Review: Star Wars the Old Republic

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Huge Star Wars fan on top of RPG and Sci-Fi.

Going to start off with some quick positives with it’s free to play and not necessarily a ton of restrictions if you want to enjoy the game for what it is.

The graphics are quite good with large surrounding areas and it never feels like that everything is copied and pasted.  Every world seems very different and looks incredibly beautiful.  There is certainly a scope of feeling that this is a very big game.  Special mention for the introduction movies that not only feel like Star Wars but gave impressive moments.

Plenty to do with tons of quests, story quests, flash points and other bits and pieces.  I really felt like that I could never get all this done in a billion years.

The characters

I have to say this to me was a positive especially when I chose a male character that had a female companion.  I created a bond and a relationship between these two.  We get a lot more background story about relationships with Jedi’s.  Although this was explored during the prequels we didn’t actually get much other than a very poorly acted love scene which felt very uncomfortable to watch.  This time around the relationship doesn’t feel uncomfortable but it’s quite fun to follow.  There’s plenty of characters to come across, the good the bad and the ugly.  Some are companions some are not while others you end up killing.  The Star Wars universe as ever is full of our usual type of characters.  This is certainly a good thing.

Story

This was a big let-down I have to say for a Jedi Knight, I found a lot quite predictable and poorly constructed.  The ending to chapter 3 I must say was incredibly unsatisfying.  I wasn’t impressed that the introduction movies gave us this big war but it turns out that the story is based on after the war.  Yet for some reason there is heavy conflict going on so are we at war or is there a truce?

Story is another big thing that’s important to Star Wars and it’s a failure so far in my eyes for this game.

Space Battles

One thing the majority of Star Wars games got right was the space battles.  So tell me why this was screwed over?

There is no real 3d environment to fly around in instead you follow a path.  So each engagement is pretty much exact the same.  You can’t suddenly decide to turn around and engage a bunch of fighters or bombers instead you are presented with what’s in front of you and it’s up to you to prioritise the targets.  This means even the difficulty missions are still very easy but the worst is – boring.  The music is very repetitive and even now I can hear the generic song that doesn’t feel Star Wars.  All the epic battles we’ve played in Star Wars games they failed miserably on this one.  Yet this was the one thing Star Wars fans tend to enjoy the most among lightsabre battles.  They really dropped the ball on this one.

Music

On one side some of the music created is very good but it doesn’t always feel like Star Wars.  During the movies the music was running effectively nonstop to what was on the screen.  This gave the audience a feeling that this was a grand epic story.  No matter how small the characters or what we witnessed the music always went along with the flow.  Sadly another part missing from this game is that music playing nonstop to what’s happening without the endless feeling of repetition.  The battle music is usually the same, space music is the same…. And that’s how it goes.

The conclusion for this game is although there is plenty to do you will feel the two biggest important things have been created badly – Story and Space Battles.  IT honestly feels like they spent so much time creating the introduction movies and graphics of Star Wars but they neglected the other important things.  Considering how much this game cost to make.. you have to ask your self if the person responsible is still in the job.  Even if they made cut backs on the worlds available and released them later.  You can’t ignore that the fundamentals of Star Wars are missing in this game.   Worth playing but long term subscription isn’t worth it.  I’d play it for a couple of months like I did last time and return to see what’s been added.

Review: World of Warcraft

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I’ve been playing quite a lot of games lately trying to find one that I just enjoy and can play for hours upon hours.

I gave WoW a try, although I had some what played it before this is now an aged MMO with a recent Legion expansion.

There are a ton of options and customisations before you start.  The world is immense in size and there are still plenty of people playing.

Sadly though there is one thing that’s a major let down:

The Story

As a fan of RPGs on their story, a few cut scenes and a pivotal direction to follow while still exploring.  I found myself disappointed on one text quest to another.  One miniscule unimportant quest to guess what another.  Although for a while I was following these quests which helped me explore the world.. I recently finished them all and found myself thinking.. what now.. where do I go?  I’ve just done all the quests in this dark forest area as a bad guy but…  where am I supposed to go.

I had a good look at the map and the areas near me are not slightly higher than me but instead quite a bit high but look there an area just ripe for me.  So I wandered off to that zone to look for a place to level up and perhaps find if there is some story.  I found some quests to complete while I avoided death walking in an area 10-15+ levels above me

recently finished a quest involving killing 4 or was it 5 big beasts in this conquered fortress.  I had to kill one each per quest and also collect some eggs from a poison bear.

Still sadly I’ve had no real story or even a direction to follow once I completed this area.  I wandered some more and found a weak area that offered me pets to fight with? Unfortunately there is more text quests and not actually much help to guide me on what I’m supposed to do.  I even gave the dungeon finder a few tries and luckily enough people were generous enough to help me and tell me what I needed to do.  I assumed as a tank it would be like any tank in a game where I keep hate – they kill – I get healed.  This is probably the only thing I feel I done right.

Graphics

I kept being told that legion provided far better and bigger graphics, either I’m doing something wrong or is this a lie?  Wow doesn’t look any different to me at all so I am guessing this is legion areas only?

I’ve googled and looked on blizzard forums and all I see is spec requirements which I am more than matched for.  So is WoW really still on old graphics?

The other bits

Levelling up in this game doesn’t feel like a chore, I guess when you lived on XI for a decade you kind of feel like a grind will never compete with spending 3-4 hours just to get a single level…. That’s without quests.. that’s just sitting in an area killing the same creatures on and on and guess what on.

Exploring is pretty fun.. you never know what’s around the next corner and it does feel like this land is huge.  Unlike XI you don’t need to be with someone.. you can wander the lands.. kill stuff.. do quests all alone.

Don’t get me wrong if you love RPGs and the classic text quests.. this game is perfect for you.  I shouldn’t complain too much because this is an old style game just like XI but although that game lacked real quests to gain experience it does however beat WoW in regards to story by far.  There is no competition regarding story on WoW/XI.  WoW though dominates the way you level where it doesn’t feel like a grind compared to XI.  XI you would gather together in a party (which at times could take hours) just to find a spot (which again wasn’t always free) just to sit there and kill the same creatures for hours (there was no guarantee a wipe wouldn’t scrap your party wasting more hours).  It feels like SE/Blizzard should have got together to create their games.  If XI didn’t have that grind fest but more of a quest levelling similar to WoW it would have dominated as much as WoW did (perhaps anyway).

