First Half Help Desk

     I believe the first half of help desk was a success for me. I was able to successfully help students and faculty with a variety of technological problems. The beginning of the year was very busy at times with the new implementation and use of google classroom, catalog, notability, and google drive. Some problems were strictly administrative issues, but commonly it was a teacher or student who was not completely familiar with the app, and they needed a little bit of help. I feel that the majority of people who came to the help desk with an issue were able to get a solution that worked for them. Later in the year people had problems specific to their iPad, not a widespread issue as earlier in the year. With the less frequent help desk visits I then had time to help teachers learn and use the technology in their own classroom more efficiently. I helped teachers with Apple TV and helped a whole class download the air watch app on their personal iPads. All of those experiences led to a productive first semester of help desk.

     One thing I particularly like about help desk is the practicality. I get to learn about common problems people have with technology. When I see those problems I learn how to fix them and increase my knowledge of technology. For me it is important I know as much as possible about technology because I am pursuing a degree in computer science, or computer engineering. Another practical aspect of help desk is customer service. I have to interact, understand, and assist "customers" with their technology problems. Both of these skills are very practical and they are not skills taught in a traditional classroom setting.
   
    Currently help desk is run efficiently. Whenever someone comes to the help desk their problem can get resolved, the problem is there are very few people who stop by. Most people stopped going to help desk after the major iPad issues had been sorted out. Now I think people are not aware of what help desk does. I have had students and teachers ask me where help desk is, and what we do. I think help desk can be a very valuable resource, but students and teachers are not fully aware of what help desk is. For next semester I would try to focus on making sure everyone in the school knows help desk is always open, and they can always get help with their tech issues. To raise awareness a slide or two could be put into the generic tv slide show around the school, and fliers placed in high traffic areas of the school. If more people are aware of help desk I think the whole school would benefit.

The First Follower

     The first follower is important because they kickstart a movement. Without a fist follower there would be no one interested in a movement. There would be one person who is leading a movement, but no one who cares about it. Use Apple as an example.
     Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were the leaders of the personal computer movement. They thought it was important that everyone in the world should have a personal computer. At first no one believed them, but then they got their first follower. Paul Terrell was the owner of an electronics store in California. He was the person to sell Apple computers because he believed in the product. Without Paul Terrell Apple, or personal computers, may not exist. That is the power of the first follower.

iPad App of the Week: PDF to Word

On Flipboard I stumbled across an interesting article called, "iPad App of the Week: PDF to Word". It was about an app that takes any PDFs document you have and converts it into a Microsoft Word file. I  have not had a chance to try it out for myself just yet, but the idea is very interesting. There have been plenty of times where I have a pdf of questions I need to answer. To get around that problem, I normally open Notability then type in the answers in a text box. If I could take a pdf, then type directly into it it would be so much easier. Also a Microsoft Word document is more universal than a Notability document. This app would make my school life easier.

Hour of Code

During help desk this week, our class participated in the Hour of Code. The goal was to use basic html as an introduction to computer science. I had already had experience with computer science, but not with html. The coding was not too complicated too understand, but using an iPad to type in Khan Academy was difficult. It is nice to know that there is a national effort to teach kids about computer science. Overall I enjoyed my hour of Code experience.

Topcon and DAQRI

On Flipboard there was an article titled, "Topcon and DAQRI Collaborate on Wearable Tech for Construction." This article talked about how two companies are making a new construction helmet to assist construction workers. What I found most interesting about the article was one of the companies I had heard of. DAQRI is the same company that made the app Elements 4D. I just assumed they specialized in app making, but in they actually have reality augmentation software that they use for multiple purposes. They help turn paper blocks into interactive learning tools, and help construction workers stay safe and work efficiently. I am interested to see what the future holds and how reality augmentation help improve the world around us.

Senior Center Excel

Every Tuesday me and a few friends go to the Mendon Senior Center to help people learn about technology. Normally everything works, and all of their problems can be solved. Yesterday one repeat customer came in and had a few questions about Microsoft Excel. There were four people there and none of them knew how to help this lady. Throughout all of middle school we were taught PowerPoint and Word, but never Excel. I was upset I could not answer the simplest of questions about a common piece of software. I think it is important for kids to learn Excel at a young age because of how integrated it is in adult life.

Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Jake Barefoot. I am part of the Nipmuc help desk team. I will be posting here at least once a week about what we are doing in help desk. I will post any issues or completed projects. Stay tuned for more.