mattpant Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 (edited) OK, If your school was given access to a magic money tree and the funds were endless, what would you do with it? What would you spend it all on? What new technology would you install? Network Infrastructure and in the classroom. Any other ideas / projects that you would buy into to improve ICT around the school? Thanks Matt Edited December 16, 2019 by mattpant
Jcx500 Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 i'd make sure everything what needs redundancy has a fail over or a spare 1
Jawloms Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 Tags I could put on everything to track it's location so I can get it back! Or a giraffe. 1
Bladez Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 Acouple of IT Staff for a start, i cant spread myself any thinner. Old projectors and boards down, up with huge 4k flat pannels. WIFI that can handle a class of 30 kids on laptops without giving up on login. New desktops capable of 3D Design work. New desktops capable of running decent upto date music software Laptops that work. Replace old servers with hyperconverged Infrastructure technology. New printers / photocopiers And finish off with a new coffee maker. 1
hardtailstar Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 - More IT staff - New computers in every room including offices on a rolling plan. - New servers - New APs and more - New staff laptops - Spares of everything plus one! - Tools! - Flatscreen tvs - Freezer/Fridge - to store all the ice cream and food! - Social fund - Office toys for those days when you slack off..... 1
mavhc Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 every student would have their own teacher, 1:1 3
JordanT91 Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 -Replace all the switches with POE versions. I'd trade in the old ones so as to not actually waste money. They are quite new HP 2530s and 2920s but not POE as there was no need at the time. There is now! -Brand new FTTP connection. Our current FTTC takes a massive detour from the cabinet. I'd get it wired into the server room instead of a random comms cabinet (the original one for the school). -Replace the Computing Room PCs. They are currently our oldest Very PC Glides, and are starting to be troublesome. -Hire a consultant to fully VLAN the network properly, because I'm out of touch with a lot of IT things these days (it's only half my job), and it needs doing! -Surface Pros (or equivalent) for all the teachers and HLTAs. -Migrate all servers to be off-site, utilising the new internet connection.
Norphy Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 (edited) I'm purely an infrastructure guy, I do very little frontline IT these days so I'm coming at this from that POV. Redundant 10Gbe links on dark fibre between all of our sites New servers with all-flash storage New PCs Interactive screens to replace the projectors and whiteboards Some decent chairs in our satellite offices I'm sure there's more but that's what comes to mind immediately. /edit a decent firewall and filter as well! Edited December 16, 2019 by Norphy
mavhc Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 The funds are endless, you've been given infinite money, think bigger
3s-gtech Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 The most ludicrously over-specced engineering department ever put into a school, with CNC, CAD, CAM, milling and printing. Then the sorts of sports facilities that’d make Loughborough Uni jealous. Not a lot of IT in either. Meh. 1
Sonic007 Posted December 18, 2019 Posted December 18, 2019 Since money would be no object... - Everything in the cloud, get rid of servers and anything that can fail. - All staff issued with new laptops. We currently have staff here with 5yr old laptops still if not older!
Katy Posted December 18, 2019 Posted December 18, 2019 Wouldn't spend that much on IT tbh. Complete restoration on the older buildings (the sandstone is in a poor condition, pointing, roof, windows etc) would blow through a few million to begin. Replace the awful 1960s additions with something new, replace the astroturf with the latest stuff. After that, fence the site in and spend a load on the grounds (resurfacing etc). IT wise it'd just be new kit everywhere and high spec whatever we bought rather than getting "oh we can just about get away with an i3 in there". Some decent switches would be nice, maybe swap everything out for the more expensive Unifi range.
mikes Posted January 7, 2020 Posted January 7, 2020 We got new i5's but didn't have cash for the screens, so I'd get minimum 24" monitors for each unit. Probably consider getting 29" 4K displays if deskspace allowed it. Plus a 48.5" or bigger 4K display for my office. Have one at home and it's a great display, though wish I'd gotten the 55" one.
