mthomas08

Managing to find netbooks but its finding the right spec + ability to repair on site which is being very tricky.

Jar Jar will be in a spin off movie, he dies in the 1st scene. That film already sounds like the best thing since Return of the Jedi.

Right time for suppliers to shine or point me in the right direction. Currently in a new job and the school is after: Roughly 300 netbooks (exact number I will get but enough to cover new year 7s+30 spare) Charging trolley for 30 Netbook cases for all Spec needs to be pretty exact to below: 1GB Ram 10.1inch screen Windows 7 starter costing roughly 200-300 each Now here is the tough one, we need to be able to repair them on site and insure them. We previously had a contract with Toshiba/insurance company, 3 year warranty we had to send a technician off on a course (we paid for it). Not here to start a fight over other products/solutions because this discussion has been done and dusted before I walked in the door. I am in the process of contacting a lot of suppliers and companies so I am waiting for responses galore and so far not many are able to get what we need.

Have to agree, the big misconception about Frog/Moodle is that its all the same - one costs, one is free. Thats wrong information, I have seen a few features that moodle does better then frog e.g. The Calendar, customisation settings (admin settings), ability to rip apart everything. Frog though has other features, e.g. Lesson Planner, big homework functions, Secure Gateway, Works after 1 hour installation time, no 3rd party fart arounds (like SIMs importing), easy to maintain/setup and create content which staff can do. Having seen a lot of portals, VLEs over the years and even having produced a ton of docs over it all (wish I kept them) I can honestly say that there are some poor setups out there just because they refuse to open their eyes and see other products. I have dealt with a few people who seem to have a real personal gripe against either VLEs or Frog, one thing everyone must remember is: If your a school, your VLE needs to be for the students. Some people seem to think I have been Pro Frog from day 1 - I was actually anti VLE and Frog especially due to the cost. You either want to give them something that does a few basics or give them a system that is all in one and works. Kinda makes me think of why the iPhone took off - it really gave us everything all on one device. Course this is all school based, some may be happy with the basics and I am not saying all other setups not Frog based are poor - I have seen a few moodle setups that look great and are used widely. Just think you shouldnt count out anything till you have really spent the time on it. As a Pro Frog person I have dealt with some people as I said before that have a real gripe against Frog because its not Free. Frankly why should it be free when you do get content/patch updates throughout the year (which you dont install), tech support and a product which works and you dont have to spend hours and hours just to do something like addons, AD Authentication or SIMs data importing. They also don't forget about you, at least they didnt to us.

Having learnt more of moodle/Frog over the times I am still Pro Frog especially on the development plans and I really do see massive potential with it. Frog was a no brainer at the time for us, we had a lot of staff who wanted develop areas, websites, interaction and develop their work/courses online for quick/simple access. Anyway, as for the Library software I am not too sure that integrates in to Frog. I know they have done it with Eclipse. Our problems with frog: Unable to create online databases using the forms Homework function could be simpler, although there are two ways one very simple and one with all the details perhaps one in the middle could be added. Our Active area had problems When we changed DFE number (long story and not frogs fault) this caused massive problems for data replication from SIMs. Adding the users/sims data was a walk in the park to setup and maintain especially comparing to the way moodle is. That really is the biggest difference, frog is pre-ready setup and can go right away. Moodle requires the know how and the time to develop. Having seen several setups, VLEs, portals I have to say if I had the choice it would be Frog or Moodle. I hope you get FrogOS asap, I have seen it and I am very impressed with this. Although I will be moving on to another job much closer to home, they have moodle and I dont have intention on changing this.

I am aware of some schools that have gone the other way and stopped outsourcing and employed IT staff, they are much happier since. If they are determined then no evidence will change their mind but you can at least try. For us we have a help centre, so we can easily pull out a report of the jobs we do on a daily basis. Most of these jobs must be done within 5-15 minutes - Will outsourcing be better? When it comes to remote support (we have netsupport) we are able to fix jobs in a matter of under 5 minutes - Will outsourcing be better? There are times when we have to go to the staff laptop (no network working) and sort that out ASAP and done within 30 minutes - Will outsourcing be better? I would also ask are the staff happy with this? Find out the estimate time of fixing problems when outsourcing - when we last checked it was usually high cost and next day. Our staff wouldnt be happy to wait for their SIMs, projectors or network connections to be fixed after 30 minutes. Then there is the staff who walk in the door or want something ordered and dont know what they want - we also provide advice to depts. What about software installations they want on the laptops within 30 minutes? Software in a room within a day? Rebuilt IT suites at the end of the day? New accounts added? Detective work on how/where a student did certain things? System maintenance done at the end of the day (outside working hours)? Backups/restores? Student PC not working and full class so no spare PCs? Switch failures? Server failures? All you can really do is write a list, I really do have sympathy for you and I really think that outsourcing is only good for those places that do not rely heavily on IT. A good prime example is primary schools BUT most primary schools only employ a single person. And the cost of that person is less then outsourcing?

