Considering BYOD/Devices - Read this list

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I thought about a new post regarding IT Schemes and BYOD.  The idea behind this is to keep it short, simple and to the point.

I’ve created plenty of posts/pages about this and if you have the time they are all linked at the bottom.

So bullet points away:

• ·         Depending what scheme you offer – research, test and research some more.
• ·         Visit Schools and push hard for the bad points (like it or not, many Schools will not want bad press and potentially can lie – I know).  It’s important to remember this part, every School does it and rarely fully admits the negative side.
• ·         If choosing tablets – remember they do not do everything a Mac or a PC can do.
• ·         An Apple device can’t do everything a Windows PC can.
• ·         Android v Apple tablets – There are differences but depends what you want to do exactly.
• ·         List what you want before you make a device choice.
• ·         Free does not mean – good.  Nor does it mean support is available.
• ·         Tablet Apps although more reliable – when problems occur you’re alone.
• ·         Companies may lie and tell you “we support devices” – triple check (no joke).
• ·         Companies will say yes to sell you their product, take what they say with a pinch of salt.
• ·         Provide devices with staff which match in size, spec and type to what Students will use – to test and test some more.
• ·         Size makes a difference when browsing the internet especially with interactive websites.
• ·         Browsers make a difference, what works in Internet Explorer or Firefox may not work in Safari or Google Chrome.
• ·         This is a big undertaking and requires a lot of people to be involved.  This requires senior leadership/teachers direct involvement.
• ·         The scheme leader should be a person of power, this becomes fundamental to your curriculum which impacts teaching and learning.  Grades/Ofsted!
• ·         Keep it consistent, it must work and remember to evaluate the status of the scheme often to improve.
• ·         This is very different to having a device at home that the everyday user has for 30 minutes a day.  This is a device that could be used all day or for a couple of hours.  Everything must work and be straight forward.
• ·         Consider the real reasons you are doing this Scheme, scrutinise it heavily and make sure it’s the right decision.  Question yourself if this is about self-ambition or about children’s learning.
• ·         The Students will download games etc., urge them not to – that these are devices for learning.
• ·         You may not be able to deploy what you want easily and quickly, educate Staff to know how to get 25 students installing software, updates or Apps.
• ·         Windows devices will require windows updates and restarts/reboots often.  They are not designed to be on standby all day every day like a tablet.
• ·         Plan, plan and plan some more exactly what software will be used.  Usually 3 months later someone asks “can this go on all devices” – most of the time the answer will be no.  Who sits the Students down to install this software?
• ·         Avoid the Apple Lover, the Salesman, the Rep – These people will say anything to get you to say YES.
• ·         Some Students are not going to be as “advanced” as you think.  They may be able to do difficult tasks while still ignoring the simple ones.  Don’t take anything for granted.
• ·         Involve everyone, work together and listen to each other.  If you have to delay a scheme by a year – do it.

Support levels to remember:

• ·         Teachers/Support staff will need to know how to use, support and do day to day tasks on these devices.
• ·         IT Support will need to know how to trouble shoot and support.
• ·         A bigger range of devices creates less consistency especially regarding support from all staff.
• ·         Ask who supports what:  Who teaches a Student to use word, internet, printing, email etc.  Who supports a broken device.

Security:

• ·         Not every device will have the same security options.
• ·         Web filtering at School is important.
• ·         Wi-Fi security is important.
• ·         Create a separate VLAN>SSID for Student Wi-Fi (This one is for the IT tech team).
• ·         Educate Students, Parents and Staff to keep safe (you will need refresh sessions often).

Failures, damages or forgotten – The plan B or What IFs:

• ·         Have a plan B in the event of failures/damages.
• ·         Any forgotten devices should be marked down similar to missing uniform.
• ·         Insurance is a high recommendation – damages happen.  Also make sure what is covered – device parts not affecting usage may not be protected.
• ·         Make sure you have extra strong cases, bags that offer the ultimate protection – no joke.
• ·         Extended warranties is a must.  Failures occur and with devices going from A to B all day – this increases failure rate.
• ·         What happens when 25 Students arrive without 25 devices, what if it’s 20 or even 15 devices.  Ask these questions for the What Ifs.

