Maths Alive!

[beeswax]

[align=justify]has anyone installed this software on their server? what, if any, were the problems encountered. I'll be trying to get it on a Win2K3 server sometime next week. I don't know what version it is at the moment.[/align]

[tosca925]

WE are suing it.......well sort of. We set it up on oneo of our 2003 servers over 18 months ago. I dont recall any problems with th installation but it does take some time......................I also seem to remember some Maths staff wanting the standalone version on their laptops as well which was time comsumimg as well.


As for now, well the MAths dept arn't using it as far as i know. Infact they have 2 ICT suites and its not on the PC's in the newer suite and no ones complained yet after 4 months.........!


Another waste of money.

[john]

WE are suing it

8O geepers, thats a bit harsh! (sorry couldn't resist! as it looked so funny!) I think we may have some stuff made by that lot, they make some other Alive products

[tosca925]

I'll not change it................................. lol

[ajbritton]

I know of one site that uses it. I recently replaced their server and had to transfer the software to the new server. As it's a client/server database, I had to do a full synchronise/backup before shutting it down on the old server, but after that it was fairly easy. The RM support site is quite good and has quite a lot of KB articles relating the Maths Alive / Kaleidos.

[Ric_]

I installed it in a past life. The documetation was very good IIRC and there wasn't any issues.

From what I can remember, you do need to fully launch yourself into it though - no half-hearted attempts at use otherwise it just turns into another one of those bigspend waste of money VLEs.

[bossman]

I have been running it here for past 4 years and have had very little problem with it. It is accessed through a vle component called kaleidos which is a little slow to syncronise but that's my only grumble. It has been updated quite a few times and i am now at version 2 of the kaleidos VLE. The maths department have been using it since it was bought for them but there is also packages for other curriculum subjects which are very good. Used in conjuction with the Promethean interactive whiteboards they are a powerful tool which the kids have access to 24/7 from outside the school. It comes with free training for the teachers which has been invaluable for me because i just don't have the time to teach teachers on this.

[Ric_]

It comes with free training for the teachers which has been invaluable for me because i just don't have the time to teach teachers on this.

'free' isn't the phrase I would use... the package is rather expensive but you buy into the whole thing which includes software, resources and training. Make sure that the department fully utilises ALL available resources and you may get somewhere near value for money.

You should also insist that RM do as much support work as possible - what is the point in spending thousands on something and then having you use your time to fix problems?

[beeswax]

Week 4 in the Big IT Office. H is busy trying to finish fitting the new servers in the new rack before being released on Wednesday. S is configuring the new security scanning device and preparing for this year's GCSE results. Beeswax is trying to finalise several images for roll-out, while the electrician figures out why the power keeps tripping, and the people laying new flooring in the IT suites finish their job a mere 10 days over time. Then he's being voted out at the end of the week when he's going to Italy with a paintbrush to "finish off" Da Vinci's Last Supper by adding a pda to the right hand of Judas. Let's see what Dan Brown makes of that.

Kaleidos was already installed on the server, something I wasn't sure about when I posted my message last night. However, it needed some folder permissions changing, and an engineer from RM talked me through some other stuff as well. The client install was much easier than I feared (c/f KS3 Pilot).
@Bossman: I'm interested to read that it works well with Promethean, as that's what we have here. Is there anything special about the relationship, or is it just that it projects well?