A very good game but I don’t think I could go back to it without levelling with someone who knows where to go etc.  I can’t go in to too much detail until I return to this game and really give it more attention.

Review: FFXIII

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Final Fantasy is among my favourite games in existence and I really don’t think there is a game I’ve missed playing.

Going to start off with a quick mention of tactics, it’s not my favourite and one of the very few I played for five minutes and stopped.  I didn’t enjoy the whole battle like a chess game even though I had wasted money buying it.

I tend to not read too much about Final Fantasy games before I get them well why would I when I’ve enjoyed all of them.

From the likes of 1 all the way up to the latest ones I’ve enjoyed so many including both Online XIV/XI and Linear Mystic Quest.

Then came XIII, it had a beautiful main character and graphics that were incredible.  When I started playing it after such a long wait I had that happy feeling.

I knew I was playing a game that not only would give a gripping story line of good vs evil, give us characters that we fall in love with and battles to test our might with a bit of a grind levelling up if we chose to.  The game would also give us endless hours of looking for secrets, talking to characters, finding hidden places where we would dive deeper in to this new world.

Sadly half of that didn’t turn out to be the case…

For the first few hours you hope to come at a turning point to enjoy looking for secrets or perhaps talk to some NPCs to learn about the story, learn about the world.  You wait another few more hours and.. it still doesn’t come…  when you finally get there in this amazing open land.  You really do get a sense that this is Final Fantasy this is the game you wanted…. But then you begin to realise that this one single open area is it.  It spreads out.. it opens up but this is it.  You effectively have to sit in this open area and grind your way to be able to combat bigger creatures but once you decide to continue on from this area…   that’s it.  There are no other open areas….  This is what the game has building up to and it’s a disappointment. 

The endless cutscenes and interruptions to our playing the game.  I’d be interested to know if any other game interrupted us as much as this one did.  Every corner or every 5 minutes we would get a little cutscene to tell us……  nothing.  To hear more characters whine about how hard their lives are while struggling to believe it as a gamer.  I want to play this game….

I’ve always enjoyed games that felt like a movie but this was like an interactive book more than a game.  And it’s not like every cutscene gave us a tiny piece of story but more like how difficult the characters were going to be to understand and feel for…

The characters

 A young boy has just lost his mother and it felt like this wasn’t the case.  A strapping tall man had failed to realise how many lives were just lost and another man with a tiny bird on his head seemed to act like his life was incredibly difficult.  This was the first time I’ve ever felt so sorry for the majority of these characters without actually feeling for them.  I felt sorry on the level of how pathetic they were.  The boy losing his mother would normally be in a state of shock and tears not feeling sorry for him self five minutes after it happened.  We’ve all dealt with loss and the boy was at stage 2 instantly.  What has SE done to the characters to make them feel not believable.

Then we have our character, closed off and really hard to read yet doesn’t seem to care about anything even towards the end this was overly stretched.  I loved lightning as a character but felt like her difficulty side was again over stretched.

Linear

Call it what you will, this game felt more like Mystic Quest where you effectively follow a single path.  At least MQ had villages and towns where you could walk around talking to NPCs.  You could learn about the world without the constant need of custcenes and interruptions of what little exploring you had.  You could look for secret chests that were well out of your way.

Unfortunately this game effectively feels like you are holding down the forward button.  There is no towns, no characters to talk to and certainly no hidden caves.

As mentioned before that one single big open area is it for Final Fantasy XIII.  And there are few tiny pieces of story or information about the world you are in.  You learn about people having lost their lives in this world and become statues.. but where is the story.  Where are these big epic battles that have high rewards or to tell us more things about our characters..  there are none.

Previous Final Fantasy

No matter what game you played previously, you always got a sense that the world was bigger than it was.  The characters had a much deeper story and it always felt like that there was more.  Even if you spent hours unlocking, maximising characters and gaining their ultimate weapons.  There was always that doubt.. are you missing something?

XIII doesn’t make you feel like that.. in fact it makes you feel like that once finished you may not repeat it.. you may not replay it.

Some of my less loved games I’ve still replayed with the likes of IX but that game although I didn’t love the characters and thought the story was over complicated.  It still felt like a Final Fantasy game where there was so much to explore and to do.

With the now release of FFXV.. I am about to embark.. or shall I say hope to embark on a journey with loveable characters in a world with so much to do in a game where it feels like the journey is as important as the destination.  Where not only do I get to enjoy the story but I enjoy the action just as much.

If you’re new to these type of games you may find FFXIII is for you.  If you enjoy a beautiful game with a story then again this is a game for you.

Articles praising #EDUTECH

This is going to be quite a harsh post, it’s important that people see what I see even if they don’t agree especially about #EduTech.

 **Update 2017**
Well today I found another one and it really does sum up "No Reasons" to sign up to BYOD.
7 examples of institutions which understand the power of BYOD and 1:1 learning

Actually it only shows institutions that use BYOD not those that "Understand the power of it".

(Yes I know some of those links don't actually work, I don't think the article writer really checked those links).

This one had to be TOP because they actually look like they've made an effort on a very nice PDF.
http://www.wellington-college.school.nz/byod

One of which I've done my self some time ago.  You try and include as much information as possible all crammed in to a file hoping the Parent will fully read and understand it.  Likewise for the Student.
Only to find the majority don't actually read through it and to ask questions later on (plus complain if a problem occurs and they didn't read the byline).

What is not mentioned here is insurance, warranty, problems and failures.  Like it or not they occur in IT.  Who supports these devices? We know that accidents happen.  As I've covered plenty of times before if a student can't look after their life line smartphone how on earth are they going to look after their learning tool device.  What happens when one breaks? they arrive at lesson without one? that's one student in a class now without a device.  Does the School keep spares? Spares in every class? charge them and pay for their maintenance?

