Microsoft Teams

I have been playing more and more with Microsoft Teams for use in school over the last 6 months of so.    My focus to date has very much been on the teacher and department side of things as opposed to the pupil and classroom side of things however there are already a number of key benefits.

Discussion

One of the excellent things about MS Teams is the Conversation section.     This allows comments to be shared along with documents, links, etc very much in a similar vain to you would share things via social media.    Users can comment on the posts of others plus can “like” what they see.   As a way for teachers to share lessons thoughts and ideas along with resources, this is easy to do plus for those who use social media the format and process will seem very familiar.   For those not so engaged in social media it may take a little getting used to however not much, and as their colleagues start sharing resources and ideas they will soon be drawn in.   I also see this as a key opportunity to engage such staff in social media such as twitter given the wealth of ideas and resources bouncing around out there.

Communication

A department might decide as I have done to have a weekly briefing which is shared.    For me this is now published in Teams with team members invited to comment or action things in teams.    This in turn has allowed us to start to reduce some of our email traffic, where email had almost become the default method of communication.    As such ideas and resources might be published in teams, where I can view them when I have appropriate time as opposed to having them emailed to me as would have happened previously, where they would become just another email in amongst many emails.    If I really want I can receive notifications via email, however this is at each individual users control.

Collaboration

Teams allows collaborative working in that files can be shared.    Department staff might be invited to contribute to a joint scheme of work, with multiple staff able to concurrently access and edit a shared document.  Gone are the days of heads of department having to receive individual emails and comments from their team and then collate their responses.

Cloud Hosted

Through using Teams files are hosted in the cloud.   This allows users to access the files from any device, anywhere.   This offers a flexibility that was often achieved through the use of VPNs, remote desk or third party apps like Foldr, without the complexity.    Staff can easily download the app to their devices and then access it on an iPad, on an android device or on a desktop computer.

 Final thoughts

MS Teams is an excellent tool which ticks a lot of admin boxes in terms of sharing resources and allowing easy communications.   This is not however where I see its biggest strength.    Its biggest strength for me is in being a space for teachers to openly share thoughts, ideas and resources; An almost IntraTwitter system, internal to the school.  All the benefits of sharing ideas as in twitter but without the scale, a minor disadvantage, and without the online posturing about the “correct” way to teach or policy or educational theory, a major advantage of teams.

I haven’t as yet ventured into class teams however I am sure that will be something we will be looking at in the future and I am sure it too will bring with it benefits.

 

Future Gazing: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The phrase “future gazing” has came up recently so I thought it worth sharing some thoughts on the future of EdTech as I see them.     As such I intend to share a series of separate posts on different technologies which might have an impact on education in the years ahead.

Artificial Intelligence

This is a big topic in the wider IT world but also increasingly in education.   The challenge is that AI covers a multitude of sins plus the application of the different AIs are substantial.

The holy grail of AI, as I see it, is the general-purpose AI.   Am not going to spend any real time in this area as this is, in my opinion, some way off.    When it does become a realisation, there is great potent

ial for it to be used in education to supplement teaching staff both as a virtual teacher, a virtual classroom assistant or a virtual coach or mentor.     As I said however, this is some years off.

More specific purpose AIs are much more likely to make an appearance in the short term.   An example of this might be a Mathematics AI which students can pose questions to in natural language, and that will then either provide answers or direct students to appropriate learning materials.   This isn’t that far off and is being used already on organisations help pages.    It just hasn’t thus far been focused on education.

Another application of AI might be in its ability to recognise emotions and activities of students.   This is already in trial in China.   Basically, this involves a classroom camera and an AI which analyses the facial expressions of students along with what they are doing.   This information is then fed back to the teacher to inform learning.    The teacher will get information on the students which appear confused or upset, indicating possibly they are struggling with the materials, along with data on which pupils have been busy with the work, which have been raising their hands to ask questions or provide answers and those which have been more disengaged or not participating.    From this the teacher can then decide how to change the learning activities, target questions or revisit concepts.   I suspect this AI could also be expanded to look at teacher questioning and provide feedback and advice on the types of questions being asked, the frequency and who the questions are directed to.  It might also look at the engagement of students throughout the school day to try and identify trends and develop a structure for the school day which is more in line with the physiological and psychological needs of students.

