ICT Matters March 2012

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THE LATEST UPDATES AND DEVELOPMENTS IN SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY

FREEDOM TO MOVE A grammar school gets moving with wireless technology

UPDATE 44 ›› ICT NEWS The latest updates and developments in school technology

IN PRACTICE 48 ›› FREEDOM TO MOVE Beaconsfield High School gets moving with wireless technology 52 ›› ACROSS THE CURRICULAR DIVIDE Dr Katya Toneva, ICT director at the ICS, integrates technology across the curriculum

FOCUS ON 56 ›› TECHNOLOGY FOR LIFE A guide to getting ready for the change to the ICT curriculum 60 ›› TOP TIPS: DATA SAFETY

How text-to-speech software aids the learning disabled

HELP DESK 62 ›› TECHNO GEEK A look at the ethics issues surrounding BYOD

SHAR WITH E ME IT M YOUR ANAG ER

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NEWS & ANALYSIS NEW GUIDELINES PROMOTE INTERNET SAFETY

VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS OFFER A SOLUTION TO SCHOOL PLACES CRISIS

The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) has launched new guidelines for organisations and internet service providers (ISPs) to make sure parents and children get quality and consistent messages about internet safety.

The guidelines bring together internet safety messages for children and parents so that they receive consistent messages, whichever online service they are using. This follows concerns that parents are getting conflicting advice from different providers and providers are not doing enough to place messages at prominent points. Privacy, grooming, sexual images, harmful content, cyberbullying and fraud are some of the key internet safety risks covered.

The advice was published last month on Safer Internet Day, a global drive to promote a safer internet for children and young people. Prime Minister David Cameron said: “It never ceases to amaze me how quickly children grasp new technology, cracking it instinctively to hunt down their favourite website.

As a parent it can be daunting to keep up, and worrying to know that alongside the fun, games and educational sites there are dangers they need to be protected from.”

Tim Loughton, children’s minister and chair of UKCCIS, said: “Many parents often feel bewildered and confused about how to protect their children from the potential risks online. They struggle with the plethora of advice and help on offer because the technology is constantly changing and they sometimes get conflicting advice. Children can also be far more internet savvy than their parents.”

The guidelines have been developed by 40 organisations. All four major ISPs – BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin – as well as Microsoft, Facebook and others have signed up to use it on their services.

Scott Dodds, general manager of marketing and operations, Microsoft UK, and board member of UKCCIS, said: “The internet is an important part of all our lives and the benefits of being online are enormous, especially for young people in education. But, as a father of two and a school governor, I also understand that there are parts of the online world which are inappropriate for children, just as there are places in every city or town where we wouldn’t want our children to go alone. Having access to clear and consistent industry guidance like this will help parents keep talking with children about their online experiences and, if issues arise, offer meaningful support.”

John Grounds, NSPCC director of child protection consultancy, said: “The UKCCIS guide pulls together, in a clear and concise way, all the up to date advice and best practice out there. This will help parents take a more The social-media revolution proactive stance on keeping is eroding the modern their children safe online.” school’s control over pupil Parents are safety and exposing children recommended to use filters and talk to their children to e-bullying, explicit about their internet use. material and Children are warned that if exploitation they come across upsetting material online or someone Redstor’s Paul Evans in an EdExec.co.uk has made them feel comment piece on how schools can uncomfortable they should prevent cyber-bullying and sexualisation of talk to a trusted adult, and if children without draconian censorship necessary, make a report.

Brighton and Hove Council is considering providing a virtual secondary school in response to a soaring demand for school places in the area.

Seventy-two of the 79 secondary forms in Brighton’s schools are full and the situation is expected to worsen by 2020, according to a report in The Argus.

The urgent need for more classes, combined with a shortage of space and funding has led the local authority to put forward a plan to have children learn online from home, as well as at a communal hub, the newspaper reports.

A small number of pupils in the area are already being educated online as part of their teaching and learning, and the LA hopes to expand this number. This could see virtual secondary schools opening in Brighton as early as September 2013.

Mick Landmann, a founder of Digital Education Brighton, told The Argus that digital learning was the “future of education”.

“The council are considering this not so much because they are wholly enlightened but because there is a problem of space,” he said.

“This looks like it could be a resolution to the problem. From my point of view it takes the education system in the right direction.”

