01Infrastructure · learning platforms · leadership

School technology at scale

2013–presentCase study

The problem

A school’s technology only works when devices, rooms, platforms, staff practice and recovery plans work together. The task was never a single repair; it was building a dependable environment around teaching.

My role

Computing and Technology Teacher, Computer Coordinator, platform administrator, staff trainer and later Head Teacher Technology.

What the job actually became

I didn’t just fix computers.
I built the operating layer around a school.

Technology worked only when rooms, devices, software, people and recovery plans worked together. Over more than a decade, I kept moving between all seven layers.

Devices

Approximately 650 iPads, hundreds of computers and laptops, carts, charging and deployment.

Places

Computer laboratories, flexible layouts, projectors, displays, speakers and specialist spaces.

Platforms

BookIt, RAP, Moodle, Sentral, the staff intranet, executive documents and the media server.

People

Weekly staff learning, daily support, documentation and a student technical crew.

Learning

Software, robotics, CAD, 3D printing, electronics, multimedia and project-based courses.

Media

Websites, newsletters, school photography, video, drone capture and event production.

Continuity

Remote learning, server recovery, flood rebuilding and dependable day-to-day operation.

Start with the physical reality

Rooms people could actually use.

I planned layouts, found or purchased furniture, reclaimed hardware, imaged machines, ran cabling and built flexible spaces for classes, media work, robotics and lunchtime projects.

Empty school computer lab after a complete workstation deployment — A12 / deployment Twelve workstations imaged, connected and ready.

Shelves of reclaimed computers and monitors prepared for reuse — Behind the room Reclaim, sort, rebuild, return to service.

Panoramic view of the completed A12 computing room with a full ring of workstations and wall displays — A12 / the finished environment A complete room—not a product shot: workstations, displays, cabling and a twelve-piece computing-history signage system I designed around how students actually moved and learned.

The scale under the surface

Every polished room had a deployment behind it.

The visible classroom was only the last metre of the system. Devices had to be staged, networks had to carry them, and small physical problems still needed practical fixes.

Dozens of school iPads arranged in labelled deployment stacks across classroom tables — Fleet deployment / 2020 Part of an approximately 650-iPad environment staged for enrolment, configuration and classroom use.

School fibre, switching, server and power equipment arranged across two network racks — Network layer Fibre, switching, servers, power and the less photogenic work that made every classroom endpoint possible.

Original PlayStation hardware held safely on a wall using custom yellow 3D-printed mounts — Small problem / made solution Custom 3D-printed mounts turned loose controllers into usable, durable room infrastructure.

Aerial frame of Mullumbimby High School and Mount Chincogan from David’s 2019 website banner film — Website banner / 2019 / opening aerialA privacy-safe frame from the original 72-second edit. Later people-focused footage remains out of the public portfolio.

The school had to communicate, too

Technology became media, signage and story.

I filmed and edited the school website banner, redesigned and maintained the website, built the staff intranet, produced newsletters and digital signage, and regularly shot photography, video and drone material for school communication and events.

≈650iPads onboarded and managed, based on the retained role record

≈3×growth in devices regularly used in classes during the documented 2018 intervention

4–5hto rebuild, restore and reconnect the failed media server

5–10student technology issues handled on a typical day in the workload record

When the missing piece was software

I built it around the timetable—not around a product demo.

I built BookIt as a functional C# room and resource booking application; the surviving archive does not independently establish how widely it was deployed. RAP was a much broader whole-school system: a web application, imported data, reporting through Sentral, staff training, procedures and visual communication. The public reconstructions below use entirely synthetic data.

Privacy-safe crop of David’s self-hosted 2013 Moodle course for Year 12 Software Design and Development — Live platform / 14 November 2013My self-hosted MullumTAS Moodle gave computing classes one consistent place for tasks, resources, submissions, glossaries, forums and quizzes. Browser address, account controls and administration were removed from this public crop.

BookItWeekly bookings · synthetic demonstration— □ ×

MonScience 8Media 10Robotics

TueDesign 9Music 8Senior study

WedPrimary visitSoftware 11Staff learning

ThuEngineeringGraphics 10Open lab

FriTechnology 7Film projectMaintenance

RAP / 2018Respect · Responsibility · LearningSynthetic demonstration

5Consistently4Usually3Developing2Sometimes1Not yet

01 Web application02 Data import03 Sentral reporting04 Staff training + posters

Common scoring → reflection → long-term averages → trend reporting

Make the difficult thing tangible

Code had wheels, sensors, gears and consequences.

