#edtech for #edleaders: Technicians

Placing a technician in every school to be the primary source of IT support does improve efficiency of repairs but, coincidently, it increases dependence on that technician, thus efficiency can actually decrease. When teachers and others depend on the technician, they are unlikely to develop their own troubleshooting skills, so rather than resolving a problem with a few minutes of troubleshooting, productivity (or at least technology-rich productivity) stops while the technician is summoned then arrives to affect the same steps that are within the capacity of other adults. Not only does a technician-dependent teacher demonstrate poor capacity to learn and to problem-solve, but he or she can delay opportunities for learning while waiting for technicians to become available. Further, this can take technicians away from jobs that require their expertise, so both repairs are delayed. For these reasons, when on-site technicians are place in schools, there must be clear rules about what constitutes an IT emergency, and clear expectations of troubleshooting steps and procedures teachers are trained to take and are expected to take prior to seeking assistance.