The Cloud options:

• ·         If you go Cloud > Google, Drive, Apps etc. – Remember it WILL impact broadband (ignore those who say it won’t).
• ·         Apps at times will not work unless they are updated, sometimes they can also stop working – They’re not 100% reliable.
• ·         It’s good but how reliable has your internet access been in the last 12 months.  When it goes down, you potentially can lose more.
• ·         Your IT team can’t fix the Cloud.  When Google goes down it goes down regardless of the screaming you’re doing.
• ·         Google Drive/Gmail is pretty good so give it a real shot but some of it is out of the Schools power/control.  It’s free though.

Set out a clear structure of what is expected of everyone and make sure it is followed.  A Scheme can work but anyone who claims it’s not a mission is not being honest.

Always picture yourself with a full class of students, consider the potential risks and problems.  Do not assume it will be smooth sailing.

Read all the blogs and articles you can but look for the finer details.  A lot of posts will not include questions regarding repairs, problems and the day to day issues you can have.  These are usually because it’s an outside blog not someone who actually works on the Scheme.  Find people who are experienced of working directly with BYOD and mobile devices.  Unfortunately I don’t find many of these blogs or even articles.  Instead I find links to School websites that offer BYOD but as we all know they will not openly tell you the dark side of devices.

Final piece of advice – Listen to the pragmatics.  They ask the questions you should.  If mistakes are made and the schemes struggle - the Students are the ones that lose out.

Time for those LINKS and more LINKS.  Theses are all done by my self with quite a bit linked from other websites.

This post is roughly about the cost of "Free of IT" Schools.

Schools Costs with no IT

Articles that seem to reap a lot of praise on technology in Schools yet show little to no experience of being involved.

Articles that "praise" EduTech

Want to buy a device for your self?

Want to buy a device, heres some advice

The questions or perhaps answers Education never asks or wants to know?

Perhaps Education needs to open it's eyes?

The costs of IT, some times no one really truly sees it.

IT - The bigger picture of costs

A simple update on our current status.

An Update on BYOD Schemes

Using phones or perhaps mobile devices in the classroom.  Remember safety is paramount no matter what some say.

21st Century Technology - phones - With 21st Century Problems

Education, EduTech - It's all every where but has to be done right.  Very useful for BYOD/Mobile devices.

Education - Technology - EduTech

What is Cloud, can it be a benefit?

Cloud or not to Cloud

Mainly covering how much of a nightmare it can be, current issues faced and generally will open your eyes.  This also states progress of a company that provided a Scheme that effectively left us on our own.

BYOD Schemes - Pros, Cons - The nightmare

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.

To Mac or Not to Mac

That really is the question.
We all know them, we all see them, we all are attracted to them but are they fit for education?
The general terms used for why Schools get them:

• They work from the get go
• Software
• Reliability
• Fast
• Powerful
• Industry standard

The only actual fact in the above, is industry standard but beware with that term - people in Music, Art and Design still use Windows PCs.  Before I get in to the main reasons why I am not convinced I will start with the basics:
Are they more reliable? Yes but let's face it there is a reason why, to compare a car that is reliable doing 3000 miles a year and never going over speed bumps, kurbs or pot holes is very different to a car doing 10,000 miles a year while hitting pot holes constantly. 
What does this mean? A windows PC in my current job can have a dozen software, updates being installed and that doesn't include windows updates.  Our windows PCs are used all day every day.  The Macs? Will not have any updates, new software being altered throughout the entire Year in fact my current Macs here have had about 4 software updates in 2 Years.  They are also being used around 2 Lessons a day.  Compared to our IT Suites which are fully booked out nearly every single day plus the after School sessions.  Is that a fair comparison?  Our IT Suites also have endless amount of USB sticks being used, keyboards/mice being broken and being replaced - wear and tear.  They are also left on when not in use until our late auto shutdown.  The Macs, are gathering dust and not left on throughout the day because they don't get used.

