Happy New Year Mansfield community! The technology department is kicking it off by starting a new, weekly blog all about Chromebooks cleverly titled "The Weekly Chromebook." The content of this page could be anything from fun facts about G-Suite to troubleshooting suggestions about common Chromebook issues. No matter what the specific subject, it's all designed to put more tools in your metaphorical technology toolbelt.

This week, we wanted to highlight the support material that we've already created when you run into trouble. Allow me to start with a scenario: you sit down at your desk and open your Chromebook. The screen is black. You hit the power button. The device does not respond. You mash the power button repeatedly, and to your infinite dismay, nothing happens. You are overcome with relief as you remember that you can submit a ticket at help.mansfieldschools.com so that one of our staff members can rescue you from the desolate fate that is a broken piece of technology. BUT! You may be able to diagnose and resolve this problem yourself. On that very webpage is a list of knowledge base articles that we have lovingly created for this very situation. They are categorized by type of issue and contain detailed troubleshooting instructions. Even if you are not successful in attempting to tackle the problem, you will have much more information to give us about its nature when you do submit a ticket.

Just as a small addition and free token of wisdom: Chromebook issues can be resolved by performing a hardware reset 80% of the time. You should check out our knowledge base articles to learn more. Just simply visit help.mansfieldschools.com and scroll down or click "Knowledgebase" in the top navigation bar. Enjoy the week, we are hoping that you had a restful holiday break.

-Leo Bunyea, Technology Technician and Fount of Wisdom