Meet Diego Saenz Morales, our latest Edtech Superhero.
Diego is an IT Specialist at the International School of Lausanne. He has been working as an IT professional in the Education industry for nearly 20 years. His education journey began straight after college where he had the opportunity to intern at the same college at which he had finished his studies.
From his early days as a school IT administrator in his home country of Colombia to his current role as an IT Specialist at the International School of Lausanne in Switzerland, Diego has worked in IT and education fulfilling various roles in the education sector.
As an IT Specialist, Diego loves his day-to-day role. Additionally, he enjoys catching up with workmates and friends during the week to play football.
Want to know more about Diego?
Let’s jump in!
Diego’s journey with IT & Education
1. What is your role at your school?
I am an IT Specialist at the International School of Lausanne. We, in the IT Department, manage all the devices for administration and secondary school students at the school. My department is also in charge of technical support for the administration, students and teachers.
As the IT Specialist I also work with parents and any other members of the staff that might have any technical queries to do with, for example, the school website or the learning system that our teachers and their students make use of daily.
“As the IT Specialist I also work with parents and any other members of the staff that might have any technical queries…”
2. Which music artist best describes your working style?
I don’t have a favourite artist, but what I listen to depends mostly on my mood at that time. If I am feeling happy and festive, I enjoy listening to happy party music from my home country Colombia. Sometimes I also listen to Metallica music. Ultimately, the music I listen to really depends on my mood that day.
3. Can you tell us a little about your journey? Where did your interest in IT begin initially?
I would say my journey in IT started straight after high school. I enrolled in a course to study systems informatics engineering. Then I decided to move to Spain for one year before moving back to Colombia where I re-enrolled in a different college.
After my studies, I did my internship at the same college and then started working there afterwards. At that time I had just moved in with my girlfriend, now my wife, and that pushed me to elevate my career.
I have been working at the International School of Lausanne as an IT Support Technician since 2016 making it 6 years at the school.
I started working at a very young age and have always been in the education industry.
4. Do you have any personal goals you’re working towards this year?
My Mantra for the year is JUST DO IT!
One of the challenging things for me when I moved to Switzerland was the language. In Colombia I was used to speaking Spanish but that soon changed here as I needed to at least know or understand both English and French.
When I started working at the school, I knew people that had been in the country for over 3 years and still struggled to speak French. After that day I stopped putting pressure on myself and realised that I was already ahead of them.
Now my goal this year is to learn Italian since I’ve mastered English and French. Part of the reason I want to learn Italian is to travel to Italy. Despite living relatively nearby in Switzerland, I’ve never been. Learning the language and travelling there with my family creates a motivation to learn the language for our travels.
“…my goal this year is to learn Italian…”
Diego’s journey with Mobile Guardian
5. Can you tell us a bit about the journey that led you to Mobile Guardian?
Before our amazing Mobile Guardian discovery, our school was working with a different platform that cost more than 7 times more than our Mobile Guardian solution. Coupled with this we had also been struggling with the deployment of iBooks for as long as I can remember.
So we started asking ourselves the question, “How can we improve this deployment process considering the platform we had at the time?
Then one day our Primary School ICT Coordinator introduced us to Mobile Guardian and we have not looked back ever since.
I would like to say a huge thank you to our previous Primary School ICT Coordinator for the introduction to Mobile Guardian. At that time she had come across the company while she was browsing Twitter.
6. What would you say has been your biggest win since changing to Mobile Guardian?
Our previous platform was good but unfortunately, it just had way too much functionality that was more than we required. This made our deployment process overly complex and time-consuming. We had this solution for about 2 to 3 years and only at the end were we able to understand how to deploy applications to a single device effectively.
To our surprise, our experience with Mobile Guardian was the opposite. I was able to learn and understand how to deploy applications to all devices in a short space of time. This for me is what made Mobile Guardian such a game-changer and now I can do deployments effectively and also save loads of time.
“…now I can do deployments effectively and also save loads of time.”
So I would certainly have to say our biggest win has been our new and simplified deployment process. It was one of our biggest pain points with the previous platform and because of Mobile Guardian now I get to do the same work and still have 2 weeks to enjoy my summer holidays.
7. Describe your mobile device strategy, and how you think your strategy helps drive learning in your school.
We make use of iPads and Windows devices for our primary school students. At Lausanne, we believe that students should have the choice of what device they would like to use and learn on, which is available to students at high school. They can choose between Windows, macOS, iOS and so forth.
“At Lausanne, we believe that students should have the choice of what device they would like to use and learn on…”
In primary school, we have around 500 iPads, 26 Macs and 28 Android phones. Mobile Guardian’s multiOS functionality allows us to manage all these devices through one dashboard which saves us a lot of time both in terms of implementation and insight – as we don’t have to change between different platforms at all times.
Regarding learning, I believe iPads are a handy tool for education in general and certainly at our school. I also have 2 younger kids back home who play around with iPads. I can see how the look, touch and feel of the iPad make it easier for them to learn and relate to the device and subsequently that is the same with our students too.
Once they get older, a more sophisticated device like a Chromebook or laptop, Windows or macOS allow students to perform more complex tasks on their device.
Edtech Superheros in the World of Education
Thanks again Diego for taking time off to share your incredible journey with me. I wish you many more amazing and fulfilling years doing the job that you love.
Read more about our EdTech SuperHero series, where I explore the themes in our greater series to draw attention to the role that we all play in creating a better and safer world for our students to learn and grow in.
If you would like to have a chat with me about the state of Education in your region or globally, or would simply like to share some tools and tips with other educators, please don’t hesitate to reach out and contact me at marketing@mobileguardian.com as I’d love to have a conversation with you.
Onwards,
Panashe Goteka
