GrumbleDook

I have, when about to arrest someone, rung the control centre and asked for police and ambulance because it is likely that someone would get hurt. It does work ... but I would not recommend it.

I'm off to the Windows 8 in Education launch tomorrow at Loftus Road. Should be a good session with some hands-on of the kit. I might even have access to some kit to load W8 onto before I head down there.

Not really noticed ... I suppose it is what you spec your machine to do. My MBP is at the lower limits of most new games but handles a lot of stuff fine, and any limitations are what I am aware of for the graphics chip that is in there. It is fine for vid editing, photo editing etc ... so that is fine. My iMac is newer and more suitable to gaming and handles most things fine. Then again ... I am not an all-singing, all-dancing, immersive, macroed-keyboard, headset-wearing game junky. If I was I would generally be on a PS3, XBOX or I would build a specific box dedicated to gaming ... but doing so on Apple kit would be more expensive than a windows-based PC ... so that is why I would go for the PC. As for the iMac ... it handles Diablo, WoW, FM2012 and Civ 5 fine. Not that I get to play much nowadays ...

SIRO is a generic term used within Data Protection, you will also see the term Data Controller but that is frequently used to specify a person dealing with a set of data, and not always the person who the buck ultimately stops with.

The things with tablets ... they are just a tool. Like any tech, you can do some wonderful stuff with it but how well that happens depends on the teacher, the ethos of the school, the curriculum that is delivered ... and whilst you shouldn't tailor education to tech, there are time when doing so will actually give things a structure and purpose that makes change in other areas far easier ... but this will vary from school to school. When looking at tablets there are some pretty common concepts between them all and understanding those is important. Look at previous research about mobile tech, about game-based learning, about tech-enhanced learning and you can see this. The main thing that matters is that when choosing the tech you have to consider whether there are some killer apps or functions that funnel a few things in your decision making, about whether the cost of implementation / management is considered, about how the models of learning will change over the next 5 years (or rather, how they will change at your school) ... and work out whether it is cost effective to use tablets for this. Combining it with other changes around better use of a VLE / LP and you can get some of the cost savings you might need to help improve your infrastructure ... some of it might be invest to save ... it will vary from school to school. Consider training of staff and learners ... and learners will need some training, just not in the same model or the same training the staff get ... the idea of digital natives is a myth ... When it comes to people saying that you can't do X ... it generally means that X is difficult, expensive, time consuming or is not yet a feature ... these are all things that can be compromised around. Also remember that education is not democracy. You will have people say they want to use Y ... and there are times you just have to get on with it ... The iPad Mini is a good replacement for those schools who had been using or looking at iPod touches as learner devices ... a bit more expensive but the larger screen / better performance looks like it will be worth it. The apps are likely to be the key to why iOS devices are chosen, along with learner engagement (yes ... the 'oh shiny' factor can work to the benefit of the school if channeled correctly) and the 'consumer management' model has been shown to be workable. That is not to say that other devices can't do the same ... and give it 12 months and it might be that there are killer apps on other platforms that schools want ... and stuff that is not just on a website so thinking about a device which is mainly just a browser is not likely to be the solution.

There are still some examples on the Wiki too. School Policies - Wiki

I have used it before but found it increasingly inaccurate as a number of the available services are taken, it gets a little confused about case sensitive searches and it really annoyed me spending ages going through them all to find that a few didn't even allow you a specific username anymore as you *had* to log in via FaceBook!!!

Also find if there is a local on-network downloadable file you can test against to identify whether it is a network bottleneck or when getting out to the internet. I would also not just rely on speedtest.net for speeds ... it can be seriously out at times.

I try to have accounts on everything, mainly so that I can grab and protect 'grumbledook' where I can. I agree that you have to work at twitter to see what the benefits are, but I also think that you have to make a decision about how you use it ... I use mine mainly for professional stuff, or the odd public chat about personal areas which people I am professionally connected (or even friends with). I do have a separate protected account for personal things which is very infrequently used.

"Illegal to fight" goes way beyond 16 chapters and has needed to be over the years ... "wrong to fight" will keep libraries in stock for years ...

The problem with trying to marry up etymology, usage of words within common language (across a range of countries and cultures) and the Law is that to be specific and precise the Law is written to ensure that ambiguity is removed, that specific variations of usage of language is covered and whilst this can create a new set of interesting discussions it is not really going to get anywhere by picking apart why dictionary definitions (which will include definitions not in common usage but are still accurate) are shorter than the terms applied in Law. We might as well ask why Boxing is legal and ABH isn't even though both parties involved in a fight outside a pub might be willing to hit each other.

