New School what would you do?

[jertsy]

I have bagged myself a new job at a new school that is being setup, its very exciting to be able to get in at the very beginning. The focus will be on innovation and I think there is a few quid to chuck around, my question is if you had this project what would you do...?

 

1. The traditional route of windows 10\server 2016 onsite storage

2. A hybrid of the above, office 365 one drive etc...

3. Google classroom with chromebooks etc...

4. Anything else

 

I am thinking more of a cloud type setup as this seems to be the way things are going, but I dont know how much will be cloud based and until I start.

 

I have been out of the loop a litte bit in terms of going to demo's and seminars, as the school I am at now has not had money for years and its just getting worse, I didnt even go to Bett this year as it was kind of pointless.

 

Cheers

 

Jertsy

[Joanne]

Definitely look at google. I'm Windows 10 / Office 365 here and we have no end of problems with the OneDrive sync tool going t**s up. At the end of the day though, it's what is right for you and the staff.... kinda hard to judge before the school is set up though!

[jertsy]

Thanks @Joanne, I will definately be going out to see some demo's or getting them done onsite. You are right it is tricky to say until I start, I guess I am just brainstorming at the moment.

[FN-GM]

Another for Google. We are moving away from 365

 

G Suite does have as many features but its much easier to use and the stuff it has does work well.

[mjk]

Definitely Google. Everything is going web based and it will save thousands. The only reason you would put in windows is for legacy software, which you won't need to accommodate.

[jertsy]

@FN-GM thanks, do you use windows clients with G Suite?

[FN-GM]

We use a mix of ChromeOS and Windows. We are currently 22.5% ChromeOS and this is growing. We are aiming to be mainly ChromeOS in the next few years.

[jertsy]

We use a mix of ChromeOS and Windows. We are currently 22.5% ChromeOS and this is growing. We are aiming to be mainly ChromeOS in the next few years.

 

Thats interesting, thanks

[mjk]

We are aiming to be mainly ChromeOS in the next few years.

 

Same. We are currently 75% Chromebooks, 12% thin clients, 10% windows, 3% osx

[FN-GM]

You can also use devices like this instead of iPads - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VFGs-3iR_w

[maark]

I would go chromebooks/chromeboxes maybe one to one devices with students. Only question is do you need sims and what do design/music/media need?

You would save a lot of money on servers, windows machines, licensing etc.

Fed up with Microsoft - spent ages working on win 10 also onedrive for business decides to stop working etc. etc. Google classroom is ahead of microsoft classroom that is also being messed with.

[FN-GM]

If it is a new school get an MIS that is web based such as ISAMS. Or if you want SIMS get a product that can put it into a web interface like PARS Connect.

 

Tring School run music software from Chromebooks. Can't remember the name of the product.

[jertsy]

You can also use devices like this instead of iPads - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VFGs-3iR_w

 

Nice device, very rugged and a tablet come laptop, obviously cheaper as no windows OS too.

[jertsy]

I would go chromebooks/chromeboxes maybe one to one devices with students. Only question is do you need sims and what do design/music/media need?

You would save a lot of money on servers, windows machines, licensing etc.

Fed up with Microsoft - spent ages working on win 10 also onedrive for business decides to stop working etc. etc. Google classroom is ahead of microsoft classroom that is also being messed with.

 

No SIMS they are going for a web based platform. Design/music/media will definitely be a consideration cheers @maark

[Arthur]

+1 for Chrome OS devices. So much simpler to manage!

 

For DT you could use Sketchup for Education (it's free and in the G Suite for Education marketplace) and/or Onshape.

 

For video editing WeVideo is a popular choice.

 

Obviously with brand new Chromebooks you also have the ability to use Android apps too.

 

Tring School run music software from Chromebooks. Can't remember the name of the product.

I think it's one of these: Soundtrap, Soundation or Flat.io.

[Stevecee]

Hi

 

You haven't mentioned it but I would make sure that your infrastructure has room for growth built in esp if you are looking for using cloud based services. We're 2 years into our nice new build school but already have had to renew main switch and stuff as the build project only included the infrastucture and there was a squeeze on money so I think in the end it was costed more by price than capacity.

 

HTH

 

Steve

[Lonix]

I have bagged myself a new job at a new school that is being setup, its very exciting to be able to get in at the very beginning. The focus will be on innovation and I think there is a few quid to chuck around, my question is if you had this project what would you do...?