School data analysis is one area where I think AI is very close to being usable widely in schools.    Schools already are sat on a wealth of data in terms of the student academic data, student demographic data and pastoral data among others.    AI or machine learning can easily analyse the data and identify patterns which humans may not be able to identify.     At a school level this can easily be applied to summative academic results, identifying how different student groups perform, allowing comparisons across subjects, etc, however as we gather more and more formative data these AIs will then be able to feedback to teachers in relation to areas which students do or do not understand.   It will also be able to identify whether there is a pattern across different teachers therefore suggesting a change to how a particular topic is taught, or whether it relates to a group of students or to specific related topics.

In the wider school there will also be opportunities for use of AI.   In the dining hall for example AI might be able to examine data to identify possible lunch timings to improve efficiency.    Analysis of book titles taken from the Library might help in providing a window into pupil preferences and interests.    AI may have the ability to examine parents evenings and parents meetings to try and streamline these events and ensure everyone gets to see who they need to see with a minimal period of waiting.    Machine learning may be able to examine teacher performance management data and identify opportunities for peer support and peer learning to occur, or to identify cross school professional development needs.   Facilities use might be analysed to identify when they are under-utilised and then seek to make them available to the local community.    Teacher work days might be optimised through AI recommendations resulting from an analysis of our working habits looking at when we tend to send emails, our timetable, who we commonly meet with, etc.   These are just some of the ways in which AI may makes its way into our school.

Artificial Intelligence is going to make an increasing appearance in schools.  I think this is inevitable.   In actual fact I would say to some extent AI or Machine Learning is already in schools possibly in the schools firewall or mail filtering solutions or in the network infrastructure.    Going forward however it will become much more visible as it enters more areas of school life.       Or maybe like all good technology use, may become more common yet will be transparent in its use, with users unaware of where AI is providing help, support and guidance.

I think the general-purpose AI, the Data from Star Trek TNG, or HAL for 2001: A Space Odyssey is some way off.   In the first instance AI will provide hints and tips as well as other low-level recommendations or suggestions.     It is to this, and the possible productivity and efficiency gains that may result, that we should therefore first look.

The Surface Go: An initial trial

A couple of months ago I had a Surface Pro device on loan from Microsoft to see if it might be appropriate as part of my schools future IT strategy.   I was quite impressed by the device however the one stumbling point was the price of the unit.   When Microsoft announced the release of a cheaper surface device, the Surface Go, I was therefore eager to get hold of one to try it out.

Last week I took possession of a Surface Go on loan.   This post includes my initial observations based on a couple days of use.

Unboxing

The unboxing experience for the Microsoft device was very much in line the experience you get unboxing Apple products.   Unboxing new tech item should be enjoyable; with the Surface Go, everything felt high quality and as if time had been taken in considering the design and function of each element.

Keyboard

Once I had the Surface Go out the next step was to connect the keyboard cover which had been supplied with it.   Like the bigger surface Pro this snapped happily to the magnetic connector at the bottom of the device, when held in landscape mode.    The keyboard was very much similar to that of the Surface Pro in terms of quality.    The keyboard is lifted slightly off the table you have the device on.    This gives the keyboard a slight angle which makes it more comfortable for use when compared with being rested flat on the table.   It also introduces a slight amount of play in the keyboard under typing.    I didn’t find this to be an issue with the keyboard giving a reassuring feel when typing.   The keys were slightly too small for my liking however I think this is simply to do with the fact the keyboard on my 13” Dell XPS is a fair bit larger than that on the Surface Go.    With time and repeated use, I think I would become used to the marginally smaller keyboard.    Another important point of note in relation to the keyboard is the large trackpad which it provides.   I found this easy to use and very useful.   I must admit to having spent significant time in the past on the road and therefore I am very used to having to use a trackpad as opposed to a mouse.   Having a decent size of trackpad for me therefore was a bit of a bonus.