They said...

ENCYCLOPAEDIC SUPPORT FOR LONDON SCHOOLS Schools across London are to be given additional support for the upcoming exam season as Encyclopædia Britannica allows free access to its Britannica Online School Edition until July 2012.

Britannica has announced that primary and secondary schools within London are to receive free and unlimited access to the Britannica Online School Edition, which the company hopes “will help students prepare for coursework and revise for exams across a range of subjects and levels”.

The service can also be used by teachers and is to include free live training sessions, a dedicated teacher support area and pre-created learning materials which may be used in the classroom with existing technology.

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Year 6 pupils from St Peter and St Paul’s CE Primary School in Lincolnshire hosted a games-based learning workshop at the LapSafe BETT stand earlier this year

HONOUR FOR TOP IT PROFESSIONAL The Government needs to educate students and teachers to the possibilities of studying information technology and the career options it offers, said former president of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. Accepting an honorary degree from London’s Kingston University, Elizabeth Sparrow (pictured) welcomed the debate currently surrounding the quality of the IT curriculum. “We’re not exciting the next generation to the possibilities of what they can achieve from a career in computing,” she said. “Digital literacy is important for everyone and we need to teach schoolchildren how to create digital technology for themselves through computer science, which is why the BCS and other organisations are working hard with the Government to develop a new and challenging curriculum and give teachers the support they need to actually educate much more effectively.”

She urged graduating students not to limit their career aspirations as they entered the professional world.

One of the best things about working in information technology or computing was the enormous range of opportunities it opened up. “IT is interwoven into so many different industries, all with the potential to change society for the better. It touches virtually every aspect of our lives, from laptops to microwave ovens, mobile phones to games PERCENTAGE OF FE COLLEGES CONSIDERING consoles and innovation is USING CLOUD-BASED TECHNOLOGIES constantly changing the way in (Source: Symmetry) which we work.”

STATS

11%

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The NEC U Series delivers an ultra-shortthrow distance making it ideal for use with an interactive whiteboard or the NEC NP01Wi interactive wall mount solution. The very short projection distance makes the projector very versatile and eliminates shadows and glare when working on an interactive whiteboard.

The U Series projectors are 3D-Ready with DLP and DLP Link technologies from Texas Instruments and offer wide connectivity via HDMI and dual computer inputs making them a sound investment for the future. www.education-nec.com 07801 201160

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EXPERIENCE

THE CLASSROOM OF THE FUTURE

AT THE O2

Undeniably, the use of technology in education is proven to be fundamental. Investment in vital ICT resources must continue despite deep budget cuts, but educators must be confident in the value the equipment will bring their educational environment. Seeing the solution in action, discussing first hand with the supplier and experiencing the benefit for themselves, therefore, brings great peace of mind.

A UNIQUE AND COMPELLING EVENT You may have visited BETT this year. Attracting thousands of education professionals, it is a vast and valuable show, but seeking out the solution for your establishment can be a footsore challenge. The Solutions Showcase, hosted by NEC, an established name in the provision of AV equipment in schools, is a unique and compelling event where application takes precedence over product for a truly beneficial experience for anyone buying, installing or specifying within the education technology environment. An exceptional opportunity to discover ‘best in class’ innovative technology solutions, the NEC Solutions Showcase is based on real-life scenarios, transporting you to the classroom of the future. Partnering with the leading solutions providers within the industry, this is the only event focused on solutions, rather than technology, to enable knowledge, understanding and confidence in the value of your investment to flourish.

EXPERIENCE THE CLASSROOM OF THE FUTURE The results of a recent study indicate a marked positive effect of the use of 3D animations on learning, recall and performance in tests, making a compelling case for its use as a teaching tool in schools. At the classroom of the future you can experience this for yourself in association with White Space Production.

INTERACTION AND COLLABORATION This unique event will see NEC and its partners unite to create solutions that deliver a much richer learning environment and tap into the changing way that younger generations interact with content and learn. Collaborative teaching methods using an iPad will be demonstrated by DisplayNote. Interactive solutions using Ultra Short Throw projection will demonstrate how any surface can become an interactive workspace using the eBeam interactive module. This innovative tool was selected as a finalist at the recent BETT Awards. SMART will present further interactive whiteboard solutions in a classroom scenario.

