Overview
This article describes the main responsibilities for all Classroom Support Technicians in CCTS. Other duties may be assigned as time permits, but you must prioritize the following duties.
Schedule
Each student will be assigned a work schedule for the semester, but that may fluctuate as needs arise for the student or the team.
- Since you will be the front line of support on classroom help for all general university classrooms (GUCs), you must notify the team in advance if you will not be able to work.
- Unless it is an emergency (illness, family needs, etc.), you are expected to give 24 hours notice that you are not able to work
- Please notify the entire team by sending an email to ccts@uidaho.edu
Classroom Help Calls
The primary responsibility of the Classroom Support Technicians is to respond to GUC help calls and tickets in a professional and timely manner.
Preparation
You will learn much of the troubleshooting on the job from a member of the team. However, refer to the following article at any time to refresh your memory: Article - Classroom System Troubleshooting
You will need access to various online systems to do your job. You can refer to the following article for how to access these tools: Article - CCTS Links and Resources
Response Time
Expectations are as follows:
- TLC classrooms - within two minutes
- GUCs in other buildings - within five minutes
Procedures for Incoming Calls and Tickets
- Monitor incoming calls and tickets at all times when working. Be sure to have your phone with you so that you can monitor from another room. When you're in the office and the help call phone rings, you are expected to answer immediately. For tickets, you should have notifications turned on so that you can see/hear alerts via email and Teams.
- Tickets should be routed properly so that all GUC tickets come to CCTS while all departmental tickets go to the TSPs. There may be times when a call or ticket comes through for a departmental space. In that case, create a ticket and assign or reroute the ticket to the TSPs by changing responsible to ITS-CEE-TSP. Only classrooms on this list are GUCs. All others should be directed to TSPs. If a departmental ticket comes through that was rerouted to CCTS after a TSP tried to fix the problem, a full-time CCTS team member will take the ticket. You are only responsible for GUCs.
- Notify the rest of the team that you are taking responsibility for a help call/ticket. You can do so verbally if you are in the office but also do so through the Teams Classroom Help Calls channel.
- Take keys and necessary supplies that may be needed to solve the problem.
- Upon return of responding to a classroom help call, complete the ticket in TDX:
- If a ticket doesn't already exist, create one.
- Click Create Incident Ticket
- Form: Classroom Technology Issues - Form
- Type: OIT / General Ticket
- Service: Classroom Technology/Classroom Technology Issues
- Source: select how the help was initiated
- Requestor: if you don't know the name, look it up on the classroom schedule
- Acct/Dept: this information is also on the classroom schedule but should automatically filled in when the requestor field is complete
- Classroom/Building: this must be included
- Room Number: this must be included
- I need assistance with: can select more than one
- Short description: up to a few words
- Description: include pertinent details
- Responsible: change OIT-TII-Classrooms (Group) to your name
- CCTS-Solution Type: can select more than one, be sure to include the expanded menus for Replaced Equipment, Training Issue, Peripherals, and Replaced Consumable
- Urgency: leave as is
- Status: if the problem was solved, change status to Resolved
- Update the ticket, and take responsibility
- Complete the entire form (as outlined above under creating a new ticket)
- If the problem was not solved, follow up with team and change responsible to OIT-TII-Classroom
- If you are unable to solve the problem and it needs solved immediately, use Teams Classroom Help Calls channel to tell the group that you need assistance
Etiquette
Please keep in mind the following skills when dealing with customers on help calls:
- Practice LAST:
- Listen - Ask questions and exhibit patience in listening closely to their description of the problem. Even if a help call came in as having an issue with the display, don't assume that is the problem. Help calls are often about not understanding how to use the equipment.
- Apologize - "I'm sorry you are experiencing this problem. Let me see what I can do." By using such a statement, you show empathy and may help to diffuse the situation. Remember that the instructor may be completely thrown off guard by a technical issue and is concerned with losing class time. Be understanding of that situation.
- Solve - Try to work quickly, but keep the instructor informed of your progress. Avoid technical jargon. An instructor may not want you to restart the system if they can work around the issue for that one class. You may need to solve problems between classes.
- Thank - Thank the instructor for their patience or for reporting the problem.
- Show rather than tell. For example, instead of telling the instructor to share the document camera as a 2nd camera in Zoom, show them how to do it. Then let them practice doing it themselves, if there is time.
Classroom Cleaning & Preventative Maintenance
Classroom Support Technicians are responsible for performing preventative maintenance checks as they come in. These will appear in RMS for AMX rooms and as a ticket for Extron rooms. Preventative maintenance requires all of the following categories: cleaning, replacements, and the actual maintenance.
Cleaning
- Wipe down entire lectern, including the doors where drinks may have been spilled, the keyboard tray, the shelf, etc.
- Clean the monitors and touch panel by spraying screen cleaner onto a microfiber cloth and then wiping. Ensure the screens are dry after wiping.
- Return lectern items to their proper place:
- The thin black expo marker and ThinkBoard cloth should be placed near the ThinkBoard.
