Post 410: The Evolution of Online Education: Tech Support, where art thou?

 The Evolution of Online Education: Tech Support, where art thou?

 

When I first started teaching online in 2005, faculty job applicants did not need to have prior experience using a LMS.  We just needed to have our college diplomas just like a face to face job.

Tech Support was there to rescue us if we did not understand how to navigate a classroom, or if there were any dead links, or if something went wrong in the online classroom.

I remember in one online school Tech Support and the boss held our hand as we step by step learned the new LMS. We were all so nervous about how to navigate the classroom, grade papers, post to the forums,  or answer student email. 

When I worked at one school, Tech Support was available 24/7. I found it fun to consult computer experts on all aspects of online teaching from computer maintenance to what antivirus software to use. I got to chat with tech experts who knew all the latest tricks on different software.

In the beginning, servers used to crash on a weekly basis because too many students were on the computer turning in their papers at the same time. This usually happened Sundays when all assignments were due so hundreds of students would be turning in their assignments all at once, then suddenly, the classroom would disappear and we would not be able to access our classrooms.

Back then, I had access to huge teacher forums where hundreds of teachers would commiserate on the fallen server and how we were not able to access our classrooms. Panicked teachers and students would flood Tech Support with calls about not being able to access their classroom due to servers that had crashed.

I used to tell students NOT to turn in their assignments last minute, and to avoid the last minute crunch by turning in their assignments earlier like on Friday night when everyone else is out partying. Or for students on the West Coast, I told students to turn in their papers after the East Coast had gone to bed. I would call Tech Support to assist me in finding dead links, or to help me with grade book averages. 

Then in 2018, I was told that Tech support's role was no longer to help faculty navigate the classroom, fix grade books, or to teach faculty the LMS.  I was told by Admin that faculty had to be more self sufficient and that Tech Support had other more urgent matters to attend to.

What a change of attitude from 2005, when bosses encouraged faculty to contact Tech Support if faculty did not know how to navigate their online classroom.

Another shift in attitude is that as the years passed, I went from a 24/7 Tech Support access system to a more 9 to 5 Monday-Friday Tech Support access system. I still had a team of experts to ask computer questions so I did not mind the shift.  During the weekends if students or faculty needed help, you could still email the help desk. Tech Support would work from home, and contact you in a few days. 

Now in 2020, when I apply for online jobs, faculty are expected to be self-sufficient, be able to fix most computer problems themselves, and know several different LMS such as Blackboard, Canvas, Brightspace or Moodle to name a few. Faculty are expected to know how to use video conferencing tools like WebEx, Microsoft Team and Zoom fluently. What a change from 2005 when all faculty was to have was a college degree and Tech Support did the rest!

"Candidates will need to be available to teach online using platforms such as Blackboard Learn, MS Teams, and WebX."

I took this job qualification quote from a typical job application! As online teaching grows due to this pandemic, I think more and more college faculty will be expected to know online computer technology. And new faculty will be dinged if they rely on Tech Support for everything.  Many older faculty who have been forced online because of the pandemic are now having trouble making the adjustment from face to face teaching to online teaching--but that is the topic of another blog post!

These days, servers do not crash as much like in the old days of 2005 because LMS have become more resilient which lessens the need for urgent Tech Support intervention to bring back the server for hundreds of panicked students and faculty. The need for a local Tech Support team for each school has also lessened. Now schools can hire just one techie guy (not a team of experts anymore) and just outsource extremely difficult tech questions to the LMS company like Canvas or Zoom.

In 2005, job applicants for online jobs were mainly Baby Boomers who did not grow up with the internet which explained why they needed Tech Support for help. However, in 2020, job applicants today have grown up with the computer, thus not as much need for Tech Support. and LMS like Canvas now have multiple servers which prevents them from crashing, thus not as much need for Techy Support. Job applicants today are much more tech savvy than job applicants in 2005 (which was the first time I looked for an online job as I transitioned from face to face teaching to online teaching.)

Another reasons for the shift in attitude in Tech Support is that younger faculty take for granted that everyone knows how to handle an online classroom since they grew up not only with the internet, but also they grew up knowing how to use a cell phone and its apps for teaching purposes. Younger faculty know the latest educational apps for the phone. They can integrate phone, ipad, desktop, laptop versions of the online classroom seamlessly and effortlessly.

Meanwhile, I know of older Boomers who do not know how to add apps to their cellphone, and thus are at a distinct disadvantage if they are now looking for an online teaching job. Unlike 2005, it is no longer just good enough to have your college degree in English if you want to teach English online. I believe in the future, you will also need to know how to write interactive lessons on programs like Articulate Storyline or Adobe Captivate. In the future, online teachers may also be required to know how to create instructional games, know computer coding like Python to create such games for their students.

As technology takes over our lives more and more, just having a college degree will no longer be sufficient to find a good online job. As the workforce gets younger and younger, older workers will be forced to keep up or become obsolete. Work experience, in my opinion, is not as important as technological savvy in the future to be hired.  Older Boomers  will really need to take computer classes to keep up with the younger generation if they want to get hired now in the online teaching field.