Sims.net Annual Conference

[russdev]

Just to let people know I will be at the Sims.net annual conference on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Please do give me a buzz if going to it and want to meet up.

 

Russ

[vikpaw]

I can't see it on the Events list on SupportNet, ergo, it isn't occuring.

But if it was, and you were there, i'd be interested in your feedback on Timetables Aid scheme and how sending T4 to Africa can be sustainable if it's not supported anymore. Maybe we can form a support group on EG for them...?

[PhilNeal]

It's for support units which is why it isn't visible.

[AyatollahPies]

What's the freebie this year Phil? I got a shoulder bag and food poisoning 2 years ago. :-)

[PhilNeal]

I never know what the freebe is beforehand. They keep that quiet!!

[vikpaw]

ooh freebies, russ, i'd like a SIMS keyring or maybe some cufflinks please. That is your mission; should you choose to accept it.

[AyatollahPies]

ooh freebies, russ, i'd like a SIMS keyring or maybe some cufflinks please. That is your mission; should you choose to accept it.

 

I can send you some Capita pens. Got loads of them.

[vikpaw]

I can send you some Capita pens. Got loads of them.

 

Wish i coulda had that offer a few weeks ago. Got a number of calls yesterday for Capita merchandise, that people wanted to give to some of our many leavers who are SIMS lovers and proponents.

 

I was very hesitant to relinquish my mug or my notebook.

 

Perhaps there should be an e-shop on SupportNet for all the fanboys (and girls) out there

[Sarconia]

maybe some cufflinks please

 

That'd go great with the "I mean business" long sleeved shirt I'm wearing today

 

I've got loads of SIMS pens floating round, a mug and even a cap somewhere I think...

 

The topic for the conference is fairly relevant, the next 5 years but I'm not sure whether I'd class sessions from BECTA and MS as exciting!

[vikpaw]

A cap, that sounds good. i used to have pens but normally pass them around at school as spoils of my trips.

My mug and tie are the best, so cufflinks are next on my list.

I can see a market for T-Shirts . . "In an ideal world, all Teachers would die, for their SIMS" (but obviously a better slogan!)

I just hope there's a flashy new mug for when discover is launched, maybe a graph that highlights how hot your coffee is depending on the temp', and correlates with how much sugar you put in.

Anyway, are you part of a support unit @sarconia; ? The topic sounds pretty good as i think big changes are afoot across the board. By all accounts the recent Microsoft and SIMS presentations have been groovy.

[AyatollahPies]

I've never heard of any presentation being described as groovy so I guess I should look forward to the conference.

 

Mind you, I am taking my netbook and dongle should the football prove to tempting.

[Sarconia]

Now that I think about it, I've definitely got a few SIMS branded folders floating around somewhere too. T-shirts would be handy, although for some reason my mind instantly thought something along the lines of "you'd end up with booth babes wearing those branded T-shirts on the SIMS stand @ BETT".

 

@vikpaw; Yes, I am part of a Support Unit - I currently support all modules of SIMS.net, FMS and pretty much any piece of software which somehow interacts with SIMS or FMS... oh and if someone rings up about a technical query, they'll usually want some sort of answer to that too!

 

Big changes will be occurring within the next 5 years although I think a lot of it will come down to pure cost cutting and general beancountering rather than planning for the future and spending money tactfully. I think that some emphasis should be placed on embracing a few pieces of open-source software - at least trying them out, I mean... OpenOffice for one, I'd never used it up until recently but it's virtually the same as MS Office 2007, I know it doesn't work with SIMS but it could be used elsewhere within an establishment. I also know that in general a lot of people are luddites and don't like change but change is the future and something that we need to embrace.

 

I also think there will be a big focus on online reporting but it's something that I've personally never been too sure about... we can spend ages implementing all of these solutions, SLG, Fronter, Moodle, OpenHive, the Bromcom solution (I forget the name of it even though it looks rather nice!) to enable parents to view their childrens details/assessments/timetable but will it actually be used? If I were 10yrs younger and so were my parents would they use it? Most likely they wouldn't... not because they didn't care about my education but simply because they can't really use a PC!