Like I said this link doesnt show anything about understanding it's just simple a collection of institutions that run the schemes.  It doesn't show their success or experience.  Having dealt with PDFs and website information to Parents these all seem like they don't have many years running the BYOD scheme.  Yet again we have an article attempting to praise the BYOD scheme which some people will see and immediately think "WOW LOOK AT THIS".  Wasting more money by the School, Parents and more crucially wasting learning time for students.

I’ve seen a lot of articles like this one:

http://www.teachhub.com/technology-classroom-can-help-struggling-readers

It states that technology in the classroom is great because it can also be accessed anywhere.  Well we all know this right? The majority of us have smartphones, a tablet or laptop.

Thing is, this article is incredibly vague:

·         Doesn’t state what technology is great

·         Doesn’t state what Apps you should use to educate students

·         Doesn’t show who will support it or maintain it

·         Doesn’t state the costs involved in technology

Just like your phone, your car and every appliance you have in your home it will require attention or replacements.  The problem is in a classroom it must work and it must stay working.  Does a teacher always have a backup plan if IT fails? In my experience they don’t.  Teachers always tell me that everything must work and rightly so.

Problem is this article like so many will make people think great let’s get students using technology in my class it’s fantastic.  They then suffer all kinds of problems, they won’t admit it, it will be some one else’s fault – I’ve seen all this a lot.  This has been a total waste of learning time by the students and teaching time by the teacher.  According to the teacher unions staff don’t have the time to waste?  They don’t have the time to discover different things (positive or negative)?  According to these unions Schools don’t have the budget to keep spending on teachers let alone technology or the support required.

Ever had 30 kids bring in their home tech? I have and they will all be different, most of them will know how to do the basics but still constantly ask for your help.  Ever tried to get 30 kids on to a single website using online activities? I have and with different browsers some requiring flash or other bits and pieces it can turn a lesson in to a mess.

Another prime example of an article:

http://www.teachhub.com/5-undeniable-reasons-why-educators-should-embrace-technology-classroom

It goes on about the fact we don’t really need to control what they do?  Because the School Wifi blocks inappropriate websites?

Correction, if we blocked the majority of “inappropriate” websites you may find that even innocent ones may be blocked due to not being categorised.  And does this stop students from attempting to breach the system no course not because the majority of Schools only have half decent filtering.

It goes on about the fact that we need to prepare them for the world?

Even today not every piece of technology is about engagement in the work place.  Everyone working understands their role about doing the job not needing to be engaged.  The interesting thing is the majority of jobs even today in professional environments will still continue to use productivity equipment – Windows PCs or Apple Macs.  They will not give you a tablet, smartphone or any device that looks fancy.  Go to the bank, a lawyer, estate agency, supermarket and behind the scenes or in front of you – is a PC.

It won’t be a device to help people learn instead it’s about mass productivity.  Teaching children life is about engagement is actually teaching them the wrong lessons.  It shows them that if they get bored pick up a mobile, pick up a tablet and do something on the internet.  Instead they should be focusing on getting on with work, getting on with the task at hand.

They already spend their time on Social Networking?

Hold up I thought this article stated that inappropriate websites are unblocked? Social media sites would be about 3^rd on the list of top priority.  The rest being adult and dangerous materials.  This entire segment goes on about educating them to feel a sense of community.  Children like it or not are children and educating them how to use technology doesn’t prevent risks.  I’ve seen it.  You can tell them not to add people they don’t like on Facebook, five minutes later they add them so they can see what’s being said about them.  If adults who know better still speed along the motorway at stupid speeds.. what hope do we have at really changing the way society has raised kids.  21^st Century tech and 21^st Century dangers is real.  If you have 100 students and educate them all you may help cut down 10% worth of problems.  That’s right a measly 10% while the other 90% will continue.

It goes on about the fact that student engagement is needed?

Thing is in today’s world we shouldn’t be resorting to “needing” engagement.  I once sat down with a senior leader who refused to use technology to prove he could get the kids learning without the word “engaging”.  And I have to say I was impressed, it brought me back to the days when I was a kid being told I’m here to learn if I like it or not.  It was understanding that this is my future and it’s crucial.  This teacher told his students what was expected, any student who refused it was immediately put on a behaviour mark.  I must say it had been a while since I saw such commanding respect by students.  The same ones who gave other teachers a head ache even with engaging tools.

Strangely enough that teacher got open praise from the Head on turning little rascals in to grownups.   You don’t need engagement to teach, that is in his terms “the lazy way, not the right way”.  I actually completely agreed.  My statement on technology is always this “it’s there to do a task easier”.  It’s far too easy to stick a tablet in front of a kid and tell them to research WW2.  Do they actually read through it all and take it all in while having a quick look at YouTube or MineCraft websites? Or is it easier to stand in front of a class and describe the world during the war.  Knowing you have their full attention while firing quick questions to see if they are paying attention.

It’s articles like this that create this delusion engagement environment to get students quietly learning but it doesn’t work.  This then spreads to other Schools and other teachers who see the image but don’t see the whole thing.  It spreads like a flood out of control and the majority of people are swept away and will blame technology for their own mistakes.  I see it all the time, when it doesn’t work blame the tech.  Don’t consider that maybe you made the wrong choice.  If you make these poor decisions in education it’s money wasted but even worse – Teaching and Learning time is lost.  A lot of businesses take technology serious because any issues is lost profits.  In education profits is grades translated from learning.  Schools are suffering at times because of making poor decisions.

These articles don’t state what Apps, what technology and again very vague information about what #EduTech works.  Add some fancy terminology, add some positive words with a few doses of Social Media = a general article that gives very little on what technology can do for you.

That Privacy Law

We all love our privacy right? I love the fact I can close my curtains at the end of the day and enjoy a quiet evening.  I enjoy the fact I can have a private conversation with someone.

It’s all a lie really though?  The majority of what we tell people goes to someone else sooner or later.  We claim we want privacy yet we sign up to a dozen websites using our personal details.  We live on social media showing off photographs of a holiday, our house and car.  We take selfies on a night out while doing that drunken tweet about Jegabombs.. sorry I meant to say cheapest beer available or some white ligntning.  Yet we claim to want privacy.

We continue to tell people about ourselves, even again posting that on social media or perhaps to whine about the postman turning up while we’re in the shower.  We drive a car, own a home and have to share all that information with multiple organisations who again can cold call us or put junk mail through our door.  Yet we claim to want privacy?

