Tech Panic: Be Ready for It

If you are the Information Technology (IT) guru in your school or simply someone who knows a bit more about computers and related digital devices than others in your building or district, you understand what happens when the Net or individual computers go down. Or perhaps it's a printer or a projector. Panic. Teachers have Internet lessons ready and their lessons are ruined or they want to print a test that they are giving next period or ... Even though everyone knows that these things happen, most are not prepared for it. An article in TechWorldNews, Don't Panic: Human Nature in IT Disaster Response talks about tech disasters on a larger scale, but it contains the message that we need to be better prepared. In making disaster plans we should consider technology and the people who depend upon it. Even if it's not a disaster, but simply a lack of service for some time from our Internet provider or a burned out bulb on a projector, we need to be prepared. That doesn't only mean having the Internet Provider's contact information handy or keeping extra projector bulbs in your supplies, it means preparing your teachers and administrators for possibilities that are bound to happen. It means developing a system to keep everyone informed. The Net will go down and sometimes it may be slow. Computers and printers will malfunction. But we don't need to panic. It won't help.