Streamlining Technical Support with LocknCharge Smart Lockers and Incident IQ at Hamilton County Schools

Hamilton County Schools, located in Chattanooga, TN, is made up of 79 school locations and is responsible for educating over 44,500 students.

The incorporation of technology into their classrooms has addressed the unique requirements of their student population while opening a realm of opportunities by enriching curriculum through improved communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking skills.

Jeremy Knox, the Coordinator of Technical Support, has played a pivotal role in managing innovative solutions to address technical issues efficiently across the district. This case study delves into how the adoption of Smart Lockers and Incident IQ transformed the technical support landscape at Hamilton County Schools.

Challenges Faced: Managing Technical Issues with One-to-One Chromebooks

Prior to the implementation of Smart Lockers, Hamilton County Schools encountered significant challenges in managing technical issues with one-to-one Chromebooks. The district relied on personnel stationed at each school to handle Chromebook problems and issue replacement devices.

This approach often resulted in delays, with students experiencing extended wait times of hours or even days. Furthermore, it consumed a considerable portion of the staff’s valuable time, which could have been allocated more effectively to high priority initiatives.

Solution Implemented: FUYL Tower Smart Lockers and Incident IQ

Recognizing the need for a more streamlined technical support system, Jeremy Knox led the adoption of FUYL Tower Smart Lockers and the Incident IQ integration. With 75 Smart Lockers spread across 73 locations, the new system provided self-serve access to replacement Chromebooks for students, while Incident IQ served as a comprehensive ticketing system to facilitate issue resolution and maintain device accountability.

Results Achieved: Self-Service to Loaner Devices in Minutes

The implementation of Smart Lockers and Incident IQ revolutionized the technical support process at Hamilton County Schools. By empowering teachers to submit requests to IT, the district drastically reduced turnaround times. Instead of waiting hours or days, both the student and teacher receive a notification with replacement instructions almost instantly. From there students can quickly access a ready-to-use loaner device in a matter of minutes. This swift resolution ensures minimal disruption to classroom learning and keeps students engaged and productive.

Jeremy Knox notes that the new system has saved considerable time for both staff and students.

“It’s saved us a lot of time. It’s easy to implement. We quickly learned the process and it’s served our needs greatly.” – Jeremy Knox , Coordinator of Technical Support at Hamilton County Schools

The ease of implementation and quick adaptation to the process underscore the effectiveness of the new program in meeting the district's technical support needs. Based on the success experienced at Hamilton County Schools, Jeremy enthusiastically recommends these solutions to other districts seeking to streamline their technical support processes.

Conclusion: Technical Support Operations Transformed

The adoption of FUYL Tower Smart Lockers and Incident IQ has transformed technical support operations at Hamilton County Schools, enhancing efficiency and minimizing disruption to learning. Through leadership and commitment to innovation, the district has established a model for effective technical support that benefits staff and students alike.

Schedule a Live Product Demo

Schedule a live video demo with a LocknCharge team member to get a closer look at how our products help make your life easier.

Continue Reading

Tech Team at Brasher Falls Spends 80% Less Time Managing Student Device Issues by Utilizing a Smart Locker by LocknCharge

Introduction: Brasher Falls Central School District

The Technology Department at Brasher Falls Central School District faced an all-too-common challenge in managing student Chromebooks. Students frequently forgot to bring or to charge their devices. This led to a substantial time investment from the school's technology team, which quickly prompted the need for a more efficient solution.

Customer Challenge: Uncharged, Missing, Forgotten Student Chromebooks

The Director of Data and Technology, Kevin Welsh, highlighted the daily struggle of managing uncharged, missing, or forgotten Chromebooks in the middle school and high school. The two technicians in his office were spending 2 to 2.5 hours daily addressing these issues, requiring constant attention to loan out and to track the return of student Chromebooks.

  • Tech team challenges included:

    • Constant interruptions to tech team
    • No way to know who is taking what device
    • Significant time of IT staff wasted dealing with student device issues

Solution: FUYL Tower Smart Locker System by LocknCharge

To alleviate the stress on the technology team and enhance device student accountability, Brasher Falls Central School District adopted FUYL Tower Smart Lockers by LocknCharge.

Kevin expressed his motivation for investing in these Smart Lockers, emphasizing the need for a solution that would reduce the time spent managing student device issues and provide a better inventory and tracking system for loaner devices.

  • Tech team benefits included:

    • Reduction of daily interruptions to tech staff
    • Ability to quickly see which students have not returned their loaner devices
    • Decreased the number of lost and stolen Chromebooks

Results and Impact: 80% reduction in time spent managing student device issues

Implementing LocknCharge Smart Lockers proved to be a game-changer for Brasher Falls Central School District. The technology department reported a significant reduction in the number of instances where students required assistance due to uncharged or forgotten Chromebooks; therefor, decreasing the number of daily interruptions to the IT technicians and other staff. The technology team's daily commitment to handling these issues decreased from 2 to 2.5 hours to about 30 minutes per day.

Recommendation and Overall Satisfaction:

Brasher Falls Central School District's Tech Department enthusiastically recommended LocknCharge Smart Lockers to other school districts.