DIGITAL SIGNAGE, VIDEO WALL AND TOUCH TECH Looking to attract fee-paying students is crucial for future-thinking universities and there are great benefits to operating an efficient digital signage network to unite your campus. Education experts OneLan and Sedao will demonstrate bespoke signage systems including touch display solutions.

LECTURE HALL SOLUTIONS Enhancing the student experience is crucial to profiling your establishment’s credentials.

Crestron’s lecture capture solution enables colleges to record, publish and view lectures online, making teaching and learning more versatile. High Bright projection solutions aid communication to large numbers of students even in high ambient light environments.

The 2012 NEC Solutions Showcase will take place at the O2, Greenwich Peninsula, London on Wednesday, 25 April.

Visit www.showcase-nec.com for more information and to register.

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FREEDOM TO MOVE

For years, students have associated ICT lessons with large, purpose-built IT suites with row upon row of fixed workstations. With increasing wireless internet and tablet computers on the rise, this looks to become a thing of the past.

CARRIE SERVICE visits Beaconsfield High School to see how they are using wireless technology to allow older pupils more freedom in their study

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eaconsfield High School, an all-girls grammar in South Bucks, is one of an increasing number of schools that have decided to go wireless. In addition to this, they now allow their older students to bring in their own devices from home to use in study periods, and in some cases in lessons. The school has recently built a new cafeteria and sixth form common room area known as the Kingsley building, where students can access wifi at anytime, something that the students (particularly sixth formers) find invaluable, as it can prove difficult to find a free workstation during break times: “There are quite a lot of computers but there are quite a lot of people as well, so it means that I can always have the internet,� says Bethany Morrison, a sixth form student at the school.

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Good incentives

We’ve got to teach responsible use of the internet as a resource, and use it positively, not be seeing our students sitting there, checking their Facebook status

Holding on to students when they reach their A levels is notoriously difficult at single-sex schools, but with a 340-strong sixth form at Beaconsfield, the numbers speak for themselves. “What we are really pleased about is our high retention rate,” says Owain Johns, headteacher. “We retain about 90% of the girls from year 11 into year 12.” I ask if he thinks the school’s approach to ICT is an incentive for students to stay on: “I think it’s a draw, yes. I think first and foremost it’s the teaching, but then secondly it’s the additional support. We’ve been very innovative with our VLE, for example.” The virtual learning environment provides a platform for the school to interact with students and parents through online surveys, homework posts and lesson plans, so everybody knows exactly what lies ahead each week. “It’s just brilliant,” says Jasmine Jalif, a Year 13 student. “Instead of telling us in class what we’re doing for homework, we just look on [the VLE]. You just feel more organised, you know exactly what you’re doing and when you are doing it.” Johns has taken full advantage of the VLE, and found it came in particularly handy last winter (much to the students’ dismay) on a ‘snow day’ when he was able to contact teachers and students through the VLE, so that the day didn’t go to waste: “Lessons were being sent remotely by teachers and I was doing a remote staff briefing from Oxford,” he tells me.

Johns believes allowing students to bring in their own devices can have multiple benefits for a school. Not only can it allow students more freedom and easier access to learning materials, but it eases the strain on precious IT resources, freeing up school computers and alleviating the strain on school hardware. However, he stresses that parents should not feel pressured into buying their child a device, but rather that the school is simply making the most of the technology the children already have access to: “It’s not compulsory, we’re not saying ‘you must’ but we’re giving them the opportunity to embrace it.” After all, if they’ve had a brand new iPad 2 for Christmas, why shouldn’t they be able to get their money’s worth and use it as a learning tool as well as for leisure?

More for less Fitting a purpose-built IT suite can cost a school anything from £10,000 to £30,000 once the room has been fitted with desks, a whiteboard and air

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conditioning; money that can be better spent elsewhere, says Johns: “We made a decision; we said to ourselves: ‘Do we put in another and another room at £30,000 a time?’ So we said: ‘Let’s go down a wireless route and put nodes in places where they can access it’.”

I’m taken into a Year 11 maths class, where they are using netbooks to plot in graphical equations. The netbooks are kept in a neat, lockable trolley, which can be wheeled away into the store room with ease, or alternatively used by another class. This costs approximately £15,000; half the cost of fitting out an IT room with PCs, and ten times more flexible and convenient.

