August 2008 — Features
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High Maintenance
Running a successful 1-to-1 program requires diligent upkeep-- along with a few veteran tricks of the trade.
FEW DISTRICTS HAVE MORE MILES on their 1-to-1 computing initiatives than
Texas' Irving Independent School District, where the teachers have had laptops since
1996 and the current student program began with a pilot launched in 2001.
Today, the Irving 1-to-1 program puts close to 12,000 laptops in the hands of students and teachers throughout the district.
"There are a lot of them out there," says Alice Owen, the district's executive director of technology.
After nearly a decade, Owen and her team have learned a few things about maintaining 1-to-1 computer programs in K-12 environments. The cornerstone of her strategy: personnel. Owen keeps two technicians on duty at the 1-to-1 high school campuses, and one at every other campus. On top of that, the district employs a central team of five technicians whose job it is to resolve problems that people at the campus level can't handle.
That sounds like a lot of staff until you realize that some of those campuses have as many as 2,400 students, which means a computer-to-tech ratio of more than 1,000-to-1 counting just the laptops, never mind the desktop machines, printers, projectors, and other equipment that have to be maintained. A ratio of 500-to-1 is more common in school districts with less technology to manage, Owen says. In the private sector, that ratio is closer to 50-1.
Irving provides laptops to its high school students for both school and home use. Owen says one key to a successful program is taking full advantage of the support options your vendor provides when making your purchase.
"If they've got a reimbursement-for-repair program, jump on it," she says.
Irving's computer techs are trained and certified by the district's primary laptop supplier, Dell, and because the company doesn't have to send out repair technicians, the district gets reimbursed for maintenance costs.
"Every district should ask its vendor about this kind of support," Owen says. "That's another lesson learned."
"If you don't have enough chargers, batteries, and spares, your laptops are going to be like cars with three wheels."-Phyllis David, Kershaw County School District
Indeed she's learned several in the course of dealing with the unique maintenance issues associated with distributing laptops to student users. "Here's my best tech-maintenance tip: Get students involved," says Owen. "They're smart, they're digital natives, and they like the work. And for us, they're essential. Two technicians per campus just isn't enough to handle the workload."
Students from Irving's advanced technology program help the district's full-time tech staff, working as paid interns in a work-study program or in conjunction with their classroom studies. They learn to repair the laptops, get certified by the vendor, and even get school credit for their efforts.