 

1. The traditional route of windows 10\server 2016 onsite storage

2. A hybrid of the above, office 365 one drive etc...

3. Google classroom with chromebooks etc...

4. Anything else

 

I am thinking more of a cloud type setup as this seems to be the way things are going, but I dont know how much will be cloud based and until I start.

 

I have been out of the loop a litte bit in terms of going to demo's and seminars, as the school I am at now has not had money for years and its just getting worse, I didnt even go to Bett this year as it was kind of pointless.

 

Cheers

 

Jertsy

 

Feel good for you, it's full of experience and positivity to be in that kind of a situation. Not so sure about the focus of 'innovation' makes me think just buy a bunch of iPads and see you later (while other Schools are struggling to keep basic IT working). Excuse that tiny bit of a rant but the primary focus should be what makes life easier and better regarding teaching and learning for staff/students not the word innovation.

 

No seriously though I'd consider providing a high end broadband/Lightspeed filtering package and look at Office 365 storage (plus let's face it the office package is still a leading product).

 

I'd also think about replacements when setting up anything - every piece of kit will have a life cycle which means replacements > costs > maintenance time.

 

You could look at Interactive Whiteboards - or if money isn't an issue perhaps the Interactive TVs which would cut the cost of a projector and touch wood wouldn't be too much of a higher cost long term.

 

OneDrive - We've had no issues so far other than incredibly long file names and occasional characters being used (no different to document file names ).

 

We also use Google side of things because of Classroom and a few staff currently use it anyway - no harm in both if people want it. It's free so why not.

Office 365 Live - is free remember that - which became free... after we signed up...

 

I'd consider a cheap VLE like Show My Home work or your own setup Moodle, don't forget the School website - we use CleverBox. Pretty good and can't complain - low annual cost.

 

You can prepare all you want though but till you start and really get a grasp of what staff like/don't like.... all you can do is guess at the moment.

[jertsy]

Feel good for you, it's full of experience and positivity to be in that kind of a situation. Not so sure about the focus of 'innovation' makes me think just buy a bunch of iPads and see you later (while other Schools are struggling to keep basic IT working). Excuse that tiny bit of a rant but the primary focus should be what makes life easier and better regarding teaching and learning for staff/students not the word innovation.

 

No seriously though I'd consider providing a high end broadband/Lightspeed filtering package and look at Office 365 storage (plus let's face it the office package is still a leading product).

 

I'd also think about replacements when setting up anything - every piece of kit will have a life cycle which means replacements > costs > maintenance time.

 

You could look at Interactive Whiteboards - or if money isn't an issue perhaps the Interactive TVs which would cut the cost of a projector and touch wood wouldn't be too much of a higher cost long term.

 

OneDrive - We've had no issues so far other than incredibly long file names and occasional characters being used (no different to document file names ).

 

We also use Google side of things because of Classroom and a few staff currently use it anyway - no harm in both if people want it. It's free so why not.

Office 365 Live - is free remember that - which became free... after we signed up...

 

I'd consider a cheap VLE like Show My Home work or your own setup Moodle, don't forget the School website - we use CleverBox. Pretty good and can't complain - low annual cost.

 

You can prepare all you want though but till you start and really get a grasp of what staff like/don't like.... all you can do is guess at the moment.

 

Cheers for the input @Lonix. I agree I'm never a fan of buying stuff just because you can, there needs to be a use for it and used properly for teaching. They did this at my current school and we do have some equipment under utilized. The new school have a 1GB internet connection on order so that should be fine for now, I just need to ensure there is decent fail-over if cloud services are to be used. I would have touch screens rather than projectors all day long now. Planning a future renewal program is also essential, I've seen it here whereby they had BSF money and replaced everything, but now everything needs replacing in one go as they haven't done anything despite some years ago me doing a full 6 year rolling renewal plan but hey ho!

Whatever we buy needs to have the staff on board and I wont know fully until I start in 3 weeks, this is just a brainstorming exercise at this point.

[dhicks]

I think it's one of these: Soundtrap, Soundation or Flat.io.

 

Just to add: resellers (XMA in the UK) are selling a bundle of Explain Everything, WeVideo and Soundtrap for schools. We seem to have been the first school to sign up for the bundle - we already used WeVideo and Soundtrap anyway. If you're starting from new you can quite possibly go straight to Android-based OPS touch screens - Explain Everything seems to be a good bit of software (cross-platform) for touch screens.