Maynard

Caitlin Maynard
ITEC 7500
Reflection – Standard 3.5
3.5 Basic Troubleshooting - troubleshoot basic software and hardware problems common in
digital learning environments.
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The “Musical Scavenger Hunt” was created as part of an unstructured field experience for
ITEC 7460, Professional Learning & Technology Innovation, during the Fall of 2019. The
scavenger hunt, presented on a Google Site, was completed in two parts: 1) Students listened to a
new song for an upcoming concert while following along with the sheet music and completed a
questionnaire afterwards and 2) Students were given a list of musical symbols to find within
sheet music. I created the activity to assist with concert preparation, to provide an opportunity
for my students to analyze the lyrics to a song for deeper meaning, and to assess their mastery of
musical symbols and definitions. While creating the artifact, minor issues popped up that
required troubleshooting.
While a Technology Coach is not responsible for large technology solutions, it is still
expected for those individuals to solve simple hardware and software problems through basic
troubleshooting, as seen in Element 3.5 of the Digital Learning Environments standard. This
especially comes in handy as educators are continuously adding digital elements to their lessons.
In years past, troubleshooting solutions included changing bulbs for the overhead projector or
formatting the 3.5” floppy disk. Now, issues can range from sharing permissions, privacy filters,
and the calibration of interactive pens, whiteboards, and projector software. In creating and
implementing the “Musical Scavenger Hunt”, I ran into different issues that needed
troubleshooting. These issues included uploading the sheet music to the site in a method they
could easily read (scanning the music as a PDF and emailing it to myself to upload onto the site),
sharing the website address with the students in an easy way (creating a TinyUrl rather than
giving them the Google-generated address), and managing student Chromebook use (making
sure students were signing in with their Barrow County Schools accounts and not their personal
ones).
As I helped my colleagues create their own sites and activities, I learned that we all do not
have the same prior knowledge and experience with technology and that basic troubleshooting
for me might be very difficult for them. I learned that patience goes a long way when helping
others, as well as a kind and non-condescending tone, and that I can never assume what they are
able to do or pick up easily. Some tasks require multiple repetitions and step-by-step
explanations even if the task, in my opinion, is simple. To improve the quality of my
troubleshooting guidance in this experience, I could have created a quick Google Form for my
colleagues to answer, rating their level of comfort of what digital tools and tasks we would be
using to create the site. I could then use their responses to tailor my instruction; if they had a
good grasp on certain terms, I wouldn’t have to define them or vice-versa. In either situation, I
could use their information to make them feel valued and not belittled.
The work that went into creating this artifact impacted faculty development. First, I was
given the opportunity to hone in on my own troubleshooting skills. A lot of this was done
through trial and error, seeing what worked and what didn’t, and researching methods to solve
hardware and software issues via articles and YouTube tutorials. Second, I was able to take the
skills that I had learned to help others who were having similar issues. While the artifact
revolved around the creation of a Google Site and student Chromebook use, the impact of that
experience can be assessed through my continued help for my colleagues as we transitioned into
online learning this fall. Teachers had issues with feedback during Google Meets, setting up
their new classroom audio and video system, and using the interactive projector software. Since
I cannot be in every classroom all of the time, I have trained a representative from each grade
level and have watched them teach and help their peers.

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Caitlin Maynard

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