Again, is that a fair comparison?
Powerful/Fast - The inside of a Mac is no different to PC, they are generally made by the same company simply put together in a different warehouse in to a different body.  That's it.  You spend £1200 on a Mac, that same spec PC will cost around £500.  BUT how much of that power do you actually use?  I've seen a high spec PC costing £500, last just as long as a £250 PC and the difference after 7 Years is barely noticeable.  Worth the cost?  Generally most Student work doesn't require power hungry machines.  How do I know?  We have Intel i3, 4 GB Ram machines that other Students are using without any issues even with Adobe Premier.  How old are they? almost 3 Years old.  How much they cost, well let's just say under £250 each.




There is a reason why Professionals such as my self get a head ache with Apple Macs.

1. Are they planned in to the curriculum - No
2. Notice given to install, setup and test - No
3. Is accurate information presented to management - No
4. Who will be blamed for anything that doesn't work - IT Support

My first ever encounter with Macs, was ones that worked, logged on and got what was needed.  We rarely ever had to touch them, until they were pulled out in place of PCs - choice of department not IT Support.


The second encounter was the nightmare.
The Head of Music who was new, came along with a few nice things designed by a relative.  Showed the Head Teacher everything he could do with a new setup of IT.  He didn't have to involved us, he could get it all done for a fraction of the time/money and effort.  Unfortunately his Windows PC setup, were custom built machines, cable networked and all done by a single guy as a "private" personal job.  As a result, these PCs were poorly installed, driver issues, music equipment not working correctly and turned in to an effective nightmare.  Wait these are Windows PCs? 


Correct.  Now came - let's go to Macs by the Head of Music because of all the "Windows" issues.  It would make him look bad to admit that it was his mistake on why those Windows machines had nothing but problems.  The Macs, again he went alone, purchased and asked us to simply "pull out the box, plug it in and turn on it".  There was no planning to what he wanted, how they were linked, setup or installed.  So after a few months we assumed everything was perfect.  Unfortunately again, this wasn't the case.  Turns out, he wants them to logon with their Windows Accounts.  So we managed to get this sorted out - all last minute.  As time went by again it turns out he now wants them to be permissioned, get the software they needed, access to the drives they need etc.  Effectively turning them in to Windows PCs - again all last minute.  Now the above pretty much sums up why IT Support Staff are angry over the Mac situation.  There is this constant denial generally by Staff, they don't admit to management the issues they have but place the blame on IT Support.  Along this entire path management were being told reasons why the above issues existed, all because of general IT problems - not poor decisions made.  So the final solution was to hire an on site specialised in Macs to set them all up, again last minute.  This didn't work either.. and it turns out the Mac specialised had very little clue about Windows Servers and a key piece of Account information was missing to get it all working.  As time went by though this still wasn't good enough, no imaging, alterations to drive access needed and still the Head of Music wasn't getting what he wanted because no one knew.

At the end, there is always light because the Head Teacher had begun to realise we was right and his view on the Head of Music was wrong.  We sat down and worked together to sort out what needed to be done.


The Head Teacher pretty much chewed the Head of Music apart, IT Support would look at setting it all up correctly and take full control over the Mac situation to again be responsible for being Pro Active instead of the Head of Music's Reactive attitude.


The result?  A Mac setup in two areas that could be imaged, maintained and get everything that was needed.  Although it took some months to fully learn the setup, one technician spent the time doing it.


What do we learn from this?  Mac's are not generally the problem  It's those who push for it without planning or future thinking.  You also have to remember the cost factors involved.  Like it or not Schools are having their budgets torn apart.  Every year a School can potentially lose £100k every Year.  Even though the Government will claim otherwise.  Every £10,000 really does matter in a School and the term "Industry Standard" is an excuse poorly used.  After all the discussions I've been involved in, it comes down to one actual factor - Preference.  That's it, preference.  Of course, if you have a system already Apple Mac built - there is no point switching to Windows costing a lot of money but likewise if you are Windows based.  There is no point spending three times the budget for a Mac setup.  Windows PCs after all can use Adobe which may not be the most used Music/Film/Art packages it is how ever used enough to be classed as one of the top?  After all how many Students in Music actually will have a career in Music, likewise for Art Students and Film Students.  How many of them will be using something very different when their careers take off?  If we really want to use "Industry Standard" in Teaching, there is a lot that should be changed because Students are being taught what is in the curriculum not necessarily what is "Industry Standard".
The above is my own experience though, others may have had hard times or easier times.


Don't agree? Suffer the same? don't be afraid to comment!