 

I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here - there are so many issues which could be discussed.

[vikpaw]

I've never heard of any presentation being described as groovy so I guess I should look forward to the conference.

 

Mind you, I am taking my netbook and dongle should the football prove to tempting.

 

Don't quote me, they might not have been reliable accounts!

 

Now that I think about it, I've definitely got a few SIMS branded folders floating around somewhere too. T-shirts would be handy, although for some reason my mind instantly thought something along the lines of "you'd end up with booth babes wearing those branded T-shirts on the SIMS stand @ BETT".

 

@vikpaw; Yes, I am part of a Support Unit - I currently support all modules of SIMS.net, FMS and pretty much any piece of software which somehow interacts with SIMS or FMS... oh and if someone rings up about a technical query, they'll usually want some sort of answer to that too!

 

Big changes will be occurring within the next 5 years although I think a lot of it will come down to pure cost cutting and general beancountering rather than planning for the future and spending money tactfully. I think that some emphasis should be placed on embracing a few pieces of open-source software - at least trying them out, I mean... OpenOffice for one, I'd never used it up until recently but it's virtually the same as MS Office 2007, I know it doesn't work with SIMS but it could be used elsewhere within an establishment. I also know that in general a lot of people are luddites and don't like change but change is the future and something that we need to embrace.

 

I also think there will be a big focus on online reporting but it's something that I've personally never been too sure about... we can spend ages implementing all of these solutions, SLG, Fronter, Moodle, OpenHive, the Bromcom solution (I forget the name of it even though it looks rather nice!) to enable parents to view their childrens details/assessments/timetable but will it actually be used? If I were 10yrs younger and so were my parents would they use it? Most likely they wouldn't... not because they didn't care about my education but simply because they can't really use a PC!

 

I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here - there are so many issues which could be discussed.

 

Booth babes? LOL. You saw my picture of James at the SIMS demo stand at BETT right?

 

I think i support as much as you, but only for the one school

 

Open source is a great idea if it can be managed and supported well enough. There are lots of new MIS companies on the market at the moment which is interesting.

 

I think we are getting towards a stage where lots of different parts of the work we do are coming together. The online reporting idea kicked things in the right direction as far as i can see, even if the idea itself wasn't well thought out.

 

Combining everything through a web interface is great, and interoperability with other systems will help centralise everything (not just MIS) through one portal as it were.

 

The Bromcom solution you're thinking of is TeachersWebFolder

[Sarconia]

Yeah, I did - it was hillarious! I'm definitely going to have to try and attend the next BETT...

 

I'm not sure where all of these other MIS companies have come from actually, there are loads floating around nowadays. Hopefully we'll have some more diversity in the market, SIMS at the moment is a bit like Microsoft a few years ago - it has the majority share and is stagnating a bit. I mean, how much better are MS now that they've got some competition?

 

Having one portal like you've mentioned for everything sounds like a great idea, I'm just not sure if all the companies involved could work together to achieve it. For example, RM's Kaleidos portal when linked with SIMS works fine but it gathers all of it's information from SIMS reports, so if the reporting engine breaks or report fields change slightly then it's time.

 

Aha, I just remembered, the Bromcom solution was MyChildAtSchool.

[russdev]

Follow the day at EduGeek.net (edugeek) on Twitter

[AyatollahPies]

Follow the day at EduGeek.net (edugeek) on Twitter

 

You actually look like your Avatar.

 

 

(No we didn't speak & no i thankfully don't look like my avatar :-) )

[john]

You actually look like your Avatar.

 

 

(No we didn't speak & no i thankfully don't look like my avatar :-) )

 

Really thats a shame as I was wondering what type of Pie you were

 

Russ's photo is his Sims photo I believe