A big challenge of having 1-to-1 computing environments in schools is having to repair the devices when they inevitably break down.
Repairing devices is costly and time-consuming. If a district repairs them internally, it takes up a lot of the time of a staff that’s often already spread thin. If a district sends devices elsewhere, turnaround can take weeks.
In the Bowling Green district in Kentucky, which has had a 1-to-1 computing environment for a decade, the information technology department has found a way to free up its staff to focus on higher-level district projects while keeping Chromebook repairs internal.
The solution? Let high school students do the repairs.
In a June 30 poster presentation at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 here, Megan Marcum, the district’s digital learning coach, shared how the school system’s student-run Chromebook repair team has been operating smoothly for 10 years, with no downsides.
Here’s how it works: When a Chromebook breaks, a teachers submits a ticket. Students then diagnose the problem, repair or replace the broken parts, test the device, log their work, and notify the teacher when it’s ready for pickup.
Students on the Chromebook repair team receive class credit and can also get paid $10 an hour, said William King, the district’s technology director.
“It’s a pretty well-oiled machine at this point,” Marcum said. “We take a step back and let the kids do what they do.”
Here are a few pros for the district, according to Marcum:
- Cost savings: The district avoids costly repair fees and only pays for the parts and students’ labor.
- Faster turnaround: Sending Chromebooks to a company for repairs takes weeks, but a district student repair team can fix the devices in days.
- Career-ready learning: The students get a paid, authentic, real-world learning experience that they can parlay into their future careers or in college. Students train the next generation of the team as they progress through the program.
- A built-in talent pipeline: Students may go on to pursue careers in IT, and some have joined the district’s tech staff.
“Our district-level technicians, instead of having to spend literally all day every day working on Chromebook tickets, they’re opened up to do bigger-level district projects,” Marcum said. These projects include securing networks, running cables, and working on security cameras.
It has helped retain IT staff, too, Marcum said, because they find their work more satisfying.
“These are college graduates who don’t really want to repair Chromebook screens all day,” she said. “Retention is better if you can train someone else to do the Chromebook repairs and free [the IT staff] up to dig their teeth into real projects.”
Want to start a student repair team?
A student repair team can start in multiple ways, depending on what works best for a district, Marcum said. It can be an after-school interest club, a class, or part of a computer science or information technology pathway.
Here are other tips from Marcum and King for districts that want to start their own student repair team:
- Have an inventory of parts and tools ready for kids to use;
- Provide a dedicated space for students to make repairs;
- Make sure there’s supervision and initial training. After students have been in the program for a while, they can train new members;
- Have an asset-management system to make tracking repairs easier.
Marcum highly recommends that districts establish these repair teams.
The students become “so dedicated to the program, they’re so proud, they have such ownership over it,” she said. “The district benefits from it, and seeing those kids grow into really confident students, … it’s really rewarding to see.”
