dhicks

As already noted, £4,000 is pretty average for a well-presented website for marketing purposes - someone with all the resources to be able to provide good photography and graphics and deal with fiddling around with formatting reqeusts. If you do want to do the website yourself, I recommend using a static site generator. I run a site that uses Hugo to convert Markdown into a website using the Gov.uk style template - it's rather more text / information heavy than your average school marketing page, although it should also meet most accesibility standards. Content is held in Google Drive, which the end users can edit via Word or Google Docs, which does make for very accesible content management.

Ooh - customised how? I could do with a plugin that lets me authenticate against GSuite logins. +1 for WeVideo, it's become a very usable video editing tool. The same for SoundTrap as an audio editor, too.

As a tool for setting / answering quiz questions, Kahoot is quite good: https://kahoot.com/ It does require you to have both Kahoot open in a browser window and whatever video conferencing solution you're using, which does seem to confuse some people - often people seem to wind up using a separate device for each application.

We added UPS backup at the same time we re-cabled the building for networking so we were able to run power cabling at the same time we ran network, so now we have a large UPS in the basement power inlet room that powers the main server cabinet, several edge switches, some workstations and the front office printer. Depending on usage, uptime should be somewhere up to 2 or 3 hours in case of a powercut - that should include PoE-powered devices such as phones, wireless, CCTV cameras and tannoy speakers. The above saved us having to buy a separate UPS per edge cabinet and gives us the one main UPS to maintain, so in some ways saves money. Of course, that is a bigger UPS to purchase and maintain. We've also just had to do maintainance over half term and had an issue where we had to swap our about a third of the batteries, which was a bit of a cost, and of course that meant downtime while we turned the main UPS off (our servers were fine, just our core switches don't have dual power supplies).

Can you switch PoE on/off on a particular switch port? You could have a periodic task set up to turn the power on/off to a particular port at given times, or set up a on/off button on a web page. I think Ubiquiti's PoE-capable switches have this capability (not sure if it's scriptable, though), so you could put a small (£150) switch in to power the classroom access point. I've always wanted to try painting a classroom's walls in "magnetic" whiteboard paint, basically paint with iron filings in. My guess is that that would cut down on the external radiation making it in to a classroom - you could do a before-and-after measurement to see what percentage it cuts out. This would (possibly) stop interference on the limited channels available to WiFi signals, meaning that if you did have an access point inside the classroom it should use less power / give a better signal. Plus you can stick magnets straight to the wall, which is great fun, and if you get a dry-wipe surface all round the classroom you can draw on with marker pens!

You could go for refurbished laptops - there's a couple of forum sponsers on here that do ex-corperate devices, generally decent, solid devices maybe a couple of years old and with warrenty. You used to be able to buy USB caddies for desktop-size DVD drives, if you have teachers moving around classrooms and taking their laptops with them you could put a "desktop" DVD drive in each classroom ready to be plugged in with a USB cable rather than have teachers carry a separate DVD drive with them. Depends on cost / number of classrooms, of course.

Our media drive is around 3.5TB and was the first thing we moved to be Google Drive only, it doesn't seem to have been an issue. We sync the files from Google Drive to a local server for backup as we had the hardware available, but at some point that will probably move to a cloud-based backup solution of some sort.

I didn't contact Disney+ myself, a colleague did, but he did keep the chat history. There was about 40 minutes of back-and-forth with him trying to get them to understand what he was asking them ("we're a school, can we use Disney+?"), with little result. I suspect Disney+ are simply looking at traffic volumes per IP address and blocking any that seem to be over a certain volume on the basis that those are most likely proxies of some sort. In @DalekSec's case, you might have to get each pupil to contact Disney+ - they need an account name to progress support calls.

We've noticed we seem to be blocked from a couple of services, Disney+ included - the others were an animated GIF creation site and a social media site. All were fair enough, really - the two other sites weren't really suitible for use by pupils, and Disney+ don't want schools using their content. I don't think they offer a schools-specific subscription at the moment, you're probably best off sticking to DVDs for the time being.

"CHQ" - are you talking about: https://chqgroup.co.uk/ We don't use the above system, but we do use iSAMS. How is CHQ handling logins - via iSAMS' own "identity" platform or by getting a list of parent email addresses from iSAMS and creating login credentials on its own platform? In iSAMS, a pupil can have multiple contacts (parents, legal guardians, etc) associated with them, so in theory you could export multiple email addresses assocoated with each pupil. CHQ's support is probably the best place to ask about this - my guess is that you'll need to update your data in iSAMS with the appropriate email address for each parent.