Weight

Another positive aspect of the Go when compared to its big brother, the Surface Pro, is that the reduced size has resulted in a reduction in weight.   This makes the surface Go more comfortable to use one handed.   The Pro device is just a little bit too heavy for regular one-handed use whereas the slightly smaller go seemed to be almost designed with one handed use in mind.   This may not seem like an important factor however if you are a busy teacher on the move wanting to take quick notes then the ease of one handed operation is an important feature.     Compared to the iPad, the Go seems heavier however given it is a full desktop OS I think this is to be expected.   I also liked the bezel round the screen when using the device one handed as it clearly showed me where to put my thumb without encroaching on the available screen space.

Stylus

The stylus worked quite well as it had done in my test of the Pro device.   I will acknowledge that I don’t think it is quite as good as Apples in terms of accuracy however it was more than good enough for sketch notes, annotations and other common tasks.  I tested the ability to vary the thickness of lines in relation to the pressure exerted and this seemed to work well however am unsure how useful or if this would be sufficiently sensitive for use in creating art work.   An artist would need to try this to make this decision.   I do however continue to like the feature by which you can flip the stylus around and use the “eraser” button on the back of it.  This just seems so natural, harking back to the days of my HB pencils with an eraser on the end.

The Surface Go like the larger surface Pro allows the stylus to be magnetically connected to either of the short sides of the device.    When in landscape mode on a desk I noted that as a right-handed person I wanted to attach the stylus on the right-hand side, however this side also has the surface Go’s connection ports on it.  This is a minor issue as when in portrait mode, with the keyboard folding away to the left, the pen would end up on the bottom of the device as opposed to the top if connected on the right side.    This goes to show that there need to be some compromises when you are trying to design a device to be a tablet in portrait or landscape mode but also to serve as a laptop with keyboard operating in landscape mode;  you simply can’t have it all.

Camera

I tested the rear facing camera of the Surface Go using the Microsoft Lens app to capture a photo of my office whiteboard at an angle.    The app adjusted the image to accommodate for the angle and produced a clear image.    This seems to suggest that for basic use in the class, taking pictures of displays, student work, etc, the rear facing camera would suffice.    I then tried using the front facing camera with Skype.   Again, nothing extraordinary however it delivered a clear and usable image.   I suspect the main use of the front facing camera is likely to be for use video conferencing so this simple skype test to me seems to indicate the Go is up to the task.

Ports

The available ports on the surface were rather limited in a headphone socket, single USB-C, the charge connector and also the keyboard connector.   On reflection though I am not sure this is an issue as the iPad has but two connectors.   As we move to Office 365 there is no longer a need to have multiple USB ports on a device.   As I type on my docked laptop, I am using only a single USB-C port to serve two monitors, a full-size keyboard and mouse.    As such I can see why Microsoft went minimalist here.   During my trial I tried the Go as my source for my desktop dock equipment and it was more than happy running both screens at HD resolution which is perfect for those that have a fixed office space and would want to use a docking station.

Storage

The device I had came with a 128GB SDD.   With Windows and MS Office installed I was left with 85Gb free.   Not a massive amount of space but more than enough for the average user.

In Use

In use I found the Go simple but then again I have spent many years working on various windows platforms.    The interface is natural.   I will acknowledge that the screen size is a challenge in that the standard windows interface on the 1800 x 1200 Go screen can result in some icons being a little on the small side.   Even with the stylus some items are not easy to select and you end up having to use the trackpad.    This however is all the result of the smaller size of the unit where the benefit is lower weight and ease of use onehanded.   If you want a simpler interface for big fingers then the iPad is a better option, but your iPad will never replace your desktop; another example of being unable to have it all.     I liked the ability to use the sticky notes app and drop the teachers best friend, an electronic equivalent of a post-it note, anywhere on screen and then scribble notes on it.     Throughout use the device seemed responsive and going into the trial I was concerned that Microsoft may have cut the hardware significantly to meet the lower price point, resulting in a more sluggish and unresponsive device.   In my trial I saw no signs of this.    One little niggle I had was in how the device switched from portrait to landscape.   I found the device to switch sometimes when I didn’t want it to which was a little annoying.

