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.

VLE's, Portals, Platforms - AnyWhere Access

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A few years ago the Government had this great idea of forcing Schools to get a VLE.  Call it what you will it essentially means - Anywhere Access.


On paper the whole idea was great and I understood it.  The way it was done really was poorly executed and companies didn't even have products that were ready nor fully functioning.


What kind of programs are completely ready? None.  This is why Universities have setup their own systems.  So let's start with what should Anywhere Access provide:


Students

• Access to the data area - Google Drive or One Drives are perfect examples.
• Timetables, calendar information and diary dates.
• Access to software, apps and programs - call them what you will.
• Email, chat and general communication tools.
• Learning materials, course books and documentation.
• Useful links to external sites - even department specifics.
• Assignments, tasks, work and send back to the tutor.
• Single Sign On
• Linked to other systems e.g. Cashless Catering/Printing
• Video content
• Compatible with most devices

Teaching Staff - All the above plus:

• Ability to access Student assignments.
• Lesson planners.
• Ability to create all the Student materials.
• Marking, assessments and data entries.

As you can see, this is a very long list and unfortunately people don't quite realise this was what VLEs were all about.  The idea that it didn't matter where you was but with WiFi/Internet access you can potentially do work.


No Internet Access
For many years I had been told that Internet access would never be widely accessible due to costs and Parents not knowing anything about IT.  How wrong were they?  Well let's just say they were beyond wrong and it was obvious the way technology was going with more devices relying on Wi-Fi.
Now we see Wi-Fi offered in restaurants, buses and now cars.  The people who went against this are the same ones still lacking any ability to look ahead with technology.  They are the ones usually holding Schools back and concentrate too much on the finer things.


Only ten years ago the % of Parents that had Wi-Fi was around 35%, now it's roughly 99% with very few Parents who don't have access.  How do I know this? I've worked at multiple Schools in the last 6 years and the number has never been below 90% in that time and it's still increasing.


Out of a single year 99% adds up to 2-4 Parents which in my current job for year 7 is a spot on assessment.  How do I know these results? I've done surveys over the years.


What's interesting is the ones who say Parents still don't have internet access are the same ones who claim Students can't survive without their facebook.


When things work in a School, the next task should always be future planning, perfection and new technologies.


Why the rejection?
In simple terms - most don't want them, don't want the work, can't afford and don't see what they can really bring to a School.  Every month that passes, Schools and companies want more external access to everything.  How do I know this? because now we have a dozens of Staff access all sorts from home and not just their data areas.  A lot of Staff use email at home (as shown by endless amount of surveys showing workers do this).


What to use?
There are plenty out there to choose from, some are costly, a few are free but depends what you really want from the system.


Moodle
The greatest positive over this one is that it's free.  Unfortunately that is the only really good benefit.  To sync up to your data system without costs is no easy task and requires a bit of time/patience.  This also goes towards setting up a decent system of Moodle.  The basic install on to a server isn't a problem (you will need a reliable piece of kit if this becomes important).  We currently use this and it's setup, done and rarely have to do any work.  Only issues we tend to deal with is keeping staff in the know how.  Developing Moodle though would require more time and some one who is clued up.  You wouldn't be able to trust a newly employed technician to get this up and running in a few weeks.


The biggest negative over Moodle is that Support doesn't exist other then online forums although you can pay for it - support does exist on that front.


Google Freebies and Office 365/Azure- Although not quite a VLE
The likes of Gmail, Docs and even this Blogger but the problem with all these freebies - they are pretty basic.  When you compare Google Docs to say Office 365, it's a no win scenario for Google.  We attempted an entire year to use Google Docs and unfortunately there are many functions not available.


Frog
This one has huge potential, the idea of Frog was that Students loaded this no matter where they were and got everything.  Unfortunately when I last used this setup there was several issues and it seemed that maybe they took too much on and concentrated too much on quantity of functions/services instead of quality.  The idea that it was easy to create online content, lessons, homework all in a single area really is appealing.  The massive and biggest negative is the cost.  The huge cost wouldn't be so bad if there was rarely problems and all the current functions at the time worked.  Their technical support was also inconsistent.  At times you may find issues are quickly resolved and other moments you can wait weeks, months and even a year for problems to be fixed.


