[Year 12 IPM] Staffing for IT Support/Technician Team

Mon May 8 09:55:01 EST 2006

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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