Acer: “With iSpring, we are training over 200 high school students to repair Chromebooks”

Bekie Wesson, training coordinator with Acer Service

27 high school students in Minnesota recently became certified Acer Chromebook Repair Techsperts (CRTs). Now these students can perform basic hardware repairs on an Acer Chromebook, such as replacing a battery, mainboard or LCD screen!  

Acer’s new Student eLearning Repair Program is a big hit at more than 15 schools across the country. Almost 400 students, teachers and technicians have enrolled in the program since it was launched in the fall of 2018. Bekie Wesson, training coordinator with Acer Service, shared how they developed and deployed the program using iSpring.

Chromebook Repair eLearning Program

Our training team is part of Acer Service, providing service and support for Acer products in North America, Canada and Latin America. 

Many schools purchase Acer Chromebooks for their students. After nine months of backpacks, lockers and school buses, hinges break, screens get cracked, and covers or USB ports can be damaged. At the end of the year, when students turn in their devices, schools can ship them to our Service Center in Temple Texas for repair.

However, some schools are qualified as self-maintainers. This authorizes school technicians to repair their devices locally. In 2017, with thousands of Chromebooks and only a handful of technicians, one of these schools asked if we could help them train student teams to assist with basic hardware repairs. The school’s technical staff provides valuable oversight to these qualified students who are gaining work experience using their new skills helping to maintain their fleet of Acer Chromebooks.

That’s how our Chromebook Repair eLearning program started. 

Today, this model-specific program is available on our iSpring Learn portal for three different Chromebooks, with more models to come.

How the Chromebook Repair Program works 

To participate, a qualified school submits a list of students and staff to be enrolled in the program. We add these users to our iSpring Learn account. The LMS automatically sends login information to each user’s email address, and they are ready to start.

Our course consists of five chapters with over 30 individual lessons. Students explore the components of a Chromebook and watch instructional videos detailing how to replace components. They also learn about QA testing after components are replaced, as well as the importance of reconfiguring the hardware ID. Students must pass each quiz to continue to the next lesson. This self-paced course allows students to work at their own speed, replaying lessons and videos as needed. 

Chromebook repair course intro

Students earn points for each completed lesson. Throughout the course, they can check the LMS leaderboard in their account to see how they stack up against other learners.

Once all the lessons are completed, the learner schedules the final assessment, during which they perform an actual repair. While observing the student, a staff member completes the online checklist to verify whether or not the student demonstrates the steps in the proper sequence as taught in the course.   

The staff member documents the student’s technical skills, beginning with opening the unit. From disconnecting cables and components to installing new components and finally reassembling the unit, the staff member can even provide feedback to the student at every single step. 

The staff member documents the student’s technical skills as they perform the repair.

The final question asks the staff member to determine if the student successfully replaced the component.

With the final question, the staff member determines if the student successfully replaced the component.

If the steps in the online assessment were followed correctly, the LMS issues a customized Chromebook Repair Techspert certificate to the student’s account.

Acer Chromebook Repair Techspert certificate

Developing the program content with iSpring

Our training team was responsible for instructional and visual design, content development, and deploying the program. However, to create a complete curriculum and then develop the content, we worked with subject matter experts from four departments:

• Members of our Digital services team coordinated resources, providing video and image content.
• Repair depot technicians provided best practice procedures on the repair process.
• Acer’s Premier support team were our customer experts.
• Acer’s Service engineering team were our product experts.

With input from our teams, I created the basic content using PowerPoint. Then I turned to iSpring Suite, using templates, characters and interactions to make it more engaging, applying what I’ve learned through many free iSpring webinars.

As soon as I discovered iSpring, I immediately signed up for every webinar offered. I learned something new every time!

I made sure to vary the way information is delivered, so the student doesn’t just sit and passively look at the screen. With iSpring, it was easy to incorporate critical eLearning elements in the Chromebook Repair Course to keep students engaged.

Choice

Where it makes sense to do so, we let the students “drive.” For example, all the components on the slide below are clickable. Students have to cover them all, but we let them choose the order in which they explore them.

Component overview 

Interactions

We deliver small chunks of information when the student clicks on the images, graphics and icons. High-quality images help students visually identify components and learn critical details about cables and connectors.

For example, the different types of connectors are described in an ebook interaction, available in iSpring Suite. Students can flip the pages back and forth to explore the material at their own pace.

Types of connectors interaction

As another example, we created an interactive mini-game to teach students about the tools and equipment that they need in order to actually replace the component.

Interactive mini-game on tools and equipment

Resources

To address different learning styles, we have added downloadable resources to each lesson. For example, students can download a PDF document and read the entire lesson. All resources are easily accessible from the course player.

Downloadable resources available in the player

I also created supporting content for each video, so the student can do a quick review before taking the quiz.

Supporting content to review information

Instructional Videos

We provide narrated high-quality videos explaining step by step how to replace specific components. Students can work at their own pace to pause, rewind, review, or repeat a lesson.

Step-by-step narrated videos

Students can access the Notes at the top of their screen to read the detailed steps demonstrated in the video.

All the steps shown in the video are described in the notes

Knowledge Checks

After each lesson, students must pass the quiz in order to advance. Through iSpring’s different types of interactive questions, students demonstrate comprehension of the material as they work through the program.

Matching question

Hotspot questions feature an image of the open unit, challenging students to click on the components they’ve just learned about. We want to make sure students can identify the component they’re looking for, and where it’s located on the unit.

Hotspot question

Students see their results immediately after they complete a quiz, so they know right away how they did.

Quiz results window

Detailed quiz results

If they didn’t pass the quiz, they must repeat that lesson. Students may need to watch the video again, or repeat a lesson to learn all the facts about those components. They can spend as much time as they need.

Program results and feedback

It’s been a great opportunity to partner with our education customers, listening and responding to their needs. We’re very pleased with the response and the positive feedback we’ve received from the users.

• Teachers. We provide exclusive technical education materials teachers couldn’t create themselves. The program provides about 6.5 hours of instructional time. Teachers are enrolled in the course with expanded rights, so they can view reports and statistics in iSpring Learn.
• Technicians. Different Chromebook models can vary significantly in layout and repair procedures. Our course gives school technicians a close-up look at technical information and best practices for their specific model.
• Students. Our program is a great way for the students to get real-world work experience. They may decide to consider computer science in college or seek employment as hardware technicians.

What’s great about this online course that’s available through iSpring Learn is the flexibility. We have schools using the course in a homeroom class that meets three times a week for 15 minutes. Others use it in a class that meets for an hour and 45 minutes. With iSpring Learn, students can log in, complete lessons, and then log out. Later, they can pick up right where they left off. 

It’s a very flexible program that’s both popular and effective!