For the submit form button have you added a submit link in to the actual form? If you are struggling still create a new form, add the submit link right away and then drag and drop all the form contents on to the new form. As for the aspect ratio part, once an image size has been done it should be simple just to add it. For the HTML code of the page though I know you can get the HTML brick but not gain access to the code. Was designed really for those who are not coders Hopefully some of that helps

For us the real big one was SIMs, as others have stated 10-20K depending. For us it was around 14k.

Same here, having been in IT for a School about 10 years now I have never talked to Ofsted. I have never been asked to provide materials or any E-Safety etc.

1. Write down a list of everything you use/have and can you find a replacement? 2. What links them all together for accounts/logins/permissions? 3. Cloud - biggest problem with the usage of this term is the fact that most of management think its just "out there" instead of its really "Access anywhere". 4. The more you rely on the internet/wireless connection the more you lose when it goes offline. At the moment we are microsoft vanilla and I can see it being that way for another 10 years with a Domain. At the end of the day these devices and systems will be built to better suit a domain. Can I see a domain being scrapped - nope. At the end of the day with a domain you have your own seperate system which can survive without the internet. You also the ability to control/permission what students get and now with E-Safety being more aggressive this year that is important. With a domain you are easily able to link up to other systems, like cloud based/VLEs for SSO. Until these products easily allow you to link to each other (instead of lawsuits) we will need domains. When a kid logs on do they need to logon to multiple systems just to gain access to all the basics? Without a domain does that mean they simply turn on a PC and it logs on for them under "User". How would you deploy your software/GP setup? by image building? What happens when you need something added to a PC, does that mean manual install on all machines? To me it raises far too many ifs, buts and questions. Not something I would ever recommend just to be different.

done

Precisely. We have just had a survey go out, many staff want tablets and iPads and their reason for it "Its what the students like". There is no "We can do this" or "Improve this". In fact many staff don't know what it can/can't do, the two staff members who have iPads still have laptops and at the end of the day they only seem to use the iPads occasionally. We also had another member of staff responsible for students with writing issues, she went to another school and got told "iPad can do all that". She came back here and said she wanted some, we sat her down and told her what we currently can do and what are the cheaper options. She now has accepted that iPads are not the best option but because she was "told" to go iPads instead of looking at all the solutions she came back and said she wanted them. All she wanted was a group of students to do some special exam in a room and a program tells them the text is on the screen. So instead of being told the systems she can use she was simply told "it can all be done on an iPad". At the end of the day its the right tool for the right job and I have met a lot of people who are never willing to accept the flaws of some systems.

Has a lot of truth though, bit too much to be a disgruntled tech. Sounds like some one who wants to put the truth out there without getting sacked, reminds me of the person who was involved with the whole BSF thing. Got the sack because he told us the truth.

Did see this on the news before I left for work, I guess ball part this means it is much more crucial in education? Does this mean schools will actually dedicate more budget towards IT?

+1 on this.

This is something that keeps popping up for us, I know Frog are doing a Windows 8 app (hopefully they do one for Android/iPhones). Idea is all the news about their homework, deadlines and any more info will appear.

@Roberto +1 Damned if you do, Damned if you don't. We too are open but staff allowed to right after the students to have plenty of time to actually make it home.

+1! Fingers crossed Monday?....... dreaming..

100% Win 7 here, seems to work much faster/better then the XP installs.

This came up for us yesterday, are we relying too much on technology in regards to teaching. - I voted Yes. And I think everyone in the meeting would also agree, sadly though people want technology. As a result teachers have to use it at their benefit or what? Simply allow their school to sit still while others have it? If its a tool that actually benefits education I would say its well worth it. I am not a fan of whiteboards/projectors but our new management is hell bent on having them in every classroom and must be used, especially in the core subjects. I still question if it actually benefits education but at the end of the day they are teachers and know better?

+1 here, we use Hyper V with no issues: This holds our Printserver for a print management system called PCount and all our other network printers, our Virus Protection which is Mcafee/epolicy orchestrator and we have had no problems with this. The server also holds our threat management gateway (so our Frog can get to the outside world), Program server (dedicated to all the network/department software) and some SQL stuff we also have. Its not heavily used but it manages very well - no problems so far. We are a vanilla network, almost 1000 PCs/Laptops, we heavily use Exchange/Home Drives and the system in general. VLE: We use Frog, gives us all the VLE functions and it has Secure Gateway which allows any home Windows/Mac to connect to a classroom of PCs. We don't have the capacity for virtual machines (shame really because that would work too). Frog also allows any staff member to create online resources not just a file browser, don't have to be clued up with IT either. Our LEA is EIS and they serve us well, new Lightspeed allows any BYOD to work with a domain username/password but we put the Wi-Fi code in for the users. I like the idea of giving it out but I think we need to tighten things up first. We use SIMs (capita) and again this serves us well, we did use Bromcom a long time ago in a galaxy far far away and have not looked back since. We also have Macs on our system which go through a Mac server which then connects up to our AD system, our technician spent the last 12/18 months getting it just perfect (after them ignoring us for years how they should do it). We are unable to get iPads working on the Mac server due to its OS, we would have to upgrade which will cost us. Have about 90% Wireless covered, some areas could do with a better system though - age/speed not coping so well these days. Not sure what else to add, but hopefully the above helps.

