ICT Software

[NokiX]

Hi All,

 

We have noticed our ICT department has some difficult requirements due to the software they are using currently and would like to try and move away from some of this software so we don't have to support the high requirements. The two main pieces of software are:

 

Sharepoint 2007

iClone 5

 

We have the software 'CoffeeCup' as a possible replacement to sharepoint 2007 since it's used to teach HTML and has been for many years hence why it's never been changed but since we are starting to deploy x64 operating systems we don't really want to continue to use old software. If anybody has any other suggestions to replace sharepoint 2007 we are happy to take a look and pass on our recommendations to the ICT department.

 

The main software we want to replace however is iClone 5 since this was purchased against our recommendations and has high spec requirements (RAM and GFX) which we cannot afford to meet. The machines currently running iClone will crash often since the internal GFX cannot handle the animation at all so we want to replace this software but are unsure what we could use. The main features of iClone which are preferred are the fact you can animate easily since there are lots of presets for actions like 'waving' however it has the option for you to add custom actions and custom objects which are required for part of the course.

 

If anyone has suggestions for either of these please let us know as we would like to get this software replaced sooner rather than later as we currently need more iClone licenses and would rather not pay for them if we can avoid it!

 

Regards,

Chris.

[mavhc]

There's 1000 ways to teach html, I just use notepad as the course is more about html and css rather than design. You'd have to get more details from the ICT department.

 

3D graphics editing is never going to be low spec, so again, find out what they need, what they want, and what they can afford.

[synaesthesia]

No Office365 for Sharepoint? Also get them to look at TouchDevelop.

Kodi is quite light, could be worth a shout.

[Fazza]

The minimum spec for iClone 5 is a P4 with 2GB of RAM so I'm guessing the issue will be your graphics cards so it might be a better solution to look at upgrading your computers with a cheap brand of graphics card that can handle it. We had to do with with our Design Technology computers that they wanted to do CAD on and they're now running sweet as a nut

 

With regards to teaching HTML, this really needs to be driven by the ICT department as they are the ones who need to know how to use the software that they are going to be teaching with. Like other have said you can use Notepad to teach HTML, it all depends on what they're teaching as if it's more like web design than actual HTML coding/writing them something else might be of use to them.

[synaesthesia]

Serif suite might also be worth a look, quite cost effective. However, as @Fazza very correctly points out, it MUST come from your IT dept unless you also want to be responsible for training!

[NokiX]

Thanks all, I agree it's up to the ICT department with the HTML teaching but mainly i just wanted to have an idea what others used or have experience with. They like the idea of visually creating the website which is why coffeecup was an option since it is very easy to use but also lets them dabble with code like you would in notepad. I'll give them a few options and see what they come up with but @Fazza I expect your correct since some of the PC's don't event have graphics cards in them but I think the plan for one of the ICT suites is to get some refurbs (since the machines are about 7-8 years old now) and buy some cheap GFX cards to handle iClone for all the other ICT rooms.

 

We do also use Kodu and one PC which has one of my own GFX cards in has Blender on for a specific pupil but again I was just curious about what software others were using for the same subject.

[mavhc]

HTML moves so quickly these days.

 

I'd start primary school kids on Google Sites, get them doing images and links

 

I'd get lower upper school doing all their projects on Google Sites too, really today's kids aren't going to be doing html, but they are going to be creating web based documents.

 

Introduce HTML and CSS with notepad, compare to the editing options in Sites. Make sure all your teaching is about HTML 5 with CSS integrated, not "something new!!!"

 

Use something like https://www.codecademy.com/learn/web

 

Advanced level perhaps Aptana, that's a full IDE