mthomas08

It is the one time of every few years Teachers get to run around like we do nearly every day.

I guess the simple solution is just to scrap the entire system and say be gone with it. If each time people come up with an idea and its blown out of the water because it "could still be abused" or tax payers would have to pay Company X to gain X amount of profit from the scheme. On the other hand Company X would have to employ more staff, get more people in to jobs and employment which will cut down the requirement of the vouchers or "scheme". How about everyone who is so Anti Changes of the system simply say HOW TO FIX IT. People like me offer ideas and if they don't work, they don't work. At the end of the day I want the system to stay and work. Again as I said before if it can't be fixed it will be scrapped then people cant abuse something that doesn't exist. That's what I fear will happen if it's not solved, we have created a benefit culture because we either pretended it didn't exist or we just didn't care because life was good for us. I don't see it being fixed in all honesty. What I see happening is that people who actually need the benefit to feed their family, pay their bills or simply be able to survive those poor souls will have to bend over backwards to prove they deserve it. Personally I don't want that kind of a system but if that's the only way to stop the abuse then what can we do? Although the fact that this becomes such a heated discussion every 6-12 months on here maybe that goes to show that there is something fundamentally wrong with the benefit system and it really does need fixing.

Thing is if the system doesn't get sorted out we have one outcome and the government has already started it. Which simply is squeezing the system until there is very little left. As shown in this discussion there are people who still feel its their right to get it and do what they want with it. A system will get abused but our benefit system is far too easy to abuse. It really does turn me in to fury simply because I know people who should be on benefits and they get so little because of the scroungers. Maybe its the area I grew up in, I actually do know streets like what was on TV. I actually do know several people living the easy life and don't want to work. I also know people who have family who do the exact same thing. Its a system being over abused and it will continue to be squeezed because people like me will vote for anyone (yes anyone) who is prepared to be hard on the benefit system.

What you have said right there sums up WHY people are angry and fed up with the benefit system. its disgusting that a real disabled child who will spend his life in a wheel chair gets his benefits cut but people who don't care about anyone or anything continue to get money. People always use the excuse claiming that its all about the "bad press exaggerating the problem" but how many of us actually know people who ARE on benefits. I have a younger sister who has done nothing to help her self yet expects hand outs as if she deserves them. She has barely worked her entire life (soon to be 28) has had her 3rd child with guy number 2 when she had known him for 3 months before she fell pregnant. She spends her money on fags and going out, her kids get the cheapest clothes yet she wears superdry. I completely agree that benefits should be vouchers, been saying it for years (even on here) yet there is always some one who claims they should spend the money on what they want. And frankly its those kind of people who are just adding fuel to the fire of cuts/scrapping of the benefit system entirely. The vouchers can then go on the "NEED" items not the "WANT" items.

I turned up to work to find a bit of a flood, only a small path though.. I'm just waiting for the hose pipe ban.

I know two people at my previous job that had these "Microsoft" people call claiming they have detected virus's, on both cases they allowed access to remote on to their PCs. One pulled the plug after she saw her files being accessed and another one was saved by his Mrs when he started to type in his credit card details.

Didn't realise the interest Correct that I didn't go in to enough detail, my report is 6 pages long and only covers about 85%. A good example would be our 1:1 scheme covers Year 7, 8 and post16. It would cover the Year 9 but the insurance only goes for two years. Our procedures have changed in IT Support in regards to loaning, imaging and repairs. Things have developed since I started because we have gone from "Lets fight the fire" to "Lets see how we can make it better". My report has more detail about the daily issues we face, again if you go tablets you will find some of those do not exist. A typical silly example of a small % of our work would be spent telling students they need to wait for Windows Updates to finish and not to turn it off. Also flash, java, shockwave, air and adobe reader updates some times there can be issues regarding this or the students simply don't know how to do it. We have even prepared a Netbook area on our website which has downloads, tips, guides etc. Students also have a habit of not turning their devices off when on charge, if they unplug before they go to bed: they will lose a good % of charge by period 1 in the morning. I am not saying the entire idea is a waste but it will require your entire school to work together, that includes teachers who may think "Its not my job to worry about IT problems". Will send those who want the report in a moment

