Lone_Rider

It was all installed and setup way before my time, in truth I did not know that there was a Browser extension. Securly have been very, very slow to respond to the support cases I have opened. I have a call set up for Monday. So I guess I will wait and see what they say an also look into the Browser extension as well. Thanks for the heads up on that.

We are suffering from a Windows/Chrome issue in that SmartPac is not responding to the Geolocation is allowed setting. We are randomly having issues with Securly not allowing people to access Google Drive or in some cases Websites such as Youtube, when using a PC. A user logs on and allows Securly access to their location but when they click on Google Drive, it either just sits there doing nothing or the securly webpage flickers as if it is trying to connect but cannot. We have tried the "SmartPac" workaround of using a private Gmail account to try and force The SmartPac to set the Securly cookie. However this does not work for us. See this from Securly. https://support.securly.com/hc/en-us/articles/26661503585943-Google-Drive-Access-Issue-with-SmartPAC-Troubleshooting-and-Workaround#:~:text=When%20a%20personal%20Google%20account,unauthenticated%2C%20and%20restrictions%20are%20applied. Our current work around is to remove the users profile from the PC and then getting them to sign in again, so that a new profile is created on the PC. This new profile works and Securly allows access to Google Drive etc. However this is not a permanent fix, as some users have had the issue reappear a few days later. This error is randomly affecting users across both the main school and the lower school and is causing serious disruptions in the classroom and back office. Anyone else suffering from this?

We had the same issue with the AQA Biology paper on Friday and again this morning with the English Lit paper, Namely that Docs+ and Exam Write Pad could not read the PDF. They both errored. Even if you enter the password supplied by AQA you are not able to remove the "open PDF " password block, as it requires another password to remove the security. So we resorted to a software removal of the Security so that the electronic read / writer programs will open the PDF and work for the Students. As already commented, bodes well for all electronic exams in few years!!

Thanks for all the replies, they have been very informative. I guess I am going to be buying a multi reader and doing a straight swap on one door to prove the concept and then take it from there.

Has anyone swapped a Paxton Proximity Card reader ( one that will only read Paxton Cards) for a Multi card reader for Mifare Classic 1K (MIFARE Classic® 1K NXP EV1) cards. IS its a simple case of buying the new reader and swapping it over or does it have to be initialized and added to the system etc. I am trying to avoid a £250 call out charge and or a £500 per reader swap charge. Any help would be appreciated.

I'm glad its going to be retracted and publish an apology. We have enough to be concerned about without, being chastised for over monitoring "Spying" on students. Its bad enough at the moment trying to keep ahead of what sites the little darlings try and get to and what they think they can search for, instead of concentrating in class.

Glad to see that webcam capture is disabled by default, we use NetDNA at our school and have configured it to email alerts, when someone types certain words and the fact that we have a screen capture with a date and time stamp of the user, is a godsend. As that has bee proof of what went on and why its been reported to the DSP etc. At least I can now refer any irate parents to the rebuttal from NetSupport. I also am somewhat surprised that the Telegraph have put such a spin on it.