Do you have any more details? If this is a extra-curriculum club, is this a more limited size group (6? Maybe 6 pairs / groups?). What sort of development environment are the pupils going to use - or, more importantly, what sort of environment is their teacher going to be able to support them using? If you want to do full 3D environments you can move around in real-time you're probably looking at something like Unity for a development environment - might take a bit of time to get set up, and you'll need reasonably capable hardware to run it on. Are you thinking of a teathered VR headset, with the computing power provided by a desktop machine, or a stand-alone headset with a phone or similar in the front? The latter is cheaper, and more portable (pupils could take the hardware home, or just use their own phones). I'm not sure what development looks like for those platforms - I'm guessing you can use Unity, and I think Google have a bunch of browser-based APIs for VR-from-the-browser. "VR" here could also mean 360-degree photos / videos, the hardware for which is remarkably affordable - £100 gets you a 360-degree camera these days.

I get the impression the original poster is wanting something they can ceiling-mount out of the way of interfering fingers. My guess is that, as you suggest, a decent webcam mounted in a suitible location connected somehow to a wall-mounted PC (NUC or similar) would do nicely - have the PC load up your streaming application of choice on boot so all staff need to do is turn the PC on and log in (via a wireless keyboard kept locked away in a drawer?), or as you suggest even have it auto-boot straight into a known streaming session ("Main Hall Assembly", or whatever). That would probably mosetly sound okay, too, although the original poster was hoping to get the output from their mixer as an input too.

The quality, especially for a CCTV camera, is quite good, although probably not any better than a webcam (probably the same sensor and similar lense in both). If anything, CCTV cameras will be adjusted to give clarity of image when lit by low light / infrared lighting and might look a bit on the blue / washed out side. I'd have thought you'd get better results with any camera directly attached to the same PC as your audio interface and streamed from there. If you have a DSLR or camcorder anywhere you can connect via an HDMI / USB adaptor you'll get a nicer result - larger sensor, probably a zoom lens that you can use to frame the scene better. I think in another thread someone mentioned trying a GoPro, which might be an idea - I've been wanting to try their new 360-degree camera for a while, it would be nice to be able to stream an assembly as a 360 degree video. As pointed out already, streaming to parents at home brings up various complications, hence why we're planning to do nativities and so forth this year as pre-filmed pieces we can edit together and better control which children appear. For that sort of thing, a DSLR in video mode is probably best.

As in something you can ceiling mount? We use Ubiquiti cameras for CCTV, which have okay mics built-in - not sure if that would be suitible. As suggested, you could use a simple webcam - we've got on okay with these, which can be mounted to a standard tripod thread: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/hardware/217689-webcams-remote-teaching.html#post1864026 If you're using the above with a PC of some sort to do the actual streaming you could add a USB audio interface to take input directly from your audio mixer. I've found the Behringer UM2 to be nice and simple: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-U-PHORIA-UM2-Computer-Interface/dp/B00EK1OTZC/ref=sr_1_1 It can provide 48v phantom power for a condenser mic, with a physical on/off switch, so no-one has to press anything on the device itself to get it working, you just need to turn the power on - ideal if you're mounting this somewhere inaccesible.

It's probably easier and cheaper to use a camcorder. This thread from a couple of weeks ago might come in handy: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/av-multimedia-related/217200-video-camera-recommendations-please.html For a decent, cheaper option, a camcorder should do nicely - we use the Panasonic HDC-SD90, which has lasted for years. Newest equivalent, I think, is the HC-V180EB-K (£170): https://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/cameras-camcorders/camcorders/hd-camcorders/hc-v180eb-k.html The above should give you a clean HDMI out and be power-able via a USB battery pack, so you can power the whole lot without having to run cables to it and leave it to run for several hours if needed. Connect the HDMI out to a USB adaptor cable - I tried this one, worked nicely (£17): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0888PBG1D/ref=as_li_tl and connect it up to a laptop running the streaming system of your choice (Meet, Zoom, etc). If you want to take an input directly from your audio mixer you should be able to connect to the mic input of the camcorder. Not tried it yet, I need to find an appropriate way to connect XLR out to mic jack in. Also bear in mind that you'll need everyone to be speaking / making sound into something that feeds into your mixer for that audio to be heard - you probably want some combination of sound output from your mixer and the camcorders mic to be on the safe side.

Good point - maybe a ChromeOS tablet in an extra-protection case? They tend to be quite affordable, too.

Is there a non-Google / Microsoft stack of school-related applications you already integrate with, for schools looking for an alternative, or would it up to each individual school to piece together a solution? For the schools that are using Zoom integrated with Google, do you have any idea why that is or what advantages those schools are finding?

So is Paul's task to gather requirements / feature requests to better fit Zoom for the (UK) education marketplace? Google (and probably Microsoft, although I don't use their system day-to-day so I'm not sure) have added various features to Meet over the past few months to better fit it to use in UK schools, I assume based on usage and feedback from users / administrators. It sounds like Zoom are aiming for the same process - refinements to ease any administrative burden of using Zoom within a school setting. Paul: is there some advantage to using Zoom from within GSuite? I could understand if a school had decided that they wanted to avoid having to use Microsoft / Google logins, but if we're already set up with GSuite logins then the easiest option is going to be to go with Gogole's nicely integrated Meet solution, there'd have to be a compelling reason to have to set up a separate video system (better sound / video quality / some other feature not available on othe platforms?).

