Duration: 1:40
John O’Regan, e-Learning lead teacher Hampden Street School, describes their system for technical support. Key to its success is the connection between the technician, who is also a teacher, and the staff. A clear understanding of the needs of students and teachers ensures the infrastructure is built and supported to meet the needs of those using it.
We're very fortunate to have a support person for technical support in our school who's very knowledgeable in that area but also is the fact that she's a teacher as well. Having her knowledge of digital technology and the type of teaching that we're doing, it goes hand in hand. Part of the role is to do a bit of that forward thinking, investigation of what might be coming up, what might be useful in our school so that when teachers do realise, hey I want that in my classroom, then she's got a bit of understanding about that and how to bring that in.
She'll load up new devices. She'll help students who have got bring your own device set-ups. She goes through all the digital citizenship treaties to make sure they're all signed and up-to-date. So having that person in that role in the school really takes away those barriers of this isn't working for me. We've got got an expert that we can can talk to it and get help in that way.
We're fortunate now to be in the position after having a SNUP upgrade, after getting reliable infrastructure throughout the school, and through the natural evolution of technology that we’re using we really do have very reliable systems and so the role of the teacher is really to use those systems to enhance the learning. The role of the ICT manager is about providing a proactive service in what’s going to be needed in future. We’ve got those systems in place, we’ve got a nice reliable system, the teacher can focus on the learning and that’s what’s really driving everything that we’re doing.