mthomas08

Think you need to see what frog offers before you say that Currently have moodle here and there are a large amount of options provided with Frog which to be frank would take any moodle expert years to setup and design. And by that time Frog would have developed further, still agree its very expensive but compared to what other VLEs are offering Frog is still one of the best. Staff here have begun to feel angry at the clunky feel of moodle and the basic feeling of it, which is why they have looked else where for cheap options e.g. RealSmart.

I did see this exact same review and thought what a lot of people here do. We are also a school doing a netbook scheme, this is now the 3rd year doing it. Parents are pushed in to spending £249 for a cheap netbook which is insured, warranty etc or a more expensive option £359/69 I can't remember the full price. Again this is insured/warranty for 2 years. The cost also covers a few other things. *edit* As covered in my other posts this is by no means an easy thing to support. We went netbooks because they worked with the software we got. Some of this is available of iPads and some only recently. Staff training has not been heavy as a result. Supporting them is also simple. BUT I have to say this has been an immense work load I walked in to and even after 3 months I am still 50/50 if I think its working. We are setting things in motion to improve the netbooks but its no easy task. I have made my opinion clear to the head, we will bend over backwards to make it work and improve it but I still believe desktops are the best way. We are aware when classes are using their netbooks because we end up with 2-5 up here with us with simple problems or damages - straight away that class is now affected in teaching and learning.

@X-13 I am ashamed that I don't mind it either.... Maybe it will make a difference for the better? who knows...

Depends exactly what your after. Are you after a vision for IT in 5 years time? or just ideas for projects/developments. I certainly have a vision for my current place

I feel you are over thinking it, I cant see the government banning forums for those who want to openly criticise them. That's like stopping protesting. That reminds me of this hate preacher who claimed his human rights were being abused and it took far too long to get him thrown out of the country. All this "technicality" garbage excuses people are using. The government are trying to ban illegal stuff e.g. child porn and forcing ISPs to give an opt in/out etc for normal porn to protect families and children. I don't see how that's comparing to basic forum discussions etc.

He has, but then he also said that before the 3rd one because Nolan said he may not return to do it. I would prefer Bale but as I said at least keep it in the Arch of the story line and use the ex cop if Bale doesn't return.

Oh some people will use the sad excuse that its "ART"!!!!!

They thought the Avengers wouldn't work and it did. Certainly isn't no 5 star film but is good for the die hard fans like me. only thing I will say is bring Bale for Batman or at least the ex cop Robin from Dark Knight Rises which would certainly fit the jigsaw. I don't want another "Random" actor, that's why I think the Avengers worked so well they actually had the same actors and characters so it was all the same just in one movie.

To be a little bit fair I am not surprised by this, nor am I massively for or against. Problem is there are parents who simply don't care, I have met many of them. They know the dangers of the internet but their attitude is "If my kids access it I don't really care" and I wish I was joking on that quote as well...... There are parents like my older sister who has it setup on all internet equipment in her house and monitors what her kids are doing including limiting Facebook access and knowing their passwords. Any sign of abuse then they lose it, prime example would be my nephew decided to use Youtube to access naked women and he lost access to that. Although on a funny note he did say "So what, means im straight", for a 13 year old it made me laugh. If parents took more responsibility then perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation to begin with? Only my view though.

Same but I am not complaining, day to get done what we normally cant!!

@GrumbleDook has some really good points. If I was you I would read through every post here and note down everything, there is some anti apple here (I am one) even though I own an iPad and an iPhone. Wouldn't mind owning a Mac either but the anti in my experience has nothing to do with apple but those who are very pro apple. I have had the "but they work better" or the "Software doesn't work on windows" which has been lies, you spend £1000 on a Mac and of course its going to work better then a £300 Windows pc. The Mac is going to be much more stable if you are limiting what gets used/installed, I have seen endless amount of technicians install all sorts of junk on their pcs constantly then wonder why they are rebuilding them a few months later. Also in my experience the ICT suites with Windows are constantly being used and booked out yet the Macs every time I walk past them they are not being used. Again all this has been my experience but all the software I have seen used there are windows version available. As others have said I would ask for advice from schools currently going through the end of BSF or 1:1 devices. We are here 1:1 with year 7 and 8, our new year 7 will have the same. Our netbook scheme has its positives and its flaws and I wont blow sunshine up anyones nose to say how fantastic it is. Its a lot of work and it isn't as smooth as some might say. Some teachers are unhappy about it because there are still charging issues or students forgetting them. I would also be tempted to do a survey for all teachers to answer it and see the out come. Our repairs range from 7-13 netbooks a week (usually smashed screens), we currently do this on site but the new year 7s will have them sent off. Our current year 7s have good netbook bags which give more protection yet students do treat them like they would with their school books (throwing their bags). If I was you I would seriously consider 5 years down the line, its why some schools are still sticking to desktops - it works, it may not be fancy or pretty but it works and schools are about students educational needs. If you want a good amount of detail regarding our mobile devices, pros, cons and teachers reactions with the work load your more than welcome to PM me.

