Greetings,
Like the user above, I discovered Edugeeks whilst desperately seeking answers to some pressing ICT questions...
I suffer the double heresies of being both a Teacher and an ICT Coordinator, at a very small, rural Primary in Suffolk (about 150 pupils on the roll). This is my first teaching post, and only my second year of professional practice (before Uni' I was the (paperwork) Administrator at a small computer company, so picked up odds and ends of technical knowledge). My current headaches comprise of an aging network using a (dwindling) conglomeration of Windows 98 PCs mixed in with Windows XP installed on machines which were out of date by the end of the 90s, barely held together by a Knowledgebox and Suffolk's own SlamNET software.
As far as Technical Support in the school goes, I'm it, which is a rather damning condemnation, as I'm a skilled amateur at best, and the epitome of 'a little knowledge is dangerous' at worst. The High School in our Pyramid had previously attempted to provide a Technician (who was worth his weight in gold!) to help us Primaries out, but his recent departure, and the Pyramid being in the middle of considering buying into outside TS, leaves us with little current onhand support.
At the moment, I'm trying to suss out and cost a complete replacement for our network, both in terms of hardware and software, which will be easy to use and caters to a (near-complete) lack of technical expertise. I get about 45 minutes each week on top of my PPA time to manage the ICT, which is invariably spent trying to coax some life out of our Network, thin out the piles of junk which have accumulated over the years in the ICT Suite, get information uploaded to our fledgling website, compile some kind of development plan, set-up consultations, and put together a handbook which gathers together the basics of how our existing system works (Ha!) in one place.
I'm only 26, but my partner's already spotted some white hairs...