I think I may have gone on a bit too much with this and still it only covers a very small portion. It’s interesting to see those who are supporting these types of schemes are quick to accuse others of being small minded. The same could be said because those in favour are taking a blind eye to alternative solutions. Main reason why these discussions turn in to arguments is because everyone has their opinion (usually based on years of experience) and that experience tells them to be anti-mobile devices in schools. Those with experience will also know that some times staff want their own iPad and they want to look good in front of the eyes of management and iPads are surely the perfect tool for that. So straight away the educational factor is not being considered when it is supposed to be the number 1 priority. Our students here are able to connect up to a separate Wi-Fi which is accessible by anyone on site, we have noticed that there has been a lot more android devices walking in the door compared to anything else. The iPads no longer have their own separate wow factor now that the competition have caught up with the production of tablets. I have been at my new job for 9 months and have recently finished a netbook report based on the schools current netbook scheme. I came to this job seeking to make a positive impact even if that means me supporting something I don’t necessarily agree with. The head teacher is very pro mobile devices and wants to continue the scheme (now almost fully run for 3 years) and all I can do is provide the facts. Management here know they will get the facts regardless if I like them or not, that’s my job. To give them the real feedback from staff, students and parents while also showing them the costs and workload effects on IT Support and the school. It’s very easy to take a blind eye on this type of thing and only concentrate on the Pro’s and likewise the Con’s. The last meeting I had with the Head pre Christmas I had been asked one thing straight away and that was is the scheme working: My simple answer was no. I can fully understand why schools go down the route of mobile devices, anywhere access certainly has its appeal. This school chose to do netbooks for that and “Productivity” which at the end of the day means more than the wow factor. Surely you are going to improve grades by giving a student a multi tool capable of being productive throughout the entire day instead of something that does one or two things. Unfortunately as shown in my netbook report productivity doesn’t always work. If anyone wants a copy of this netbook report now a month and a bit old and I really should update it, just PM me. It’s 6 pages long and although it covers what our own school has gone through some schools may find it very useful. I have also typed up some info regarding tablets, questions that we are raising due to us testing the Hudl. Two staff members have already come back to me with feedback from its usage with the classes and students. There is some important feedback comments, mainly regarding the touch screen typing and 7inch screen which is surprising considering the tablets are supposed to have the wow factor. Then again our students have been used to netbooks, being able to type on a real keyboard has always been easier for myself but it also seems the case for students and staff. I am currently waiting for 2 more staff members to get back to me with their class feedback. This information will then be added on to the Tablet report and all my findings will go to management. Bits that might be useful: Alternatives that do exist. Acer Iconia, Sumvision Astro, Nurvo, Surface RT, Lenovo tablets, Nexus, Hudl. The prices of these range from £120 to £230 sometimes depending on amounts. If parents are buying through the school then straight away you get bulk discounts (like surface RT can drop down to just under £200 which comes with Office RT). And don’t forget the school doesn’t pay VAT. I would also recommend on bags that actually have protection, our latest bags we got for the netbooks are better than what we had before. Insurance claims As a result of too many claims last year 2012-2013 we wasn’t able to get coverage for the recent year 7s, same thing happened the year before that. The first year company actually bought the school out of the policy due to the amount of claims. We also deal with all the repairs/warranty issues which has added up our work load and we have even employed a 4th person. The current scheme is a full time 2 man job and this covers around 1000 devices and still some of my time and 3rd technician will be involved in the work load.

http://www.upton-by-chester.cheshire.sch.uk/Websites/upton/files/Content/3605391/FAQ_about_iPads_at_Upton.pdf Straight away I was able to spot something: Students who don't take part may have to share, so straight away you have students who may not have the tool required to do the lesson. If sharing with another student (we all know its not always the best) and does that mean the student is sharing with another students device? Having a current netbook scheme here I can say with real experience this is not the best solution and doesn't solve teaching and learning which these devices are supposed to be enhancing. There has been an incident when a device was borrowed and a students device did get damaged, there was a little tiff between the Parents and the School. We currently here provide loans to Students who's Parents do not sign up. As for the talk about "Apple" it doesn't matter if you want to call it iOS, most people who like Apple tend to go for iPads and forget about rivals. Malware on Androids, strange I have yet to see a single one. Fact is you are paying a lot of money for an Internet Access device with APPs regardless of cost that's what you are buying. I am looking at tablet's for next time around and the hudl seems like a nice cheap option to get Parents to purchase. All the reviews say the exact same thing that I do, that value for money is spot on. For £150 you get internet access, APPs and protection (for a little bit more a case too). So for half the cost of an iPad you get everything that your going to need. This is not an argument about all the extra features like Windows 7 Pro vs Windows 7 Starter, this is about using a device to access the internet/apps and use anywhere. And again it goes back to the "Expecting parents to pay a lot of money" for a device that you can get a lot cheaper. People jump on the Apple band wagon because we all have experience in working with people that don't consider the real picture but instead "I like apple, lets get ipad its omg amazing". We all know the type. The Scheme we are running is being improved all the time and in the 1st year of netbooks the school didn't choose something that simply looked pretty, the school went for "Productivity". Sorry for the grump but I can understand if you was doing a managed service to seriously consider Apple devices but then if your a Vanilla system there are alternatives. And a lot of schools are simply NOT looking elsewhere or even bothering to check for cheaper alternatives. I my self have had to evaluate 5 different tablets for the next new year 7s. Also found this part a sham: Why iPads? An extensive comparison of various devices was undertaken and the iPad proved to be the most competitive in a number of key areas: • 10 hour battery life • Lightweight and portable • Extensive range of cheap/free Apps, developed specifically for educational use on the iPad • Familiar and desirable • Intuitive to use, as there is only one input method • Range of inbuilt sensors and two cameras • Competitively priced • Apple's closed ecosystem, means that only certified Apps can be installed, giving some degree of confidence in the Apps to which students have access. The Apps will not contain viruses and can be restricted by age group. Sorry to say but most tablets offer the above.