Safety first Of course, giving students free access to the internet whenever, and pretty much wherever they want does have its risks, so how did Beaconsfield go about making their network secure? The danger of having students bring in their own laptops/tablets is that they could be carrying any number of viruses that could damage the network, explains Ray Oakley, IT manager at the school. So he chose to combine a Bradford controller with their Meru network, to safeguard against this: “What the controller does is that as soon as a student connects her laptop to the network, Bradford instantly identifies the device as unknown, and then authenticates them on the network, and at the same time checks they’ve got virus protection, that their operating system is patched to the right level…it then registers the user and allows the device to access the network.” This also applies if they connect directly to the internet with a hardwire.

Johns believes that students should be given the freedom to adapt their own learning and do their own research, but at the same time he has a responsibility to monitor how the internet is used within the school. “We’ve got to teach responsible use of the internet as a resource, and use it positively, not be seeing our students sitting there, checking their Facebook status. That’s not conducive to learning.”

Johns is confident Beaconsfield has the right balance, and is conscious that students have the capacity to use their freedom for good and bad. “We know what we are providing is a safe and secure network” he says. “We’ve got to set that tone. We do an awful lot of work on things like cyber bullying and insuring responsible use on chatrooms, forums and Facebook…

We’re being responsible.”

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CROSSING THE CURRICULAR DIVIDE Katya Toneva, director of ICT at London’s International Community School, uses free web content in the classroom and discusses the importance of using technology across the curriculum. She also discusses the ‘flipping classroom’ model in action. Julia Dennison reports

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hen Education Secretary Michael Gove spoke at BETT 2012 about the changes he foresees for the future of ICT in schools, one of his key points was the importance of using technology as a teaching tool across the curriculum. There are few people doing that better than the International Community School (ICS), with the support of director of ICT, Dr Katya Toneva.

Toneva’s background is in developing online environments for schools and improving academic staff development through ICT. “My focus is not the technology itself, but how we use the technology to enhance teaching and learning,” she explains. On top of her role at ICS, she works two days a week as a senior e-resources consultant at Middlesex University’s Institute for Work Based Learning.

She says the two jobs complement each other well, because whatever research she

undertakes at the university, she can apply in practice at the school. “I’m very keen to develop online educational projects because nowadays most knowledge [applied in schools] can be built up through collaboration and sharing,” she adds. She finds web 2.0 technology particularly useful for this, and feels schools can do more to apply it to their teaching and learning.

ICT AT ICS

ICT at ICS is a forward-thinking private school in London, which runs the International Baccalaureate programme, reflective of its global agenda. In September 2010, ICS introduced netbooks across the school, to all pupils and teachers, so everyone was equipped with mobile technology to use on its wireless network. The school also employs an online learning environment based on Google Apps. It utilises web 2.0 technologies, like blogs, wikis, interactive websites and

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social networking towards teaching and learning, as well as the running of the school. ICS invested in around 15 Kindles for the library and 15 iPads, which can be borrowed by staff or pupils.

BLOGGING FOR PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

The ICS runs a project development blog, the most recent post focusing on e-safety. The blog (ict4teachers.blogspot.com) is public and hosts information and materials for teachers and educators, both internally and internationally, on project planning and management, it also allows them to comment and converse with each other. Even the students at ICS got involved and created a video story board to accompany the recent blog posts on e-safety, despite the fact the blog is aimed at teachers. It’s proven so popular, the online ICT teaching community, MirandaNet, has even showed interest in using the blog to help its users better manage ICT projects in their schools. “It proves the power of collaboration,” says Toneva. “It’s also very useful for staff development because in this way, teachers learn how to set up and manage actual research projects.

THE FLAT CLASSROOM PROJECT

ICS is participating in the Flat Classroom Project, which is a global collaborative scheme founded in America that uses web 2.0 technology to join-up students from around the world. The idea being to ‘flatten’ the classroom walls so that instead of each class working alone, two or more classes can work together virtually (see FlatClassroomProject.org).

