Apollo Career Center
District Information
Why did the district create such a program to utilize students as technology support staff?
What technology support do students provide to the district? (e.g. software, hardware, website creation or maintenance, etc.)
How long has the project been in effect?
Did another district's student tech program influence the way you modeled your program? If so, which district.
What resources or policies were necessary to start up and maintain the program? (i.e. funding, human resources, board approval, ect.)
What are the goals of the program?
How much did it cost to create the program?
Please itemize costs and expenditures in an Appendix.
How much does it cost annually to maintain the program?
Please itemize costs and expenditures in an Appendix.
How many students have participated in the program to date?
How many students are participating in the program this school year?
Do students work during or outside school hours? Please detail.
Are students paid for their work? If so, how much per hour and how are they funded? If students are not paid, do they receive credit as a course?
What grade level(s) are students who participate in the program?
Is your student technical program integrated with your district curriculum? How?
How have you solved logistical problems (matching student/teacher schedules, transportation between buildings, etc) so that students can do work where it is needed?
How and by whom are students trained to be able to support district technology?
What training and reference materials are provided to the student participants?
How many technical support staff (non-student) are employed by the district? Describe the role of each.
What lessons has the district learned during the program? Include strengths, weaknesses and obstacles encountered.
What process and instruments are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program?
How is cost-effectiveness of the program determined? What information has been gathered to date showing the cost-effectiveness of the program? Include samples.
Why does your district believe that it is has a model for other districts to implement?
Describe the type of product(s) you anticipate creating to communicate to all districts your program? (e.g. website, CD Rom, video, etc.)
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District Information
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| District name: |
Apollo Career Center |
| District IRN: |
50773 |
| Contact Person: |
Mr. Mike DuBois |
| Contact Person Title: |
Math/Science Instructor & Tech Team Member |
| Contact Person Address: |
1747 West Breese Road
Lima, OH 45806 |
| Contact Person Phone: |
419.998.2908 Ext: |
| Contact Person Fax: |
419.998.2929 |
| Contact Person email: |
duboism@apollo.noacsc.org |
| Requested Funding Amount: |
$10,000.00 |
| District Size: |
1,501 to 6,000 Students |
| Grades Involved: |
11 12 |
| Project Artifact: |
PDF |
| Dates of Presentation: |
| Presentation One: |
Location:
NWOET Technology Conference, Findlay High School
Date:
10/8/2001 |
| Presentation Two: |
Location:
Ohio SchoolNet State Technology Conference
Date:
2/5/2002 |
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Why did the district create such a program to utilize students as technology support staff?
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The decision to create a student tech support program for the district came in the form of the Cisco Network Academy Program expansion into Ohio in 1998. It was believed at that time that this would be a tremendous opportunity for our students to learn cutting edge skills that would lead to high paying jobs, as well as assist the district with "minor" technology problems such as troubleshooting and software installation. It took several years for this vision to become a reality, mainly due to time constraints of both the students and the Cisco Program itself. The decision was made early on that in no way would district technology needs interfere with that of the main goal of the program; student success in the Cisco Academy Program. During the first year students did a mass printer installation in all the elementary classrooms, which included approximately 175 printers. Beyond this, students were not able to provide any other services.
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What technology support do students provide to the district? (e.g. software, hardware, website creation or maintenance, etc.)
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Students currently provide a multitude of roles including:
- Installation/setup of new computers
- Classroom troubleshooting/repair of simple user problems (can't print, can't logon, software installation)
- Total computer upgrades when needed. Students have started taking older computers (33 and 88 MHz machines) and replacing the motherboards with more modern components, in effect extending the life of the machine for an additional 3-4 years for less than ΒΌ of the price of a new machine.
- Students are also performing printer repairs/cleaning on machines throughout the district. Most of these printers are from the elementary buildings.
- Students also provide teacher technology curriculum support. If a teacher needs help finding a resource on the Internet for a given topic, students provide support to that teacher to assist them with that part of their lesson.