Came in to do a SIMs update yesterday and an INTouch update, as a result Intouch has broke.... couldn't get it fixed due to site wide power shutdown. Today while getting all staff PCs on ready for the SIMs update I have found 3 PCs needing rebuilding, 2 no power and a water leak. And I am only 1/5 done...

Please ignore......... Turns out this version of sharepoint doesn't allow shared exchange calendars to be shown.... very very small fine print and required me to see other complaints. Such a shame.

Hopefully the right area. Have setup an internal server with this installed, now working on calendars and I want to show an exchange calendar. Good news is I have it setup, bad news is it will not show on the default view for new users. I considered exchange permissions but for those without permission it says "Busy" for all events. Unfortunately it looks like the calendar is simply not added. Do I have to add the exchange calendar for every user who logs on to the sharepoint page? if not how do I show it for all users? Thanks

Each time I see "Pay peanuts get monkeys" this morning I heard it on ITV and all I thought was that perhaps we have been paying monkeys peanuts. If this is all about attracting better MPs then surely everyone should be made redundant/replaced so they can actually get no more monkeys. Is this pay rise going to fix the attitude of some MPs Are we going to get better value for tax payers money Are they going to fix a lot of the countries problems better and faster then before Are they going to spend more time working and not worrying about their second homes or their ipads Are they going to resort to getting credit cards like the rest of us to pay for "extras" Are they going to push out the door anyone not doing a good enough job to earn the 11% Can I go on?

Glad we haven't been the only ones with these issues!

Hudl for internet browsing? Its cheap and cheerful. Currently looking at tablets for students and certainly a lot of choices out there.

Yes.. because everyone in government has a "high IQ"..... or that good at their job. Sorry but like others have said "We are all in this together" but MPs. It won't attract better people when it is the current people getting the pay rises. And that's been shown over years MPs are not the smartest or the most qualified people. They have simply just been voted in and have the money to attract voters.

Some of the questions are "trick" questions, even I had to re-read some of them to realise the answer.

I've dealt with a case of this before, not good but seems to be the state of the world.

There is a free way of doing it but it does require jumping through a lot of hoops but what it gives you exactly I don't know.

I agree with what some are saying here, my previous job we was going down the route of pages for events, trips and any thing else we considered. When the information is there and parents are aware of it we did find our activity was going higher. Similar issue that has been mentioned though and that is time it takes to update it all, although the VLE we was using was quick to be updated and easy to pass certain sections over to other staff. I do think its a nice idea having as much as possible for parents to access, we have SLG here and parents constantly want to know their child's attendance, behaviour, homework and timetables. Although this is private information, they certainly are also interested in trips, news sections and events. We now have realsmart here and (again time) we plan on moving our main website over to that. Now that I have a fourth technician we will be able to update more on the website. At the end of the day if they want as much as possible displayed for parents and there isn't enough time for you to do it all you can do is present to them the work load levels and ask for the additional help. I recently had to put the case forward for the fourth person and I simply showed them the current work load. At the end of the day you done your part.

There was one incident a long time ago when I was a fresh staff member. There were a couple of students I had some what known out side of the job, there was occasional snarky things they would do. This actually went on far too long. One day I flipped, got my boss involved and he chewed their heads off while I stood and watched. Lets just say it never happened again. You have to remember you are a staff member, if it was a teacher they would be dishing out punishments, you are no different. Of course right now I have the bravery and experience to do the chewing my self (done it enough) in fact I now tell my tech lads that any trouble don't be afraid to come to me.

Page 3 is art!!!!!!........................ feel the sarcasm?

I stopped using it and went to VLC some time ago.

Something we may be looking at, I don't mind taking one or two apprentices on board. We are incredibly busy and it certainly would benefit someone to be here and when things go a little calm there are a ton of research projects I would get them to look in to. If you can handle day to day support here you should be able to handle 1st line support any where Give your lad a pat on the back for me, it's no easy task being given something you have little idea about and getting on with the job.

As others have said, really need backing from management. They will need to push it just as much as you (if not more) at the end of the day this is about allowing the students to pretty much learn/do work anywhere. This is for students during the half terms, at the end of the day, school shutdown days and sick days. I am still surprised that some schools still don't have VLEs (or what ever fancy term you want to use because some don't like the term). Most of the kids have access to Wifi through a device so to me it makes sense having access to as much as possible at home. We here have moodle but just not long purchased RealSmart which integrates with all the Google Apps, Gmail, Drive etc. At the moment staff/students have been using it just to see what they can do and it seems positive so far (minus the realsmart rep whom a lot of staff didn't like). It is a lot of work but the benefits out weigh that by far, this is about educating the kids after all. If all content was online and available anywhere then the kids don't have to worry about going to the library for books (which seems to be fazing out in many towns). The idea is you have all the required work and research materials all in one location and if you can make it look attractive and linked directly to their homework/learning progress then even better. I know some schools are still using basic file storages for their homework which to me is very outdated.