[Year 12 IPM] Staffing for IT Support/Technician Team
Lance Gibbens
Lance.Gibbens at flinders.vic.edu.au
Mon May 8 10:19:30 EST 2006
Dear Janet, Theresa and all,
I have been following this thread with interest. I have discussed the
issue of Photostory with one of my techs here. We use photostory V 3.
There are absolutely no issues with its deployment and use. It's just
another MS program that does not require any special rights.
The issue in the 'Big Picture' is who's calling the shots here! Is the
ICT supporting the delivery of curriculum or is the curriculum being
adjusted to work around the demands of the techs. This is a
gernalisation I know, but having been in the 'business' of ICT delivery
since HSC Group 1 Computer Science (remember that), I reckon it's about
that simple. Techies have their own agenda and own ways of looking at
ICT delivery in schools, and their views are important and need to be
considers, BUT, curriculum is our core business, and there better be an
overwhelming inarguable reason for the ICT not to support it fully.
You need to have decision making processes, protocols and policies in
place that make this happen in a proper manner. If not the techs will
pull the 'wool over your eyes', in the nicest possible ways to suit
their agenda, which is not an educational one.
Inlist the support of your heavies in the school.
My two bob's worth....
Kind regards
Lance
Lance Gibbens
Head of Teaching and Learning
Flinders Christian Community College
P.O. Box 45, TYABB, 3913
Ph. 59732013 Mob 0419548036
________________________________
From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Bane, Janet A
Sent: Monday, 8 May 2006 9:55 AM
To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
Teachers'Mailing List
Subject: RE: [Year 12 IPM] Staffing for IT Support/Technician
Team
Hi Therese
At our school I have experienced similar problems - obviously
network security is important but at what cost? Do we have to "lock
down" students so tightly that they can't get the full value out of the
many and varied software options out there?
At the moment I am having issues with Photostory - a fairly
innocuous program, I would have thought. Our technician has loaded it
onto one of our labs (reluctantly) however it's not working at the
moment because he says kids have to have administrator's rights to
operate it. Have other schools had this problem, and if so, how have
they worked around it?
Janet Bane
Patterson River SC
p.s. I don't want this to turn into a "technician-bashing
session!"
________________________________
From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Therese Keane
Sent: Mon 08-May-06 8:25 AM
To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
Teachers'MailingList
Subject: RE: [Year 12 IPM] Staffing for IT Support/Technician
Team
Hello Lesley
I read your response with immense interest. I have a real issue
with too much security in schools. When security is so tight, the
ability to do everyday tasks can become very tedious. Whilst I
understand the need for security, I also feel that if it is too strict,
it starts to attract criticism from the users when normal tasks are
restricted.
In one school I worked at, students were not able to right mouse
click and copy pictures from the Internet. Even some of the menus from
Internet Explorer were disabled. Another example was the disabling of
USB ports on all computers. I have worked in schools where network
policies are so strict that it renders the computers almost useless.
Surely there needs to be a balance of allowing users the ability to do
normal tasks without having to go to the Network administrator each time
you need a particular ban lifted?
In terms of your last comment that "boys are destructive" - I
have worked in boys schools, and I would have to disagree with your
comment. I experienced very little vandalism in my time. I had the
occasion CD ROM broken from time to time, but it might have been two or
three in the entire year. I never had issues with hacking and the
students treated the technology with respect. There was a genuine
interest in the technology and infrastructure from the students. Now
that I work in a girls' school, girls' in general do not talk to me or
the technicians about technology or infrastructure. Does this mean they
are less interested? Does been less interested in technology mean they
are less destructive? Or are they two separate and unrelated issues....?
Regards
Therese Keane
Director of ICT
Genazzano FCJ College
________________________________
From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Lesley Humphries
Sent: Saturday, 6 May 2006 11:12 PM
To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and
ManagementTeachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Year 12 IPM] Staffing for IT Support/Technician
Team
Hi Lucy,
At Santa Maria College, we are lucky to have a very good
non-teaching technician who has a degree in IT. He does just about
everything, from networking, security, physical repairs, purchasing,
software evaluation and staff and student support... he's great. We
recently decided to put on an IT trainee (he works full time, but gets
paid to go to TAFE one day a week, or less). He is also great value. The
only time we get outside support is when we extend the network - we
employ a cabling company to lay the cables. The same company arranged
our CCTV.
I am the e-learning co-ordinator, and I am the link between the
technician and the staff. I also do PD. It is a POL 2 position. We also
have a portal manager who is also a teacher with time release.
Our staff were all provided with laptops at the start of last
year. They are expected to take them to class with them as we do on-line
attendances each lesson.
We have about 900 students, and about 22! 0 desktop computers
available in various classrooms, labs and hubs etc for students, so I
guess our ratio is about 1:4 or so.
I know that many schools our size employ three or more people to
do the work that our one technician does. I think one of the reasons
that he is able to do such a good job is that we are very strict with
security. Students can't download programs or any large files; neither
can staff without permission. We are also lucky that we are a girls's
school - girls are no-where as destructive as boys!
Hope this helps
Lesley
> Hi All,
>
> The admin at my school (Aitken College) want to re-structure
the IT
> Support/Technician department. The school has grown over the
years which
> has resulted in a large increase in the number of computers on
the school
> network.
>
> I was wondering if anyone out there could provide me with the
following
> information relating to their place of ! employment.
>
> How is the IT Support/Technician teams st ructured at your
school? What are
> the ratios for PC numbers to number of students and PC numbers
to
> Technicians? Do you have only internal I.T support or are you
provided
> with support from external parties (i.e. experts).
>
> One last request, are your staff provided with Desktop
computers or Laptops?
>
> Thank you
>
> Lucy Gusak
> Head of Inforamtion Technology Faculty
> Aitken College
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___________________________________________________________
Ms Lesley Humphries
Learning Technologies Co-ordinator
Santa Maria College
50 S! eparation Street
Northcote 3070
Ph: 9489 7644
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