Our New Normal, Volume VIII

Credit the good folks on Collegiate’s Help Desk for ensuring that at least some of the obstacles we face each day are a bit less of a pain.

 

Welcome to Volume VIII of Our New Normal, a series intended to provide a window into the comings and goings on North Mooreland Road in this age of uncertainty and change created in no small measure by the scourge of COVID-19.

 

Under more normal conditions (remember those?), the Help Desk, located on the first floor of the South Science Building, is a site of constant activity. People walked in unannounced on a regular basis to have their technology problems solved. Phones rang almost incessantly. Despite the pace and the sense of urgency that often reigned when devices seemed to operate with minds of their own, Help Desk team members remained patient and unflappable. They offered explanations to complicated issues in layman’s terms so that the non-tech savvy users among us could understand. Mainly, they provided expert personal service with a smile.

 

Their spirit hasn’t changed, not one bit, but most of their work occurs through cyberspace. Call in or email, and someone can (with permission) access your computer and talk you through the problem. If you need to appear in person, you make an appointment, and when you arrive, you sanitize your hands and your computer and gaze at your tech-savior through Plexiglass barriers. As always, masks are not optional.

 

On this particular visit, I first encountered Kris Rennie, who joined the Collegiate Family in October 2013, oversaw the Help Desk for several years, and now serves as system administrator.

 

The ability to work with people’s computers remotely seems like magic, I said.

“Yes,” he replied, “it is magic. It also freaks out a lot of people when they see the machine doing things. It helped out a lot during remote learning. It’s still helping now. We’ve always had that ability. It’s just showed itself more during this time. It’s called Remote Desktop.”

 

 

“As long as that computer has an internet connection, you can be anywhere in the world, and we can help you,” he said.

 

Other than the technical stuff, what’s your new normal? I asked. It seems like you all thrive on personal connections. Has this put a damper on things?

 

“It has,” Kris replied. “You definitely have to be careful. A lot of people on the Help Desk are here because they get joy and satisfaction out of helping other people figure things out. Sometimes things don’t come across as well unless you’re in person. That’s something you have to adapt to. When you get to interact with people, you get a better feel seeing their face, their body language, how they’re doing, and how they’re taking that information you’re giving them.

 

What does role as system administrator entail? I asked

 

“System administrator makes sure that all the machines are up to date, functioning, and have the software people need,” he said.  “Sets up all the new machines for summer deployment. Literally everything that has to do with that machine. Printing from the Chromebook. You name it, I probably have something to do with it.”

 

As I was leaving Kris’s office, I ran into Matt Sakach, a Help Desk technician along with Justin Robins and Andy Santalla. All three have bailed me out at one time or another when my technology has thrown me a curve ball.

 

What’s a typical day for you?  I asked.

 

“Sitting at my desk and responding to requests that happen throughout the day as well as working on projects,” Matt said. “We’ve had a lot of remote learning projects, but we’ve since moved on to different ones. Currently I’m helping out with some security scanning of our network.”

Speak about your new normal, I said. What’s different now?

 

“The fact that everybody has to have that internet connection in their room and a connection to Zoom in order to provide for the remote students,” he replied. “That’s really changed things.”

 

 

“Right,” he said. “We have to race to their classroom. I really appreciate being able to respond to problems and get things up and running again. It’s nice to be able to charge in and solve problems.”

I’ve always liked the term Help Desk. Emphasis on the “Help,” I said.

 

“We’re here because we love working with technology,” Matt responded. “Working with the users that we see every day, I don’t just talk to these people over the phone. I see them every day. Things are definitely different. We don’t have as many walk-in appointments. When we get back to normal, it will be nice to have more water-cooler talk with people who stop by.”

 

Working in his office across the hall was Louis Fierro, the director of information technology. I asked him to talk about the Help Desk crew.

 

“The spirit of the Help Desk,” he began, “is to help our teachers teach their students as efficiently as possible. When they’re having problems that could impact their ability to deliver their expertise through teaching because of technology, it’s our job to help take that pressure off. We just want to make things easier on them as they use technology to teach students so they don’t have to spend their time troubleshooting.”

 

 

“This year is a lot different,” he said. “We’re so much more reliant on technology. We’ve put more technology in each room. We have a number of students working from home who have to have technology working to attend class. That’s increased the need for us to be there as quickly as possible.”

 

 

“From the silver-lining perspective,” Louis said, “this environment has allowed teachers to explore new technologies and realize the value of technology in the classroom, so their use of different kinds of technologies has expanded. It’s hard to see what it’ll be like when this is all over. A lot of what we’ve used this year will have staying power. Some things will be retired to the pandemic era.”

 

“One of the things we miss the most is having people come into the Help Desk,” he said. “That’s a moment where we build community. We really miss seeing people, seeing the light come on, seeing people being helped. We look forward to returning to that kind of normalcy.”

         ~Weldon Bradshaw