- Ensure the wireless presenter is placed on top of the lectern.
- Remove other items from the lectern:
- Personal items like ear buds, clothing, glasses, water bottles, etc. should be returned to the buildings lost and found (or our offices lost and found).
- Class materials like notes can be left on a front table in the classroom.
- Miscellaneous items like pens and garbage can be thrown out.
Replacements as needed
- Unreadable or damaged support labels
- ThinkBoards - replace if badly misaligned with the document camera, the corners are peeling off too far, if the ThinkBoard is too dirty, etc.
- Microfiber cloth
- Markers - thin black Expo marker for ThinkBoard and assorted large markers for large whiteboard
- Eraser for large whiteboard
- Check the HDMI/Mic drawer and ensure that any equipment needed for the classroom is present and labeled with the correct room number.
- Clicker (remember to label any replacement clickers with return to room #, example: return to TLC 022)
- Stylus for touch monitors
Preventative Maintenance
Computer & Touch Panel
- Turn on the system and sign into the computer.
- If there are two monitors, ensure that they automatically switch to extend mode upon startup. If not, write down the room to be added to the auto extend group.
- Use Zoom to test audio (mic and speaker) and video (huddle cam, doc cam, Aver).
- For audio, test the volume range and mute via the touch panel. Check that the microphone used in Zoom is working.
- For video, check any primary cameras in the room (huddlecam or standalone camera). If there is a standalone camera, test any applicable functionality: presets, arrows & zoom in/out, auto tracking, etc. Finally, check the doc cam to PC connection by sharing screen then sharing second camera.
- If there is a wireless microphone in the room, test its volume range and mute.
- Launch a PowerPoint to test the presentation clicker.
- If the room is a "comm room" (certain rooms in the TLC), then test the Blue Iris system.
- The username is “user” and there is no password.
- Once signed in, make sure that video is recording from the camera in the back of the room and that recordings automatically save to a USB drive (3.0 or higher).
- Test switching to other video/audio sources (Doc Cam, HDMI, Blu-ray, VGA).
- Bring a laptop to test HDMI and VGA.
- Bring a Blu-ray DVD to test the Blu-ray player.
- Test the rest of the lectern top ports (USB and power).
- Ensure that the keyboard is working properly and is securely set in the tray.
- Make sure that the projector is functioning.
- Test the projector mute on the touch panel
- Make sure the projected image is focused and aligned with the projector screen.
- Make note of any excessive fan noise.
- Test the projector screen.
- Raise, lower, and stop fully. Note how smoothly the screen moves and how it sounds.
- Make note of any stickiness, damage, marks, and grime and record the condition and priority of cleaning on this spreadsheet if needed: https://vandalsuidaho.sharepoint.com/:x:/r/sites/ClassroomTechnology/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc=%7B79E069EC-46A3-4653-8893-0ED1770CC562%7D&file=Projector%20screen%20cleaning.xlsx&action=default&mobileredirect=true
Lectern
- Check the light on the surge suppressor, it should be green. If the room uses a WattBox, ensure all of the status lights are green except for Internet which will be red and auto reboot which will be off.
- Ensure the back of the lectern is locked.
Floor/wall Box
- Ensure that cables are neat and tidy and that nothing is damaged or being pulled taught.
Classroom
- If you notice any safety, lighting, or door handle issues or any damage to the room note them in the ticket and send a request to facilities. (Login Page (famis.com)) If you notice any damaged furniture, make a note of it in the ticket, but do not send a request to facilities.
Once all of these steps are completed, go to the tech page and press PM completed / reset PM hours.
TDX Ticket to Track
- When you return to the office, complete a TDX ticket:
- Create Service Ticket
- When filling out the ticket, leave any fields not mentioned below unchanged.
- Form: Internal Service Request - Classroom Preventative Maintenance
- Status: Resolved (if you completed the PM and there are no further issues to be fixed)
- Requestor: Your staff account.
- Building & Room: The building and room that you completed the PM in.
- Subject: Change [Name of Classroom] to the class abbreviation followed by room number. (Example: AD 301)
- Exhibiting Any Issues?: Include any issues with the technology (not things you cleaned or replaced).
- If problems were found that you were not able to solve, after saving the ticket, update to change responsible to OIT-TII-Classroom.
- CCTS-Replaced Consumable: Check off any consumables that you replaced.
- System & Controls and Podium Peripherals: Check off any equipment that you found issues with or had to replace.
CCTS Orders & Inventory Procedures
Another responsibility is checking the mail for CCTS daily and checking in orders and adjusting inventory as needed. Orders are checked off on this document as they arrive. CCTS equipment not in use, is kept in a storage room located in TLC. The inventory in this room is organized and all item's locations are recorded in an Excel doc CTS Storage Inventory.xlsm. CCTS requires that this inventory spreadsheet is kept up to date. See the article below for instructions on processing inventory.
You may be asked to update or create knowledge base (KB) articles as time permits. See Article - Knowledge Base Article Guidelines for instructions.