The Internet is Down!

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These are the four words I dread most as a Tech Coordinator. My job is to encourage (prod) teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum. I had just successfully convinced (pushed) one teacher to use Moodle to replace scan-tron sheets for her chapter assessments. I happily formatted her World Religions chapter tests and imported them to Respondus 4.0. The Religion Department invested in the exam management and creator tool for Moodle last year for all its teachers at the end of last school year. Together, we successfully pushed her tests to Moodle and was ready for the big debut.

The day before, I spent the day introducing the LockDown Browser to her high school seniors and directed her classes on installing the custom browser that locks down the testing environment within Moodle. For the most part, the installation and testing process went fairly smoothly. By taking assessments on Moodle, we were able to easily see which questions were commonly missed and students were able to see their scores instantly. I ended the day feeling that points were scored for the use of technology to improve some of the mundane tasks of teaching like assessments. Moodle, with the help of Respondus 4.0 and the LockDown Browser, makes the assessment process easy, quick, and trustworthy.

Then IT happened...

As of 9 AM the next morning, our entire Internet service was down throughout our campus. This meant that teachers could not take attendance. Students cannot access Moodle. eBooks cannot be opened. Emails cannot be read or sent. And this means that this teacher would not be instructing her students to install the LockDown Browser and assigning them to take their test on Moodle that morning. Thankfully, the Internet resumed service by 11 AM and business returned to normal. I was able to return to her last class and show how to install the LockDown Browser and how to access the chapter test on Moodle. Thankfully, the teacher had a great attitude regarding the morning and did not complain at all.

This was just a minor glitch in the road to 21st Century education, but I am still so disappointed that it happened. For a lot of teachers, when I ask them to incorporate technology it is like I am asking them to relinquish control over their class. Technology brings so many gifts to the classroom--creativity, collaboration, accountability, and efficiency. But when teachers do not trust the infrastructure to provide reliable service, they are hesitant to replace tired practices for proven new methods.

Any suggestions? As for right now, I rely heavily on the Serenity Prayer.