Kyocera The Future's Bright

Spotlight on {CASE STUDY}

The future’s bright Your guide to

futureproofed purchasing

May 2015

01

The future’s bright Your guide to

futureproofed purchasing

Coming up in our three-part ‘the future’s bright’ series

EDITOR’S COMMENT

W

hen it comes to our personal bank accounts, most of us consider ourselves to be pretty savvy shoppers. We wouldn’t buy a pint of milk without looking at the sell-by date or book a week’s holiday without poring over the reviews, would we? But when it comes to ICT in schools, the sheer scale of purchasing can feel overwhelming – and lead some school business managers to plump for options that might not be the best choice in the long term.

It’s unsurprising really, that with such pinched budgets, SBMs want to make sure they’re investing wisely for the school of today as well as tomorrow. And that’s why, in the following pages – and the June and July issues – we get to grips with futureproofed purchasing, and look at how SBMs and network managers can take a considered approach to purchasing – exploring firstly the importance of integration of technologies, before shining the spotlight on ICT strategies.

You may not be able to dig out your trusty crystal ball, but you can ask some pretty searching questions to help inform the decision-making process. What type of learning environment will you see in your school? How will pedagogy change and how will ICT support this change? How/where will learning take place? What role will students play in the design of the learning?

This section is designed to get you thinking about how to make the most out of every penny in your budget, and select the best possible technology available – technology that will enable you to realise efficiencies, cut costs and give students the best possible chance of success in the classroom.

THIS MONTH Integration considerations Ensuring your school is equipped to evolve its ICT offering and that new technology can integrate with your current provision

ICT strategising

What to prioritise when setting your school’s mid to long-term plans

June

Realising supersonic buying power through frameworks, clever purchasing and a savvy understanding of total cost of ownership

July

Ringing the changes for future generations with the digital classroom, 3D printing and the magical world of the Cloud

Enjoy!

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JESS PIKE, EDITOR

The future’s bright {INTEGRATION CONSIDERATIONS}

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May 2015

The future’s bright {INTERGRATION CONSIDERATIONS}

Marrying old with new With ICT constantly evolving, it can be tough to ensure your school is equipped to evolve its digital offering and that new technology can integrate with your current provision. GEORGE CAREY looks at easing through these transitional issues

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he pace of change in educational ICT is blistering and speeding up all the time. School computer rooms are making way for ubiquitous use of ICT and the most desirable equipment and software seems to change in the time it takes for your latest upgrade to be delivered. With schools’ budgets always squeezed to capacity it’s vital that school business managers and their heads of ICT make purchasing decisions that will keep their institutions well equipped for the years to come. So what can be done to improve the longevity of purchases and ensure that newly procured equipment and software will integrate seamlessly with the established infrastructure?

WORKING BEHIND THE WALLS It’s easy to get caught up in the shiny, hand-held devices and wall-mounted big screens that ICT offers but it’s the less glamorous aspects of technology that are pivotal to success.

Just as the five-star service at the Ritz wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of the kitchen porters and cleaners, a 1:1 provision of iPads or Chromebooks won’t function without a powerful wireless network. As mobility and connectivity continue to play a bigger part in school computing, robust infrastructure is essential in order to integrate new technology.

A reliable and secure broadband service is essential to teaching, learning and management within schools, particularly as schools take advantage of new cloud and web-based services.

Schools use broadband intensively and regularly, dealing with large quantities of data and media-rich applications and services. Generally, they require higher levels of security and network performance than most homes and many businesses. If upgrading their network, schools should request that they are presented with a clear and transparent menu of services and pricing, that allows them to buy what they need, whilst giving them the freedom to pay for additional services or support if they choose.

A well-planned and provisioned wireless network should be able to deliver fast connectivity and sufficient bandwidth to cope with demand now, and cope with growth and future structural and organisational changes. Advances in bandwidth and reliability, including the recent introduction of Wireless AC, are designed to deliver faster, more reliable networks and enable a greater number of connections. Backwards compatible to all existing wifi standards, schools looking to install a new wireless network or extend or upgrade an existing setup should consider

Wireless AC as a way to protect their investment for the future and provide their students with the best connectivity available.