- Students install additional CAT 5 network cabling to expand the school's network.
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How long has the project been in effect?
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The program has been in place since August 1998.
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Did another district's student tech program influence the way you modeled your program? If so, which district.
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No other program influenced our IST program; it was an evolution fueled by district need and student knowledge and availability.
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What resources or policies were necessary to start up and maintain the program? (i.e. funding, human resources, board approval, ect.)
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The original concept for the Cisco Networking Academy was approved by our board of education in 1998. One additional instructor was hired to teach the course. Since then the program has expanded to including the former Drafting instructor from the Vocational School and the original teacher. Initial funding for the program came in the form of money from Cisco to OECN to implement approximately forty Cisco Academies. This allowed us to start the program without the normal startup fee of $20,000 to $22,0000. Other funding was obtained from a School-to-Work grant that provided several computers, software, and computer components for the students to work with. The program is now considered one of the twelve workforce development programs at Ohio Valley Vocational School and thus the operating budget is the same as any other vocational program.
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What are the goals of the program?
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The ultimate goal of the program is to produce a student who has the competencies to gain employment in the IT field, and for that student to earn several IT industry certifications CCNA, A+, and Network +. The secondary goal is to provide technical assistance to the district in the form of repair, installation, and teacher assistance.
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How much did it cost to create the program?
Please itemize costs and expenditures in an Appendix.
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This field appears as an appendix in the PDF
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How much does it cost annually to maintain the program?
Please itemize costs and expenditures in an Appendix.
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This field appears as an appendix in the PDF
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How many students have participated in the program to date?
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88 Students have participated in the Cisco Academy/ IST program to date.
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How many students are participating in the program this school year?
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26 students are currently taking part in the program.
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Do students work during or outside school hours? Please detail.
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Students mostly work during school hours. Some projects, such as network wiring, take more time than the students have during their normal school day. In these cases students are asked to work after school hours, voluntarily.
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Are students paid for their work? If so, how much per hour and how are they funded? If students are not paid, do they receive credit as a course?
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Students are not paid for the work that they do. Students receive credit for the amount of time that they spend in working. If students work beyond a normal school day, they are "treated" to food from the district as a way of thanking them for their help and support.
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What grade level(s) are students who participate in the program?
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The program is limited to high school juniors and seniors.
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Is your student technical program integrated with your district curriculum? How?
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As stated above, the program is very tightly integrated with district curriculum. Using students as a resource grew out of the Cisco Academy program, and eventually the IST program. The two are so tightly weaved together now, it is hard to separate them. Concepts learned in the classroom are easily utilized in the lab doing district repair, and vice a versa.
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How have you solved logistical problems (matching student/teacher schedules, transportation between buildings, etc) so that students can do work where it is needed?
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During the school day, there is only one hour where there is not a student readily available for work. Junior students take three periods of classroom work that is not IST related, and seniors take one or two hours of non-IST related classes. This system works well because both junior and senior students can be utilized the entire day, without impacting their other classes. In the event of a major, time consuming process, other classroom teachers are very corporative in letting students miss a day of class to work, as long as the work missed is made up at a later time. Over 75% of the work happens in the IST lab. Using the districts internal mail/delivery system, problem machines are delivered to the school on a daily basis. A technology site coordinator in each of the districts buildings (9 in total) will do an initial diagnosis of the problem machine or device.
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How and by whom are students trained to be able to support district technology?
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Training and working are closely integrated in the IST program. There are separate times for classroom work and technology repair work, but they mesh very easily together. Students are trained in Computer Maintenance and repair (A+ curriculum) by various texts and hands on activities, including actual repair work. The remainder of the training comes from the Cisco Networking Academy curriculum, which is a combination of, web based learning, labs, and lecture. Seniors are instructed by Eddie Butcher CCNA, CCAI, MCSE. Rick Kuhn CCNA, CCAI, instructs junior students. These instructors also oversee repair work that the students do.
