wrote:
>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.
>In both examples, the parents are basically telling us that the school
>should provide installation and support for these things.
Absurd and impossible. Do not be on the defensive on this one. The fact that
you have a one-to-one means you are providing far more support than your
students would have without a one-to-one, so it is absurd to me that some
parents think this somehow requires you to provide even more support. Our
SLA is that we fix a laptop or provide a loaner within 1/2 a school day (and
usually much more quickly) from the time the student brings the laptop to
us. No school day = no support. This is a manageable and fair SLA with a
reasonably sized tech staff, but house calls/remote support and/or 24x7
support is absurd. On the home networking side we have created a KB with
suggested equipment and I'll spend a few minutes on the phone pointing a
parent in the right direction, but I won't get into a click-this, click-that
conversation. When push comes to shove our support ends at making sure the
student's laptop is functioning properly. At that point it is up to the
student and parents to get the laptop connected at home. Note that we setup
our image so it uses only the Microsoft wireless configuration to make
things consistent and simpler for students/parents to connect to a home
wireless network. We don't install OEM "connection managers" which are prone
to problems and which usually make the process of connecting at home much
more difficult.
Lastly, the web filtering demand is mind boggling. I have a better solution
for you to suggest... it's called parenting.
Sincerely,
Tom Phelan
Peddie School
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