I ran robotics with Lego and custom electronics, taught CAD and 3D printing, and mentored students through a custom go-kart from a blank page to a working machine. For that build we researched, drew, modelled, welded, printed, tested and revised—not from a purchased plan, but from the problem itself.

Completed custom black go-kart photographed in the school workshop without identifiable people — 2025 / the completed from-scratch go-kart

Close-up of welded steel joints on the custom go-kart chassis — Fabrication detail / steel, welds and revision

Close-up of a tracked Lego robotics system without identifiable people — Robotics / mechanisms, sensors and code

The real test

Could learning continue when the system was under pressure?

Restored but empty school computer room awaiting replacement equipment after flood loss — 25 March 2022Room restored. Displays and benches ready. Devices still absent.

The same school computer room six days later with a complete working computer fleet — 31 March 2022Six days later: the same room had returned to service as a working computer environment.

Server failure

Rebuilt the media server, restored the backup and repaired its links to the intranet and Sentral in four to five hours.

Remote learning

Built guidance and workflows, trained staff and supported students and families through learning from home.

Flood recovery

I helped rebuild operational technology spaces while the school was also moving through a major infrastructure upgrade. The dated sequence above records one room returning to service in six days.

Constraints

01Legacy rooms and uneven infrastructure
02Very limited formal release time for whole-school support
03Different levels of staff confidence
04Continuity through remote learning and flood recovery

What I built

Rebuilt computer learning environments from room layouts and cabling through imaging, deployment and daily support
Onboarded and managed an approximately 650-iPad fleet alongside hundreds of computers, laptops and classroom displays
BookIt, a functional C# room and resource booking application
A whole-school RAP system spanning a web application, data import, Sentral reporting, staff training, procedures and posters
A staff intranet, executive document system, media server, self-hosted Moodle and whole-school Sentral workflows
Weekly staff development, troubleshooting, documentation and a student technical crew
Remote-learning workflows and rebuilding operational technology spaces after flooding
A redesigned school website, staff intranet, newsletters, digital signage, photography, video, drone capture and event production

Key decisionsHow the work moved

Design around the school day

Systems were made for real staff behaviour: fast to access, easy to explain and supportable between lessons.

Build capability, not dependence

Professional learning and clear workflows sat beside the technical fix so teachers could keep moving without a specialist in the room.

Recover the learning first

During disruption, priority went to the smallest dependable set of tools that could reconnect staff and students.

Measurable proof

≈650

iPads onboarded and managed, based on the retained role record

≈3×

growth in devices regularly used in class during the 2018 intervention

4–5h

to rebuild and reconnect the failed media server

$6.5k

2018 leadership scholarship

Primary record ↗

78.1

2019 SDD class average, above the 73.8 state average

Primary record ↗

Artefact gallerySanitised & provenance checked

Panoramic view of the completed A12 school computing environment

The completed A12 environment: a full ring of workstations, wall displays, signage and room-scale planning.

David Steedman school technology photo archive; metadata-free public export · public

Dozens of school iPads arranged in deployment stacks across classroom tables

Dozens of iPads staged together during fleet deployment—one visible part of an approximately 650-device environment.

David Steedman school technology photo archive; metadata-free public export · public

School fibre, switching, server and power equipment across two network racks

Fibre, switching, server and power infrastructure behind the classroom endpoints.

David Steedman school technology photo archive; metadata-free public export · public

Restored but empty computer room awaiting devices after flood loss

25 March 2022: the restored room ready for replacement devices after flood loss.

David Steedman school flood-recovery photo archive; metadata-free public export · public

The same computer room six days later with a complete working fleet

31 March 2022: the same room six days later, returned to service as a working computer environment.

David Steedman school flood-recovery photo archive; metadata-free public export · public

Self-hosted Moodle course for Year 12 Software Design and Development in 2013

A privacy-safe crop of the self-hosted 2013 Moodle course used to distribute and collect work across David’s computing classes.

David Steedman 2013 school photo archive and retained Moodle backups; browser and administration areas removed · sanitised

Aerial view of Mullumbimby High School and Mount Chincogan from the 2019 website banner

Opening aerial from the 72-second school website banner David filmed and edited in 2019.

David Steedman WebsiteBanner production archive; privacy-safe frame from the final 2019 video export · sanitised

Public record of the 2019 Software Design and Development result.

Public record of the 2019 Software Design and Development result.

NSW Department of Education annual report · publicOpen record ↗

What the work taught

01The best school technology is almost invisible: people notice that the work can happen.

02A fix is incomplete until somebody else can understand and sustain it.

03Reliable systems are built from relationships, documentation and judgement as much as code.

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