Martin Brown, network manager at Fearns Community Sports College in Lancashire, has seen the way the right wifi can help schools integrate new technology and continue to move forward. “There’s no point in looking at a solution that is drastically over budget, or, the other way round, looking at a solution that is not going to give you what you need but that’s very cheap. It’s about picking and choosing what is right for the school.” He says it’s vital to ensure it fits in with your school’s three- or five-year plan. “You don’t want to be in the situation where you go back to management with egg on your face saying you need to spend more money on a new solution or upgrade the current solution.”

ONE WAY OF WORKING One man who has seen first-hand the problems that can arise from poorly planned procurement is Mark Bayliss, key account manager at KYOCERA Document Solutions. “It’s quite obvious that some purchases are made at the last possible minute to stretch things out as long as they can,” he says. “Sometimes schools don’t buy things until they absolutely need to or when things are broken. In those circumstances you tend to end up with what I call a ‘Heinz 57 varieties’ IT infrastructure. There are multiple brands and specification of laptops and PCs being used because somebody managed to get a deal on a set of 20 PCs, for example. There’s no real collective strategy.”

This is why Mark feels that a ‘best of breed’ approach to procurement can be problematic – integration of different products, let alone those of different ages, can be a complicated affair. Buying in this way can of course have serious capital implications as replacing an entire fleet at once can incur some pretty serious costs. This is why he advocates leasing and feels it’s unfortunate that it has a bad reputation in some quarters.

“I think perhaps schools should look at leasing some of the equipment instead of mixing and matching on purchases and struggling to find the money for the equipment they need. But it’s very difficult sometimes to get schools to sign a lease

Sometimes schools don’t buy things until they absolutely need to

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The future’s bright {INTEGRATION CONSIDERATIONS}

because a lot of them have been stung in the past by unethical sales people. I think there’s always a bit of wariness when it comes to schools signing a lease agreement.”

One school that has benefitted greatly from evolving its use of ICT while keeping the same supplier is Bolton’s Essa Academy. Catering for a large proportion of the school’s pupils who speak English as a second language, Abdul Chohan and his team turned to the humble iPod Touch to free their pupils from the restrictions created by their language difficulties. As a director at the school and architect of its mobile learning initiative, Abdul realised that using the traditional type of technology wasn’t going to work because he needed access for all children.

He recalls: “We began to see students using tools that allowed them to access content and be able to send emails in their native language that are then translated. It’s 90 to 95% accurate but it allows them to get their point across. That kind of personalised learning experience became something that’s part of our DNA and the way we operate.”

We’re able to use 21st century tools to move things along

SEAMLESS PROGRESSION As Abdul and his team began to look at ways of moving the initiative forward and keeping pace with the latest advances, it was their choice to stick with the same manufacturer as a provider that made integration so simple. “We started with touches and then later that year iPads came out so we gave them to the staff,” he says. “Teachers really liked them because of the size of the screen and what they could do, so we transitioned into students using them as well. With the larger screen they could do more things with it and the developmental tools that were coming out on the iPad were far superior to anything on the touch so it made sense for us to move in that direction.”

While 1:1 provision of expensive gadgets like these may seem like a potentially risky purchase, it will actually cut down on costs for the school in the long run and shows the attention to future proofing that is typical of the team at Essa. “It’s about managing processes,” Abdul says. “If you look at a typical school of 1,000 kids and the spend in terms of printing, paper, photocopying, textbooks, software licensing and servicing, you can offset the cost pretty quickly. We also use Google apps for education, which give each student a terabyte of storage space.

Typically in a school you’re spending thousands on server rooms and even then students would just have 100mb or maybe a gigabyte; this doesn’t cost anything and we’re able to use 21st century tools to move things along. That’s very important in terms of the way we operate. Also, these things tend to last longer than a traditional laptop – we’ve got iPads that are four years old and still operational.”

With future technologies so high on their agenda, this school’s fortunes look set to continue to soar in the years and decades to come. A savvy and forward-thinking approach to ICT can definitely enable you to reap similar rewards – so what are you waiting for? Get future proofing today – the next generation will thank you in the long term.

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06

May 2015

Spotlight on {ICT STRATEGISING}

A long-term ICT vision

When it comes to future-proofing ICT, making the best possible purchasing decisions is crucial – and this must always be informed by a well-thought out ICT strategy. AUSTIN CLARK talks to Mark Bayliss, key account manager at KYOCERA Document Solutions, about planning for the future 08

May 2015

Spotlight on {ICT STRATEGISING}

A

s technology becomes ever more important in the world of education, devising an effective longterm ICT strategy for your school is an absolute necessity. With needs and wants varying from school to school there’s no quick fix available and plenty of questions to be asked about the right strategy for your establishment’s needs. Questions such as, in five years, what type of learning environment will you see in your school or organisation? How will pedagogy have changed and how will ICT support this change? How/where will learning take place? What role will students play in the design of the learning?

