Month: July 2018

A quick review of 2017/18

The 2017/18 academic year has drawn to a close.  OK, so it actually drew to a close a while ago, it is just I am only now getting to finishing writing and posting this.   Looking back it feels as if the year has just flown by.    I can remember Christmas like it was yesterday.   I can remember the inset session I did on cyber security which included reference to GDPR.   I now find myself in July (and almost in August) with GDPR in effect.  Where has the year gone?

A key part of the year has been spent experimenting with Office 365 and how it could be used in schools.    Initially it was looking at Microsoft classroom and SharePoint but by the end of the year we had Microsoft Teams.   PowerBI has been an area we have been exploring throughout the year however by the end of the year I had developed a better understanding of how PowerBI works and therefore a better understanding as to how it could be set up and used.   One target for the year ahead will be to build on this and to make better use of Office 365 and of PowerBi within the school.  We also had a little bit of a play with Flow and also with Stream.    I am sure Flow has potential however at the moment we are only scrapping the surface of what it might be able to do.

This year saw me take Digital Citizenship sessions with Lower 6 students.   Some groups were highly engaged and contributed thoughtful ideas and questions whereas other groups were not as engaged.    I enjoyed the experience however I now need to consider the programme in more detail to see how I might make it more engaging for the students in the sessions.    The fact I find it interesting and thought provoking is clearly not enough.    My ultimate aim for the sessions is to get the students engaged in discussion around the topics of privacy, ethics and the future in relation to technology, among other areas.    I don’t propose that I have the answers to these issues.   What I do hope is that through the sessions myself and students can explore the various factors, benefits and concerns together so at least we all leave the sessions having developed our own personal understanding and viewpoint.

During 2017/18 we have been busy with a number of IT projects related to our 1:1 mobile device scheme and also in relation to the overall network capability and its longer-term ability to support the schools tech aims.     The mobile device scheme originated in 2012 before I joined the school, meaning that 2018 makes for the 6th year of the scheme.    We last examined our direction back in 2016 when we renewed the schools iPad fleet however we now need to consider where the school is going in the future.    Device upgrades or even changes in device represent significant change projects.    As such I suspect we will need to spend the next 2 years exploring options ahead of planning and then deploying our eventual solution.   As such the work started recently, but mainly due to shape up in 2018/19, will all be building towards what we do in 2020/21 and going forward from there.    Related to this, it was with interest I read about the recent launch of the Surface Go device by Microsoft.    I am left wondering how this new device might fit into the schools overall IT Strategy going forward.

The start of 2018 saw me achieve my CISSP status which I feel was an achievement.   I was convinced having completed the exam that I wouldn’t pass.    I have now decided to take the ISACA CRISC exam in September however studying so far has been patchy at best.    This is something I am currently working on, trying to allocate time every couple of days to do some exam revision and practice testing.    I suspect September will be upon me quickly so I need to make sure I am ready.

Throughout 2017/18 my engagement with social media has been patchy however I have still found it to be useful and a valuable source of ideas and resources.   I have very much enjoyed various twitter based discussions on a variety of educational subjects including testing and assessment, school culture and educational technology use to name but three.   On reflection I think patchy use of social media is acceptable.   Sometimes it is filled with useful discussions and ideas however sometimes it becomes a bit of an echo chamber filled with negativity or complaints.   For me the key thing is to regularly keep an eye on social media and to participate when appropriate and when I feel there is benefit in doing so.

My reading so far has been reasonably steady.   I think I have managed 9 or 10 books so far in 2018, yet we are only just finishing month 7.     Am hopeful to be able to keep this up plus am glad of the various educators on twitter who are sharing their reading lists and recommendations.  This is ensuring that my library of books yet to be read remains full.

Blog posting is another area where I feel I have been reasonably steady.  I have posted a couple of guest blogs on various websites and publications which has been good plus have managed to post at least a single post per month to each of my two sites, www.ub81ndk9d.com and www.beingdigitallyliterate.wordpress.com.    Again this is something I want to maintain in the new year ahead possibly with an increase in guest posting if possible.

