TechMonkey

Urgh, Promissor. I wish they would invest in some decent software. I mean schools are set up to ensure the right people are in the right place, doing the right exam, so it isn't like we need full proctoring software. Though it would be nice to have that as some pupils could take exams at home which would help them (and the school). I keep meaning to ask how other schools are dealing with 1:1 schemes and the rule about taking exams as pupils are used to working? Surely this potentially could lead to all pupils taking exams on computer?

I had a ticket ignored for 3 months. Solved the issue ourselves and then got a call out of the blue apologising for the delay and asking if they could help. Something about a malfunction with their queue and tickets. Guy was really bashful so I think he had had lots of angry people on the phone. Something has changed as I have had the same previous brilliant response as you mention, and now this.

Be careful with Copper wires between buildings. Someone much cleverer than I will be able to give the science but I only learnt late in life that you shouldn't cable copper between buildings due to ground differences or loops, or something similar. I may be over egging it if the satellite building is a portacabin or some such but just thought I'd put it out there. In regards to your actual question: If you have no power sockets you are all out of luck. If you can get 2 sockets you could ensure your AP has a through network port and then put one PoE injector on the inbound line, then take a cable out of the AP, add an injector and plug into the phone. Makes me shudder slightly thinking about it but it should work. Alternatively, depending on the distance, put the AP up using a PoE injector and see if a DECT SIP phone will cover the distance.

You'd be surprised. We were looking at £26k for a second line to be brought on site, not even to the building, at a previous school I worked at, coming from a completely different exchange, and ensuring a different route. We were semi-rural so that may have had an effect, but it isn't as easy as you may think.

Ohhhhhhh, that is pretty! EDIT: Totally poop in portrait mode. I do like the functionality it brings and like OWA, but the layout is so bulky it is pointless in anything but widescreen mode, which is odd when you think about tablets and the like. I have just found that I can hide the folder bar, that gives a lot more space. Means I can't see when things come into other mailboxes though.

Having the Inbox icon in line with the File menu just is wrong. Plus I want the choice of where the icons go, side or bottom. I use a portrait screen so I now have lost screen real estate to read emails because MS have decided the menu has to be there.

Had a Ruckus system installed over the last year. Rock solid. We had an Aruba system and it wasn't properly installed so I can't really compare like to like, but we have had no issues and found the signal goes further than it did. Having had a ruckus system at a previous place which was totally fire and forget I have to say Ruckus is still my go to.

My question would be, why are they sharing an admin account? If more than one person has access to an account you lose all hope of auditing and accountability. Set them both up with an appropriate admin account and your 2FA issue goes away.

We are about to go BYOD this September, we are Independent though. We will have no control of the devices, it will be a complete BYOD system, except what we can enforce through onboarding or over the network (in line filter for example) We have published a minimum spec and beyond that it is up to the parent to decide what they get. We have provided a portal to purchase devices from, but this a transaction between the portal company and the parent, the school is not involved at all. Some schemes will ultimately hold the school responsible for no payment or want to run the money through the school accounts, but our finance director didn't want that at all. Looks like we may have a mix of Windows, OSX and iOS, in part because we have been lenient with the specification and allowed external graphics pads instead of touchscreen IF they have already bought a device and want to use it. I do seem to remember someone who was a long time regular running a massive BYOD scheme at their school and had a league table of the most basic device that met their criteria. Ended up being some Chinese knock of Android tablet. I think they went of to the real world so may not be around anymore, or around less. It is going to be fun.

Depends. If I have a working relationship with an MSP then I will tolerate a lot more contact. By working relationship I mean regular, or semi regular, business. I am happy to be updated on products, asked if we have a need for something, or regular check-ins, as long as they are not hard sell or every other week. If I don't have a working relationship with the MSP then I don't mind an introduction (but don't say you will only take 5 minutes and then ramble on for 45) but I don't want to be hassled and I don't want constant calls to check if I have any plans. Don't lie to me and don't be overall boastful about how much you can save me without knowing how much I am paying. Basically understand that I am busy and I don't have to deal with you full stop. If you think you have something to offer I am willing to listen but also please understand there are probably 15 other companies that do exactly the same that are also trying to get my attention or get me to buy stuff from them. Ohh, and seriously, don't lie.