Conclusion

Overall I liked the surface Go device.    The major issue of price, when looking at the Surface Pro, seems to be solved with the significantly cheaper Go device.   It is worth noting that the price is good, however the stylus and keyboard/case are extras and at extra cost, as they are with an iPad.   In relation to the lower cost, when compared with the Surface Pro, I had however expected this to result in significant deficiencies in the hardware and therefore in the experience of using the Go.   In use I didn’t see these deficiencies.    I will acknowledge that I only made use of the device for a couple of days so testing was limited and therefore issues related to the hardware may appear under more prolonged use and testing.     My niggles around the ease of use of the windows interface on a small screen are to be expected.   I get the greater flexibility of a desktop OS but this results in it being a little bit more fidgety in use.   Am I willing to accept this trade off?    Yes, as I would rather have a single device which I can dock and use with a screen and keyboard, than having to have two devices in a desktop/laptop and a separate portable tablet device.    I will also acknowledge that I don’t believe the Go will be up to any heavy lifting in very large complex spreadsheets, video or graphics related work.   It wasn’t designed for this.    The Go to me is a simple general use device, which will fit the majority of teachers and students who will be using Office 365 as their main tool.   Here the Go covers most, if not all bases.

Following my limited trial, I was positively surprised. The next step for me is to get a longer trial with the Surface Go to see how it fares in longer term use.

 

 

 

Microsoft Forms: Sharing access to form data

Was playing around with MS Forms yesterday when I came across a feature I wasn’t aware of.   Basically you can create a link which will allow others to access the a summary of responses to a particular from.    I have been looking for this functionality for a while as it is often useful to allow multiple people to be able to review responses without allowing them access to change the form.

To do this simply create your form then click the responses tab.    On the responses tab click the … icon to reveal the option to “Get a summary link”.

You will then see a dialogue complete with a link to share with those who you wish to be able to access the data.

Now the above is useful however I must admit I would prefer the ability to access the data as a spreadsheet as opposed to as a summary list.   It would also be better if forms could provide specific access rights on a user level as opposed to in a link.   This is a feature I would also like to see where you are providing collaborative access to a form.   Here you are also able to create a link only, rather than to assign individual user level access.   Hopefully Microsoft are working on this.   For now, however, if you want to share responses as a spreadsheet or if you need user level access control you will need to look at using Google forms instead.

Changing the narrative, one thank you at a time.

Recently saw the below tweet from Amjad Ali (@ASTsupportAAli) on twitter which I thought was a great idea.   As such I went and added it to my email footer in the hope of encouraging others to pay it forward.

“If your weeks been incredibly busy then it’s more than likely to have been super busy for a colleague or two of yours. End the week by sending them an email to say thank you. You don’t need to be their line manager. Just a friendly face. It’ll make a difference.“

This however got me thinking about the prevailing narrative around education and why it might often be seen as negative.

Lets first consider education theories and practices.  It takes a lot of effort to come up with an educational theory or practice.   This might be through action research efforts or through conventional research.   A teacher might first think up a new idea then might develop resources and content.  They then have to try out their practice with students.   This however isn’t enough as they either need to repeat this with the same students or ideally with different groups of students to check that their initial findings and beliefs hold true.   The issue is that it takes significantly less effort to prove a theory to be flawed.   This is the same for a lot of things.    Creating takes time and effort, however criticizing and identifying error and fault takes less.

The next issue we have is that when we remember things we tend to overweight the negatives.   This is likely a result of human survival instincts.    For our ancestors, the fact a particular fruit tasted very nice was less important to remember than the negative fact that the lions on the horizon consider us to be a key item on the lunch menu.     The result from this is that when we read reports online or watch reports on TV we will tend to remember the negative reports more than the positive reports.   This in turn builds up a negative picture in our minds even where we are exposed to equal number of positive and negative stories.

The above are just two reasons I believe that the narrative around schools and education is becoming negative.    The focus is on declining results, struggles recruiting teachers, lack of basic Maths and English skills along with other negative stories.   These stories all came readily to my mind.   I am sure I have seen lots of positive stories too however these don’t occur to me quite so easily.

