab moderators provide a final, two-pronged approach to front-line support. By educating users as thoroughly as possible, the computer teacher reduces the number of "how-to" questions posed to the call center. Additionally, you can also get the support form the university faculty and centers, and governmental agencies chartered to provide assistance. While you are looking for the appropriate technical support, you should also look for sources of help among other organizations similar to yours. These are often the best source of useful assistance, as they may have already faced the same challenges as you. Talk to their decision makers. Ask about the consultants they used. Use the feedback you receive to make informed choices for your own organization.

Director	Director is responsible for the overall management of the system and the support staff
Frontline technical support	Usually, frontline technical support comes with help desks. Volunteers (expert students) are good sources for this position.
On-site Technicians	On-site technicians can be expert students, consultants & specialists, tech mentors
Computer teachers & lab moderators	Computer teachers and lab moderator are reduces the load of on-site technicians and also frontline technical support

Technical support staff. This table has been drawn according to Shaw`s technical supporting model.

Help Desks and FAQ Databases

It is essential to have planned activities to help and support users when new technology is implemented. Support services, training, and certification must be ongoing to ensure successful post-implementation use of technology. As time passes, personnel change, organizational needs change, and the ways in which the technology is being used may change as well. Any and all of these changes must be taken into an account when planning for ongoing system support.

There must be full support and encouragement at all levels of the organization. Help and support services provide users with ongoing technical assistance for successful technology implementation. This includes both technical questions and application questions. The organization must have a plan for providing timely and useful help to system users, either via available staff or through arrangements with vendors and consultants.

Teachers and other staff members frequently need on site and on demand technical assistance, both with the equipment and software itself, the implementation of the technology in the classroom. The most common means of providing user support is to create and staff a bank of telephones (or at least one phone) with people who are willing and capable of patiently and constructively answering users' questions. Today, most Help Desks in networked organizations also offer assistance using electronic mail, fax and telephones. For most of the school districts, however, it should be sufficient to have someone running the Help Desk for only part of the day, with the number of hours depending on how many users there are and how many questions are being asked. Likewise, it may be sufficient simply to have someone check voice mail or e-mail twice a day to see if any questions have been forwarded.

IT staffers are increasingly relying on help desk systems to help them streamline responses and employing powerful tools that allow them to reboot and troubleshoot systems remotely and install fixes on multiple systems simultaneously. On the professional development front, online communities such as Tapped In [3], My eCoach [4], or TaskStream [5] allow for ongoing idea exchanges, support, and mentoring without a need for geographic proximity.

In addition to solving users' problems on a day-to-day basis, a Help Desk's value is in documenting trends and patterns concerning the use of an application or equipment. It is important to track Help calls and responses. One effective way of doing so is by using a software package that generates reports like 'most frequent queries' or 'call distributions' (i.e., the distribution of callers who have the same problem). This information can be used when tailoring training to users' needs and developing new training materials. Many users will find it helpful if frequently asked questions (FAQs) and their answers are printed in a newsletter or made available via your network.

FAQs provide “just in time information”. FAQ databases are freeing up support professionals to work on the issues related to technology integration and school reform. Similarly, just-in-time troubleshooting databases allow educators to check out and fix minor technical glitches independently without having to wait for technical support staff.

Infrastructure Support

While the help desk can be an important first line of support for end users, the time will come when a problem cannot be solved by telephone or e-mail and on-site technical support will be needed. When a computer breaks down, school district should send an immediate support as soon as possible. Infrastructure repair or upgrades must be responsive and well timed. Frequent occurrences of a server being down, printers jammed, or insufficient computer memory will not only disrupt instructional and administrative activities but also may undermine the entire technology program.

According to Sandholtz & Reilly , classroom use of personal computers, digital cameras, or other technologies differs from how the same technologies might be used in an office or at home. Multiple students may use the same hardware and software almost continuously during the day, putting more stress on the hardware and leading to a greater need for support.