This deserves a SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Do you have phone exclusion areas? At a previous place we had areas that no phones were allowed, with signs up. This applied to all staff and parents. This way you can limit certain risks. Beyond that, you are issuing devices so personal devices aren't being used, as they are company devices you can access them at any point (with the correct policies in place) which would be harder with personal devices. You could disable the camera via an MDM, but that seems like overkill to me. I'd push back to them and ask what they are expecting and why cameras are completely banned. Get clarification of the objection.

Which mandatory overtaking minimum specification are you using? Do not feel you have to overtake, only ride to the level you are happy to. If another bike appears and you feel you are hampering them, move over so they can proceed, do not feel pressured to speed up to fit them. Overall, ride for yourself, not some arbitrary ideal or to please others.

That's when the steering with your bum comes in!!!

We had an email today updating on a project and letting us know it is a "working progress".

Is it supplying POE or drawing it? If it is drawing, check the switch. We had an issue where by the door got in a loop as it was drawing too much power on startup so the port was being cycled, which made the door restart which drew too much power, etc, etc.

An Americano is black, so a black Americano is tautology. I'm not getting into the debate of whether an Americano with milk is really a flat white, a latte or its own thing!!

Old BECTA guidelines were 1 tech to every 100 endpoints. That was in 2006, & I think you can debate either way if that figure has gone up or down. EDIT: Saying that though I Would put the emphasis on number of support calls rather than devices. What is the need, rather than the potential load.

Depends on the need and the school requirements and IT willingness (as in do they embrace IT or see it as an added expense and chore?). - Does the school want someone strategic and planning out their road map? - Do they intent to use Data to a high extent - Do they want instant troubleshooting and fixing or happy to wait a week? - Are the staff well trained so low level issues are at a minimum? - Does the school want training carried out internally at regular intervals or happy to pay external providers? - What is their stance to cybersecurity?

I'd be interested in why you feel that is clearly written by chatgpt with little human intervention? I only ask as it sounds like something I would write, so I am now slightly questioning my own existence. As for the original question, I agree with @markberry, teachers need to engage with the pupils and ensure they have understanding. We are at a T junction, either we carry on regardless, turn towards the draconian method of controlled essays for all handed in work, or set handed-in work as something to use in class or 1:1s to ensure the pupil has the understanding much like a viva at University. I also have issue with the plagiarising software as I have heard far too many accounts of them classifying work as plagarised due to common sentences or from quoting work. This is normally compounded by organisations not actually getting a real person to check and following the system blindly. So I may be overly cynical in trusting their claims about detecting AI writing when the AI that wrote a piece can't detect itself.

Depends on your work flow. Is everything in To-Do an agreed task or things people put in there? In the past I created a Blue-Sky/Future bucket to put tasks that we would like to do but no capacity at the moment, but you could adjust this to an input bucket, then when a job is agreed moved to To-Do. You could have a "needs input" bucket for people to move a task to and assign a senior team member to look and respond. The only use I have found for labels is for sorting, so I used it for assigning to certain school holidays so I could see what was coming up. I've seen it used as a way to categorise tasks but I never found this useful as if it is to-do then it doesn't matter if it is hardware, software or network.

Yep, snapshots will be it.

When I set them up there weren't any templates so I did it manually as well, just seemed easier to go through the template. The template is a good start and then customising it would be the way to go. You can set an exclusion for trusted locations and either only include certain user groups, or exclude pupil groups.

Got to Azure Portal and select "Manage Azure Active Directory. In the bar on the left choose "Security" Under "Protect" on the left choose "Conditional Access" Along the top bar choose "New policy from template (Preview)" Choose the "Securing security info registration" tile then click "Next: Review + Create" at the bottom Click "Create" along the bottom That should be it as long as you have trusted locations setup. If you don't you need to go in and set the school external IP as an exclusion. I'd recommend setting up trusted locations as it makes it a lot easier to reference in multiple places. Hope that helps.

That is a haul and a half!!!!