When we use social media sites like Facebook this has the access to direct adverts to you as a result of websites you’ve visited.  Platforms like this have the ability to use our day to day usage to directly target us on what we like or don’t like on Facebook.  Yet we claim to want privacy?

The new one is about logging every website we visit.  So what’s the difference? Are people really that paranoid about “privacy” well why sign up to Netflix which can store what you watch, when you watched it and where?  Why sign up to these services that can tell you prefer action movies or perhaps movies that involve murder? Perhaps they can tell if you spend a lot of time watching anything with the Nazis in it?

This is one website, one service.. when there are so many others.  How many of these do you sign up to?  How many of these will log what you buy, what you do and where you go?

·         Banking – Everything you spend a £ on is logged.  Some of it you can see using online banking.

·         eBay – All your personal details, what you buy and sell.  Including comments.

·         Amazon – Likewise, all your personal details.

·         Netflix

·         Steam gaming – Your preference of games, what you achieve, what your comments are like

·         Twitter/Facebook – One thing I didn’t mention that even the way you post is logged permanently in some way.  Your attitude, when you swear and generally it’s easy to tell your level of maturity.  I can’t stress the amount of people tweet as if they are a 13 year old temper throwing teenager who lives in their mothers basement.

·         Smartphones – These have an ability to log an incredible amount of small details which add up.  Location, where you use wifi and 3g, what you use, when you use it and who you’re in contact with.

Yet we claim to want privacy?

I’ve only picked the top prime examples yet there are hundreds if not thousands of ways our lives are being recorded.  Our smartphone even with data switched off is still tracking where we are.  It still tracks when it comes in to contact with any signal of 3g.

Yet we still claim to want our privacy?

I recently asked a few questions regarding VPN and was set upon by a pack of growling teenager boys all too young to realise that if you want privacy maybe you should shut life off from being online.  The same ones who whine about what the Government does but most of them have failed to pay a £ in tax.  Most of them will spend their evenings with other geeks and sit there while debating the world but having no impact on it.  Talking about what their recent purchase GPU was or how well they did on Call of Duty online the night before.  While sipping a beer and eating a pizza paying their parents £100 a month in rent.

It’s all not a nice thing but it’s true.

The whole VPN although lately the tech used is actually Juniper for work related, it allows our PC to become effectively in its own network.  Great for those of us who use it to remote in to work so we can do some maintenance on our servers late at night so it doesn’t impact the day to day staff/students.  Let’s face it though there are those who use it to download illegal or generally because they are paranoid about the world knowing they visit torrent sites or perhaps some Hentai/Yaoi.

Sorry did I use that term? Hentai/Yaoi.  It’s cartoon porn to put it lightly.  It allows all those weird little fetishes to come true because the majority of it would actually be banned in this Country if the Government was fully aware of how popular it is amongst geeks.  In my job I’ve had to track down kids to give them a telling off for visiting stuff like this.  As a gamer I know that this porn is very popular amongst World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy fans.  I remember once having to ask someone what does Yaoi mean? What is this?  It’s gay porn but a hentai term.  Hell I have no issues with peoples sexual orientation or preference.  It’s their choice.

What I find full of hypocrisy is this is what it’s all about, hiding the fact that their sexual fetish would be logged and their illegal downloading would be logged.  If privacy is such an issue why not “live off the grid” a term used by some to effectively say – avoid any tech/online activity. 

I myself am staff in School, I have to adhere to the rules of “E-Safety” meaning anything I do online can’t really be traced back to me.  It’s why I have this account showing no personal information.  I avoid names, work place details and generally keeping my “private” life in check.  Yet you don’t see me the one whining with a temper tantrum about losing more privacy.

Let’s face it, the ones moaning about it have always been the ones up to no good.  When a speed camera gets introduced the ones moaning will be the speeders.  When CCTV gets installed in a street the ones moaning will be those up to no good.  When Schools push for more control over students the ones crying are the parents who give no care about the education of their children.  You look at Brexit, the ones raising their voices the most are young people not because it impacts their future but because at that age they are quick to react instead of slowing down and thinking.

I keep hearing terms of “hackers can get your data if Government stores your history” well they can already? Can’t they? Yes or not?

They can hack their way in to your steam, amazon and eBay accounts.  They can easily inject something that can incriminate you.  They can easily stick some illegal porn on to your PC without you even noticing.  If a hacker was really going to come at you, you’ve already lost the battle regardless.  Your only safety net is not using anything online.  The same ones who whine about the Gov doing this are the same ones using social media with their own personal information?  Where they work? What their title is?  Really?  Why would you do that.

One word hypocrisy.

Then again as I said before what do we really expect in regards to young adults or young children who are quick to react.  Quick to batter anyone that doesn’t agree with them like a child who has been hand fed their entire life.  I actually agree the Government shouldn’t be doing this but as someone that’s very experienced in life we only get one choice.  Who to vote for as our local MP/party – in fact we are lucky to have had a referendum because in the last few decades we’ve had very little choice in what the Government does.  Do you think we choose where all this money goes to? Our taxes? How the NHS is run? How education chooses it’s curriculum? When the bus turns up? Where the train stations are?

No.  You are deluded in to thinking we have these as choices.  The Government has and always will continue to do so.  The ones who influence them are their own parties or rival ones.  That’s it.  Do you think the protests on the EU Referendum (again majority were young whiners) made a difference? No.  Do you think thousands turning up to protest Donald Trump  (again majority were young whiners) made a difference? No.  So what do you think throwing a temper tantrum on twitter is going to do – nothing.

The only way the “people” have made any difference is when it’s united and let’s face it, if the Government can consider doing a U-Turn on a referendum without too much of a fight in the streets do you think a little protest about privacy is going to stop them? No.  I suggest these geeks stop playing games and realize you are not in control regardless what you say.  When the miners protested their lively hoods, people were seriously injured and arrested.  You think that made a major impact on the Government or shall we say the “Iron Lady”? No.  Nothing changed.  The majority of the mining industry in this Country has been shut down.  Those workers have all found different jobs.  The Government spoke and didn’t change its mind.

So I say again teenage tantrums trying to prove about defending my privacy when in fact it barely exists. 

