Pete10141748

If there is going to be an "always-on" anti-piracy thing and activation codes required just to play a game, I'd love to know how companies who rent out games like LoveFilm will work with it. Backwards compatability, I could care less about. I own a PS3 (never game on it though, only use it as a bluray player), but I still have my PS2 if I want to play PS2 games, and if I get a PS4 (meh) that doesn't mean I'll chuck my PS3 the same day. Play a game on the hardware it was designed for, or don't play it. And I wouldn't be suprised if they tried to eliminate the second-hand market now the tech is around to do so. Reselling games makes the developers of the games no more money, the profit all goes to whoever sold the title 2nd hand, so of course they would rather everyone bought new copies of the game.

Wow, an iPad makes for an expensive digital camera doesn't it? I've got a £40 Kodak that can do exactly that, it worked right out of the box, is easy to transfer the videos to a laptop or PC to use further, replacable at low cost, has no licencing issues... an iPad for videoing some PE lessons seems like overkill to me. edit: apologies if that it off-topic

Thought of that too! Not to mention expertsexchange.com (where Experts go to Exchange knowledge, not change gender) and of course therapistfinder.com (where you can find a therapist, of course!)

I'm still in two minds about the iPad in education in general, let alone for a specific SEN use. From what I've seen here, while the pupils love the iPad and really engage with it, they don't create anything worthwhile or learn anything of a "standard practice". The happily shoot video of each other pratting about and add effects to it, they play games on it like "Cut the Rope" and they repeatedly try and use the YouTube app on it, but what are they learning? What are they taking from it that they can apply in other ways? For the amount of effort and money it has taken to get them up & running, I don't see the payoff yet. Maybe I'm missing something, but from my POV the iPad is nowhere near as good for teaching&learning as a netbook is; but as a supplement to netbooks, they are a nice alternative form of exposing children to ICT from the "real world". For an SEN use, I can see the attraction; simple interface and touchscreen, portability and a sense of "ownership" on the child's part when they are holding the device. As someone else said, I'd check on insurances & warranty, replacement schemes etc. because they are not as solid as they seem, not to mention the fact that they are ridiculously easy to 'remove' from the school without being noticed.

When this happens to me (or rather, the users' accounts) the quickest method I've found is to delete the profile from the C:\users folder, delete the user from Active Directory, create a new user with the same login details, log in as them, point the relevant folders to their redirected locations, and sync the offline files - hand the laptop back to user, and aside from the password reset they'll never even know what you did.

If it was a choice of one of the other I would definately go for a windows netbook, on the grounds that it can run all the software you already have, is far cheaper, easier to network and if it is for a pupil with SEN you can tailor Windows much better for that purpose (larger icons. various colour schemes, maginfying glass, on-screen keyboard, audio control, and so on). Easier to network fully, can install printers... the advantages of s netboo are massive when looked at one-on-one As for repairs, I've not had any broken yet, if any are damaged then I suspect that at least for the time being, it would not get replaced unless the cost was minimal - that would be up to he Head though, at the moment she has final say on what happens with the school's spending; her attitude is very much "respect what you have, or go without it" and that goes for staff as well as the kids!

A-thankyou

As it's only me running this place I'm not 'branded' as everyone knows who I am after 5 years here, even most of the parents! Plus we all wear visible and obvious ID badges with name & photo & school logo, so having a shirt with "IT" on it would be overkill really. Besides which I like being able to wear my own (smart) clothes, choices of colours and shirt/polo/pullover/fleece etc. My trousers are always black workwear toursers with extra side pockets, double-stitching etc as I'm not crawling under dirty desks and carryng out equipment all day in wafer-thin but mercilessly-expensive suit trousers - I learnt that hard way by going through 3 pairs in my first year here!

Agreed! I only paid £1400 for my Yamaha YBR125 and it gets up to 70mph happily... motorbike > pushbike anyway

Some of the drawings are hilarious and/or brilliant, I'm getting in the habit of saving them to my iphone all the time

I've got a "Dell Laptop Charger Eating Monster" here, every term I buy a few as spares. I never hand them out, but they seem to dissapear anyway...... And he partners up with the "Un-Catchable Cable Stripper" who pulls the rubber casing off the laptop charger wires so the Eater can gets to the tasty coloured wires underneath. NOM! We've also got a "Teaspoon Poltergiest" who keeps moving all of the teaspoons into this one teachers' classroom along with a pile of mugs too. Oh and of course, the "Phantom of the Opera (or Firefox, or Safari...)"* who goes around trying to install web-browers other than Internet Explorer on staff laptops, and leaving them at the "enter administrator details" UAC window. *see what I did there?