  • Key reasons for the District's recommendation:

    • Time-saving benefits
    • Improved inventory management
    • Enhanced accountability
    • Overall ease of use of the system

The Lockers not only streamlined the process of managing student devices but also contributed to a more efficient and stress-free environment for the IT Technicians.

Conclusion: Improved Efficiency and Accountability

The LocknCharge Smart Locker Solution at Brasher Falls Central School District emerged as a success story, showcasing a remarkable 80% reduction in time spent managing student device issues. The implementation of Smart Lockers not only addressed the immediate challenges faced by the technology team but also provided a foundation for improved efficiency and accountability in the school's technology management process.

Schedule a Live Product Demo

Schedule a live video demo with a LocknCharge team member to get a closer look at how our products help make your life easier.

Continue Reading

4 Ways Smart Lockers Make Life Easier for Tech Managers, Teachers and Students in K-12 Schools

As most educators, technology teams or administrators know first-hand, when a student’s device goes missing or breaks, that student can quickly fall behind in classwork. What’s worse, learning for an entire class can come to a screeching halt if a teacher’s device isn’t functioning properly.

So, getting a working device in the hands of students and teachers faster means everyone can get back to learning with minimal disruption.

We also know that tech teams are already stressed with more work than they’re able to handle. So, here are the top ways Smart Lockers will make life easier for tech teams, librarians, teachers and even students.

1. It is one less thing that IT staff and managers have to spend time on.

Smart Lockers allow students to access a device on their own whenever a replacement or a loaner is needed.

By automating this, IT staff, librarians or teachers are able to do the jobs that they actually want to be doing because they're no longer solving problems caused by lost, stolen, broken, forgotten, or uncharged devices.

2. Smart Lockers allow students and teachers who are experiencing IT problems to get back to teaching and learning faster.

By populating Smart Lockers in strategic locations around your campus, students are empowered to check out or exchange a device if they need a loaner for the day. Because students can access the loaners without assistance, they can get straight back to learning as quick as possible.

The goal of many schools is get as close to zero downtime as possible, but considerable time is lost through this process when it's not automated.

Utilizing a Smart Locker is one way schools are working toward achieving that goal.

3. Smart Lockers allow you to scale your mobile device programs more efficiently and effectively.

We've heard stories of schools that purchased hotel safes and mounted them to carts as a way to enable individual access to individual devices.

As ingenious as this is – Smart Lockers allow that to happen at a far more scalable rate.

Once your Smart Locker is connected to the Cloud, you're able to see who is accessing devices on any campus, who is putting them back, or who is not putting them back.

This transparency allows tech managers to hold students accountable for devices being check out of the Locker. It also ensures multiple loaners are not being checked out by a student.

4. You can save time and create efficiencies by integrating a Smart Locker with the existing IT systems.

By utilizing API and web hooks, Smart Lockers can be integrated into help desk platforms that you're using to manage your mobile devices today.

For example, the School District of Mondovi used Zapier to fire a webhook every time the Smart Locker was accessed.

Little Miami integrated Learn21's Tech Director Toolbox with their FUYL Tower Smart Lockers to streamline device distribution and collection – and to manage broken device exchanges. The TDT pre-built integration offers an easy-to-use kiosk interface, making it simple for endusers to access devices inside the Smart Locker.

Moore Public Schools integrated their Smart Locker with Incident IQ via a pre-built integration. This enabled end-to-end automation for hardware asset management.

So, there you have it. The top four reasons that Tech Teams are utilizing Smart Lockers in their schools to create efficiencies, save time and money and get students back to learning faster.

If you like this content, please check out more on YouTube or on our blog. LocknCharge is here to make life easier for you in the classroom.

Get in Touch

Discover how a FUYL Tower Smart Locker can transform device management for your school.

Continue Reading

Goodpasture Christian School Efficiently Loans Devices to Students by Utilizing a Smart Locker

Goodpasture Christian School LogoMadison, TN | December 2023

Goodpasture Christian School strives to develop the skills necessary for students to achieve academic excellence while preparing them for a life of service. Their high school students consistently achieve at the top 10% of ACT scores with 100% of students being accepted into college. Like many schools, they've adopted mobile device technology as an avenue to enhance teaching and learning.

The Challenge: Device Loans for Students

The technology department at Goodpasture consists of one Technology Director, Tammy Applegate. Tammy has been tasked with managing technology for the entire school, which is made up of 1,000 students. It’s no surprise that efficiently managing and distributing these devices to students was a big challenge.

Traditionally, students had to interrupt Tammy or library staff to check out a loan device, causing delays and disruptions to students’ class schedules and staffs’ primary duties.

Additionally, tracking and managing broken devices proved to be a cumbersome task, with limited visibility into the whereabouts of loaner devices.

To meet their academic goals, Goodpasture needed to ensure students had immediate access to working devices anytime they were needed.

The Solution: Smart Lockers

FUYL Tower Smart Locker Implementation

To enhance efficiency and to empower students, Goodpasture Christian School implemented a FUYL Tower Smart Locker. The Tower not only facilitated independent device loans for students experiencing issues with missing or forgotten devices, but it also offered a streamlined solution for exchanging broken devices.