“It’s like someone looking through your window”.

No it’s not, when they look through my window they are seeing me living my life “offline”.  They are seeing what I cook, how I sit, when I go to the toilet.  That’s a poor comparison considering history activity is what I do online.

Once more this is about illegal downloading and finding what porn activity people do.  The same ones who whine about this will whine about torrent site owners being defended for “doing nothing wrong” they are housing the links to torrents not the actual files.  Doesn’t’ matter he’s a part of something illegal.  Perhaps you can tell me that person is innocent (even though he’s not).

Then again many of the whiners I dealt with recently have all been the “Linux” people.  And I’ve met and worked with many of them.  Anti-Microsoft for being this big corporation then jump in to bed when Google was a garage but jump ship when that too became a big corporation.

Dear oh dear the sheer hypocrisy is beyond belief but as I stated in another blog, people who know IT especially the ones who do it at home but don’t work with it are the worst kind of opinionated and clueless people.  They refuse to see the actual big picture.  Then again I’ve always been told I can see it clearly.  The Government is doing this for control, nothing less nothing more.  The whiners are doing it because they are guilty of doing something they know they shouldn’t.  I don’t want my privacy invaded and I’m against it but I’m not going to cry about it.  If I can no longer do what I’m not supposed to be doing.. I’ll get over it because I’ve got nothing to hide.

The rest is just kicking and screaming.

Want to buy a device? Here's some advice

So the good about technology, I’ve been very critical about it and you know rightly so.  We still see Schools being fed total lies in regards to how fantastic mobile tech and everything can be.  I witness this so I’ve been a very heavy critic – even though if #EduTech vanished I’d be out of the job.

Let’s get to the good stuff.

If I was to buy a device just for the internet and research – What should I buy?

This is an easy one, Android Tablet:

What I would recommend is a 7 inch screen tablet with Android because of its low cost solution.  You won’t need a heavy amount of space.

The pros?

·         Cheaper low cost solution

·         Does the basics

·         7 inch screen will run most websites

·         A ton of Apps are free, use the likes of Google Drive allowing to sync the device locally to the cloud

A lot of people will say but what about the iPad? Unless you use the iCloud to save all your photos, iTunes for music (plus a few other Apple specific Apps) it will be silly to buy this just for the sake of it.  The iPad costs around double the price of an Android tablet.

The iCloud is an account where you create it and save a lot of stuff using that one single account – Likewise Android do the same thing using their own Google Apps.

If you don’t have an iCloud/iTunes account or you don’t want to buy a ton of music from iTunes – you will be wasting your money buying an iPad.

I’d like to browse the internet, make a few professional documents but not often – What should I buy?

Another easy one – A netbook:

·         Cheaper low cost solution

·         Does the basics

·         7 inch screen will run any website

·         Windows still has some usefull Apps from the store or from websites like Ninite.com you can download other free bits and pieces.

·         Still have access to Google Drive/Apps if you want it

·         Open Office is similar to Microsoft office, it’s free and you can do a lot more when compared to Google Docs.

If I want a device for productivity at home – What should I buy?

This one really depends if you want it to be portable – If it needs to stay home so you can work professionally or even games

A windows PC

·         Device can suit you in size, colour, make and model

·         Does much more than the basics

·         Screen size is up to you

·         Likewise for all the free apps/software etc

Now this option adds the £££ but is generally the best one for productivity.  If you break your keyboard, you can replace it for a few £ likewise for the mouse.  If you damage the screen or it fails again it’s a relative low cost to replace it (unless you go for an All In One machine).

I’m an movie professional, I don’t like fuss, I don’t play games or care for anything other than to make movies - I just want out the box to work?

This one again is if you want portable or not but I would recommend an Apple iMac or MacBook Pro.

The good thing about Apple is they do limit what you can do with their devices if you don’t know what you are doing.  They are also simple for out the box and work but there are huge downsides.

·         One of the best out of the box devices for home

·         Very powerful because they do not do low spec/cheap equipment

·         Good reliability and updates tend to not cause as many problems

·         Great for professionals in the “arts” industry because it usually comes with the software needed to make powerful movies/pictures

So really, the above is all about what YOU plan on doing with the device.  I would never be (sorry Apple lovers) the type of person who will tell you go get a Mac because it’s great for some one that wants to just use basic word and internet.  Yes sorry to say I’ve met people that have been told this kind of thing.  Would you buy a £50,000 car just to do School runs or drive 20 miles to work? No.  You would buy an expensive car to show it off, live the life of luxury but if you’re not well off or rich you would simply buy what you need.

So a few FAQs that I’ve dealt with over the years:

Shall I pay for virus protection?

No, No and a No – www.ninite.com and install Windows Essentials, Malware Bytes and Spybot.  Although you won’t get 100% protection, you wouldn’t even if you paid for it.

Trial software is it always worth it?

If buying a PC from PC World – No.  It slows down your equipment especially Windows PCs/Laptops because the software you don’t need or want.  It’s also why I’m not a great fan from buying from certain companies.  They tend to stick a ton of software that slows down your machine.

What shall I get for a Windows laptop/PC?  It all means garbage to me.

Simple ask for a device that has no trial software, no extra “crap” installed just the basics.  The “spec” you want is Intel i3, SSD drive (these are NOT expensive), 4GB ram and a DVD Drive.  You don’t need all the fancy stuff people try and flog you.  An SSD Drive is what stores your data and you don’t need any more than a minimal amount 120GB.  When they try and sell you 1TB drives – wow you will never need that.  Instead of buying a high capacity PC/laptop you will just do the next question > USB drives/sticks.

Shall I buy a USB stick or two what about a drive?

Yes, these are what you use to store all your photos etc.  If using a USB stick I would always recommend keeping a copy on a second for anything important.  A drive is usually safe if you never touch it or move it.

Do Apple devices get virus’s, I hear they don’t?

Oh yes they do but because not everywhere has a Mac in their offices, banks, doctors or sitting plugged in to a Nuclear reactor what’s the point ?  If you create a virus that impacts a Mac who are you going to hurt?  They do exist though.

What if my machine is slowing down?

