living at home. For the past three years we have been sending out a
document to students and parents titled "Home for the Holidays or how to
stay connected to your school." This has reduced many questions, but
not solved all, especially home WiFi connectivity issues. We are using
a VPN to access our internal network which allows for a consistent
access point to the campus. We still get calls from local, distant, and
even overseas parents on issues and have had extended calls and even
Skype sessions to solve some configuration problems. Fortunately, these
have been few in number. Even so, I think it is the IT Department's
responsibility to make sure students are connected to allow teachers to
feel confident that electronic communication and assignments are not
being selectively available to students.
Last year, due to a demand from local parents, I offered all parents a
one-time, limited timeframe, opportunity to visit their homes to set up
their student's computer to access their home network and gain access to
the campus network. I only had two requests, but the goodwill generated
by these visits was well worth it. Even with those families that did
not take up the offer were more likely to make sure their child
communicated with me if they had problems hooking in. This year, I made
the offer during orientation week, but have had no takers. I plan on
continuing this practice going forward.
Regards,
David
------------------------------
David R. Mandel, Ph.D.
Dean of Information Technology
Chief Information Officer
American Hebrew Academy
4334 Hobbs Road
Greensboro, NC 27410
336.217.7000 x5001
dmandel@americanhebrewacademy.org
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Robin Peralta
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 7:03 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: 1:1 and home support
Hi Dave,
=20
I think I mimic pretty much what everyone else has said. There isn't
any way you can support the laptops at school and at home, unless you're
going to create your own "geek squad" type of support group. Granted,
we are boarding, so the kids don't go home every night but when they do
go home they do take their laptops and they expect that they will work
exactly as they do while they are on campus.
=20
The one thing I did to help them a bit was to create a document that
briefly describes HOW they could connect to the Internet at their home,
but in that document I have added a disclaimer that basically tells them
that if they are having problems connecting they need to contact their
ISP, or the person who set up their network in their home. Because
there are a slew of ways to connect to the Internet these days, the
school just cannot be responsible for home connections and home support.
=20
Hope this is helpful,
Robin
=20
Robin Peralta
Laptop Program Director
Episcopal High School of VA
1200 N. Quaker Lane
Alexandria, VA 22302
703-933-4050
>>> Dave Candelario <dcandelario@micds.org> 12/8/2008 4:01 PM >>>
Hello All,
We're in our first year of one-to-one and we have an issue that's been
particularly challenging. I'm sure all of the 1:1 schools would agree
that ubiquitous access is critical at school AND at home. Our challenge
is home support; including parents that want web filter support. A
significant number of parents feel that because the school requires the
laptop, the school should provide support for home use. The biggest
issues we face are home wireless not working and parents demanding a web
blocker at home. =20
In both examples, the parents are basically telling us that the school
should provide installation and support for these things. =20
It would be very helpful to learn what you policy is for home support.
Thanks in advance,
Dave Candelario
Director of Technology
MICDS
314-995-7478
=20
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