If you're replying to a specific question, it'd be handy if you could quote at least part of the question just so people can keep a track of what you're talking about - there's several different threads going on here in one go, it can get a little confusing. Is this something you can explain further? I can get general information on Zoom from a Google search - Zoom's documentation seems seems pretty comprehensive and well laid-out, so any questions I do have I can probably start to answer via search. It'd be good to know there was someone at Zoom that integrators and so on could turn to if / when they hit issues. In fairness, it's hardly as though Google or Microsoft are on here trying to answer questions, so kudos to Zoom for putting someone on the job.

Indeed. I would very much like there to be an alternative (or more than one!) to the two current main systems of Microsoft and Google. Not that I have any particular concerns about either, but a good, diverse marketplace is always good - the goverment funding recently put aside to help get schools set up with an online learning system basically boiled down to "pick your provider, Google or Microsoft". The individual components of such a system are available, it's just the integrations part of things that needs sorting. A school should be able to pick between some combination of {MIS} / {Apple / Wonde / Clever / Other Identity Provider} / {DropBox / Other Cloud Filesystem} / {ClassDojo / Hosted Moodle Provider / Other VLE} / {Zoom / Other Video Provider} / {etc} and have everything work together. Paul-From-Zoom: If I were to be looking at integrating video confercing into an education-related application, what facilities / APIs do you offer for integration? For instance, if I had a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE - like Moodle, etc), and I wanted to automatically link each course to a video chat room, how do I do that?

If this was an answer to my question about using multiple cameras, then I think your answer implies that I could use two (or more?) USB-connected cameras, but switching between network-connected cameras requires external application support. Fair enough, it makes sense for your platform to just do the streaming video side of things. I'm guessing that means you don't have any direct support for 360-degree video?

I was thinking more in the context of filming live performances and wanting to do chromakey-like background removal / replacement. The "background blur" feature for Meet is being touted as a handy privacy feature, though, which I imagine is pretty much the same feature (figure out which bit of the image is the background, blur it). It's a good point in a use-in-classes context, though - allowing background blur might be okay, but a teacher of a class should be able to block pupils setting their own custom background. Paul-from-Zoom: is there any support for multiple camera angles on one outgoing stream? If we want to film a live performance (I'm starting to plan ahead for Christmas nativity plays and similar), can we have multiple fixed cameras set up that we can switch between with a handy interface?

Something I have been wondering: how does the background selection / blur algorithm work? I use Zoom outside of a school context, from what I've seen of people using replacement backgrounds the effect can be a bit variable, with the occasional arm or head dissapearing into the background. Are there limits on how much computing power you can use locally that limit what you can do with processing the background out of images? Possibly related to the above, do you have any idea on battery performance over other video solutions? Say on a laptop not connected to the mains, what sort of runtime I might expect? Does Zoom have / plan for support for 360 degree cameras? More the lower-end of things, like the new GoPro, rather than the more expensive "pro" devices. The context I'm thinking of is more like streaming performances and similar, where we might want to put a device as near to a stage as we can, in an audience-eye-view position, without having to have power cables and so forth run accross the floor. 360 degree, or at least wide-angle, support would be good for users (or possibly a producer) being able to select a field-of-view of a performance or track someone walking accross a stage.

How well does Zoom integrate / work with the various other systems we use? We use GSuite, so we have account provision synced from our local directory server (Active Directory) or MIS, then Google Meet is neatly integrated into Google Classroom, so every Classroom can have its own Meet session. From an overall administration point of view, given the school's timetable data (i.e. a list of pupils, what classes they are in and what teachers teach them) we can automatically provision user accounts and match those up to online classrooms, complete with linked video conferencing rooms, with teachers and pupils assigned suitible user privalages (i.e. pupils can't create their own Meet sessions, teachers have control of various functions in Meet, non-pupils users can't just join sessions, etc). For Zoom to be useful to us, it would need to be part of a whole-package solution, similar to Microsoft or Google's offerings. I guess that would mean integrations with various other providers - maybe a Dropbox / ClassDoJo / Zoom package deal.

Hmm - a very good point. However: our Classrooms don't seem to have Guardian updates enabled by default - I can see a report generated nightly from GAM with the "guardiansEnabled" value mostly set to "FALSE". As you point out, accoding to Google's documentation, for a "Primary/Secondary Education" customer that value should be "TRUE". This might be one to pass onto Google Support - it doesn't seem to match up what the documentation says should be happening.