This can mean quite a few things:

·         Maybe it needs to be restored > refresh (wipe clean so make sure you backup all your photos, music etc on to a USB stick)

·         Too many programs running in the background when you turn it on – A great way to test how much is running (please see next question)

·         The data drive is getting old – this is why SSDs are better, the only sata/IDEs are like a car engine it loses horse power over time

Can I speed my machine up or at least see how much is running?

Yes, reboot your machine and wait for it to load up (logon if you need to) click on the little windows icon and run type in MSCONFIG press enter if you don’t have run you can try press and hold CTRL and then press R.  Type in MSCONFIG and press enter.

You will get a box called System configuration and click on “STARTUP”.  This will show a list of everything software/program wise running when you logon.  If this list is pages and pages long – that’s why it’s going slow.

Usually you may be able to look through this list and untick the majority but this may cause you problems.  Look through and untick things you know what they are but not interested in them.  If you feel you’ve turned something off you shouldn’t have, you can revisit this MSCONFIG and tick things back on.

A culture of rape or false accusations..

This is going to be a very touchy subject but I’m going to start by asking questions:

If a woman and a man go on a date, drink a few drinks and walk normally home and have sex.  Is this rape?

A man lies to a woman about being single, rich, no kids or about a job but this resorts to sex.  Is this rape?

A man and woman go to a hotel room after a night out, they make out like a normal couple and it leads to sex.  Is this rape?

A woman sells her body for sex to pay for bills, she doesn’t want to sell her body but she does it.  Is this rape?

A woman desires to have sex with a guy who she’s interest in but she’s hesitant because she has fantasies about being shown how much the man desires her.  The man seduces her and this results in sex.  Is this rape?

A woman takes a man home after spending ages flirting, kissing and getting very horny.  This results in sex but the next morning can’t quite remember what happened.

A normal person would say all the above is not rape regardless in what way you put it.  A woman who may not be able to remember but certainly did multiple positions, fully consensual sex at the time is certainly not rape.  Personally I think you would have to be an idiot to sleep with a drunk or even slightly drunk woman but how many of us wouldn’t be born if our Parents hadn’t been drinking that night?  Think about that one.

I’ve seen many women get over flirty with men after a few drinks.  Would this it be abuse if she had been touched in a certain way by those men even though at the time she was doing the same back? No course it’s not.  To claim someone who has had a few drinks not responsible enough for their own actions what about:

You drink and drive? Should you be void of any responsibility?

You drink and cheat on your other half? Should you be void of any responsibility?

You drink and tell your loved one that you’re unhappy? Getting to see the point?

Drinking doesn’t void you of any responsibility because the truth of the matter is you are still in control of yourself if you are able to walk, talk and make decisions on what you want to do drink and eat.  Like it or not what you are like when you’ve had a few is actually more yourself.  You’ve allowed yourself to lose control and be happy.  What we do drunk or slightly “tipsy” is actually what we want to do sober.

I am a believer that anyone who rapes another should suffer harsh justice but anyone with a false rape claim should get the same.  The problem is when it comes to one person’s word against another who is the victim?  If I slept with someone tonight and she claimed rape what real evidence is there that I’m innocent?

The truth is and this is hard to admit, I’ve been a victim of a false rape claim.  This accusation came years after I dumped an ex, she was head over heels for me and it was her word against mine.  I was crapping myself and thinking I’m guilty till proven innocent.  After all we see these claims in the papers all the time with no evidence but the man gets sentenced to prison, look at Ched Evans.

The officer asked me if I wanted a lawyer to sit in the interview, I said no I’d rather get it over with.  I couldn’t believe she had done this to me.  My job, my career and everything is over.  Even the officer admitted that today is “I’m guilty till proven innocent”.  Even he admitted that she’s looking like a disgruntled ex who saw a happy picture of me on social media and didn’t like it.  Why report it now? Why not right after each time it happened? If I raped her why would she continue to see me for months and continue to have sex with me? Would I have to get her friends involved in the court case because at the time they saw she was a happier person with a boyfriend? My life is over? Why because I’ve been a jerk and broke some ones heart? How can I keep ex conversations proving my innocence?

 A million things went through my mind.  Will she get to feel how I felt? No.  Will she get punished for making me feel this way? No. 

The interview was hard, I had to go in to detail about our relationship and intimacy.  Our relationship went over several months with quite a lot of sex.  I had to remember from years ago how this all went.  We had sex pretty quick after meeting (was the second time we met) and the third time or forth was in her flat.  I had to in to detail on positions, how long it went for, protection, how many times.  I had to say that not once did she do oral on me (her accusation was that I forced her to do this in an alley) not only did she not do this but it certainly was never outside.  I had to say how many times we did things in her living room and bedroom, her on top, the dirty messages.

I asked the question why would she of continued to see me if I was raping her? Wouldn’t her friends notice her personality change for the worse?

The truth is, she was a very disgruntled ex who seemed more fussed about me “walking away laughing at being innocent” than thinking about what “I had done to her”.  Which I guess also helped to prove my innocence but if this had been in the public eye? Would there be severe doubt?

What does justice do to her false rape accusation that made me feel like my life is over? Nothing.

Women like her are another cause of why real rape victims don’t get justice.  Should I have kept all our messages from years ago? Should I have recorded every time we had sex?  These are real questions I ask myself.  How do I know any of my ex’s won’t do the same? Should we allow the lie detector test to be used to indicate if it’s even worth investigating? Is this why lawyers talk to rape victims (false or not) as if they are the guilty ones?

The sad truth is the victims are the ones that are hard done by.  Those guilty never truly face justice.  The victims are put through hell for what? For revenge or 5 minute piece of fun?

A lot of people are very quick to scream rape when it’s not.  A lot of people are quick to say a man must be guilty when he’s not.  Just remember that woman who is raped or false rape claim is not just your daughter/sister and mother BUT that man accused (false or not) is your son/brother and father.  It can be your son that gets accused- why? Because two people flirted and had sex and she regrets it the next day?  It can be your son that gets accused-why? Because he didnt want to spend his life with that woman.

So next time you claim RAPE when you see an article.  Just remember that she can be a full blown liar.  Do we record sex? Do we keep messages?.......