District wide networked systems remain extremely complex, and sometimes relying on professionals is not a cure all. Therefore, centralized or standardized network systems can be very reliable, cost-effective solutions; standardized network systems reduce the cost of technical support technicians’ cost of certification. Henderson. suggests that technology directors should try to use no ore than two computer brands in district wide because technicians will become familiar with the particulars of those machines, ultimately cutting down the amount of the time it takes to troubleshoot problems.

Effective use of technology in the classroom is dependent upon the availability of technical and instructional support. Adequate technical support is critical to the success of any district. In order to effectively integrate technology, district needs access to technical expertise and support. Otherwise problems may cause delays and also major problems. Support services such as network administration, hardware software troubleshooting, server maintenance, infrastructure monitoring, virus protection, hardware repairs and upgrades must be performed on a daily basis.

Iste(the technology coordinator`s hand book) gave an example of an infrastructure repair system. Briefly this support works in this process. First of all, district asks end users to report the problem via email. A technology staff member monitors this email account and either replies with information for users who may be able to solve problems themselves or schedule technician visit to the school.

Iste(the technology coordinator`s hand book) has also indicated another infrastructure support system. Other districts have created a paper document that is filled out and sent to the appropriate contact person at the building or district level. One of these districts uses a multipart form, one copy goes to the technician, one goes to the scheduling secretary, and the third is kept as a record of service provided. Still other districts choose to have users file requests for service online thorough a special page on the school’s or district’s website. This type of electronic reporting allows for considerable information to be gathered regarding problems and solutions, such a system allows technicians to use any internet connected computer to check on reported problems and requests for service, thus reducing the time necessary to resolve problem.

Physical & Electronic Security

School districts have many responsibilities when building a technology infrastructure, including devising acceptable use policies and security procedures. Deciding how a school district would respond to technology infractions, such as altered or deleted files, disabled or missing workstations, misconfigured network, misuses of the Internet, is important to determine in advance. It is indicated that there are two types of security issues in a technology infrastructure: physical security and electronic security. According to The Commission on Technology in Learning,CA reports, Physical security include installing and/or upgrading the locking systems throughout the school, installing electronic monitoring devices where technology is stored and electronically tagging all equipment for easy identification if stolen. Electronic security includes designing a hierarchical access structure for the network; installing firewalls and filters; installing continually updating monitoring software to search for and report viruses, thefts, vandalism, and installing back-up and recovery tools. To create a safe network environment in the school district,the technology coordinator`s handbook suggests school district should own virus-detection software for desktops, network servers and also e-mail servers.

Virus Detection Software: In network systems, there are two infrastructure to influenced by a virus: desktop computers and network servers. Desktop security is the installation of virus detection software on all computers. Since new viruses are being created and discovered almost daily, this software must be updated on regular basis. Additionally, virus definitions must be kept current to provide the maximum protection available. Support technicians should keep antivirus software updated at all costs. The expense of repairing infected systems and the downtime they incur is much, much higher than the amount of money that is spent staying updated.

Network servers usually require special versions of the anti-virus programs that have been designed to provide protection in a server environment. When purchasing anti-virus software, it is important to also purchase the additional licensing needed to acquire these specialized products that provide server-based security and protection.

Email servers can be set up in order to filter out specific types of attachments. Spyware and adware are becoming considerable problems for the schools. These two types of programs collect information about the user, pop up ads, waste both network and steal workstation resources. These programs may be installed on a user’s computer during a visit at questionable web site or thorough the installation of another program without user knowledge. There are two excellent programs to protect the infrastructure from this type of software: AD-Aware [6], Spyboat Search and Destroy [7]. In order to create more secure networking environment, we should also take care of the user passwords. Requiring users to change password on a regular basis will help avoid these problems. Users should be trained to never leave unattended computers logged onto the network. Another solution for password protection is that network manager log off the users whose workstations have been idle for waste amount of time.

All in all, the most significant solution is that users should be aware of security problems:

• They follow good security procedures will keep virus infections to a minimum.
• They should not open the e-mails and attachments coming from unknown people.
• They should first scan attachments before opening them.
• They should learn how to create secure passwords.