IT did not understand what faculty needed and why they needed it and faculty did not understand why a $0.99 classroom polling app could not work on a multimillion dollar wireless infrastructure. Our institution desperately needed someone with both IT experience and an appreciation towards pedagogy and classroom technologies.
So, they hired me. I am a licensed classroom teacher with many IT certifications and an Apple Distinguished Educator. In my professional career, I speak both languages fluently. My passion is to assist faculty with integrating technology into the classroom and serve as the liaison between them and IT. I make sure all of their educational technology needs are met and I ensure that a solid bridge is built between our IT team and the faculty.
Many have credited a direct link and increased communication between faculty and IT with what we were able to accomplish and having an educational technologist on staff made this possible. We believe that all institutions need this vital link between technology and the classroom.
2. Evaluate Your Wireless Infrastructure
In the early to mid-2000s our campus could comfortably support our students bringing laptops to their classes.
We were ill-prepared in 2011 for students to bring not only their laptops, but also their smart phones, tablets, and e-readers. We now had to view a single user as a consumer to 3-4 Internet connections. While our own institutional mobile devices were beginning to multiply, our wireless network was beginning to buckle.
To cure this, our IT group redesigned the entire wireless network, switched vendors to obtain more powerful wireless technology, and (in essence) quadrupled the number of wireless access points for our faculty and students. During the rollout, our faculty and students saw immediate improvements as the new access points were activated throughout their buildings.
Yet, another problem also emerged. Many of these devices employ peer to peer technologies that do not work well with sophisticated enterprise networks. While using devices like Apple TV and certain apps on various platforms, faculty became frustrated that they could not “see” their students’ devices.
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