I once had an ex who really enjoyed being forced upon.  She really enjoyed the 50 Shades of Grey type of thing (not for me at all)…  some women have that kind of taste which as I said is really not for me.. but she is another one that could easily have said “I raped her”.  With zero evidence……

Society - Let’s face it: It’s screwed

If you are grabbed off the street and pinned down being forced to have sex.  This is rape.

If you have your drink spike/drugged and struggle to walk but escorted home by someone you’ve made no interest in at all which ends in sex while you are effectively paralysed.  This is rape.

There is a severe issue in society today and a lot of people are talking about. 

With the likes of political correctness

Big age gap relationships

15 year old sleeping with a 20 year old

Drinking too much and sleeping with someone or making mistakes

The thing is, the majority of this has actually been okay even in recent times.  Now we like to think “we are above this” even though we see it all the time.  The amount of men we know who were young and got with 15 year olds is much higher than most think.  Likewise for the amount of one night stands people have had after a night of drinking or the big age gap relationships.

We’ve come to the point where all we do is judge others yet we make the same “mistakes”.  We like to think ourselves as innocent but frankly we are not.  It’s always someone else’s fault and never our own.

We cuddle our children so much and the second they make an adult decision we bash them for it.  One day if or when I may have a daughter would I like her to come home at 15 with a 15 year old boyfriend or a 20 year old who is working/driving and actually knows how to treat a woman?

Course I’d want to kill him but truth be told…  I’d choose the 20 year old not the 15 year old who will only care about losing his virginity, spending every second with his mates, earning nothing, not driving and generally not the kind of lad I want near my daughter.  Young women these days are growing up fast – we can’t stop that.

I think the times of society is broken.  We like to think our children are protected but when they grow older they struggle with those mistakes.  They struggle to manage on their own.  We are seeing more suicides, more struggling young people, suicides over failing grades or not getting in to University of choice.

Are we really going to continue down this road? Is a 20 year old boy a pervert for dating a 15 year old? Really?  When I was 20 I knew a lot of lads that were doing this.  I thought at the time I was the unlucky one but with the way society is today? I’m the lucky one.  My first was a bit older than me so I avoided all the young hassle.

As I said I knew a lot of guys between 18-21 dating 15 year olds – this was the norm.  People always say date someone your age, what you mean the 18-21 year old women dating 25 year old men?  Women have been always attracted to older men.  They work, earn money, drive and generally are what they are.  How many women or our mothers did the same? A lot.

So it all goes back to that one word – Society.

Don’t get me wrong, I thrown upon anyone dating a 15 year old regardless of age even if he was 15.  I think any relationship evolved around underage sex is wrong even if it was a boy and girl both aged 15.  BUT if they do have sex what are we going to do? String them both up? Destroying both their lives? Or are we going to accept that they are doing something normal especially in today’s world.  With so much sex on TV, music and generally everywhere.  The 15 year olds are chasing idles that show it all on social media.. reality TV shows and everything else yet do we stop these people from advertising this? No.

I think we need to protect both people from being released to the public until conviction but I also think that maybe just maybe we need evidence.  One persons word over another is that right? I thought you’re innocent until proven guilty at least in this “democratic” society it’s that way but it’s not.  How many of us are happy to brand a rapist? Without knowing all the facts.  In a recent case we saw a threesome, the two men had been accused of rape – turns out one had secretly recorded it and now they are innocent.  What will happen to them for this?  Should the men be shafted for lack of respect? What about the woman?

Society.. lack of self-respect…  high on life..  low on etiquette. And we wonder why we are in this situation (this goes for me as well).  Should there be a lie detector test where the person reporting rape is simple asked “was you raped by this person”.  Likewise for the accused “did you rape this person”..

How many women sleep with someone and regret it or afraid to have their boyfriend find out and declare rape? I mean really?

We should not be in this state where someone has to record sex to prove innocence.  We should not be at this state where a rape victim is forced to be quiet out of fear.  Damned if you do? Damned if you don’t?

Time for Education to open its eyes

I’ve seen quite a lot in my years:

• ·         Curriculum changes
• ·         New builds
• ·         BSF
• ·         Mass reliance of support staff
• ·         Academies
• ·         Trusts

Does anyone remember the days when teachers would teach? That every class would be about learning and nothing more.  Now it seems to be about making changes, personal ambition, pretty devices and engagement.  When I was a kid I was told to learn, behave and not stand with hands in my pockets.

We are seeing a very bad trend at the moment with a severe lack of consistency.  We’re moving at such a fast pace to keep everyone occupied to not actually concentrate on what’s important: LEARNING.

Regardless what you teach it’s about that one single word.

There’s a lot of criticism aimed at the government in the last 3 years:

• ·         Teacher shortages
• ·         Curriculum changes
• ·         Ofsted requirements
• ·         Budgets
• ·         Lack of consistency

Realistically Schools are as much to blame as the Government, shall we see?

Teacher shortages

I know a lot of people that don’t want to go in to teaching, not because of the  Government but because there is no consistency in a School.  I’ve worked with many good and bad teachers and I have to say those bad ones do put me off from going back to teaching.  There’s too much self-ambition and watching your own back from being stabbed in teaching.  We’re seeing a more younger breed of teachers which is great but they only seem to care about their own personal gain.  We’re seeing a lot of people choose teaching just because of the time off and all those half terms without thinking there’s a reason why teachers get that time off.  There seems to be a lack of common sense with more young people, the wise and experienced don’t seem to want to join teaching.  So how can education fix this?  By encouraging the staff to actually work together.  String up those who insist on looking down at others (I see this far too much).  Get those current teachers to treat others like human beings and stop this “our job is the most stressful in the world” because I’m sorry to say this but it’s not by far.  It’s not the most undervalued or poorly treated either.  I’ve worked with many teachers who left other jobs and they came from more stressful workplaces .e.g. armed forces, police, NHS, fire service.

