Here are some comparisons between the school in 2006 and the school now in 2012:

Network:
2006: The Windows domain ran on an old server. Backups were not in place. The domain controller also handled every piece of software the school used, from SuccessMaker for interactive student lessons to support software like Kurzweil reading tools and Type to Learn for typing lessons. There were around 50 PCs in the building.

2012: We now have dedicated servers for our domain, door system, and student information system (PowerSchool). The network now runs category 6 ethernet. The building’s network operates in two halves connected by a fiber line, and our Internet connection has been upgraded to a fiber optic line thanks to a state grant. 88 PCs and laptops are now in the building.

Email:
2006: The school piggybacked off of another school’s Exchange server, and we had to go through other people to have new boxes added.
2012: We have convenient webmail through our school’s domain name. I set up POP access to the server on the staff’s iPads and iPhones. Staff can access their email at home. I created a program that allows the superintendent to conveniently send a daily bulletin to all staff members.

Grade book software:
2006: The school had grade book software that frequently crashed and was unreliable. We had to rely on a consultant to get our report cards printed out 3x/year and had to pay for any changes we wished to make to the report card. Report cards ALWAYS went home late. Staff could not access their grade book from home.

2012: The staff use PowerSchool’s PowerTeacher Gradebook for grading. Staff can access their grade books from home. I created training videos on Youtube for teachers to reference. Parents can log in to see student grades at any time. Kindergarten and pre-k have been added to the report card system, which is now school-wide.

I wrote software that generates our report cards, so I can make changes at any time and any report card issues that arise can be fixed immediately. I can customize the report cards immediately in any way required.

Assessment:
2006: standard state mastery tests
2012: 2x yearly online Scantron assessments, online CBAS writing assessments with science and math assessments beginning next year. Detailed reports on scaled score, standard item pool scoring, national percentile rankings, and grade level expectations have helped to raise the school’s mastery test scores in grades 3-6.

Instructional Equipment:
2006: There were 3 unreliable white boards, with wheeled carts holding projectors and laptops. Students occasionally would trip over the cables, and the pens rarely charged correctly.
2012: We have 7 wall-mounted SMART Boards and projector pairs. Teachers don’t have to move or calibrate anything. Teachers use interactive Aegom lessons made for the SMART Boards as well as downloaded lessons from Smart Exchange. 3 additional mobile board setups are also available.

Connected school community:
2006: Notes sent home, or secretaries called every family in the school.
2012: The school, staff, and families are more connected. Automated alerts are immediately sent home via AlertNow. Families and staff are notified immediately of cancellations or special events. Updates and alerts are also posted to the website, which also has teacher pages, updates, calendars, and announcements.

Student information system:
2006: A DOS-based (!) information system was in use, and secretaries only had access to certain areas of student records.
2012: PowerSchool is in use. The school has electronic records for attendance, grading, lunch balances, family and demographics, and more. Set up reports for notifying families with negative lunch balances. Automatic integration with state-required reporting.

Other things that have been added:
- teachers map and save curriculum (linked with state standards) through Curriculum Mapper
- building-wide security system with door access control, ID cards, and access reports.
- camera surveillance system with DVR unit
- school-wide wireless network
- networked searchable library card catalog available from 4 PCs in the library

The school was fortunate to have a building renovation and a lot of money was available for new computers and equipment. Some of these updates were things I created software for, like the report card, or were things we were able to add over time. The school is in a dramatically different state than when I started. I learned a lot along the way and I’m very pleased by how much our situation is improved!

The activities I’ve been doing lately to promote myself, such as updating my resume, filling out a LinkedIn profile, and writing on this blog have all helped me to reflect on the work that I’ve done. It showed me that I actually have a career, something I was previously unaware of, and taking that step back showed me I’d accomplished much more than I was aware that I had.

Seeing myself as a marketable tech expert with skills and experience makes me feel satisfied and makes me feel optimistic about what I’ll be able to accomplish in the future.

The realization that “working with tech really is working with people” has also helped tremendously. My focus at my job is on the people as well as the technology there. In the past I would think of the equipment I had to haul around or the data I had to sort through and kind of resent it but now I get to provide a solution to someone and it always makes them smile and makes their day a little better. It removes something unpleasant that they no longer have to deal with or improves their current situation. I may not be a philanthropist or a surgeon but, hey, I help people by providing tangible results and I make them smile.

It may sound a bit crazy but I also have a better self image as a result of contemplating the work I do. I’ve been thinking of myself as someone like Georgi LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Georgi mostly hangs out in Main Engineering (my home or my desk in the school library) but sometimes he’s needed to come to a location on the ship (a classroom) or the bridge (the front office) to solve an important issue. Sure, he’s down in Main Engineering toiling on the warp core or optimizing power conversion rates but you know what? He single-handedly saves the ship all the time. They call him in because he’s a pro. He’s the least replaceable crew member on the Enterprise.

By now you probably think I’m manic or have a big ego but I wanted to write this to share the feeling of satisfaction I have. It’s something I lacked in the past and I don’t think it’s optimal to resent the work you do. We’re not all bikini model photographers or surf instructors but I think it is possible for us to find satisfaction in our work and it’s a big boon to quantify and appreciate the value you’re able to provide others.

I sent the links to these videos to the teachers I work with and also placed web links in an easily-accessible folder on a shared network location. Doing these videos is pretty enjoyable and I’m going to keep this strategy in mind in the future. It’s a great way to be able to provide support for someone without needing to be present, such as when a staff member is working from home or needs something right away.