jthompson Posted January 8, 2020 Posted January 8, 2020 Since the question is hinting at what tech we'd buy, rather than "world peace" type stuff... Upgrade all our fibre infrastructure An Internet connection or two with as much bandwidth as possible Air-con in every computer room Interactive panels in place of all classroom projector/whiteboard combos. No more remote controls, lamps or air filters. Solar panels on every roof. A new member of school staff appointed who knows how to prevent departments making the sort of unwise or outright daft purchases that will inevitably arise as a result of the magic money tree. A departmental golf buggy. 1
DrCheese Posted January 8, 2020 Posted January 8, 2020 Scrap our Dell Powerconnect switches (5548/7024's) as they're nearly 10 years old & not the best Upgrade all our 2012 era machines (Over 300 of our machines) - Including all the monitors this time as to save costs in 2012 the former NM kept old 2008 era monitors! Rip out our analogue CCTV systems - We've already put analogue to digital encoders on them to have them on our digital system (Avignon) but the wiring across the school for them is an utter train wreck - I did my best rewiring them neatly over the summer but it's fixing the stable after the horse has bolted! Massively upgrade our Wireless provision Sort out our UPS'ing - We have the bare essentials at the moment & it's aging fast. We've come a long way in the past few years on a small budget so my biggest worries have been removed, but there's so much more I wish we could do.
Andrew_C Posted January 8, 2020 Posted January 8, 2020 (edited) The funds are endless, you've been given infinite money, think bigger A new school - somewhere warm & sunny*. Maybe two sites, one for winter, one for summer. *No, not Australia; that would be ridiculous. Edited January 8, 2020 by Andrew_C 1
mavhc Posted January 8, 2020 Posted January 8, 2020 A new school - somewhere warm & sunny*. Maybe two sites, one for winter, one for summer. *No, not Australia; that would be ridiculous. Also it's on fire, wonder why. What I'd actually buy is a global group of the best teachers, along with designers, actors and animators and translators to produce movie level instructional videos, and release them all for free so that every child and adult can get free education. Also free internet for everyone in the world so they can watch it
strawberry Posted January 9, 2020 Posted January 9, 2020 SMT time. Enough time to sit down and explain why there ideas need thinking about and giving them the knowledge they need to make decent decisions.
Andrew_C Posted January 9, 2020 Posted January 9, 2020 Also it's on fire, wonder why. That's easy - because this ****wit pastor was banned from the country
chazzy2501 Posted January 9, 2020 Posted January 9, 2020 I'd make every computer in the school an Apple Mac, as they just work and don't get viruses. 1
jthompson Posted January 9, 2020 Posted January 9, 2020 All staff ID cards to be made out of gold. Platinum for the IT staff.
CraigM Posted June 14, 2022 Posted June 14, 2022 Bit of a thread necro here, but hmm let's see: Brand new Aruba CX 48 port 2.5gb POE switches everywhere, trade in our older models. I don't like the new Aruba OS, but the 1 I do have is so much quieter than the older 2540 series. Complete overkill servers with all flash storage, fully redundant, complete unit in spares as well. A few more IT staff. Dedicated IT trainer to train staff. Top of the line overkill PC in every class, 24" or bigger monitors. Massive 4k or 8k interactive panels. Bye bye boards and projectors and associated cabling! Battery storage for the existing solar panels so that we never have power outages. Top of the line Ruckus AP's that can handle thousands of clients at once in each venue. Free food for all students and staff every day, making sure no one gets hungry ever. Basically, I just want to take things to the next level and be able to easily keep it there and not constantly have to worry about budgets and where it's ok to cut corners.
JATSO Posted June 14, 2022 Posted June 14, 2022 Well my magic money tree has just been revealed after 21 years, I have had a £1k magic money tree planted each year apparently just for (Technicians IT use) wonder what happened to the the 0ther 20k??, now what can I get for 1k? Backup system for our Google Workspace? is my first thought.
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