The school took part in the project on a particular topic: how ICT could improve people’s lives. This was linked to the English curriculum, the idea being that students could develop their English language proficiency and academic language skills through researching, collecting, analysing, evaluating, reporting and presenting information via the Flat Classroom. The final project, presented to the Flat Classroom Project, was in the form of a visual storyboard. “The process was more important than the final product,” comments Toneva of the project. “The technical skills to actually develop a visual clip can be achieved easily, but in the context of enhancing students’ learning skills, it was more important to help them to achieve their curricular objectives but also life skills, like communication, presentation skills and global awareness.”

FLIPPING CLASSROOMS

ICS has also subscribed to the ‘flipping classrooms’ method of teaching. While it is not a new concept, flipping classrooms consists of teachers providing materials to students (typically videos) for them to review and learn about at home. This gives students

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the opportunity to learn at their own pace and review the materials as many times as they need. This has been a very effective method adopted by ICS and is used by many teachers, namely in maths and the sciences. One of the web resources Toneva and ICS have been using as part of its flipping classrooms project is Khan Academy (http://www. khanacademy.org/), a website with free educational resources that Gove recommended in his speech at BETT. The best thing about resources like Khan Academy, is they are free (or very cheap) to use. “You don’t need to have very expensive and flashy technology to actually use these online applications,” says Toneva. “A mobile device is absolutely enough.”

During his BETT speech, Gove spoke about using ICT for enhancing teaching and learning.

This means a significant responsibility for schools, but it also means not constraining teachers and educators to a single approach to using the technology. “We’re already there,” says Toneva of Gove’s aspirations for schools.

ICS takes a very personal approach to using ICT in the classroom. For example, Toneva works with 30 different teachers, each with their own way of using technology to teach. “I don’t speak about ICT as a subject, because at the International Community School, we don’t have ICT as a subject, we only use ICT as a tool to enhance teaching and learning,” she concludes.

“We imbed ICT across the curriculum.”

My focus is not the technology itself, but how we use the technology to enhance teaching and learning

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SCHOOL The International Community School TYPE 3-18 mixed independent school DIRECTOR OF ICT Dr Katya Toneva BACKGROUND Dr Katya Toneva is the director of ICT at ICS in conjunction with working two days per week for Middlesex University as a senior e-resources consultant at the Institute for Work Based Learning.

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ADVERTORIAL

EDUCATING THE BOARD Schools are combining the latest interactive whiteboards with traditional teaching methods to bring learning to life

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he Barnardiston Group of Schools consists of Barnardiston Hall and Riddlesworth Hall, both mainstream preparatory schools for pupils aged 2-13 years and Broadlands Hall, a specialist school for students aged 11-18 years with autism and associated learning difficulties. The group has always believed in combining traditional methods of teaching with the latest technology.

Barnardiston and Riddlesworth were founded 50 and 60 years ago, respectively, with Broadlands Hall set up in 2005.

Small class sizes, enthusiastic staff and the latest interactive, digital whiteboard technology brings learning to life for pupils.

Angela Gregory has been the schools’ bursar for the last 13 years. “We have a built a reputation for being progressive,” she said. The headmaster’s goal is to achieve very high educational standards while making learning fun. This is helped by having the latest whiteboards installed in classrooms, which the children have started to use, making the latest technology part of their everyday school life. Most of the teachers have adapted to the OliBoard dual-pen system very happily as they can involve the children more. We were also delighted that, during our recent round of ISI/Ofsted inspections, the inspectors specifically commented on the boards and were pleased with the way we were using them in class.”

There are currently nine interactive boards installed at Barnardiston Hall, connected to the School’s Linux server, and four on the Broadlands Hall site, which are connected to Windows. The boards, which include the Olivetti OliBoard dual-pen range, were installed by local business equipment provider, Eastern Business Systems (EBS), with offices in Norwich, Peterborough, Cambridge

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ADVERTORIAL and Colchester, which have been supplying the schools’ copying and printing systems for the last 10 years.

Gregory said: “EBS has been so helpful in supplying and installing the new OliBoards. They have always offered an excellent personal service to us and so, naturally, we were more than happy to take a look at the new boards they suggested.

We have been delighted with the results.”