I read a very interesting article in the Telegraph on Saturday. Tens of thousands of pupils aged as young as five are at risk of being spied on through their webcams using software designed to tackle extremism in schools. “Classroom management software” is used by schools across the UK to flag up when words linked with terrorism, cyberbullying and self-harm are typed on laptops and tablets. However, an investigation by the Sunday Telegraph has found that one major provider of the software is able to remotely enable webcams on devices to spy on pupils, often without students or their parents ever knowing. NetSupport DNA, which provides its software to more than 1,000 schools in the UK, said the camera on a laptop is enabled if a student types in words such as “bomb” or “suicide”. A screenshot or recording of the student is then captured and sent to a teacher to flag that they are a risk. In some cases, details of the student are also sent to the police. NetSupport DNA was not able to reveal how many webcam images and videos of students are taken each day. “The parents don’t know this software exists,” said Jen Persson director of campaign group Defend Digital Me and a mother of three, who is concerned the technology is being used to take images and video recordings of children in secret. “It’s a huge red flag that companies are so unwilling to speak openly about how the systems work and that there is no documentation about what parents should be told.” Katie Hall, NetSupport DNA’s marketing manager, said that while recordings are currently made on school premises, the company is planning a software update that will allow webcams to be activated in a student’s home. This could happen if, for instance, a school operates a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) scheme, which allows students to use their own laptop at school. The school could then install the monitoring software onto the child’s device, enabling teachers to remotely activate the webcam 24/7, regardless of location. “I am somewhat shocked to see that this is viewed as acceptable,” said Andy Phippen, Professor of Social Responsibility in IT at Plymouth University. “There are major data protection concerns about an outside agency being able to move from an alert based on keyword matching to viewing the subject in the home. “I would be amazed if school children had given consent for this invasion of privacy and it seems wholly disproportionate based upon something that could be entirely innocuous.” There are also concerns that hackers could gain access to databases created by school monitoring tools, providing them with a “honey pot” of images, videos and recordings of vulnerable children. In 2015, a security flaw was found in Impero classroom monitoring software which is used in 1,400 UK secondary schools. The flaw allowed almost anyone to access computers running Impero software, including files and records stored on the students that had been flagged by the system. Richard Fuller, CEO of Impero is adamant that the company takes security issues seriously. In defence of his software, he claims it can be used as a tool to help spot problems before they become critical. “I know of monitoring software where children have been very depressed and have looked for ways to take their own life online, and that’s a situation in which our software can provide alerts and get someone help,” he said. He is also keen to stress that Impero doesn’t use webcam monitoring. “I would find that concerning,” he said. Schools have been ramping up their use of the monitoring software since 2016 after the government issued its Keeping Children Safe guidance that “obligates schools to introduce appropriate levels of web monitoring”. But Ms Persson fears that they have done so without fully understanding the privacy implications of the technology. “Matt Hancock said that we want to make the UK the safest place to go online,” she said. “We can’t do that by saying our own government’s statutory guidance has allowed some guy in some back room to look at your teenage daughter through her webcam.” I am now bracing myself for a flood of emails from parents about this. GDPR or not, Government Guidelines on Safeguarding, hmm and we are in the middle!

GrumbleDook, I am not going to mention any names, but an Apple Solutions company has been involved in a small way, they are doing the hard sell to the SLT on how bright and easy the future will be with Apple. Everything so far has been, "its easy, dont be a windows slave. ipads and Macs don't break, we do not have to worry about software upgrades" etc etc. All I am trying to do is work out what is best for the school and the best way to implement it, what ever that solution is and what about the long term as per your last comment. As they saying goes "Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die" only I would like to skip the die bit ! :-)

mellowip, Forgot to metion we have a mac Xserver for running the imacs. We are a CMIS school and yes the register is electroinic although apparently we will be using "Progresso" going forward, I belive thats web based. I should say that I am new to the school side of things, (only been here for 4 months) having come from the Business sector, where even by their standards , deployments are a lot more controlled. What I seem to see all around me is the SLT say this is what we want, buy it and throw it at the IT department to install and get working. I am trying to introduce best practice procedures in all that is done, starting with this "ipad Deployment"

rbance, I do not disagree with your point of view. I would like to be leading edge and not bleeding edge, I do not want to be the vanguard trailblazer for all to follow. We have been told that a company can provide insurance for the ipads, but as to support, that we will need to look long and hard at.

mellowip1983 My gut feeling is yes, although we are having a meeting in a few days time to discusss direction of technology that the school wishes to take. We currently have some 20 ipads being used sporadically, some 20 iPod touches sitting waiting to be activated and used and iMacs in Music and Art.

Mellowpip1983, no we are not an RM school. Currently we have Viglen PC's and Laptops are a mixture of Viglen and Toshiba. SLT's current view is an iPad per pupil, that they take home and bring into school, so they would need to be able to be (unlocked for home use at a guess) switch between locked down mode and unlocked mode. ios 5 is supposed to allow updating wirelessly and the head likes the idea of icloud to store data (havent even looked into the Data protections side of that yet) Also I am guessing and I could be wrong that, ICT classes will still need to be on PC's , let alone Science and will all the software currently used be able to work on Mac? As i have said its going to be a huge project and I need ammunition to slow it down and make it go at a steady pace, if thats the route we take, even if its fully mobile with other tablets it all needs to be looked at in a controlled fashion.

At last I have found a forum, that just might be able to help. Our SLT is hell bent on going down the iPad / Mac route (and let me say here and now I am not anti MAC), my concerns are over: (a) locking them down (b) purchasing apps via one account or does it have to be individual accounts? © 1200 ipads (as they have the idea that each pupil will have an ipad) (d) the legitamcy if using them in controlled assements (e) Office or equivelant software on an iPad All of those and most fundemental of all, not doing a study / benchmark against Android / windows tablets to see which would be the most practical and cost effective to deploy. Helpful pointers would be appreciated!