Empowering Education: Transforming Technology at Hill Country Christian School

The Challenge

The technology goals of school leaders were initially to support students and staff in their particular environments.

Because the school is a religious-based institution, they work on a shared network owned by the affiliated church. There are over 140 faculty and staff who work on a variety of platforms, and students each get “their own” Chromebook beginning in seventh grade. Some staff work on a combination of desktop device, Chromebook, and Mac–and things can get cumbersome quickly.

According to Philip, the Chief Operating Officer for the school, they hoped to find someone who could be on-site acting as an IT Director to navigate these developments, choose tools, understand the unique network issues, etc. “We really wanted someone right there who could take care of students as well as staff. With hundreds of people using different tools, you could imagine there were several daily fires that needed to be put out.”

The Work

Philip initially hired Live Oak because some of their key personnel had worked with him before. “We have a several-year history and Mike and his colleagues have always done a great job. I know that I could trust him, and he would be right on-site with us supporting daily needs.”

School leaders were particular when seeking a technology partner, as they really wanted a resource who was local and could help them in-person (rather than relying on a remote relationship). The complexity of the devices and the number of people using them meant IT resources needed to be on the ground–not a call or email away.

“Currently we have 2 people dedicated to the school, a third that helps with various AV, and a fourth who assists with all the church needs. So, we have 4 Live Oak resources that are physically on campus with us. Because of that, we are supported extremely well and there’s always a quick answer when we have an issue,” Philip says.

In addition to daily managed services and IT support, Live Oak has helped with some transformational projects that the school is especially excited about. “Most recently, Live Oak helped our principal to vet a new interactive TV and white board system. He worked with us to find the right tool, implement the technology, and get everyone up to speed,” Philip shares.

Another project that resulted in a huge time savings was the implementation of a new mass notification system, called Informacast. “With this new technology, we have a much more effective method of mass communication. Our old way involved lots of button pushes and could be confusing. With this system, we have pre-loaded messages available in an app. We can start a lock-down or a tornado drill with just the push of a button. Our emergency notification system is completely streamlined.”

The COO also shares that Live Oak’s team handles the technology budget, keeps inventory on all devices, manages updates, understands the lifecycle of each device in the building, and more. “Generally speaking, they take care of all of those day-to-day technology things that we don’t have a full-time resource to manage.”

“They have gone out of their way to meet our needs many times.”

– Hill Country Christian School of Austin, COO

The Results

According to the COO, “It would be hard to quantify the time savings or reduction in headaches that we get from having Live Oak here with us.” He states that the implementation of the Informacast system is a great example of the streamlining that takes place with Live Oak at the helm. “We can use an app or desktop, and interface with any number of notifications. What used to take several minutes can now be done in only a few seconds–which is critical when you’re dealing with the safety of students in an emergency.”
Perhaps most importantly, being able to use modern technology is crucial for how students learn today. Having the latest devices that work reliably means students can access the programs they need, when they need them–without dealing with IT issues along the way. Several studies point to the importance of technology integration in the classroom, with better outcomes in both student engagement and digital literacy. Having dependable technology tools in the classroom has improved opportunities across the curriculum as well as teacher administrative duties.

Philip also says Live Oak helps with the day-to-day IT needs that can seem small. “Things like setting up speakers, partnering with AV companies during school productions, making sure each room has the right access to devices–our staff would have to spend so much time trying to sort all that out.”

The Future

In a landscape where technology and academia must blend seamlessly, proper IT support within a school system is key. “They are putting out a lot of little fires right now, and we expect to work with them for years to come. We will keep working with them as long as they let us!”

Philip goes on to say: “There have been many instances where Live Oak has gone above and beyond. For instance, we were struggling with AV support. We were working with a certain company, but Live Oak pointed out that we should be getting a lot more value for what we were paying. Mike’s team was able to find a highly qualified resource and hire him so that he could start working with us immediately. We got a lot of help much faster than we expected to, plus saved some money along the way. They didn’t have to do that for us–they just put in the extra effort to make our lives easier.”