RealSmart
Little potential, no ability to link up to your AD system and generally not worth it.  The positive on this is it's low cost £4000 a year compared toe other major VLEs.  Unfortunately I can't say anything else that is positive other than they use the Google Apps.  Having met one of their trainers and had the dictation of scrapping Microsoft in favour of RealSmart and Google you can probably guess I wasn't too impressed.  Anyone who works in our job will know the big picture that it's not a simple switch over to one system to another.  You have too many implications which have been covered in other posts.
So this VLE is a simple system to share online content and assign - that's really it.


The above VLEs are ones I have personal experience in although there are plenty to choose from my only advice is ask your self - what do you want before you purchase a VLE.


And remember the implications:

• Impact on broadband bandwidth (peak times)
• Costs (annual costs, additional Staff)
• Training (Staff, IT Support and Students)
• Administration (general admin work)
• Administrator management (IT Support, maintenance)
• Fit for purpose (does what you want)
• Reliability (bugs, failures and downtime)
• External access

What should IT be used for in Education

A very simple question, not so simple answer?
Keeping the first part short - to make life easier.  We are currently living in a world where Students are easily bored, lack the realisation of whats important and are being fed half of the information to get them to succeed.


IT should always be about making life easier.


Engagement
A constant term being used to get Students engaged, paying attention and simply not nodding off through boredom.  Now although I completely agree, surely the urgency of their future should prevent them from being bored.  The more you push for new ways to engage Students, the more new ideas you are having to try.  Let's face it, young people are very spoilt in regards to technology and are far used to not being bored.  Keeping their minds occupied.  They are very rarely just sitting there in the quiet.  Problem is though the more "new" ideas are being tested there is a good chance that half of those ideas are failures.  Remember - Students and Schools can ill afford time being wasted which is why the Schools that tend to push for new ideas tend to be the ones that are not outstanding and sometimes struggle to hit good.


Half of the Information
This is quite simply an issue in education and partly has to do with the engagement side.  The main priority for Schools is Student results and Ofsted - that is the main focus above all else.  That's fact and that's what Schools tell Parents.  Although some Schools will add terms to make it more fancy like community based - that is the focus.  Problem is though that is also the downside.


There is an increased pressure among young people to succeed to avoid failure.  This is important after all for them and the School.  Strange part that..  when Students are getting too stressed because they feel like this is their only opportunity - it causes health issues.  The truth is, today is not the end of the world, tomorrow isn't either and failing at a current subject certainly isn't the only opportunity.  Schools are not feeding this to Students and that is a bit of a niggle for me.  They really should be told that today isn't your greatest, biggest nor most important period of their life.


This also plays a major part with IT, it's there to make your life easier not to be engaging, not to catch their attention - are teenagers 8 year olds? 
What makes life easier
When you record data on a computer and it's saved to a shared area - that's easier compared to the old filing systems in cabinets.  Do you remember constantly going to one office or making 1000 copies of everything?


So what is easier? (I've covered some of this in other posts):

• Projectors
• Secure area to store data
• Shared area to store data
• Computer in every classroom
• Available IT areas
• Filtering
• Email

Projectors
A simple one, creating work any where in the world on a device to stick it on the projector.  I remember a teacher spending 10 minutes doing some thing on a black board, rubbing it off and doing the next part.


Secure area to store data
This area, is available to save important work which can be accessed any where in the world.  All you generally need is the ability to use IT to create and modify.  You no longer need to carry around dozens of books.  This is usually backed up by IT, kept relatively reliable and safe.


Shared area to store data
Quite simply put - sharing a piece of work, from Students to staff.  It can be permissioned and setup in such a way that you can store years of files in a single area for your entire department.


Computer access and IT availability
With Schools pushing for more IT every where, all Students and staff need is computer availability.  We have several staff areas and one general staffroom.  The Students have access to plenty of computers throughout the School and 97% of them have IT access at home.  Every classroom has a staff computer which allows every staff member to logon and gain access to their areas.  The software installed is the general image for staff, meaning only licenses are the issue.


Filtering
We have a duty of care to protect Students and staff.  If you allowed a Student to break the law willingly, they will do it for the sake of it - as shown by endless amount of social media issues (even after educating).  Students are children, no matter what they will do things that you don't want them to do.  As a result we have a useful filtering system which once fully setup correctly and all "allowed websites" are allowed, you shouldn't really have day to day problems.  Although we don't do a allow only setup, we do block quite a bit to prevent any security breaches.  Reports are easily created and emailed for any E-Safety problems.  And to put it bluntly I do not agree that Schools should allow the doors to be opened, you wouldn't let anyone walk on site would you?


