A couple of letters to give to SMT's

[farmerste]

I have been thinking of this for a while now, with the spread of BSF, and what i would consider generally poor advice, or just too much of it to take in for head teachers, i was wondering if 'we' could make a one or two page 'handout' for senior management to explain to them the facts about ICT in schools. I think there are lots of issues to address here, but the reasons i want to do this is because i believe in house ict is much better than some faceless outside company providing it to schools.

 

1 the first 'handout' i want to compile is basically an explanation ( not patronisingly) about the facts of hardware and software.

 

2 the second 'letter' i think should be one that could be sent to heads who advertise pittyful low paid jobs with enormous responsibilities, and clearly have no concept of work involved.

 

i was thinking of something along the line..........:-

 

1, computers are not staplers, they dont just work straight out of the box, they require a lot of work prior to use . If you technical dept is informed in advance of the requirements, correct equipment can be purchased or configured to fulfill the requirements.

 

1a, side by side in terms of performance, reliability, and value for money a desktop computer will always be superior to a laptop/umpc

 

1b, wireless networking is SLOW you cannot expect anything like the connectivity that you will get with a wired computers.

 

and so on .................................... :-)

 

i think these could be used internally, and possibly distributed on 'internal mail' between schools.

If this was a newsletter coming from ' the nations education technicians' then it may have some 'clout' with SMT, so add your comments that you would include, and lets see if we can help stop the tide of bsf, and ignorance from higher up.

 

p.s not sure really what i would put for letter two about low paid jobs being advertised, i will have to think about that one.

[StewartKnight]

The spread of BSF.....

sounds like the spread of BSE or Foot and Mouth

 

seems appropriate! :-)

[DaveJ2717uk]

The only problem with the spread of BSF is there is no cure currently available

[srochford]

I don't actually disagree with what you want to do (BSF doesn't affect us but I can see it being absolutely dire for many schools) but you need to be careful.

 

For example, why are computers not like staplers? If I buy a PC for home use I expect it to be as easy to use (and it pretty much is!). The difference is that schools typically want to do far more with the computer than the home user and want to do things like making sure that each class gets working computers no matter what's gone on before. I think phrasing like this is more helpful than saying "schools want to lock things down" - I always like emphasising positives ("teacher will have confidence in using computers") rather than negatives ("we can stop kids doing anything with the computers")

 

What you also have to explain is why this can't be out-sourced in some way. My own feeling is that you will get better service by keeping it in-house; people who work for the school, at the school are likely to know/understand it better and might be more willing to keep the school going.

[vikpaw]

if 'we' could make a one or two page 'handout' for senior management to explain to them the facts about ICT in schools.

 

when you've prepared it, please send 10 copies to Rushden Community College, Hayway, Rushden, Northants, NN10 6AG.

 

Thanks in advance

[farmerste]

yes looking for help here preparing 'it' maybe someone already has something similar, please add what you would include.

[Joanne]

when ICT is in house, you can ring up and report your problem, which is then fixed almost instantaniously.

 

With Managed service, you must fill in online forms. If you are lucky you might recieve a reply the same day about when someone will have the time to fit in your pityful problem.

[farmerste]

yep thats the sort of thing i am looking for keep up the contributions

[TechMonkey]

The only problem with the spread of BSF is there is no cure currently available

 

No it is the same cure. You have to take all those in higher areas out, shoot them and burn the evidence. Stops the spread & destroys the rot.

 

Or the nuke from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

 

On the other hand, I have started sowing the seeds here. Mentioned in passing what has happened in other schools & said about how I wouldn't be around to rush to the rescue. They would have to have someone sent out & probably take a day. Teachers are gradually getting more and more shocked as I mention it especially when I go and turn on a set of speakers again & drop a comment about how it would work under BSF

[srochford]

when ICT is in house, you can ring up and report your problem, which is then fixed almost instantaniously.

 

With Managed service, you must fill in online forms. If you are lucky you might recieve a reply the same day about when someone will have the time to fit in your pityful problem.

 

Sadly, the first is not always true (look, for example, at the signatures on here saying things like "if it was urgent I would have fixed it already").

 

Much will depend on management's current view of IT - if they can see that it is good and responsive then it may be easier to persuade them that BSF is not a good thing.

[farmerste]

so what would you be putting on a handout, or a POSTER perhaps?

what thing do you need to explain most to SMT, or governors given the opportunity ?

[GrumbleDook]

The biggest thing to give to SMT and Governors are examples of where investment in IT can impact on results, either through classroom work (the grate and glorious T&L), through online assessment (eLearning, independent learning, personalised learning), recording and reporting tools (collection and analysis of data, linking between MIS and VLE for real-time reporting), administration (central, searchable document storage solutions) and leadership (improved communication and collaboration between departments / peers / colleagues / external agencies).

 

HTH

[Joanne]

well I suppose it would vary for each school.

 

However today the network went down and we think it could be a faulty switch.

 

Managed service would have got here and not really known anything because every network is different, you cant know them all inside out when it comes to things like that.

 

However, managed service would probably have software to locate said faulty switch and would probably be more efficient... hmmmm....

[Pete10141748]

I fail to see how an external company can ever compare to in-house support from trained, knowledgable individuals.

 

The who reason myself and the techie got these jobs was due to the fact that the school was so sick of dealing with a crappy outside company that they decided to actively employ in-house staff; hence, us.

 

 

People who work at a place every day know the site, know the ins and outs, know how it all works, know the staff, know their needs, can anticipate problems arising from past experiences of the site, etc etc.

External company can never get to this level; the only way to do it would be to place the same employee of the E.C. on the same site/s each day.....

 

......hmmm, does thay ring a bell, or is it just me?

 

[donutcat]

From an IT managers perspective it's not just about the day to day running, but also in the being availbale to talk with staff and strategise how you can meet upcoming requirements before the teaching staff even realise they will need it. Design of IT suites, linked up planning with other school systems not only because no one else wants to do it, but because for each project even as small as an offic emove will involve technology.

 

If we are not in our schools, how will the non-technical be able to think technically?

 

DC

[GrumbleDook]

To be honest, it goes beyond even that.

 

To be seriously on the ball you need to be aware of the changes in the National Strategies for subjects, aware of the change of exam courses and understand how ICT can make a difference with these. A perfect example is the move from the ICT GNVQ to DiDA or OCR National ... awareness of the right software can help to make more of a difference to how the staff deliver the courses. Again, another example ... the move to a more 'media-based' English GCSE is very much determined to the use of ICT.

 

This is before we get onto Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Child Protection and eSafety, and so on.

[GlennT]

I think flexibility is an important point to push.

I'm sure we have all had last minute changes that we have happily agreed to. I can't imagine that a managed service would offer that..

[farmerste]

i think i just need to point people to the thread about bsf

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16613

 

i think that has a lot of valuable points, if we can email this link to others, especially the smt's it might start the ball rolling ?