While there is a variety of capacitive pen-operated boards installed in the classrooms, Nick Robinson, head of IT and Trevor Knee, his IT technician, who joined the school on the very first day of EBS’ OliBoard training for the staff, explained that they had a real need for uniformity. As Robinson explained: “One of the challenges we faced with some of the previous boards was that they were quite slow to respond when written on and we had a problem with not being able to write clearly as lines appeared too thick on the screen, even if you chose the thinnest option. The OliBoards we have now react instantly and, with their high resolution, we can write more clearly with more text able to be written on the board.”

EBS’s Paul Biggs has been working with Gregory for 10 years. He said: “It was vital that any system we installed was going to be right for the schools. We have been aware that the schools’ IT systems are predominantly Linux-based and this needed some careful consideration.

Fortunately, Nick Robinson comes from a Linux background, so we were able to work very closely with him, and with Trevor on the Windows application, to ensure everything could connect properly.

With both Nick’s and Trevor’s backgrounds, the schools are working towards having the best of both worlds, which is rather unusual.”

The OliBoards offer improved flexibility and quality. They are proving to be reliable, robust and fast The OliBoards have offered Barnardiston Hall and Broadlands Hall improved flexibility and quality. They are proving to be reliable, robust and fast.

Images and information can be downloaded instantly from the internet or from the schools’ servers and they offer a more streamlined look to the classroom.

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Get ready: IT’s A t the 2012 BETT show, the Education Secretary, Michael Gove outlined plans for the future of technology in schools stating “technology has the potential to disseminate learning much more widely than ever before” and calling for the UK to step up as a world leader in computing.

The minister’s speech did far more than simply rename ICT ‘computer science’ rather, it highlighted the future path of IT education in schools as mainly towards a more general approach to assimilating and utilising technology in every subject across the curriculum.

Speaking to schools leaders and teachers at BETT, Gove said: “We [the government] are not going to tell you what to do”, adding that heads and teachers would retain a huge amount of autonomy and discretion when it came to implementing educational technology in their own schools.

Therefore schools have the opportunity to roll out technology according to their own timeframe, budget and methodology, but school leaders need to prepare for the transition to a technologically driven curriculum well. As the minister said, “this is a huge opportunity. But it’s also a responsibility.”

HEADS UP

All school leaders will have to educate themselves on emerging technologies in education and determine, in these times of austerity, how to procure them without breaking the bank – something that may prove particularly difficult for these school leaders with little technical knowledge.

Andrew Davidson, public sector manager at Technogym, offers his advice: “Headteachers need to research the marketplace and look for companies that will support them in the long term and that understand the education business,” he says. “Heads should also seek technology that is cross curricular and can therefore benefit all departments, as well as solutions that are scalable for the future.”

Heads and teachers must also teach effectively with the technology solutions to justify any purchases in the long term,

as even the most advanced and expensive piece of technology becomes irrelevant if not used correctly. It helps if educators acquaint themselves with the technology before it’s implementation within the classroom.

Michael Kölling, professor of computer science at Kent University and board member of the Computing at School (CAS), a working group that aims to promote the teaching of computer science in schools, believes that school leaders should encourage their teachers to take a hands-on approach.

He recommends that teachers sample technology themselves to get an idea of how it could be implemented and its realistic benefits to education in the classroom. Sending teachers to the manufacturer or even another school to sample equipment before purchase, extensive research before looking to buy, as well as thorough experimentation and usage after purchase are all necessary if your school is to make the most of its technological purchases.

“Take a leaf out of the best teaching practice in the book, ‘show and tell’,” he says. “To understand and embrace change successfully demands inclusion and involvement, particularly in the case of technology, the best approach is experiential. Hands-on experience will help teachers not only see the advantages technology, but also to understand how to best involve it in the curriculum.”

ON THE CH££P

The new technology drive for schools could not have come at a more challenging time for school leaders, who are trying to manage spending in schools as a result of the recent austerity cuts.

“Regardless of the financial hardships the education sector faces, the fact

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coming With Michael Gove heralding a new age of technology in education at the BETT show, what role will IT play in helping this generation of students achie ve the task ahead and what technology should educators be looking to in 2012 to help kick start this process?

Jonathan Hills takes a look at the challenges faced by school leaders remains that IT access and literacy education is a non-negotiable educational requirement,” says Paul Gullet, VP EMEA, for NComputing. “The fundamental challenge for educational institutions of any size is to provide consistent access to computers and associated technology for all students.”