Email
Instant communication, email groups, electronic recording, contacts, tasks and calendars.  All available on any device and any where with signal.  There is absolutely no reason communication should be a problem in the 21st century when the majority of the Country has access to email.


Assessments, Finance, Attendance and Exams - Data Entries
Although exams have seemed a bit touchy and not so perfect systems, this again is all about making things easier.  Attendance can see pre-collated information regarding any Students who have not arrived for registration.  They are able to chase up within minutes to find out why Students are not at School.  Assessments can also be collated very easily by recording in spreadsheets and data entries.  That information can easily be viewed by departments and senior leaders.


All of this would be available at the finger tips of Ofsted and management.


MFD Printing
The ability to print a large document quickly on a machine fit for purpose.  We have a biometric system which links up to a Parent Pay system (cashless catering).  You walk up to a printer and place your finger on it, logs in and click print.  Simple system, the reports can be auto generated every month and sent to the relative departments.


Virtualisation
This system will primarily be available to IT Support, it is how ever a prime example of making life easier.  How many times has a request come through for a massive piece of software to be installed but requires it's own server?  Installing big packages on certain servers can cause other unknown issues especially when altering IIS/SQL settings.   What if it required constant updates and occasional reboots?  Keeping server installations away from each other will keep reliability and redundancy high.  This also allows a new server to be quickly installed, setup and be readily available.


Internet Access and Wi-Fi
A question, if you wanted to learn about Isaac Newton, how would you do it?  Going to a local library which seem to be fast disappearing or go to the shop for a book?
Easy answer:  Google
Isaac Newton
This search literally took me three seconds, this can be done for anything and anyone including Mark Twain.
With Wi-Fi you have access to almost anything you need, regarding any subjects.  You could pretty much lock your self in a room and revise/learn and study.


Not everyone is Clued Up on IT or Technology
The biggest point, which is true, some teachers don't want to use IT nor have the time to learn.  It's very difficult to look through a different lens, very difficult to do it differently especially if there is no proof it's better.
Problem being, it takes time to adapt new technology or new methods.  With teachers under constant strain - do they have the time?  well they do have CPD time and if correctly planned I'm sure everyone can join in.  I have seen many times that people blame confidence, competence, training or even support to why people may not choose to use IT.  The fact is, some people simply do not want to use it.  I know some one who refuses to touch it with a barge pole, even though I have pushed and pushed.  He isn't afraid, he simply doesn't want to.  Some may also push the blame towards training but some times people want to come in, teach how they choose to teach and leave it that way.


Should always remember that IT is there to make your life easier but only if you want to learn, want to be a part of it, want to use and believe it can help.  A lot of people will insist both ends of IT, that it can benefit you or it can't.  Fact is some Schools don't push for change, don't push for technology and those Schools are not being hindered in any way.  I know some one that went to a School that is still old fashioned and that School was voted best in the County and one of the top in the Country.  Even though this School is seriously lacking in "technology".  The Students know they go to that School to learn, to get grades and results to go off on further education.


IT is a Must
So is IT a must have? No.  You would have to be pretty narrow minded to believe that you must have IT in Education.  When Schools have been succeeding without major technological pushes for the last decade.  And this is coming from my self, I use technology every day to make my life easier, I honestly couldn't do my job without it or live my life.  The phone I have has all my contacts, work emails and personal emails.  I pay my bills on IT, I watch my programs and general entertainment.


Although if IT went tomorrow, it would end my job and career - would certainly make me more qualified to say we don't need it.  Would also mean I am not "protecting" my job.


For Schools where the focus is Teaching and Learning - results and Ofsted - it's really important to remember that don't use technology just because you want to instead because you know its a benefit.  I strongly believe that IT can push everyone forward, you also have to remember that history has shown us that you don't always need it to learn or to live.  You can learn more as a farmer actually doing the job and not sitting looking at computer.  Remember although some may say we all must embrace technology, IT doesn't dictate everything in our lives and being without it is just as important as with it.


If Teaching and Learning is truly about preparing young people for the future, should that mean we need to make it clear on topics that we don't like to discuss?  A good example would be, making it clear that failing their exams isn't the end of the world?  Spending all day and every day working hard isn't necessarily the best way to lead their life?


Even though that entire paragraph risks results, would we as staff show Students what life is really like in regards to "dog eat dog world"?  Interesting thing to think about.


You can see the world for what it is, the wonders, the natural life and it's important to remember that IT is there to make your life easier.

