Tech Support — The Masterman Chromebooks

Though the degree of it varies, the occasional malfunction of the school-issued Chromebooks isn’t new for Masterman. With an average of 20 students—though the number varies—coming to her for Chromebook issues a day, Ms. Lerer is sometimes overwhelmed with requests for assistance, especially when it happens during her period of Chromebook checks. Some of these issues are easily resolved, while others require additional support. Additionally, teachers also sometimes struggle to get their SmartBoards working, but let’s stay with the Chromebooks.

Though most of these issues are able to be dealt with with the help of Mr. Habib, other issues call for a replacement Chromebook. These issues can have many causes with the most common being to time: keys sometimes don’t register clicks due to a buildup of filth (primarily food and moisture) inside of the keyboards; batteries can only be charged so many times before they start failing; mousepads becoming loose over time, though this ties more into the physical damages that a chromebook might experience. Chromebooks are somewhat fragile: this is the reason for the Chromebook protectors given to students. Sometimes, though it is a very rare occurrence, a Chromebook just might crack due to pressure inside a backpack if stored insufficiently. Before Mr. Habib’s arrival at the school, fixing Chromebook issues was a hassle for Ms. Lerer as it was either the Chromebook was fixed successfully, or the Chromebook gets replaced: this created quite an amount of work, as the process of replacing Chromebooks isn't as easy as it seems. “Replacement” Chromebooks comes in a monthly exchange with the school district, where old and/or damaged Chromebooks would be taken, and newer and/or refurbished ones would be given to the school alongside an amount of extra Chromebooks—ideally enough so that there would be 10% more Chromebooks than students at the school. Though it sounds easy, the monthly Chromebook exchanges require a constant updating of the school’s Chromebook inventory that Ms. Lerer is in charge of. For students, these inventory checks are the occasional times in a year that they are called out with their Chromebooks and are asked for their Chromebook’s serial number by Ms. Lerer. For Ms. Lerer, it looks like sitting there on a Google sheet with about 1200 students to go through and make sure that: 1) they have a Chromebook, and 2) that their Chromebook is registered. This, combined with the classes she teaches and the students coming to her for Chromebook issues, created a significant workload for Ms. Lerer. However, with Mr. Habib at the school, not every malfunctioning Chromebook is replaced; instead, he can repair or replace the malfunctioning parts. 

Students aren’t the only population of Masterman that has occasional struggles with technology, as teachers also sometimes have issues with their SmartBoards and other SDP-issued technology. Some of these issues are able to be fixed by the teachers themselves, while others require the help of tech support, which happens quite quickly.