Student 'geek squads' maintain school devices, help teachers

[mahatmakanejeeves]

As tech grows more common in classrooms, student "geek squads" are popping up at schools across the country.

Link to tweet

Student ‘geek squads’ maintain school devices, help teachers
By CAROLYN THOMPSON
today

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo kindergarten teacher Maria Spurlock was still struggling after trying for more than a week to get a reading app working on all of her classroom iPads. When she learned her building had a new team of technical experts, she put in a request for help. ... In walked 11-year-old Arefa Zaman, a sixth-grader with silver sneakers and a yellow “tech squad” T-shirt, who quickly went to work.

Buffalo Public Schools officials say it only makes sense for the youngsters who have grown up with technology to be part of the upkeep of the district’s thousands of iPads and laptops used every day. Students, in turn, hone practical skills.

It’s a strategy playing out around the country as schools increasingly supply devices to every student. ... Student techs learn hardware and software fixes for the inevitable cracked screens, stuck keys, freeze-ups and dead batteries from school staff, each other, and online tutorials. Buffalo students even make field trips to an Apple store to learn technical support.

“They can do anything. Anything that we can do here, they can do,” said technology specialist Jerilyn Stellato, talking about her “Tech Team Junior” members at Oliver W. Winch Middle School in South Glens Falls, New York.
....

[tirebiter]

1. I was an AV nerd in high school 50 years ago.

I would deliver a a 16mm projector with film ready to run to a history class then wait for the teacher to start it up. Inevitably they’d leave too much slack in the film and it would snap broken. I’d then put it back together and get it started. It was a form of power.

[murielm99]

2. Not long ago, I looked in my high school yearbook

from fifty years ago. I saw the AV group, all boys, who were the geek squad back then. I had to laugh at the picture.

I have seen a couple of them since then. They grew up okay.

[tirebiter]

5. I went beyond OK I turned it into a career

I expanded into theater and Rock and Roll. I was an IATSE carpenter, electrician and an audio engineer. Geeks got skills. After delving into sex and drugs I honed those skills. Ran a theater for 15 years.

[csziggy]

4. My husband was an AV nerd before they started called them nerds

Back in the late 1960s. He is sometimes my fingers when I am working on the inside of a computer - with (treated) carpal tunnel and some mobility problems, he can get into those tight areas when I can't.

[BigmanPigman]

3. I wish my schools had this when I was teaching.

Each elementary school had one tech person come once a week (if you called and made an appoint). I had 6 years olds that could perform all sorts of tech catastrophes in 5 minutes. They could never remember what they did to screw up their computer and for me to trouble shoot and even try to fix it was not in my scheduled 10 hour day.

[Javaman]

6. I think this is a great idea. nt