Amusing Edugeek mention at conference

[sparkeh]

So I masqueraded as a teacher and attended the Future of Computing in Schools Conference (awesome to see Ian Livingstone give a key note).

Edugeek was mentioned as a good source of information but came with a health warning as apparently we can be mean to teachers

[sonofsanta]

Does that mean schools should come with a health warning for us, as teachers are mean to us in them?

/still somewhat bitter over a xmas card from the head of english to one of his technicians, thanking him for his "unjudgemental" IT support. Stupid meanieface.

[Andrew_C]

thanking him for his "unjudgemental" IT support.

It is a compliment. It just means you didn't call him a "lackwit-numbnuts" for summoning you each time he failed to find the "Any key"

[hardtailstar]

Our teachers/TA's are already getting presents and boasting...... what fun the next week will be!!

[sparkeh]

Does that mean schools should come with a health warning for us, as teachers are mean to us in them?

Ha, wish I had thought of that at the time

[X-13]

Edugeek was mentioned as a good source of information but came with a health warning as apparently we can be mean to teachers

You better have gone all Phoenix Wright on them.

phoenix-wright-objection.jpg

[sparkeh]

I just reminded people that the TES forum is worse by far for teacher bashing

[Oaktech]

We aren't mean to anyone who turns up with a civil tongue and an ounce of common sense... Wait... I see the problem!

[GrumbleDook]

So I masqueraded as a teacher and attended the Future of Computing in Schools Conference (awesome to see Ian Livingstone give a key note).

Edugeek was mentioned as a good source of information but came with a health warning as apparently we can be mean to teachers

I don't even have to ask you who it was who would have said that (and he is a member here!)

[Ephelyon]

Masquerading as a teacher, you say... I might have to try that one sometime! :P

Not the worst thing I've heard at a conference... "IT Technicians just want an easy life" (from NAACE) would have to take first prize in my list I think. They didn't get away with it though, cos I woz dere and woz like all up in dere face (or not)... xD

On a side note, and not that you'd expect any different to be fair, I still get that from random other folk when they ask me what I do. I tell them I "work in a school" - "oh - what do you teach?"...

Hmmm... we have about 110 staff, about 45 of whom are teachers... but as I say, joking aside, I guess that's not obvious to people outside the education sector and it doesn't bother me really.

[Earthling]

Masquerading as a teacher, you say... I might have to try that one sometime! :P

<SNIP> "IT Technicians just want an easy life" (from NAACE) would have to take first prize in my list I think. <SNIP>.

Easy life like what?

Three months off per year, maybe? Protected 'professional' status? Protected 'free-time' during a working day? And all the other stuff that teachers get that I don't even know about?

Or maybe we'd like teachers to NOT leave their brains in the staff-room when they teach in a computer room. That would be easier.

Or for them to ask us before they buy, magpie-like, the latest bit of shiney-shiney then bring it to us saying 'I can't find Word on this'. That would be easier, too.

Or to ask us about the latest bit of 'Wonderful-do-it-all-makes-you-a-better-teacher-in-two-easy-clicks' software, before they bring it to us saying 'It says on the box it's not supported on Terminal Services so can you make it work on the thin-clients?'. I kid you not with that one, but that would be easier, too.

[tmcd35]

"IT Technicians just want an easy life" (from NAACE)

Personally I'd say that's true. Just because I want something doesn't mean I'm gonna get though...

[soveryapt]

Personally I'd say that's true. Just because I want something doesn't mean I'm gonna get though...

I'm sure any of us would agree with that .. if we wanted an easy life, it wouldn't be educational IT support we were in .. lol ..

[Ephelyon]

And all the other stuff that teachers get that I don't even know about?

I'd ask the STRB.

The context was the part of their presentation that considered the trend away from "locked down" to "managed" systems (interesting terminology as I'd personally call them "managed" and "unmanaged" respectively). The speaker referred to why we block things (not just in terms of web filtering but also e.g. blocking EXE files running from CDs / USB sticks, other GPO restrictions etc., not that they put it in those terms of course). The comment was that this was typically associated with the IT Technician who wants an easier life, whereas it would be better to let pupils make the mistakes and then mitigate afterwards through education and sanctions. Presumably this speaker didn't know that running a 0-day exploit payload against a SIMS server you haven't had time to patch yet and then finding out where all the teachers live is unfortunately a very real possibility. Or run a silent keylogger that doesn't require admin rights. Or display a fake logon box that doesn't either. Or that the reason I restrict the ability to e.g. search AD is so that an attacker can't obtain a list of usernames to start guessing passwords from.

No, we know the rest of you don't know things like that... that's why we do it. The principle of least privilege has been around for nearly four decades I'm afraid. Comes back to my overall take on IT risk management in education: where the potential consequence arising is significant, immediate and permanent, then we block. Where it is not, then we educate.

A questioner then piped up during the following Q&A session wanting to know more (I forget exactly what now)... and the same comment came up again. What annoyed me the most is that I wasn't the only IT Manager present (though there weren't many)... and I got the impression that none of the rest would've said anything if I hadn't.

If we wanted an easy life, it wouldn't be educational IT support we were in.

Don't worry, I said that too!

[sted]

but surely The principle of least privilege isnt confined to just it its life and good sense. for example you need a driving licence to legally drive a car and that requires you to be 17 how is admin rights any different? you dont let 4 year olds loose with a 18 wheeler and you dont let random peeps loose with enterprise admin credentials ignoring the fact they could see everyone elses files so it has dpa issues someone needs to be in control. ive less issue with local admin i give teachers that to their laptops the flipside is if they break it i just flatten it dont attempt to retrieve data it should be synced anything in odd locations tough