Just a note on this, you can install MovieMaker 2.6 (the XP version) on Win7 - download here Download: Windows Movie Maker 2.6 - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details

As others have said, the reason for the expense is all the security, not just having the line itself. Here we have E2BN provide our Internet. They use Protex filtering so that the children cannot access inappropriate things, and allow several different settings for filtering based on the age of the children - there is a separate one for staff which is less filtered, but still mostly safe if used sensibly. This webpage has two documents you might be interested in, written for the "non technical" audience The Way your School Uses Broadband is different - E2BN A quick bit about their web filtering Web Filtering and Caching - Protex - E2BN And some more genera info on them Network and Services - E2BN Some info on the "Law of ICT Negligence" The key bits are at the bottom, where it points out that the parent of a child who access inappropriate material online at school due to no filtering being in place can sue the class teacher AND the school itself for not having such security in place. ICT Negligence in Education - an introduction (UK Law)

Off the top of my head, we have on ours; Pages Keynote 8mm HD Morfo 3D FaceBooth 360 Panarama Let's Create Pottery! BOGGLE Eggs on Legs Explain Everything DipTic Animation Creator Comic Life Numbers iPhoto DRUMS! GarageBand iMovie BookCreator Cut the Rope Puppet Pals Ghost Blasters Multple Wipeout Banana Hunt Calc HD All Stuck Up Drawing Pad Britannica Kids - Aztec Empire Popplet iStopMotion these are all suited for Primary School children

Apologies, the reason we have ours in sets of of 10 is for the iCloud limit, not the iTunes account synch limit (I will edit my post accordingly should anyone else come along to read it!) Again I think my post was not clear enough, (I shall edit it) - we have purchased the Apps once for each of the 3 accounts - so paid for 1 App that is then sync'd to 10 iPads. I have no idea how to go about paying for the other 9 the each set, aside from contacting the creator of the App directly and asking if you can buy some "licences" from them, wether that would work or not though who knows! Until Apple fix the issue with better software/mangement there's only so much we can try to do about it! Plus, if I have to take what I've spent so far on the Apps and then pay for that again 27 times over, well I shudder to think of the cost - it would make the iPads far more expensive than they are worth imo!

The only time that warning comes up is if the profile has not loaded correctly - if the cached profile loads fully then that warning shouldnt appear.

It's perfectly possible, as it's what I have set up here. As others said above you will need to make sure offline files are enabled, login without network connection is allowed, profiles are cached (ie no delprof or anything running on logoff) and that the account has been logged on, synchronised and logged off at least once on the laptop in question.

Sorry I havent used those myself, I only found them out of interest promted by your question.

Take a look at this :Replicate It'll cost you 6 bucks though! EDIT: or this http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mobile-presenter-pro-wireless/id363283163?mt=8 for $4.99