I was at a TeachMeet in London the other week (held at the Mozilla office) and one of the things that came up as MozFest. I asked for a bit more blurb and thought I would share it about. For anyone who takes a keen interest in the work the community does then this is a great chance to find out some of the new stuff which is happening, having a look at the road map of where things are going (I just *love* Mozilla Popcorn) and to also get involved. Definitely an event for both the geeks, techies, teachers and dabblers. If anyone needs more information then definitely email Doug ([email protected]) and he will help you out (go on ... try and get some free tickets!)

And this is part of the problem ... Some schools are moving nothing, some are moving a little, some a lot and some everything. Some schools are not just swapping a few things but doing wholesale change of email, web hosting, etc using different technologies at the same time. In some LAs it is simpler as there has been more direct influence on sticking to some common things, but in Northants it is a tad more ... varied!

Having spent time covering for a few large scale hostmasters it is not that uncommon, as each ISP / Registrar / DNS host will tailor what they do for their customers. Once I've checked with a few schools (get permission to talk about their setups) I'll put up some scenarios showing why schools are such different customers, especially when they have not had to really deal with Public DNS in the past. The main issue is to try and have a smooth change of services and when you have things like a hosted email service which relies on DNS, a mail filter and then the exchange servers themselves there are a lot of dependencies. Change DNS and Tag without considering the other bits mean people lose email.

With the way some schools have things setup it *really* isn't a good idea to presume that all schools would be ok if the zone file and MailMarshall setting were deleted. Moving the Tag doesn't mean DNS is ready to run on the new name servers, it doesn't mean the relevant services have moved over and the best migrations I've seen so far when there are complex services (predominantly secondary schools) is where there has been a phased approach to reduce areas of failure. Tags and DNS don't even have to reside with the same service owner (and we do have schools in this position) which makes it even *more* interesting. Let's just say that I am looking at taking a fortnight's holiday from 31st ... (Only joking!)

Bring a Tiger to work Thursday? Doesn't have quite the same ring ... I also have my face done as part of the rich fringe experience that goes on at BETT ... but I'm not sure what is happening with things like Collabor8 4 Change and TeachMeet this year ...

Already registered and will be down for the full week again for a variety of things. I was planning another facepaint Friday but the 2 LearnLive sessions I am involved with are both on Friday ... I think someone has an evil sense of humour!

Because of the different ways a number of schools have their systems set up (remember the standard network build was just a baseline) different schools will migrate / change their DNS host, entries and associated settings in different ways. There are a few things you specifically need to remember when making changes. If you leave your old DNS entries in place then it might not affect you and the outside world, but can still affect those using that name server. Also remember that MX records have been pointed at a mail filter / store & forward (which also acts as the on-network relay for northants-ecl users) and so that has settings in there too. Mail going into MailMarshal will still expect to go the the allocated LAN IP address unless you tell it otherwise or ask for the entry to be removed. These changes are not automatically being applied because schools will need different changes in different orders depending on their present a future setup. I know some schools have thought this through very carefully and others are relying on the fact that they will only lose a little bit of email if there is a gap. Please make sure you close down services you no longer need. I know that certain services will be turned off on 31st October, but don't just wait until that date. Tidy things up beforehand.

Within Northants the connectivity equipment is the responsibility of the ISP (mainly embc) or the providing TELCO. Northants CC IT Services (now part of LGSS) have *nothing* in schools ... and all parties are pretty happy to keep it that way.

Due to a number of requests NAACE have extended the nomination period for their annual impact awards until Friday 19th October. There are a number of members who do some fantastic stuff so it is worth telling people about it.

In Northants we worked with schools to put together such an advice list. You can have a look at it via some schools who were members of the working group. http://www.thedustonschool.northants.sch.uk/broadband

The Wiki has some sample policies around CCTV School Policies - Wiki ... in need of an update now (when I get round to it!). The ICO has a very good section on CCTV too. CCTV - Guidance for Organisations - ICO

You have a well-considered AUP ... not everyone is in this position or would be able to have all staff meet it. Does your AUP clearly state that any personal information on or viewed using the devices might be accessed by authorised members of staff within the schools? What if you see confidential information that you have no right to? This would be a data breach by that individual and so should be reported to someone ... do you have a policy or procedure which covers this and ensures that it is done?

There is a difference between work / home as a location for doing employment-related activities and personal / work use. If an unsuspecting member of staff is using it for internet banking (which is obviously within a secure webpage and presuming no interception is taking place) then the person viewing could be looking at personal data that they have no right to view. This is also an issue for those working in multiple schools who might be accessing services in other schools from that device ... so the person viewing could see information about a student not in their school. It is worth saying these are not hypothetical concerns and have caused issues in schools previously.