As the new school year approaches, IT teams are faced with prepping school and classroom technology for teachers and students. They are busy with checking and troubleshooting existing technology as well as implementing new technology. In this blog post, we explore 5 ways tech teams can prep and plan for a successful back to school season.
- Level up dated classroom technology,
It’s a fact of life that technology needs to be refreshed periodically. Projectors, flat panels, and interactive whiteboards nearing their end-of-life can impede the learning process and create unnecessary challenges for teachers as they deliver lessons. This can result in inconsistent, and even inequitable, experiences for students and teachers in different buildings and classrooms.
Tip: Using Vivi to enhance existing screens can extend the life of current resources by enabling easy and consistent wireless screen sharing for teachers in a dynamic, interactive classroom environment.
- Avoid common support issues,
As use of digital tools and devices in K-12 education continues to increase, so to do demands on the IT teams who implement, manage, and support their use. If your organization must go room by room to troubleshoot issues and service every support ticket that comes in, you’ll be incredibly busy once classes start up again.
Tip: Look for tools that offer central management and remote troubleshooting. With Vivi, you do not need to be onsite to troubleshoot, and you can schedule cloud updates, and set and manage permissions from one location.
- Support teachers with adequate training and support.
There is nothing more frustrating than technology that goes unused because teachers do not feel comfortable and confident in using it. A lack of proper training on tech tools can lead to limited teacher adoption.
Tip: Look for technology providers that build teacher training and support into their offering. Even better, look for tools that are so easy to use that getting started is a breeze. Vivi’s wireless screen sharing solution was designed for education with integrated instructional tools, an intuitive user interface and device agnostic sharing with teacher controls. Additionally, Vivi provides comprehensive training sessions and ongoing support to educators, empowering them to expand their use as their confidence grows.
- Look for ways to get more value from tech investments.
A tool that can serve more than one purpose is especially valuable, saving time and money by consolidating the number of vendors you work with. Similarly, tools that integrate well with other solutions you already use can help you increase the return from those investments.
Tip: Vivi offers digital signage capabilities, allowing any screen to be used for digital signage expanding the reach of communication and community building throughout your campus. This enables important messages to reach students and teachers where they spend most of their day…in classrooms, not hallways.
- Look for vendors who are experienced in your industry
You can do a lot of work in advance when students and teachers are on break, but once they are back, new issues can emerge. With an influx of students and staff returning to campus, the demand on the network increases significantly, which can lead to network congestion and connectivity issues. It can be difficult to pinpoint points of failure, adding even more frustration and demands on your team. Working with providers who know the unique challenges of education helps you build partnerships to quickly solve and even prevent common challenges and pain points.
Tip: Vivi, the only screen-sharing and digital signage solution designed for education, has built in a set of Network Diagnostics Tools to help IT leaders identify where your network is lagging or dropping. This allows you to quickly pinpoint and resolve the specific areas that require attention. With in-depth visibility into your network’s performance, you can identify and address congestion and weak points to ensure a smoother and more reliable connection during the busy back-to-school period.
As the back-to-school rush approaches, it is essential for K-12 IT leaders to be proactive in identifying and addressing potential tech challenges. Dated classroom technology, inadequate central management, training and support demands, and one-use only tools, can all lead to problems in the new year, but with advance planning and the right partners, you can address them all successfully!
To learn more about how Vivi partners with IT leaders and technology teams working in K-12 settings, request a demo today!