However, Mark Bayliss, key account manager at KYOCERA Document Solutions, says there’s a more fundamental issue to address before any form of strategy can be implemented and this is establishing the willingness to develop a plan and apply longterm change that’s agreed by a whole project team and not just an enthusiastic individual.

“You need a project team that’s serious about looking at fundamental change who have a clear vision of what they want,” says Mark. “On many occasions I’ve seen an IT or network manager work with a company like KYOCERA only to find that a proposal fails at the last hurdle because the senior leadership team is not on board. There must be a number of end goals to work towards. Once the desire for change is in place, and everybody knows where they’re going, key factors to consider in long-term planning are existing costs, existing inefficiencies – in terms of the impact on the learning experience – and the environmental impact.”

Mark adds that long and even mid-range plans need to be flexible enough to accommodate changing technology; the rapid rise of tablet usage and the related bring your own device (BYOD) trend is a good current example of this. “Over the next couple of years, as the price of tablet technology decreases, pupils and staff across the country will be given tablets as birthday and Christmas presents. Whether schools want to allow that equipment to be used on the network remains to be seen; some might decide to grant wifi access while others may grant full network access. This is a decision that can only be driven by the school’s policy and the security impact it might have on the organisation and it’s one that needs to be made early doors so that planning can fit around the policy.”

becomes redundant. It’s a real minefield.”

When asked what the solution to the problem might be, Mark replies: “I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see a shift from BYOD to something that I’ve coined: ‘Donate Your Own Device’.

This approach would enable schools to explain the thinking behind their device decisions to parents and carers and to draw up and share a list of acceptable equipment and specifications, allowing adults to buy suitable presents accordingly. I see this as the most sensible long-term solution.”

APPS, SOFTWARE AND THE CLOUD One of the major developments Mark says schools need to be aware of when planning is the increasing importance of software and apps in the development of ICT in schools. This means it’s worth investing in hardware with a specification that exceeds current needs because new software often requires higher spec hardware in order to run efficiently.

“Software governs what goes on and the hardware is essentially irrelevant as long as it has the specification to carry out the tasks it’s asked to do,” explains Mark. “You just have to look around the KYOCERA office. We all have different laptops but, essentially, they’re working on the same Windows platform with the same policies governing our usage; it’s what you do with software once it’s on the network that really counts.”

Looking to the future, Mark suggests that schools need to start planning how they are going to fully utilise cloud-based services such as Microsoft 365 and the related OneDrive accounts along with Google Apps and Evernote. “Schools need to be investing in hardware that integrates with the different cloud platforms out there, not just what works today but in terms of what might work in the future,” explains Mark. “Flexibility needs to be built in so that schools aren’t tied to one solution or provider. That’s a big factor in implementing a successful ICT plan and schools need hardware that’s adaptable.

“KYOCERA’s multi-function printers (MFPs) have a Javabased platform called HyPAS that allows us to develop embedded apps on the device. I see MFPs requiring more and more apps in the future. We’re not talking about something off the shelf from an app store developed by a non-related third party; we’re looking at apps developed with specific uses in mind such as a School Information Management System (SIMS) connector that allows documents to be scanned directly into a student record, and Teaching Assistant which can create, generate and self-mark multiple choice tests. There’s value in rationalising a printer fleet and implementing print management software but there’s a lot more value to be found by connecting devices to the everyday work carried out by staff in schools.”

Long-term plans that integrate software and hardware technology together into the learning experience have every chance of succeeding. By focusing on agreed end goals an ICT vision can quickly become reality and guide policy for many years to come.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see a shift from BYOD to something that I’ve coined: ‘Donate Your Own Device’

ADDRESSING SECURITY CONCERNS Security is an increasingly important factor to take into account when planning an ICT strategy and one that Mark says is a constant talking point.

“A school may take the decision that they don’t want to work with Apple products due to their network security settings and this means the pupil with the shiny new iPad won’t have access to the network,” he explains. “Alternatively, another pupil has a Microsoft Surface tablet which is allowed on the network but only if the school can install software that controls what the pupil can and can’t do. The pupil might not like that, so the hardware

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