Plan+for+Charging+Laptops+and+Reporting+Problems



**Plan for Charging Laptops and Reporting Problems ** **in a 1:1 Environment **

At this point in Southern Lehigh School District’s 1: 1 initiative, high school students may not leave school property with their laptops. In order to charge and store these laptops, the District has purchased charging station / mobile laptop carts for homerooms. Now the District is exploring efficient ways students can pick up laptops at the beginning of the school day and drop them off at the end of the day to be charged. Moreover, they need an effective plan to report technical problems. Here are some solutions for charging laptops and reporting problems.

During morning homeroom, students must //personally// pick up their assigned laptop from the mobile cart. At the end of the day, they return to their homeroom, place their laptops in the mobile cart, and plug in the charging cord. To make sure students are accountable, utilize a sign in and sign out sheet for each day. At the end of the day, the teacher or a designee will make sure all the laptops are returned and recharging. Ultimately, it is the teacher’s responsibility that all of the computers are returned, charging, and the mobile cart is locked at the end of the day. If a student does not return a computer at the end of the day, the homeroom teacher initiates the tracking system. To bring this about, the teacher logs the missing laptop on a computer-based master spreadsheet. Then the teacher sends an alert to the tech department.
 * Charging Laptops **

Below is a sample of what the master spreadsheet could look like: **& PIN ** || **Laptop Inventory Data (Name, Number, UPC) ** || **Loaner Laptop Inventory Data ** || **Laptop Returned & Charging ** || **Laptop Not Returned (Tracking Initiated) ** || **Laptop Repairs - Help Desk Ticket Sent ** ||
 * **Student Laptop Master Spreadsheet ** ||
 * **Student Name **

 One dilemma is how students will drop off the laptops at the end of the day. Students are in various classes and would have to return to homeroom to drop them off. One solution could be to end the day with homeroom, and then all laptops are returned at the same time. If an afternoon homeroom is not feasible, then have students assigned to lockers near their homerooms; when they go to their lockers at the end of the day, they can also drop off their laptops. What happens if a student arrives after morning homeroom? They must wait to sign out their laptop between classes. What happens if a student leaves the school before the end of the day due to an illness, appointment, etc.? The laptop must be returned to the homeroom before they leave the building. This too must occur between classes.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Reporting Problems **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Here are two ways problems can be reported:
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Each homeroom teacher has access to a computer-based master spreadsheet of all the laptops in a classroom’s mobile cart and the students assigned to them. If a student has any technical problems with their laptops, the student must report these to the homeroom teacher at the end of the day. The teacher records what the problem is on the master sheet. Teachers then fill out a Help Ticket and send it to the Help Desk. If a student has laptop issues during the day, they could borrow one from the classroom’s mobile cart. Since each cart holds 32 laptops, it is possible there will be extra ones; the laptop can be signed out for just that period.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Another option is to have students go to the Help Desk if they have technical problems during the day. If a battery needs to be replaced or charged, it can be done immediately. Tech Coaches can utilize students as technicians that can assist them and help fix minor laptop problems during the day. The Help Desk will have access to the same spreadsheet each homeroom teacher has, record the problem, and fill out a Help Ticket if a quick fix cannot be made. A loaner will be given until the repair is made. Help Desk will record the borrowed laptop’s inventory data onto the teacher’s master spreadsheet. While the student has a loaner laptop, it must be returned to the homeroom at the end of the day to be charged along with the other laptops.

