My colleagues perceive me as a resource when it comes to implementing technology into the classroom. When teachers have problems with their online blackboard classrooms called Canvas they seek assistance from me. On Friday, another teacher asked me to help a student who was attempting to upload a document, but couldn’t attach the PDF because (I determined) the teacher hadn’t made the settings of the assignment to be able to attach a PDF. The teacher that sent the student asked me to contact the original teacher to explain that they had not enabled the correct settings. The original teacher was not receptive to my feedback. It was almost like she refused to read what I’d written because it would indicate that she had made a mistake. She had indicated that it was a student error (to so many different students, parents and teachers) that she had a vested interest in continuing the party line.
In this instance, using Keller’s ARCS model I think the best way to reach this particular person would be to ‘Generate Satisfaction’ by using positive consequences, like verbal praise, in order to help her feel that this is a worthy activity (Driscoll, 2005, p. 331). I could applaud her use of Canvas and tell her how much more students are learning because of her decision. I could share with her my experiences that are similar to hers- where I had difficulty or problems with Canvas. For example, at first it was hard because none of the Mac based documents (like Pages or Keynote) were up loadable to Canvas and I spent a lot of time expecting students to attach their documents, but they were not able to do this and everyone was frustrated.
I think we all, as teachers, wish to do what is best for our students, but sometimes we get frustrated by the technologies and all of the logistics that are involved in this process.
Resources:
http://www.learning-theories.com/kellers-arcs-model-of-motivational-design.html
References:
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.).Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
JeannieFrazierBlog- The Next Generation of Distance Education 
I think adults will always deny making mistakes or pass it on to someone else just to save face. Your strategy sounds great. I usually avoid any attempt to identify the guilty parties, unless something is missing or damaged. By the way as a mac user, I usually use Pages to export my documents as PDF files.
In your blog, you mentioned that your colleagues perceived you as the in-school technician. I wonder if the original teacher, who committed the error, was worried about student finding out about his mistake or had offense to get advice from you. Do you think if you conversed with the teacher, instead of sending a message, the response would be different?