Tech Support in Education

Beem's principal thesis is that the casual approach to bringing the American educational system into the information age was misguided and not very well thought out. In the initial phase of computerization of education, simply placing a few computers in classrooms and a few more in computer "labs" was sufficient to the task. As the technology became more sophisticated, however, and the benefits of LANs, WANs, client-server architecture, e-mail, and other technological attributes of computing surfaced, it became clear that management of information technology (MIT) was not an activity that could be consigned to spare-time teacher or administrator duties.

First was the issue of access, as school districts sought to be wired to the information superhighway. That involved a significant range of expertise and tech-savvy. Immediately access was obtained, then maintenance became an issue, and its complex technical requirements were outside the scope of part-time or spare-time capacities. Network failures, especially persistent ones, would have the effect of discouraging teachers from structuring lesson plans around computer/Internet access. Technical support, in other words, is a decisive feature of technological access, and even on-staff technical people with high-tech-dedicated duties might require technical support.

Technological expertise in school districts is highly variable around the country. Beem cites

. . .
s, to the tune of millions of dollars. For example, in New York City, milk, a standard feature of school lunches, comes to schools from six dairies at the rate of $23 million per year. The implication is that schools are not equipped to supply such products themselves and that outsourcing is the only realistic way of getting the products where they can be used by students and teachers. Controversy surrounds some outsourced contracts; there is evidence that enterprises of campaign contributors have been especially favored when it comes to outsourcing contracts. Computer-related products and services are the most recently added of outsourced services to the New York City public school system. Indeed, education has to some extent helped high-tech companies remain solvent at a time when commercial markets have been saturated. That is because educational institutions trail state-of-the-art implementation of high technology. This article cites technology companies that had experienced slowdowns from financial-industry customers during economic downturns and that benefited when educational institutions started seeing the value of computer use in academic settings. Internet access and networking are a major part of outsourced high-tech
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Minneapolis Szabo, Koprowicz CL, York City, Dayton Ohio, Minneapolis Omaha, Planning Management, School Administrator, Florida Enderle, Phoenix Integris/CPS, LANs WANs, school districts, public education, school district, public schools, support services, press release, school administrators, school system, education reform, tech support, outsourcing support services, jc 1994 march, 1994 march approaches, distinction public private, management 40 23-29,
Approximate Word count = 5244
Approximate Pages = 21 (250 words per page)