the outsourcing service-and-support market, making technology management--from help desks to LAN management--part of the merchandise offering for wired institutions. Outsourcing technology support frees up instructor classroom time and enables users to actually use rather than focus on maintenance of high-tech equipment. Restricting computer purchases to one or two models also simplifies the learning curve on the technology. Meanwhile, dedicated tech support relieves teachers and/or administrators whose job descriptions are educational rather than technological to focus on instructional delivery. To assist in effective IT management, schools can use online assessment tools such as the Technology Support Index to identify their current strengths and weaknesses, as well as future IT needs.
Reaction. Professionalization of tech support is vital because so many unanticipated potential problems surface when schools start using computers. A systematic approach to developing systems seems obviously important, but the fact that outsourcing is such a key issue shows that there is a level of dissatisfaction with how computers are being integrated into the classroom setting. Schools do not seem to know how to go about assessing their needs.
Business Wire. (2000, July 31). Integris to provide additional outsourcing services to Cincinnati public schools for the next three years. Business Wire, 2204.
This press release reports the details of an extension on an outsourcing agreement between a company that specializes in information technology (IT) management and the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS). The company is Integris, which supplies IT management and systems integration in some 100 countries to private- and public-sector clients. Integris is based in France, and its American headquarters is in Billerica, Mass. It has two technical remote centers, one in Minneapolis and another in Phoenix, Ariz.
CPS's outsourcing of mission-critical I...