TheHyperTechie

Correct, they have multiple sign in methods available (QR codes, Emoji passwords).

MyLogin badges all the way! Used them for years here on our chromebooks. Don't think we could ever go back to manual logins. They just scan a badge into the webcam and are loaded into their app dashboard within seconds.

From the Google Website "We are moving to a single license type for both Education Standard and Education Plus subscriptions. Previously, Education Plus had different licenses for staff and students because they had different features. Moving forward, all licenses have access to the same features, so we're moving to one single license type for all users. This single license type will simplify licensing assignment and ordering processes, unify support start and end dates for clearer subscription management, and will help speed up the ordering and renewals process".

Yes standard does

First thing I did here was off load the file server into Google Drive. We were running a 10 year old dell tower though... stuck on 2012 R2. Depending on the size of the school etc, could you not sit down with the head and a staff list and ask who requires access to what? I was fortunate that I built an RBAC system for our shares so certain user types & groups had access to their designated areas only. This made it easier when re-setting up the areas in Google. In terms of uploading the shares, I just installed the drive client onto the server and manually uploaded from there, under a different account to my own. It took a while, but was achievable. To be honest, it was actually a good bit of "admin" as we deleted lots of old files. In total, if I recall correctly - I transferred over about 1.2TB worth of files in a couple of days.

I have to do something similar sometimes, go into chrome://flags and enable the calibration setting. Restart, and then in display settings, you should have an option to calibrate the IWB. Touchscreen normally works after this!

We are also experiencing issues. First day back, great!

Q1 - Yes, plus does cover GCPW licensing. It also includes lots of other useful tools which in my opinion are worth it! Q2 - When I renewed last, the licensing had a ratio of 4/1 so for every 4 student licenses, you got a free staff license. This may have changed now though. I would speak to Getech they are very helpful. Worth noting, that you have to license your whole domain. Q3 - I did this for a while, had the students on fundamentals, and staff on standard - but by doing this, they missed out on extra features (security centre was the main and most useful one). Getech recommended I apply standard licenses to all users. Hope this helps.

May be a silly question, but have you added the specified DNS records from Arbor onto your domain? - https://support.arbor-education.com/hc/en-us/articles/360030423893-Emails-not-sent-or-go-to-junk-Setting-up-DMARC-and-SPF-Record#h_01HQ39Y184V2CRA9XARBBJ75P7

Take a look at this article, courtesy of Liam - https://liam-robinson.co.uk/how-to-enrol-and-manage-android-shared-devices-in-microsoft-intune/ & this one - https://liam-robinson.co.uk/configuring-managed-home-screen-sign-in-for-android-tablets-a-step-by-step-guide/ I believe it is very doable now, and they can be locked down heavily.

Yeah very strange, I will have a walk around this afternoon and try and get some feedback. Sometimes, issues don't get relayed back to me for a while - I will let you know.

I deployed the new v3 extension on the 4th of July, and nobody has reported any issues (yet!). We have about ~400 ish chromebooks with it installed on, 1:1 in KS2 so they are used quite frequently.

Denying a scope will simply not allow the user to integrate their Google account with said application. I don't allow access to any 3rd party apps regardless of OU and user age. I only whitelist them when requested, and a DPIA has been filled in to ensure it's safe to use. I have seen horror stories before of users integrating/signing into inappropriate websites with work/school accounts, so this is just an added layer of protection. Students don't have access to their email accounts here anyway, so they couldn't manually sign up either. Staff could "technically" however, emails can be caught in the spam filter or searched if needed to.

Nice discount on the new blink outdoor 4 cameras.

Yeah for that particular option, we have "Keep email in the inbox and show warning" ticked. Mainly for the same reasons @jthompson has mentioned. Our staff are usually quite good with reporting dodgy emails, or raising it with myself. So when a warning banner is displayed they are normally very cautious.

UniFi at the core and edge here. 10G fibre links between cabs.

A particular interest of mine is web development, it's what I wanted to do when I left uni. But I needed a job asap (bills to pay...) so grabbed the first edu IT vacancy I saw. Been in it ever since. Programming/Web dev is a strange area at the moment though, due to AI capabilities advancing etc. As others have said, IT Security/Pentesting/Auditing is probably where I would look now if I wanted to move. Have you got any certs?

Just had a look on CeX at our particular model - £20 cash they would offer us per device. Looking online at multiple sources, they still seem to be selling for about ~£500!

If budget is a concern (I know it's the end of the year and it can be tight) I would suggest what others have mentioned, replacing the outdated hardware with W11 compatible ones - then blast through them with MDT. But obviously at £150-200 (per refurbished) machine you would be looking at nearly £40,000+ (Very justified spend though!) If budget doesn't allow for this, you would either have to look down the extended support route (W10 LTSC) or utilising something like Chrome OS Flex with a roughly ~£30 license fee per machine. Even then you are looking at a large chunk of money to even get them operational and supported. So I would argue that replacing the kit would be obviously worth it in the long run.

I see what you mean, but I am the sole IT employee in our school. So I don’t have the ability to pass it onto anyone else. I wear all the hats so to speak, so if any sort of IT issue arises - it will be me that looks at it. Just frustrating when a password reset could take up to an hour, or I could do it in a couple of minutes.

Thanks for this, its very useful information. I do know of a couple of Trusts that have similar setups, e.g. their MSP will handle all 1st line queries/issues and then the NM will deal with more of the technical stuff - or vice versa. I will try and write up a document detailing the use case of needing such credentials like you mentioned. The schools/MAT have a very good relationship with the MSP and have been using them for years, my school has only recently joined in the MAT though, which might make a difference.

Really interesting point - the MAT owns the tenant, and the MSP just manages it. I'll keep pushing, because, speaking to the MSP, they don't have an issue. In fact, it would be helpful for them, as I wouldn't need to ask for tickets to be looked at constantly.

This may be in the wrong forum, so admin - please move if necessary.

Hi all, I'm curious how many schools or MATs use an external MSP for IT services but still retain admin access to key areas? In our case, teaching staff recently received new Intune managed laptops from our trust to align IT across the MAT using Office 365 (we were previously a Google school). While it's great to have updated devices, they are fully managed by the trust's external MSP. As the Network Manager at the school, I have no control over these devices or the Office 365 tenant. This has already caused issues. When staff need support, I have no option but to direct them to the MSPs helpdesk, despite being employed to manage the school's IT. I have raised the issue above with the Trust previously (lack of access) but was essentially told that the Trust has an SLA with the MSP, and that I can't simply make changes to live environments without an audit trail in place. I understand this to a certain degree, but I am not necessarily asking for global admin access. Just enough to carry out basic tasks. Just a small 'rant' I suppose, but was wondering if this is the norm for any other IT staff within education?