This morning, while browsing through my overflowing RSS reader,  I was delighted to learn that Bill Ferriter, our favorite  Tempered Radical, is calling for the first ever Epic Tech Fail Day.   As Bill explains in his post:

“Designed as an effort to raise awareness about the importance of being digitally resilient in the 21st Century Classroom and to help teachers new to technology understand that even digital veterans have computer meltdowns, Epic Tech Fail Day authors should write short pieces about the struggles that they’ve had in their work with technology…and then share lessons learned from their disasters. “

Having been in education for nearly 20 years, I’ve certainly experienced my share of technical failures.  My personal best (or worst as the case may be) occurred last August and left quite an impression on all concerned.

Out of the Box Day: An Epic Tech Fail

For those who may not know, I work at a JK-12 independent school with a 1:1 Tablet PC program in grades 7-12.  As the middle school instructional technology coordinator, I am responsible for helping organize our 7th grade Tablet deployment, more commonly known as “Out of the Box Day.”   As anyone who has experienced the joys of computer deployment can attest, Box Day is a hugely important endeavor, made even more so for us because it’s the first official event of the year and serves to welcome new students and parents to the School community.   Our faculty and staff endure months of planning and preparation, countless meetings and emails, endless revisions to the orientation wiki, and untold pressures to ensure that everything goes according to plan.

The plan, in simple terms, involves students, parents, and faculty gathering together to hear some inspirational remarks from the Division Head, Academic Dean, and yours truly, then dispersing into smaller, more manageable groups for basic training.  When properly implemented, the plan leaves students feeling comfortable with the Tablet, parents confident in their choice of schools, and the faculty and staff energized for a new year of teaching and learning.  But, to paraphrase Robert Burns, “The best plans of men and mice often go awry.”

Having dutifully listened to the prerequisite speeches and instructions, our students’ persistence was finally rewarded; at last they received their Tablets and were directed to log in to the network.   However, instead of being greeted by the familiar Windows chime they were instead presented with a  blank blue screen and rotating hourglass.  One minute passed, then another.  As the clock steadily ticked and the hourglass spun, anxiousness gave way to apprehension; nobody could log in and no one knew why.  The students were terribly disappointed, the teachers openly frustrated, and the tuition-paying, Tablet-leasing parents extremly wary.  Out of the Box Day was dead in the water but the show, as they say, had to go on…and it did.

As our Epic Tech Fail unfolded across campus, extraordinary teachers rose to the occasion, asked the students and parents to be patient, and formed their own versions of “Plan B.”  As they waited for the login script to finish,  they lead discussions on responsible use, electronic etiquette, learning in the digital age, and anything/everything else the students and parents wanted to know.  What could have been a complete waste of time became time well spent.  Finally, after nearly 20 minutes, the Welcome Screen appeared, a collective sigh of relief was heard, and we moved forward.  Adjustments were made, the schedule was maintained, and everyone left feeling comfortable, confident, and energized: mission accomplished.

Image Source: www.flickr.com/photos/leoprieto/ CC Attribution

A few days later we learned the cause of our login issues; someone had inadvertently plugged both ends of an Ethernet cable into a switch, thereby creating an infinite loop and flooding the network with traffic.   At the time, we did not have the proper tools in place to detect such a problem; today we do.  We also learned that having a “Plan B”  when using technology is essential, even when “Plan A” must be carried to completion.  Our Box Day agenda this year includes a list of topics that can be addressed should unforseen problems arise.  Perhaps the greatest lesson, though, was the simple reminder that although the technology of our 1:1 program sets us apart, the character of our teachers is what makes us stand out.

Posted: 07|31|10 at 4:14 pm. Filed under: 1:1.
Comment | Trackback