It didn’t turn out to be as daunting and scary as I initially thought. People loved me. I had glowing, outstanding reviews. Teaching these classes showed me that I was very patient, friendly, and good at explaining technical concepts to people that lacked technical knowledge and ability. It all came down to communication and personality. My technical skills were not the most important thing, but rather my patience and understanding and ability to get across important technical concepts to people who were not technically capable were the things that mattered.

As long as I’ve been working with people and technology I’ve had people telling me stories where they’ve dealt with another “tech person” who wasn’t warm and friendly and who couldn’t explain things clearly to non-technical people. I’ve heard the story countless times: “oh, I’m so glad I found you! We tried getting this fixed but you wouldn’t believe how unfriendly this other tech guy was…”

People want their problems fixed, whether it’s a person using their home computer, a superintendent of a school, or a business owner. However, I don’t feel that fixing problems is good enough. The person I’m assisting should feel like they’re being taken care of. They should feel that they’re in good hands and that I’m trustworthy, prompt, and someone they can feel comfortable with.

Think of it like an auto mechanic. I go out of my way to bring my car to this guy called Karl. Karl makes me feel good. He’s not sleazy like the guys at some dealerships are. Other people take a long time, try to upsell me on tires or extra services, and leave me feeling unhappy, overcharged, and suspicious, but when I see Karl I feel content and satisfied. He’s prompt and if he recommends something extra, like having my tires rotated, then I feel comfortable following his advice because I know he’s not jerking me around. I don’t go home saying “Wow! Karl fixed the crap outta my car!” but it’s his character and customer service skills that make me feel good about doing business with him.

If you work with technology and you support other people then I think the same concepts apply. People are trusting you with their computer, their workflow, their status quo, their entire organization’s daily functioning, or their sense of comfort. That trust should be met with trustworthy behavior on your side of things too. They want to feel they made the right decision in working with you and want to feel comfortable, especially if they’re someone who’s uncomfortable with technology. People may say they want you to “just fix it” but there’s often a hidden truth that people want to not only be supported but feel supported, too.

It’s all about communication and personality. Can you provide solutions with humor, personality, integrity, and a warmth that brings about trust? That’s what makes the work you do important and distinctive to people and also gets you recommendations, clients, and good reviews. At the very least it’ll make your day at work easier because your coworkers will always have a great opinion of you and your work.

I argue that the way you provide support as a tech worker is highly important. Your tech skills should be up to par, but your communication and personality should be the best that you can make them.

Sometimes a teacher will be working on their grades when I’m not around or they’re doing it remotely from home. In these cases it could be very helpful for them to have a quick video to refer to. They can switch to 720 and see the video in full screen mode with high-quality. It’s very cool! I presented the video to the teachers and received some feedback on some topics to make future videos for. I’m glad I had this idea. Now the resource will always be available to the teachers to refer to and will be very helpful for any new staff as well.

An example report card generated using my application with PowerSchool grade data.

There’s rarely enough money in the school budget for an ideal technological solution, which is usually to order some special software or hardware. It can be fun coming up with solutions, or even hacks, when the situation calls for it.

For example, The school library uses a piece of software to inventory all the library books and to handle checking them in and out. The software’s old, but it does its job. The librarian asked if I could set up some computers in the library for students to use to search the catalog.

I set up four spare computers that were too old to set up for anyone else but would be sufficient for simply searching the library catalog. The problem was that the library software didn’t support a network setup where user terminals could search the catalog. I called for a price quote and was told we’d have to pay $3,000 for new software if we wanted to be able to have users access the catalog through the network.

$3,000 was way out of the budget. The software was a bit old but worked just fine so I began researching an alternative solution. I discovered a free tool by Microsoft called Synctoy that lets you synchronize folders across a network. As a trial I set up a shared folder on a server and then configured Synctoy on the librarian’s PC and on the four PCs set up for catalog searches so that the original library database would be shared with each of the four computers and, to our satisfaction, it all worked flawlessly.

This simple fix saved us $3,000 and the librarian loves it. She simply runs a quick synchronization on her main computer and on the four search terminals and students can search for books much faster than with the card catalog (and can even see whether the book’s been checked out or not).

Of course, hacks like this only work in certain circumstances. There are situations that require special hardware and software (such as implementing a student information system or electronic door access) but in everyday circumstances it’s a lot of fun and a huge benefit to the organization to save a few dozen dollars by splicing together a custom cable or to save thousands of dollars and improve functionality using free software.

Welcome to my site!

I’m Thomas Mason and I’m the Technology Coordinator for Scotland Elementary School in Scotland, CT, USA. I manage all the technology for the school and provide support and training to the school staff of about 60 people.

I’m starting this blog to share some of the things I’ve learned in my professional roles in the tech industry.  Have a look at my About page to see the things I’ve done in more detail.

Of the jobs I’ve had, I have learned the most from my current one with Scotland Elementary School. A fun thing about my role as a one-man IT department is that I handle everything the school needs, whether it’s software setup, hardware maintenance, or user training and support. I’ve learned a great deal doing this and have increased my familiarity with network equipment, troubleshooting, and communicating with end users and fellow employees.

I also have a passion for making things productive and efficient. I suspect it’s why I enjoy programming! In my career I focus on two strategies:

1. providing massive valuable output  through ruthless effectiveness
2. creating raving fans of my coworkers and clients through outrageous service

I plan to discuss these concepts as well .I have a lot of things to write and share and I hope you’ll benefit from this blog.

Thanks for reading!