Curriculum Changes

This isn’t just another Government blame fest and it shouldn’t be.  They are responsible for the big alterations which teachers are given 18 months roughly to plan ahead for but what about the little changes.  The little changes made by teachers make a big impact on teaching and learning.  I’ve seen it, I still see and I will continue to see it.  A teacher can walk in the door and want a new piece of software installed by next lesson.  Hold up? I thought teachers planned their curriculum over the next 12 months? Obviously not.  I’ve seen Schools decide to go down the iPad route with no planning or testing.  Get this done by tomorrow?  I thought teachers planned their curriculum over the next 12 months? Obviously not.  I’ve seen Schools have to spend thousands on software because the teacher realised that their current package doesn’t do what they need it to do.  I thought teachers planned their curriculum over the next 12 months? Obviously not.

Are we seeing a pattern.  When a Head Teacher states “a Teacher should know what they are doing for the School year” you just know it’s a spot on statement.

Teaching is a massive profession but like many professions you are expected to know it all, to plan ahead and when you are responsible for the teaching and learning of education you have to start looking in the mirror.

In my current job I’m held back by a long list of factors but I still do my best:

• ·         Limited team members
• ·         Limited access to unused classrooms
• ·         Limited days of closure to perform important tasks
• ·         Limited budget
• ·         No one listens to our expertise
• ·         Constant last minute requests

I still do my best regardless of the above, we still work miracles and perform jobs under insane circumstances but I won’t act like our job is the most stressful in the nation.

So what I say to teachers is stop making massive changes yourself.  Stop listening to sales reps trying to earn a living by selling you a product.  Stop trying to introduce devices to do things different.  Stop thinking about “engagement” but instead think about “learning”.  The students are there to learn if they like it or not.  When you take a hard approach to students they will either accept it or not, in which case surely you need to consider removing those kids from your lesson.  Don’t over complicate things, plan your curriculum ahead, keep it simple and back to basics.

Ofsted Requirements

These get tougher and rightly so, I strongly believe there should be a zero announcement for Ofsted and be allowed to turn up without notice.  According to teachers how they do their job on an Ofsted inspection day is how they do their job every day.  Wrong…..:

·         They remove the worst behaved students and place them in quiet areas

·         Every lesson plan is printed for the day

·         All paperwork is updated, double checked etc

·         Emergency staff meeting to go through a lot of things (including all staff emails galore)

·         Cleaners on site throughout the day

·         A thousand last minute requests

·         Staff magically become very independent when Ofsted are on site

So effectively what Ofsted could be seeing is a lie.  Just like a restaurant when a health inspector announces 2 days earlier when turning up.

Budgets

I’ve covered this in some detail in a load of other posts.  I can’t feel for Schools having budget cuts with all the waste that happens.  When you actually physically see that waste it does turn my stomach.  I’ve wasted a lot of my own personal money going out, clothes I didn’t wear, things I didn’t use….  If that had been saved… I wonder how well off I could be.

Schools have wasted a lot on money and I’ve only seen a portion of it working in my own departments.  I wonder how much more waste has been made.

I think the estimated that I had seen wasted in my time is £500K.  That’s a lot of money when that’s only what I’ve witnessed.  This would include annual licenses that didn’t get used, ideas that were scrapped half way through implementation to devices that were damaged through lack of care/supervision.  There is a general lack of care by teachers on money being wasted because each teacher will only worry about their own class, their own room and their own department.  They won’t think about the whole “big picture”.

Lack of Consistency

This is the last but not least which is teachers being shifted around, made redundant, new teachers and teachers moving on.  With each new teacher brings new methods of teaching which can be evolved around IT.  This here creates a severe lack of consistency.  A new head of department can decide they don’t want devices or perhaps they do.   Straight away you will have that current teaching and learning practise changed.  What if a department goes through 3 different heads in 2 years.  Straight away you have 3 potential changes to a department on how to do things.  A website which is used to teach students can be scrapped, altered and a new one in its place all within 2 years.  Do we get to see a picture?

As many know I’ve been a part of device scheme School for many years, I’ve seen new ways of doing it, more people involved but the same thing happens – failure which impacts on teaching and learning.  This is by no means the fault of the government but instead because a few people thought it would be a bright idea to help engage students.  The result of this would be years of students struggling with all kinds of issues losing important teaching and learning time.  This again is not the fault of the Government but instead the direct fault of those teachers.

When you work out how much time is lost 10 minutes a lesson what does that add up to in a > day > week > month and School year it has to be a very large amount.  Anyone want to do the maths on that one?  When you consider how much teachers go ballistic at students for wasting 10 minutes in a lesson you have to wonder why are we blaming the Government?

I’ve seen endless amount of jobs all last minute and needing to be done for next period.  Some are huge tasks and can take hours or even days.  Surely this shouldn’t happen for someone who has to plan the next 12 months?  Surely we need things to stop changing just because it’s “my way or the highway”.

Students need consistency this is a message teachers often say to the Government.  I say that to you teachers that you need to stop creating last minute jobs.  You need to stick to the basics and stop worrying about self-ambition or trying to look good on your performance management reviews.  Otherwise isn’t it full of hypocrisy for you to be criticising the Government eveyr five minutes when you don’t like it back?

The issue with Schools is the lack of blame on one self.  A teacher will rarely be willing to admit that the fault is their own.  It’s not their fault behaviour is the problem, it’s not their fault that uniform is an issue, it’s not their fault that students are not paying attention and don’t get results.  It’s not their fault that Ofsted inspections don’t result in a good or outstanding result.  It’s not their fault corridors are littered.  Fact is, teachers are as much to blame as anyone.  I’ve had plenty of teachers claim “it wasn’t me, wasn’t my class” over the years.  Even when you prove it to them with real evidence – their look is gobsmacked because you’ve caught them in the act.  There will be no apology, there will be no admission of a mistake but a simple tail tucked between their legs and walked away.  At times they may still try and blame someone else……

Just a note about all those half terms:  You’re expected to use some of it to plan your lessons for the next 12 months.  You’re expected to take the same time off as any profession in a year or if you work over time every week that’s also why you get all those days off.  This quote came from several leadership members (including HTs) over my entire education working life.

Some of the things I’ve said are not nice but in my job I need everyone to report every single problem with IT regardless if it’s in my power or not.  If it’s not my power (budget or something else) I can simply state that but I would also pass it on to those above.  I wouldn’t just pretend it doesn’t exist.

Schools are being heavily criticised and rightly so.  When you dig your own hole while the Government is digging one for you – don’t complain if it’s too easy to fall in one.