And so, another academic year has drawn to a close however after a period of opportunity to reflect, reassess and regroup, otherwise know as the summer holidays, I hope to be ready to meet the new challenges and opportunities which 2018/19 will provide.    Here we go again………

 

Microsoft Surface: My views

For a week or so I have had a couple of devices on loan from Microsoft, namely a Surface Pro, Surface Book and Surface Laptop.    My focus has been on some initial experimentation with the Surface Pro device.   My reasoning for focusing on the Surface Pro rather than the other options being the fact it is closer in nature to the iPad Pro devices we are currently using in school and therefore the Pro represents a clear direct alternative.   So far my overall reaction has been a positive one.

It is sometimes the little things that make all of the difference.   One of these little things in relation to the Surface Pro is the magnetic nature of the pen which means you can attach it to three out of four of the sides of the device.  The only side you can’t attach it to is the one with the power and volume buttons on it.    This should help in avoiding misplacing the pen plus means you don’t need a clunky case with a space to store the pen.

Sticking with the pen, I was surprised to find its power source is a AAAA battery.    I had expected the pen to contain a rechargeable battery however on review I think Microsoft got it right with a removable battery in that it won’t suffer from memory effect as rechargeable batteries do.   It does however add a cost consideration in that the batteries will need replaced.   That and I suspect AAAA, being not as common as AA or AAA, will not be particularly cheap however from what I have read Microsoft reckon each AAAA battery will last a decent amount of time before needing changed.

A lovely feature of the pen is the eraser.   Like a HB pencil with a rubber eraser at the rear, the Microsoft pen can simply be spun around to erase your annotations, drawings or mistakes.    This is another “little thing” however I found this process of spinning the pen around to erase mistakes so natural and therefore such an excellent feature of the device.

Along with the Pro I was supplied with one of their detachable keyboards which magnetically attaches to one side of the tablet.   The magnetic connection was easy to make as well as to separate the tablet from the keyboard.   The keyboard itself gave a reassuring feel in use on a flat surface so I suspect would be reasonable for long term use.   I also tried using it on my lap where again it seemed to work reasonably well although, as is the issue with keyboards of this type, it offered a little bit of flex making it not quite as good an experience as you would get from a conventional clamshell laptop.    All of this being said, I think I would generally only be using the keyboard as a cover, using the inking facilitate to hand write notes, etc and make annotations with only occasional use of the keyboard where longer documents require typing.

The keyboard, as a cover, can be flipped round the back of the device out of the way allowing it to be used in its tablet form.   I wasn’t too happy with this in that I didn’t like being able to feel the keys on the rear of the device, where the keyboard had been flipped to the back.   This issue is a common issue with devices with flip around keyboards.   It was a colleague who has been experimenting with the Surface Book who indicated that the keyboard could be reversed meaning that when flipped to the back of the device, the keys are then facing inwards onto the back of the device, allowing you to hold the device without feeling the keys.   This was more comfortable to use in tablet mode but means when reverting back to using the keyboard, you need to remove, flip and reconnect the keyboard before you can use.

The tablet device comes with a kickstand on the rear allowing you to make it free standing on a desk or other flat surface or to keep it upright when connected to the keyboard for typing.    This seems useful if you want to watch something on the device however I note that the tablet doesn’t have any rubber feet on its edges.   As such when without the keyboard attached and when trying to write on the tablet I found it slid away from me and therefore required I use one hand to hold it in place.   Considering the kickstand I suspect it would only see use where I was making use of the keyboard as in general operation I am more likely just to hold the device, as a tablet, in one hand while writing on it with the other.

The surface comes with both a front and rear facing camera, as is common in tablets.   A quick use showed the rear facing camera to offer a good level and quality in its digital zoom feature although I note that I haven’t so far tried it out under varied lighting conditions, etc.

Overall I found the Surface Pro good to use.   The one issue I had with it was the rather pricey cost of it meaning that it would be more expensive than the iPad pros we currently have in use.    That said, the Surface represents a full desktop computer which is something which cant quite be said for the iPad.    As a result of this one issue, it was with great interest I ready Microsoft’s announcement of the new Surface Go device, which basically will be a more affordable version of the surface, putting it much closer in price bracket to the iPad Pro device.  You can read more about this here.    I am hoping to get a trial of a Surface Go at some point during September.    I believe it may just be the missing piece in my search to identify where I see classroom tech going over the next few years.