Blog 3- Desktop Support

THE Technology Coordinator


I have learned from the topic Desktop Support that the Technology Coordinator wears many hats. She provides desktop support for users of all skill levels for both hardware and software. A good description of the issue at hand is not always given or easily obtained. Solving the issue can sometimes be done on the phone in five minutes or take a series of attempts and days. We are fortunate to own 1100 computers in six buildings. To easily control our environment every computer has basic programs loaded on it. Even if the computer is 6 years old, they all have Office 2003, Windows XP Professional, Adobe Reader, Virus Scan and more.

This topic also includes hardware purchases, forecasting and sustainability. We use a 4 to 5 year cycle ratio on computer life span. New computers are placed in our HS in labs or Library while older models are moved down to the Elementary level until they expire. We do not sell old equipment nor do we allow a teacher to take it home. When it leaves our premises it is dead!! New computers are all purchased from DELL with 3 year service warranties attached. We feel this is money well spent! We just traveled to Harrisburg to Federal Surplus to pick up 35 Pentium 4 computers which contained memory but no hard drives. The computers cost us $25 each. More memory and a hard drive will cost me $65. I will have “built” computers for $100!! If I can use these in classrooms as second and third computers for teachers and they last two to three years I will have recouped my investment.

Each large computer lab most typically has special software requirements such as MicroType or Business Simulations in the Business classrooms, Science may have the basic plus Logger Pro, Frog guts, Math Hallway may have Geometers Sketchpad. Software Licensing is a very important part of my job at Western Wayne. Each piece of software that the District owns has a folder, with a hard copy of the License Terms and End User License Agreement known as the EULA . Microsoft Office EULA is 10 pages long! Each folder has the Invoice with the date, invoice amount and number of licenses purchased. Another paper indicates WHERE in the District the software is loaded, in which classroom and how many computers. I cannot load a program on a computer if a teacher asks me unless I know I have a valid license for it. In the context of Site license such as our Site License for Adobe Creative Suite 3 including Dreamweaver, In Design Adobe provided me with a signed document stating I owned 500 licenses which I can deploy in any building as long as I did not exceed 500. We have made a District policy that all software must be ordered through our department. As an added precaution to illegally installed software our District does not allow teachers to install their own software. Our Dept can do it remotely or in person once the software is approved.

Security threats encompass viruses, malicious code, unwanted intruders to your network ( these can be students internally gaining unauthorized access to files) and securing our data, web server as well as email server. We use Windows 2003 Server environment with two firewalls. Our web server sits in between two firewalls with strong security. Our Virus Scan software is Microsoft Forefront Security which is downloaded to all computers and managed by a console for wide area administration. Updates are done daily, scans are run weekly. A report is provided to us daily of any virus found, the name and which computer.

Security comes with a price tag!. This summer we installed a new firewall at a cost of $7,500. We spend about $5,000 per year for Microsoft Forefront Security. We upgraded our wireless units in the HS to be more secure as well as to control traffic. Security is ever evolving and changing most importantly challenging. Keeping current with trends in security and threats requires yearly classes as well as reading service bulletins and correspondence from several firms that comprise our security solution.

As a Techie person I am always open to listen to a teachers needs in the classroom. I want to know how they will use a web site or download a program for the education process. I want to avoid a network that is so “locked down” that challenging learning is not available as is the case in many school districts. Since Classrooms for the Future laptops were deployed in Jan, 2008 we instituted major changes to our network infrastructure, security, wireless network and school policy. I have several Science teachers that challenge myself and two co-workers weekly with new uses for technology all in an exciting way.
Our IT Dept consists of myself for Tech Coordinator, Brian as Network Admin and Donnie who supports our web site and users. I am very fortunate to be part of a progressive team with many talents.

As far as Technolgy at Western Wayne…..So far the experience has been stimulating and rewarding.!!