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What training and reference materials are provided to the student participants?
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Besides general technical reference books that are available, each student must purchase his or her own set of computer maintenance/repair text, and Cisco Academy text. These books change so often that the district cannot afford to purchase a set each and every year, and it is pointless to have a set of texts that are outdated after only one year of use. Students also have access at school and at home to the Cisco Academy online curriculum. This provides the majority of the material needed for the academy program.
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How many technical support staff (non-student) are employed by the district? Describe the role of each.
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District technical support staff includes:
- Director of Technology (1) - Responsible for technology planning and implementation as well as integration of technology into the curriculum.
- Systems Manager (1) - Responsible for coordinating efforts of vendors, in-house assistance and outside consultants.
- Building Technology Coordinators (9) - Responsible for collecting trouble reports and troubleshooting computer systems to more clearly identify problems.
- Technology IST Lab Instructors (2) -Instructs and supervises students in the IST lab at the Ohio Valley Vocational School. Develops procedures for repairs and assists in district technology planning.
- Technology Facilitator (1) - Responsible for helping teachers integrate technology into curriculum. Works with equipment to aide teachers in daily use of technology. Also offers several training sessions for teachers.
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What lessons has the district learned during the program? Include strengths, weaknesses and obstacles encountered.
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One of the most important lessons we have learned is that students can be a great asset to your technology program, but they can't be expected to repair all of our problems. We have a large district in size, technology concerns, and geography. It is impossible for our students to be where there is trouble all the time, and still maintain a high level of instruction. We have learned to put limits on what we accept to take on, for we must always keep in mind that our students are in the program to learn first, help second. This attitude helps keep our focus on the student, instead of on the problems. Another lesson learned is that even though these are students, they are professionals in training. All of our students have been superb when it comes to customer support skills and manners. They enjoy and relish the fact that they have been given the responsibility to do something important, something that not too many other people in this area can, and they take great pride in that.
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What process and instruments are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program?
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We are in the very early stages of implementing a work order tracking system for all computer/hardware maintenance, network repair, and user support. The need arose from the very fact that the district is starting to use the IST students for repair along with an outside vendor. We determined that it was crucial that documentation of each item worked on, who worked on it, when, and for how long was crucial. It not only identifies trouble area to be aware of in the future but it will also allow for accurate accounting of who is doing what, and at what cost. We plan to use this system as a major part of our project. It will be the starting and ending point for everything that the students do during the next school year. They will get the notification from the systems that an item is down, and when it is repaired they will document the conclusion of the work order in the system.
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How is cost-effectiveness of the program determined? What information has been gathered to date showing the cost-effectiveness of the program? Include samples.
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This field appears as an appendix in the PDF
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Why does your district believe that it is has a model for other districts to implement?
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The State of Ohio is pushing high tech curriculums like the Cisco Academy and its IT-Works initiative. With both of these programs there is a focus on student learning through hands on activities in a lab environment. Our main focus is the expansion of our lab to include the entire county. With more schools going to these types of programs, there will be more schools that have educational programs similar to ours in place. They will see the cost benefit of using student technicians to lower their TCO of computers and networks. We have been there and are doing it now. We believe that many schools can learn from our success and also from our failures.
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Describe the type of product(s) you anticipate creating to communicate to all districts your program? (e.g. website, CD Rom, video, etc.)
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We plan to showcase our program with a web site/ interactive CD that shows the processes that our students go through. The site will be broken up into several areas which can include; repair, user support, networking, tips and tricks. We are also planning an area for tech talk messages from our students and others across the state and world. Other ideas have included and streaming video or video clips of our students doing repair work, and showing how to do some common repairs that we encounter. We will also showcase the use of a centralized work order system and may include a sample system on our site. We believe that student tech teams should not be totally responsible for most district technical repair. In saying this, it is critical that there be clear communication.
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