Results and Key Outcomes: Significant Time Savings for Staff, Less Device Downtime for Students

The FUYL Tower had an immediate and positive impact on the school's device management process.

  • Self-Sufficiency and Time Savings: With the FUYL Tower in place, students could independently check out devices, reducing the need for involvement from the tech director or the library staff. This resulted in quicker turnaround times and less disruption to classroom activities.
  • Loaner Device System for Broken Devices: The Tower served as a hub for loaner devices in case of broken laptops. Students could easily swap their malfunctioning device for a loaner without assistance.
  • Enhanced Visibility and Accountability: The FUYL Tower provided insights into loaner checkouts and returns, allowing the tech director to track who checked out a device and for how long. This feature proved invaluable in ensuring timely returns and minimizing the risk of prolonged device loans at a time.
  • Convenient Monitoring: The strategic placement of the FUYL Tower allowed the tech department to monitor device checkouts more efficiently. With visibility of the Tower from her office, Tammy could provide in-person help if needed, creating a seamless support experience. As the students became familiar with the device loaning process, there has been less involvement from staff, saving significant time every morning.
  • Time Savings for Staff: The implementation of the FUYL Tower significantly reduced the workload for the tech director, especially during peak times like mornings. The automated system allowed for a more hands-off approach, freeing up staff to focus on more critical tasks.

Recommendation: FUYL Tower Saves Time for Students and Staff

The success of the FUYL Tower at Goodpasture Christian School, particularly for a school with a small tech department run by a single person, highlights its suitability for similar settings. The time and resource savings, combined with the improved device management capabilities, make the FUYL Tower a valuable asset for educational institutions looking to streamline their technology lending processes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the FUYL Tower not only addressed the immediate challenges faced by Goodpasture Christian School but also emerged as a solution that contributed to a more efficient and self-sufficient learning environment where students can thrive.

Continue Reading

Streamlining Laptop Management at Hernando County School District with FUYL Tower Smart Lockers and Learn21

Hernando County School District Florida Logo

Background: Hernando County School District One-to-One Device Program

Hernando County School District, located in Florida, faced a common challenge. Their limited team of only 11 field technicians are responsible for managing technology resources across its 23 school sites.

The district recognized the need for a more efficient system to handle laptop issues for broken, lost, and forgotten devices, without causing disruptions to learning and classroom activities.

The Challenge: Overloaded IT Field Technicians

With technicians on campus only two days per week, there was a significant gap in providing immediate support for students in need of replacement laptops. The district sought a solution that would eliminate interruptions to learning, classroom time, and testing, while also reducing the workload on their already-stretched technical team.

The Solution: FUYL Towers Smart Lockers by LocknCharge + Learn21

Joseph Amato, the Director of Technology & Information Services at Hernando County School District, found the answer in the FUYL Tower Smart Locker System and Learn21 help desk platform. The FUYL Tower serves as a kiosk, enabling students to easily swap out laptops or receive loaner devices without waiting for a technician to be on-site. The system streamlined the process, ensuring that learning activities continued seamlessly.

Benefits: Students and Staff

  • Efficiency Gains: Before implementing FUYL Towers, technicians were dedicating 60-70% of their man hours to laptop swaps and one-to-one device issues for students. Post-implementation, this time was significantly reduced, allowing technicians to focus on other critical tasks.
  • Reduced Disruptions: The FUYL Tower eliminated interruptions to learning by providing an instant solution for students requiring laptop replacements. This quick and efficient process minimizes downtime in classrooms and during testing periods.
  • Automated Tracking: The FUYL Tower not only provides immediate solutions but when integrated with the Learn21 platform, it also automates the tracking of laptops. This feature helps in monitoring and managing the district's technology resources more effectively.
  • Time and Resource Savings: The streamlined process resulted in saving hundreds of man-hours per week across the district. Technicians now spend more time ensuring that all technology in the school is operational, teachers have the necessary resources, and students have the tools they need for their education.
  • Ease of Implementation and Integration: The FUYL Tower system seamlessly integrates with the district's Student Information System (SIS) and is easy to implement. The Towers are reliable, easy to set up, and user friendly.
  • Responsive Support: Both Learn21 and LocknCharge are dedicated to world-class customer support. This responsiveness ensures that the district's needs are promptly addressed, contributing to an overall positive experience.

Recommendation: A great solution for schools of all shapes and sizes.

Joseph Amato highly recommends the FUYL Tower Smart Locker solution to other school districts, irrespective of their size. The ease of implementation, seamless integration, reliability, and time savings make it a valuable asset for any educational institution looking to optimize laptop management and help desk support services.

"It's made a major difference... it's saved hundreds of man-hours per week across the district."

The successful collaboration between Hernando County School District, LocknCharge and Learn21 has led to a more efficient and effective technology support system, ultimately benefiting both staff and students.

Schedule a Live Product Demo

Schedule a live video demo with a LocknCharge team member to get a closer look at how our products help make your life easier.

Continue Reading