> 3. Have staff that are available during, before, and after school to assist with laptop related problems (Bryant, 2006). > 4. The best way to manage laptops repairs is to have a fast return time, that is, from the time the student reports the problem to when to when they get it back. Time is critical because students’ grades depend upon it (Bryant, 2006). > 5. Have an efficient repair process with an //adequate// number of technicians, work closely with Apple support to utilize all available resources, and employ the inventory tracking system (Bryant, 2006). > 6. Bradburn, the project director of North Carolina’s 1:1 initiative, gave this advice—there should be at least one technician for every 400 computers (2012, p. 4). > 7. Have loaner computers--10% of the total number of 1:1 computers--available for those students whose laptops need repairs (Miller, 2012). Bradburn recommended the loaners are a different color for easy identification (2012, p.3). > 8. If students’ laptop batteries fail, have fully-charged replacement batteries available. (Bradburn, 2012, p.3). One school district recommended having multi-battery charging stations at the library and a service center (Northside Independent School District, 2007, slide 8) > 9. Students can help with some technology issues. Various school districts have effectively utilized students to help with minor technology problems. Beverly High School in Massachusetts utilizes a “Students as Technology Leaders” program “to train and use … student interns to perform computer maintenance” (Miller, 2012). Burlington High School in Massachusetts has a formal class of 10 students who provides IT support on a walk-in basis. Their technicians handle the more serious problems or refer them to Apple support (McCrea, 2011). Bradburn (2012) suggested forming a student technology team to provide students the opportunity to use their expertise to assist students, teachers, and the technology team. Students could earn service-learning hours or credits (p. 4). > 10. GenYes (n.d.) began in 1996 as a federal grant to the Olympia School District in Washington State. The goal was to empower students to help integrate technology in every classroom. In a GenYes class, students learn technology and 21st Century Skills. Moreover, GenYes is aligned to NET Standards for Students. Their goal is to” help teachers integrate technology into classroom lessons, how to use school technology, and how to provide tech support.” Schools can purchase a permanent GenYes site license and begin their own program.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What Other Schools Have Done **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Denver School of Science and Technology began its 1:1 high school initiative with 500 laptops and tablet computers (Zucker & Hug, 2007). In addition to their other responsibilities, the two technicians averaged about “60 events a month involving students’ equipment that required more than a quick, 10-minute fix. About 30 computers a month were sent out for repairs under warranty.” (Zucker & Hug, 2007, p. 19). They also utilized a computer-based ticketing system to keep track of computer problems. They estimated that at any given time some 25-30 computers needed service. This scenario may be particular to this school, but it shows that computers need servicing on an ongoing basis. Southern Lehigh has about 1000 computers so this will be an ongoing challenge for the technology department. According to the Denver school estimates, SLSD could at any given time have 50 – 60 laptops needing servicing.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Another school district utilized a tracking system to track recurring problems. Whenever a problem was reported the following data was recorded:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Repair ticket number
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Student name
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">School address
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Student ID number
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Repair description
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Action taken to resolve issues
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Laptop name, number, and UPC code
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">MAC-level Ethernet address
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">MAC-level Wireless address (Union County Public Schools, 2010, p. 14)

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Reflections ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This activity fulfills the PDE requirements for
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">II.E. Developing leadership techniques for working with all levels of the educational community and to manage and administer instructional technology programs at the building and district levels including: **
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Developing plans to assess the technological needs and resources, and to evaluate technology implementation and outcomes **
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Developing systems for the secure maintenance of student records **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The activity was “as part of our ubiquitous computing implementation at the High School, prepare a plan for student charging stations through the building and a process for students to report computer problems.” This activity fulfills PDE requirements by developing a plan on how to charge laptops and report computer problems in a 1:1 environment. It also develops student leadership opportunities by providing them experiences to maintain computers and develop their own 21st Century Skills of Learning and Innovation Skills; Information, Media, and Technology Skills; and Life and Career Skills (P21, 2011).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">To devise a plan, I searched the Internet to find out what other schools with 1:1 initiatives had done to resolve similar problems and included their recommendations in my report. I also gleaned beneficial information from a conversation on this topic with SLSD’s Media Technician. He shared how there were plans to have a mobile cart in each homeroom classroom. He also shared about the issue of getting the laptops back into the homerooms at the end of the day. In the end, I came up with some practical solutions for SLSD.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Once the new school year begins, the technology department can obtain feedback from teachers and students and can adjust, if needed, how they charge laptops and report problems.

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">References ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Bradburn, F. (2012). //Lessons learned –1:1 learning initiative pilot (DRAFT//). Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/porta/0/Frances%20Bradburn_lessons%20learned_draft%202_12_VAULT.pdf

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Byrant, T. (2006). //Tips to manage a 1:1 initiative.// Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">GenYes. (n.d.). //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">GenYES - //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> //A proven model for school-wide technology integration.// Retrieved from http://genyes.org/programs/genyes/whatis

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">McCrea, B. (2011). //When students run the help desk.// Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Miller, J. (2011). //BHS 1:1 laptop initiative.// Retrieved from []

<span style="color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Northside Independent School District. (2007). //Taking the lead with laptops! NISD 1:1 wireless initiative.// Retrieved from www.nisd.net/technology/tcea07/bchs.ppt

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">P21. (2011). //21st century student outcomes.// Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Union County Public Schools. (2010). Dell global services. Retrieved from http://webcp.ucps.k12.nc.us/forms_manager/documents/99/One-to-One%20Laptop%20Initiative%20Contract%20(Dell).pdf

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Zucker, A. & Hug, S. (2007). A study of the 1:1 laptop program at the Denver School of Science & Technology. Retrieved from http://www.projectred.org/uploads/DSST_Laptop_Study_Report.pdf