Procurement in technology can be another unpredictable area for the buyer – innovations occur so regularly that solutions can be made redundant within a short time.

Davidson agrees that the role of technology in schools has changed in recent years: “Educators should be looking at IT solutions that are more than just novelty gadgets and should look to solutions that will support the teaching and learning objectives of the school for the next five to 10 years, not one that is going to be outdated in three years. They should be investing in a platform that is scalable then they could look at spreading the cost over three or four years.”

Director of learning at Capita, Steve Smith believes that virtualisation is a great way to cut back costs. “Where possible, it’s clear that schools need to look at alternatives, such as reducing the number of servers in school through virtualisation and the use of cloud services,” he says.

“This enables a school to reduce the number of on-site servers to save money, which can then be invested in IT that will benefit the pupils directly.”

Gullett agrees that schools would be missing a serious trick if they were to ignore virtual desktop (VDI). “VDI can triple, quadruple and more the size of a computer classroom without increasing the IT budget,” he says. “The concept behind desktop virtualisation is ingenious, today’s PCs are so powerful that most people

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only use a small fraction of [their] power.

Desktop virtualisation enables a single PC to be shared by many students, up to 100, with each user getting his/her own computing session.”

Another area that Kölling recommends heads look into is open source and freeware, which allows schools to use software at no cost and with a low maintenance. School leaders can be put off the idea of freeware, in case something goes wrong and they do not get the support they may receive from a paid service, but Kölling says support can be found elsewhere. “This time is one of rich with educational programming tools,” he says.

“There are currently many free and open source, high quality programming teaching tools available. Many universities are providing help with finding and using these, and organisations such as CAS provide fantastic support in getting started.”

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“Integrating all forms of IT in to the curriculum can save a huge amount of time and effort at a later stage in life and makes the person more employable”

HARDWIRED TEACHING

The next stage of implementing educational technology, after procurement and familiarisation with the product, is to effectively ‘sell’ it to pupils.

“To kick start this at the school level, the key is creativity,” suggests Kölling. “First, students have to be shown the possibilities and fascinating opportunities that computing brings, when you can programme [or] control a computer, you are controlling your own world where everything is possible.”

Smith recommends schools bringing education to pupils on a level that many of them will understand and feel comfortable with. “Gaming, for example, can achieve what teaching does at its best. It provides a stimulating experience, is intuitive to use, is exciting and provides a graduated challenge,” he says. “Gaming can help with one of the biggest challenges – raising low levels of aspirations among young people.”

IT’S IMPORTANT

More than any other sentiment in the minister’s speech, schools are being relied upon to provide pupils with a better chance of securing a career later in life, and hopefully form the next generation of computer scientists and technological pathfinders.

“Integrating all forms of IT in to the curriculum can save a huge amount of time and effort at a later stage in life and makes the person more employable,” says Davidson.

“It can also enable communication on a worldwide scale, rather than just locally, creating extensive opportunities for pupils in the modern world. IT is only going to develop, it is not going to go away,” he adds. “It would be crazy for schools to ignore this. There are very few career paths that are not using IT at present.”

Smith believes that the role of technology in education is to “prepare pupils for the world of work, help them to become great citizens and provide them with the lifelong skill of learning to learn”. “I believe that technology can do this,” he says. “A proper understanding of the fundamentals of computing, including

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the fundamentals of programming, is essential for many careers and professions,” adds Kölling, “these days a good understanding of the nature and characteristics of computing is essential.”

And Gove certainly agrees, the future of education appears to be more about programming the software than using it, getting back to basics and understanding the process of computing as a part of life.

“In the same way as it is essential that every educated person should have an understanding of what maths can and cannot help you with, even if you cannot solve all differential equations yourself.”

However, for Kölling, a school’s responsibility is more than just securing their pupils a good job. “Our economy urgently needs more computing professionals,” he says. “It will only remain competitive if we manage to educate more of these. Currently, many kids who would love computing and thrive in it never discover this, because they do not encounter computing as a proper creative, intellectually stimulating discipline.” This role, it seems, is down to school leaders and their teachers to fulfil, not only for their own school, but for education in general.

