Where’s the first place you go when having a problem in your tech room?
For some it may be putting a call into the help desk. Some schools might have a ticketing system where support may come in a few hours or a few days. Others may have no support at all.
For me I have what some may think is an unlikely resource:
I go to Facebook.
Not just my regular Facebook feed; that’s becoming more filled with ads every day. I go to the #NYCSchoolsTechFacebook page.
Is the internet down throughout the city, or just my room? How do I re-image this laptop? I’m getting a weird message on my smartboard that was working yesterday.
Does anyone have any great lessons to share using Kahoot? Now that Padlet is for fee, what are some alternatives? Does anyone have ideas for a parent engagement activity on digital citizenship?
Anyone know of a job opening? I need to get out of my school!
All these and more are asked and answered on the page. It’s a closed group of over 3000 of the best and brightest New York City has to offer. We are there for each other.
We post about events coming up, try to come up with creative ways to acquire funding for our technology centers, and thank our colleagues for always coming to the rescue.
Nothing beats it for speed and accuracy. If my technology or internet is acting weird, I can go online and see within minutes if others are having the same issue. The Department of Ed help desk even posts updates on issues and how soon it will be fixed. I’m sure that makes their jobs easier too, rather than answering the 50 emails or phone calls they would have gotten asking the same question.
Great ideas for your classroom, how to deal with being the SPOC in the building, it all happens on the Facebook.
You can complain about Facebook if you want, but if you have anything to do with technology in NYC Department of Education, it’s a comfort to know that there are some wonderful people out there who’ve got your back.
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