We have the following: Similar Group Policy setup as with the students. There is no software currently that post16 require over students so it doesn't really matter. Increased Internet Access - Media sites for music mainly. Around 100 PCs in their block, two open areas and PCs in nearly every class. For us as much as Open area's are nice, they do get abused far more and we purchased low grade PCs which frankly could do with an upgrade with the likes of CS3/Macromedia software. So might be a good idea to actually confirm several times "What exactly do they want to do on the PCs". BYOD is allowed for Wi-Fi and Internet access, we manually put the password in - our system is pretty locked down so they will require an account to get anything. Extra home drive space Personally I wouldnt go for Laptops for all. I am not a fan of wireless for students (Domain access anyway), we have had two sets of Laptops over the years and abuse/wireless was just utter CRAP. We also have wireless covering most of our 6th Form area but the walls are a bit thick and wireless does not exactly reach every corner and age has certainly affected it as well. They also get an email account with a Quota of 150MB. Depending what you go for, would you also require an additional IT Technician and server capacity. Our 6th form students use up more then what our Year 11's do, about 100GB of storage on their Home drives. Hope all this helps.

Have to agree again, having purchased frog here some staff are still unhappy about it. I have spent some time with these staff and one of them simply was not happy about a very small thing (not being able to set a single piece of homework to multiple classes on different dates), another member of staff admitted to not wanting to do things any different. I have spent time with staff who actually come up with ideas on what they can use Frog for their classes. I like the idea of tablets for everyone but I just worry about the real financial backing and planning. Let's face it most staff don't know anything about technology but tend to be the ones who dictate the budget and the planning. The school has said that grades etc are getting better, could this be the iPads or simply because the kids are not forgetting their pens/books? Or is it having the ability to easily email the teacher? Does the school it self improve every year anyway? Is it because the staff are putting more effort in to producing materials and not just getting it from the same text book? Don't get me wrong I do think it can be very useful to have tablets for all kids. The ability to easily access all their work from home or any location, online interactive resources which attracts their attention and better communication with their teachers. Reasons why we got Frog (which took me a while to accept that VLE/Frog was the way forward). The article in regards to damages over one year - is insane that almost half are broken after 12 months! This apparently has been solved by getting different cases. I know its been said for years that every kid will have a device at school, most of the kids here have their own mobiles compared to when I was their age and I am not that old!. Most of the kids have internet access as well - again compared to what 10 years ago? When I was 16 I can't remember anyone having a mobile. People who have never had technology now have access to facebook too like my mother who struggles to know how to switch it on. So in the end is it really the iPads that have improved grades or just scrapping the idea of pens/paper and having access to everything eletronically anywhere?

+1 To this, I don't mind if some one on management walked in and said "Why not get ipads for all the kids". As long as they are prepared to back it up with planning and financial backing. Fact is just another 30 ipads in any given area will require that area to have a decent wireless access, unless only few are going to be used. Not forgetting the extra requirements from IT Support, something that always gets missed and treated like we have endless amount of working hours. I guess one good thing where I work, everyone in real decision making positions are completely against giving students iPads because the Laptops for students failed.

Like others I question a lot here and like others we too had limited filtering back in the day. This was at a time when no one knew what the internet was, let alone all what you could access. Now everyone knows what the internet is and what you can get online. 5. Sadly its not 5% who abuse it, it is much higher. When proxy sites are detected they spread quicker than virus's and within a day its spread to 30 kids. 6. No you can never promise 100% safety but you have to do your best to protect children, like it or not you can educate them all you want but even adults can do "silly" things on the likes of Facebook. There is a reason why kids require parent permission, because they are simply not old enough to understand no matter how educated they are. 7. The online predators in todays world is a real and serious threat, having dealt with sensitive cases it is actually happening. 9. You have to expect the worst, which is why there is legal requirements on fire exits and alarms. You can't simply believe all the students will be safe regardless. 10. Having been there before with "loosening up" the abuse that was occurring was paramount. 13. Walled Garden is actually a good idea, it allows students to use the internet for what they need to: An Education resource, not sitting on facebook chatting to their friends about the weekend. 14. Again we have had incidents involving staff and facebook and outside people witnessed something they shouldnt have. We strongly advise staff not to be friends with students, some of what you mentioned are on a personal level. 17. It is easy to supervise a group of kids in a lesson environment compared to watching what each student has on the screen. If they use a book its easy to tell when they are page turning but on the internet its easy to hide several pages and go off topic. Students should be educated in why the filtering systems exist. Would you give students administrator access to your whole network? They should be educated in the dangers of the internet, they still will not listen or care about such things. They are being given more sex education especially in protection, yet underage unprotected sex is on the rise. Even with all this education, as much as you can educate them the dangers of e.g Facebook - they will still have an account. They will still post a picture they shouldnt, they will still add other kids as their friends even though it will cause problems. Maturity is a big part of life and under 16s still have much to learn.