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DATA

SECURITY TIPS The implications of data loss for a school can be expensive and long-lasting. With hacking and identity fraud becoming part of everyday life, it’s vital to ensure the safety of important data. Here are our tips

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TRAIN TO GAIN

Adequate training and support for all users is essential, so that they can make the best use of the ICT resources and appreciate their responsibilities for security. Similarly your system administrators and technicians require appropriate development to enable them to perform their duties. It is important to ensure that appropriate staff understand the relationship with external support agencies, for instance it will be faster to gain support in an emergency if the school has a support or disaster recovery contract in place.

3

PUTTING OUT FIRES

An effective firewall is essential to protect important information and ensure that pupils are only looking at appropriate content. While they are traditionally seen as purely restrictive, ‘next generation’ firewalls (NGFW) allow improved security but also greater access as they bar sites and information in a different way, ensuring that the school and user enjoy an improved experience. NGFWs are emerging that can detect application-specific attacks and enforce application-specific security policy, offering even greater safety.

LOOK TO THE CLOUD

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Schools are increasingly favouring cloud storage solutions over on-site data storage devices. There is no need to buy expensive equipment or incur the costs of updating hardware at a later date.

In addition, all data is secured off-site, so even if something catastrophic happens to your school, your information will be safe. With the huge amount of data that schools need to keep at any time, it’s also an advantage that the storage space is effectively limitless and staff and pupils can access information remotely and securely.

PORTABLE PROBLEMS

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As tablets and laptops become more prevalent in school life, it’s important to ensure that these aren’t omitted from your safety measures. Even if equipment is well secured within school premises, it can still be vulnerable if members of staff are allowed to take it home at night. All mobile devices should have password restricted access and a stringent logging system is essential, so that equipment can be tracked at all times.

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AVANT-GUARD

New security threats are always emerging, which means you can’t treat your security as a ‘do it once and forget about it’ task. It is important to stay knowledgeable about security-related issues and perform regular audits to ensure that important information is where it should be. Simple measures, such as prompting pupils to regularly change their passwords, will also help.

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FYI on BYOD In the name of getting young people acquainted with technology at a young age, schools will be looking to provide students with the means to embrace technology at a fundamental level. But providing each student with anything more than access to a public computer could be prohibitively expensive, so should students be encouraged to bring their own devices?

Although it might seem like every young person has the most expensive phone or tablet on the market, there are many who simply can’t afford such luxury The idea of allowing pupils to bring their technology to class in the past would have been considered an open invitation to mayhem. However, with the new direction of technology in education following Michael Gove’s speech at the BETT show, the concept of allowing external devices into the classroom for education has become more appealing.

The most obvious, and to many school leaders, most important factor is the cost savings involved. Schools could save on upfront costs for hardware if students had their own device available for use with their studies. Just as many schools insist on their pupils wearing a uniform, having students bring their own devices may become the norm. However, although it might seem like more and more young people have the most expensive phone or tablet on the market, there are many who simply can’t afford such luxury – but with innovations surrounding low-cost computers and Code Year, a free weekly JavaScript course by the Codeacademy, educational technology is becoming more and more affordable every year.

Once cost issues are overcome, device compatibility looks to emerge as the next issue. Software can’t always be used on every device and the market remains too segregated that we’re not close to a single solution. Schools can’t ask students to do work in specific software on their device if it’s not changed. Furthermore, there are so many different devices and platforms, that

each student will have one in particular that they like working on and that increases their productivity because they’re used to it. A basic example would be Mac users who have to use PCs, or vice versa, or even the difference between the Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich Android operating systems.

The problem arising from this technological conundrum in schools, therefore, is how bring-your-own-device is to be supported. It seems like a great deal of pressure to ask IT support staff to accommodate a multitude of laptops, phones, tablets and their accompanying software when IT support and finances in schools are already stretched so thin.

In conclusion, the concept of BYOD is sound, affordable and tempting. Though there may need to be a school wide, regional or even national policy to integrate such a scheme successfully, one with uniform hardware, software and in-house IT support in each school.

Perhaps when there are two tablets to choose from and they both cost a couple of hundred pounds each we will be able to support our students in bringing their own devices to school – and with things progressing as they are, this is looking more and more likely each year. The dream is of course that students (at least a handful) will be able to maintain and support their own devices.

However, in the short term, school leaders will need to ensure there is ample IT support in place before they make any commitment to BYOD.