EduGeek Christmas Message 2014

So this is Xmas

And what have you done

Another year over

And a new one just begun….

 

John Lennon, Happy Christmas (War is Over)

Well, here we are once more at the end of another year which we are sure for most of you has been the usual round of hectic fire-fighting, network upgrades and often under-appreciated effort.

Don’t worry, we here at EduGeek know how hard you all work and, if your input in the forums is anything to go by, your jobs have been harder than ever before. Hopefully at least some of you will be working in offices containing many gifts of chocolate and other Christmas treats

So what's coming in the next year? Well, we have Windows 10 to look forwards to for a start which, I’m sure you will agree, will provide many of you with your first viable option to make those tentative steps away from your nice and stable Windows 7 networks after avoiding Windows 8 for so long. Other rumblings seem to be from those who want to move their classrooms away from whiteboards and projectors to embrace interactive projection technologies, with many more schools now integrating Macs, mobile devices, BYOD schemes and cloud technologies, thus making 2015 quite an exciting place indeed.

And it’s not just you who will be busy. We here at EduGeek have been planning hard for the next version of of the site - one we have casually name EduGeek X (why not? Everyone else seems to be able to do it!) – which will see us finally moving away from vBulletin and onto Invision Power Board at some point in the new year. This move means that we shall be able to offer both members and sponsors new, and previously requested, features on a platform that will support the most current internet technologies for many years to come. We can’t wait!

And then there is BETT. The behemoth education technology exhibition has once more crept, then leapt, upon us and with a great - and I can guarantee highly collectable - freebie in the offering (as well as the obligatory lanyards) for any member that takes the time to come and chat with us.

We shall, of course, have the usual free pizzas at lunch and comfy sofas for you all to rest your weary bones on. You can find us on stand E250 where we have once more been kindly hosted by Smoothwall; it should make the perfect base for your BETT trip as it is sandwiched between Microsoft and Google. So don't be shy; we really do enjoy meeting you all and please believe us when we say that you are really not getting in the way. So come to chat and relax, at least for a short time, you know it makes sense!

And finally, the annual EduGeek EDIT Conf is going to have a makeover. Firstly we are moving the date and location of the conf. We are well aware that it has become increasingly hard for some of you to make it to our one day event in May for several reasons and hopefully the following changes will help:

1. The date will be moved from May to October so as not to clash with the great many shows which take place between January and the summer
   
2. The Conf location will change to somewhere more accessible for many of you. We are currently looking at venues in Manchester which is a lot easier/quicker to reach either by car or train than Preston
   
3. The format of the Conf will change. Previously it has taken the traditional format of 'lectures' . In the future we want to make it more hands-on with practical demonstrations and tutorials being the main themes.
   
4. It shall be longer. Given the distance some of you travel we want to make it more value-added. As such we think that making it a two day event would ensure that you walk away with new skills and knowledge that previously we didn't have the time to organise for you.
   

Once BETT is out of the way we shall begin getting the Conf sorted out. In previous years we have had BETT, Education Innovation, EDIT and ISTE to sort out one after the other and it was getting a bit too intense organising all of this alongside running EduGeek. Moving the Conf will ensure that, not only will we have more time working on the site rather than doing external things, but that you get more out of it as well. Watch this space!

So all that remains is for all of us here at EduGeek to thank, in no particular order:

• You, our members: For being there for each other, making us smile on a daily basis and proving time and time again that online communities can and do make a difference in the real world
  
• Our sponsors, without whom we couldn't do all the things we do for you, including providing you with deals, freebies, competitions and real world contacts
  
• Our moderators: For policing the site and dealing with some pretty nasty spam attacks in the past year without you all noticing too much
  

So, from all of us here at EduGeek, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

NOTE: This message was prepared before the outage last weekend which is why its being published now.