This is how I feel. I have just been looking at replacement keyboards and mice typical starting price around £40 per pair when I can spend £100 for 30 normal mice/keyboards for Windows PCs. (Course I am looking at Ebay now). As for Security breaches they are not "MORE" secure they are simply "LESS TARGETTED" why target something that is usually 10-300 vs Windows machines in a typical network. I would seriously consider ALL options before considering Macs. I have a phrase "Macs don't get abused because they are rarely used" which is very true in both schools I have worked at. They are the pretty thing on the table that everyone wants one but then they boot camp them with Windows because there is software that they will want to use. Is there alternatives? Yes - Android mixed with Google mail, drive and docs. The tablets will be cheaper then the iPad. Your core system as others have said will most likely be Windows based unless you want a more "open" route, you also have a choice of BYOD. Next year I will be looking at something regarding mobile tech because our current netbooks 10.1 screens, cheap with Windows 7 Starter are simply not being made any more. Problem for us is we have a load of software which we have either purchased for the netbooks or free software which is Windows 7 only so I would have to find alternatives. Our staff here prefer to use keyboards but do like the "fancy" tablet route. Again if I was you I would take everyone's advice and pull up different setups and see the cost involved. Was a project I did some years ago for a primary school which was more of a favour for the Head. I would also add you will need to consider the future as well. Prime example is the Macs staff get them and are happy with turn on and work till a year or two later they want to logon, get their drives, software and permission it for users.

You know I usually get accused of laughing too much at things, yet I don't find this funny. Although its twitter and some people follow just for the sake of it.

This is what happened at my previous job, even the head of the unions on site didn't even strike. Of all the teachers at the school only 1 went on strike, talking to the union rep she told me if they went on strike they would just sit at home and do some work. One person told me she would just go shopping spending money she didn't have!! So how does it look for these unions going on strike that no one is supporting the unions including the reps who would rather just work?!

No sympathy, not for what us support staff or shall I say IT Staff go through. Get back to work!

And look how that panned out, spent money like anything on everything. My previous school was in the planning phase (the final phase that didn't carry on). I was shocked at the prices of the equipment that we would have to purchase and all the good equipment going to be replaced. My boss at the time said to me it would get cancelled with the new gov and he was right...

Not sure what to say about the OP, when I was in school there was no TA's. Maybe from the Gov's view if your a teacher and you have no control over your class then why are you teaching? Then again I have seen teachers control their classes and other teachers who let them run riot, just the same when I was a kid. Can you guess the abuse of IT equipment of those who let them do what they want?

We have been looking at something, due to the high cost of cans. One question though, what's the quietest one? We do have one but its very noisy!

Me in a nut shell, I did get my lucky break as well. Certainly got my new exciting job in IT as the boss and I totally love it and even my IT Team is much happier (so are staff too!!).

Now that makes sense to me, for me having "anywhere" learning is the next best thing for schools, especially higher education. This person was very anti VLE/Online learning and as a result was very Anti Frog. He was happy with a basic system and didn't want to change, to me if it benefits the kids and improves their education then surely that's a good thing.

Thank you for getting that song in my head.. Now I have Will Smiths version in my head too.... which I much prefer

Off topic question but what would Ofsted care about in regards to online learning? I had been told by a certain head of ICT at another school that they will only care about what's on paper.

I didn't know that, I thought it was always covered by Frog.... Oh well I got a new job so don't work in the frog school any more and its being scrapped there as well.

I would also add I am in the process of looking at our current bandwidth, at the moment yesterday downloading a file 300MB took far too long. Students have an average of 1GB in their areas, our shared drive has almost 600GB of data. It is far too easily to simply say "go down this route its easy" without considering that not every school has funds for fast bandwidth and as Local mentioned not every school has ISP choices. We stick to ours because other companies charge more, we have checked... and frankly this school has lost an average of 110K a year due to other funds being cut in the last 2-3 years.. You may be saving in one area but sounds like you are being charged in something else.

Why are schools not rushing for it? Prime example, we had internet trouble today so congratulations instead of internet trouble which affects a 3rd of our system we would lose 90%. So worth going cloud, 3rd time we had internet trouble since I have been here (now on 3rd month).