We have 30 iPads here, had them for about a month. Reactions are mixed, but here's what I can tell you so far. Storage & Security The first set of 10 we got were stored in a trolley, but it was decided that a large trolley for such small devices was overkill, so now each set of 10 are just stored inside one of those cheap plastic storage crates with a lid (which are then stored inside my locked server room each night, for security!). Easy to carry around the school, cheap, and for charging I just put an extension cable in each box, hook the iPads up to it, and plug it ito one wall socket. Easy. I have each iPad labelled threefold for security. Each one has a simple sticker on the back that says "iPad number XX". It also has our "Property of X School" assest tag label (the metallic ones, if you know what I mean?) and lastly I have marked each one with the school's details using a pen that only shows up under UV light. As part of my Hardware Audt I have a log of all the serial numbes & corresponding asset tag numbers for them all. Of course this doesn't stop anyone from actually taking one - that is a classroom management issue and a site security one. When they are in classrooms each teacher knows they have to count the iPads out to pupils, and back in again - if any are missing, no-one leave the room until it is found! As said above when they are not in use they are in storage crates inside my server room which either a) I am sitting in personally or b) is locked when I am not in there. Initial setup iTunes accounts - I set up 3 email addresses with GMAIL and 3 iTunes accounts, 1 for each set of 10 iPads we have (10 is the most you can assign to one iTunes account). ONLY buy Apps by redeeming vouchers, don't put a card on the account, it only takes one smartarse to crack the password and your school could get a bill for £hundreds! (To set up an account without putting in card details, open iTunes, go to Store, buy something that is FREE, then when promted to sign in/sign up do so, as the item is free it will not ask you for card details, then just add vouchers when you need to purchase things that cost). You will have to buy each App for every iPad you want it on. You can contact the seller of the app directly, sometimes they will do you a deal for multiple purchases. If you like I can post up a list of all the Apps we put on ours to begin with, it cost around £280 to outfit 30 iPads with what we have. A note about iCloud - if you use it, be aware that the kids will fill up your free storage space FAST. Ours ran out with the first 2 weeks thanks to all the pictures they have taken + the iCloud backup of the iPads. Someone will need to be responsible for erasing stuff from the iCloud once it is no longer needed; this will mean talking to staff about how long their topic runs for, if they plan to pick-up the work again next week, and so on. Also, remember than the iCloud will only share things between the 10 iPads on the same iTunes account - you can't get it to share with other iDevices not on that account! Further Apps - for now, I have told everyone that what is on there is all they are getting this year (as I said I've spent close to £300 on Apps sp far so they are not left wanting). Even if something is free I am not installing it, otherwise you'll end up with 30 iPads and all have different setups on them - not good. Keep things consistent, even if it means slightly limiting the free-use of them. Introduction to staff This is key - you really need to allow adults time to get used to using them, they won't want to hand them out to 30 kids when they don't know how to operate the devices themselves. We ran several training sessions to allow hands-on time with the iPads, and until after Easter every morning I have only allowed them to be borrowed by individuals who want to spend some further time getting to grips with the apps that are on the device, with afternoons reserved for class use by those are feel up to it. Introduction to pupils We all know it, but I'll say it anyway, the kids will pick up something like an iPad and within minutes will be happier using it than most of the adult will after hours of 'practice' with it. So make sure the teachers know to educate the children about the proper use of them (ie one person at a time, not a group of 4 kids all prodding at the screen trying to ue it together - it's meant for one person to use, end of) BEFORE it is put in their hands. I have seen it myself just this morning, unless your classroom control is out of this world, you will NOT get the kids to listen to you properly if they have an iPad in their hands. Usefulness in lessons As with any other ICT device, don't force it's use - use it when it will AID in learning, not just because you need some form of ICT in there somewhere. Video editing with iMovie, book creation with BookCreator, music lessons with GarageBand - these are things I have seen done well so far. Apps like these let the children have fun and learn skills at the same time (though the ratio of those two things could be debated for hours, I'm sure). Internet research is perfect for iPads - pick one up, do your research, make your notes, put it away again. Treat it like a textbook - it's just another resource, and just because it is being used in your lesson does not mean that is what you lesson should be focussed on. Once they get over the initial "WOW" factor the aim is get the pupils to see the iPads as another tool in their learning arsenal, not just something flashy they have fun with once a week at an alotted time. Drawbacks / Cons / Things that need looking at The biggest one - it is HARD to get all the children to stay on-task with the iPads, at least in the beginning. Their natural want to explore everything about the new device means that it's not a good idea to try and go straight into a directed task - allow them a few lessons to "have a play" and get to know the iPad and the apps that are on it. Once the "WOW" factor has died down, then you can start to use them as a teaching&learning tool effectively. Printing - here we have no allowed printing from the iPads (not the easiest thing to configure anyway). This will not go down well with many people who will want hard-copies of the work their pupils have done. They'll have to accept the device limitations (Flash!) and figure out how to use them in other ways. Storing files to network - there are other threads around EduGeek about doing this, but look into it before you start. Emailling files or uploading to your pupils' VLE accounts is easy enough, Dropbox can also be used. Lastly, it should go without saying, but obviously; DONT jailbreak them! CHECK Apps before you install them - they may contain adverts not appropriate for children even if the App itself is! DONT give out the App Store password to anyone who isn't going to be directly managing the devices! Afterthought - cleaning! It wouldn't hurt to stockpile cleaning supplies as well. I went to our local Poundland and bought £20 worth of Flash cleaning wipes. After a few hours of 9-yeard-old's fingers on the screen you don't even want to think about what is smeared all over the devices! I give out a pack of wipes each time the iPads are borrowed, and made it clear that I expect the teachers to either a) get the pupils to clean the iPad they were using them done, or b) clean them as they count them back in.

I'm creating a larger-than-expected reply to this, suffice to say I have 30 iPads here and will post up my experiences so far - post to come soon!

I've only heard of Dragon, two of my friends have used it while at University and on continues to use it for his day-to-day job, they both said it worked really well.

I'm so addicted to this now - keep stopping to draw "just one more!...."

Ahhh, sweet ICT-based nostalgia! Furthest back I can rememeber was being about 3 years old when my parents bought me a Spectrum ZX+. Playing games off of tapes which took longer to load than I'd spend playing, watching the graphics brought in line-by-line. 8-inch floppy disks being used while I was at primary school to load simple games onto the 1 Acorn machine that we had per year group! Being given a 3.5" floppy disk to save all my ICT work to during my GCSE years! Work-related, when I started here 5 years ago there were only 2 servers; one for the upper school (y3 to Y6) and one for lower (foundation stage to Y2). Both were nothing more than DNS's allowing the lookup zones to allow the proxy settings to work; every piece of IT kit was on a static IP address, there were two stand-alone PC's in the staffroom that everyone had to use to print to the 1 printer the school had. Clearing out the ICT suite cupboards on my first day and finding a couple of old dot-matrix printers, some "Control" devices that were never unboxed, 30-odd Windows XP Home edition disks and 20-odd wireless cards that were never installed (or needed).

Not seen Series 2 yet but I loved Series 1, I'm waiting to get the DVDs together so I can do a Zombie Marathon (Zombathon? Did I just invent a word?) If you guys like zombies I highly recommend this part-book part-graphic novel: Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection: Amazon.co.uk: Don Roff, Chris Lane: Books My OH got it for me and I've read it so many times and still love it