Adopt a Primary

A topic I see occasionally popping up especially for Academies and Secondary Schools.  With costs of IT Support high when you take in to account equipment, software, support and staff it really is a hefty cost.


So a simple - Yes, I would seriously consider adopting either personally or professionally a Primary School.


How would I do it? Professionally (adoption more by the School than my self)


The first task I would perform is evaluate the entire Primary IT:

• Servers
• Networking
• Computers
• Software
• Need or Want

Checking all these for age, make, model, reliability and future proofing.  With Primaries now looking at IT similar to what Secondary's were 7 years ago - it's more of a "need" than "want" and must be fit for purpose and work.


The School that NEEDs IT
My advice for the Primary would be to make sure their equipment it self was future proof, spend the money now to ensure reliability.  It's quite simply to create two servers both synchronised with one being housed at the Secondary School and another being at the Primary.  This allows easy maintained, administration and major tasks carried out.  This includes day to day, backups and essential reliability work to be dealt with.  Two servers on site, the secondary server would be primarily software, data storage, imaging and anything else the Primary needed.


Depending on the size of the School it wouldn't need to be two massively expensive servers but the more costs = the more future proofing and availability.


The popular word of course Virtualisation


Infrastructure
It would also be critical to install good quality managed switches, my choice has been HP although they are expensive they seem to last easy 10 years with barely any failures.  Any cabling and trunking to be professionally installed and in any classrooms that could potentially have IT installed.


One day a week - Technician
Currently we can't really spare a man of my team, but given we have cancelled our BYOD Scheme and things are slowly coming to plan - we could soon. 


Work together with Management
This is a crucial part, many times I have seen technicians fall out with Primaries because agreements were more tongue in cheek.  Make it a simple agreement, keep it short and always electronically.  Make sure the Primary is aware of any non day to day jobs are planned well ahead of schedule.  A good example would be installation of new computer areas, if there is no trunking, networking etc then we are talking about a lot of work.


So make it very clear that one day a week jobs need to be alerted (preferably sent by an email), any jobs not done by email can be performed but must be recorded/signed off.  This allows some one in my position to see the kind of day to day jobs.  When I look at our day to day jobs in simple IT areas, we are talking about reimaging a pc, replacing a monitor and installing the occasional update.


Always plan for a contingency budget in the event of a failure, this can also be put towards any IT replacements/improvements before the new financial year.


Why IT in Primaries
The simple fact is, IT is every where and Pupils need to be aware of how the world works.  I've encountered Students where they have had zero clue about IT and are being left behind by those who know what they are doing.  Everyone has a device these days, you still see offices with pcs, the doctors, banks, supermarkets and even garages.


Plan, Plan and Plan some more - Look to 3-5 Years
Although totally unrealistic to plan for 5 years time, it's not unrealistic to consider it.  Keep in mind to keep things working for that long at least.


Don't quite agree? let me know.

New IT Suites - Good Bye BYOD

So the Go on pulling the Scheme for BYOD creates some work for setting up the New IT Suites.


So what do we need? - Updated


30x Computers and Monitors per room
1x Switch 48 Port
1x Patch Panel
30x Keyboards
30x Mice
30x NetworkCables
30x Patch Cables
Larger Cabinet for additional switch in one area


We have a new Area coming so this requires a wee bit more:
30x Student PCs
2x Teacher PCs
1x Office PC
1x Cabinet
x2 Speakers plus cables
x2 VGA/Audio Faceplates
x2 Projectors plus cables
x2 Projector Mounts
Fibre Installation including modules
x2 Network Switches (for link location and new)
x33 Patch Cables
x33 Network Cables
x2 Patch Panels
x60 Power Splitters (we find these useful)




Estimated cost per suite is around £10,000 - £12,000 although I am sure I could negotiate the costs down through bulk buying and supplier competition.  The aim will be under £10,000 per classroom purchased with SSDs to prolong the life of the machines.  We shouldn't need to replace these every 5 Years but instead looking to 7 Years - depending how well they age and Windows/Systems continue.


For the Computers and Monitors we are looking at £8000 with Intel i3, 4 GB Ram and SSD 128GB (we don't have any machines that need more).


Monitors are a good quality 21.5" HD screens.


Think you can get a better deal for brand new equipment?  Let me know who I should talk to.


Always go to Tender and always get them to compete for your business.  With Schools budgets being squeezed - we really do need to care for every penny.