This is why I really liked the tweet from Amjad.   It is time we started to change the narrative starting in our schools and among our hardworking educators.    If we each made an effort to thank someone in our school for their efforts, someone not necessarily within our line management, we might be able to start building more positivity.   We might start remembering all the excellent work done on a day to day basis.  The small achievements with individual students.    The moment of inspiration or the moment of intense engagement by a student which are often forgotten in the hard work of a term or an academic year.  We will need to work hard at this.   As I have suggested the negative memories and stories are stronger than the positive ones so we will need to share more positives than negatives even to achieve a balance.   But if we all commit to little things, often, like thanking our colleagues and also our students we might bring about a significant change.

The sooner we start the better………

And on that note, thank you for reading this and also thank you for the work you do in which ever school or educational capacity you work in.

 

Couch to 2K, to couch then 5K?

The path to success is seldom a straight line.    My struggles with improving my personal fitness go to prove this.

For several years, I had set a target at the start of each year to try and get fitter or at least to engage in some sort of fitness activity.   Sadly, each year I have ended up prioritizing this target as low and therefore failed to make much progress against it.  I completed courses, read books, completed projects, but neglected the health and fitness aspect of my well-being.  I either couldn’t find the time, couldn’t find an appropriate fitness activity, couldn’t establish a habit or routine or one of a number of other excuses which all sounded plausible and valid to me at the time.

This year I made progress.   I started the couch to 5K programme and for 5 weeks made good progress.   It was becoming increasingly difficult each week as I had to run for longer periods of time however I had built a habit of getting up for my run each morning before work.   I was experiencing some mild aches in my legs but this wasn’t stopping me.  I simply put this down to the strain of the increasing distances.    I was motivated, and I could see the progress I was making.   Each week I was running further and further.   All was going well towards achieving a 5K run.

Then I had a family holiday and took two weeks out.    On my return I decided to jump in at week 4 of the programme, stepping back a week as I thought this would be sufficient to build up the habit again.   I found it difficult to restart my habit of morning runs but I managed it.   After only a couple of runs I started to have painful aches in the left leg in particular.    I gave myself a couple of extra rest days to see if this would help.    It didn’t.    I then tried to work through the aches and pains and this didn’t help either.

I eventually settled with a couple of weeks of rest and decided to go all the way back to week 1 of the programme, which brings us up to this week.    On Monday I wanted to start but made the excuse that it was a bank holiday.    Tuesday wasn’t any good; I cant quite remember what my excuse was, possibly that the first day back after a bank holiday deserved a lie in.    Finally on Wednesday after a significant internal struggle in getting out of bed, I did week 1 run 1 again.  Now, I just need to establish the habit.

As I reflect I can see decisions which impacted my progress, some right decisions and some where in retrospect I may have been wrong.    I can see that motivation has been key.   In the first 5 weeks I could see my increasing fitness level in the increasing times spent running.   This obvious progress kept my motivation up which helped in maintaining my habit.   When I stopped however and when I then had difficulties restarting the progress wasn’t there.  I was running distances less than I had previously managed but having pain in doing so.   It was demotivating and as a result made sustaining the habit difficult.   Trying to get going again was difficult and I must admit to being close this morning to not going for a run, to in effect give up on the whole endeavour.

I have now taken my first step to restarting.   The motivation and habit isn’t there so I will need to rely on my resilience and perseverance.   I suspect this will mean, each morning for the foreseeable future, I will need to fight to get myself out of bed and running rather than having an extra 30mins in bed.   Hopefully in five weeks time I will be back to the same stage I had previously achieved and that I can then go beyond to my eventual goal of 5K.

I wonder how my experiences might be mirrored in student learning?   How do we as teachers help to ensure they remain motivated and develop resilience?

 

 

 

 

 

My first 12 books of 2018; done!

I set out this year to continue my habit of trying to read at least one book per month throughout the year.   My aim being to read some light self-help books along with some significantly heavier texts.  I wanted to read across a couple of different topics.

And so, in August the 8th month of year, I finished my 12th book and met my target.   So far I have read:

  • The fourth education revolution, Anthony Seldon
  • Make it stick, Peter C Brown, Henry L Roediger and Mark A McDaniel
  • SUMO (Shut up and move on), Paul McGee
  • The upside of rationality, Dan Ariely
  • Open, David Price
  • The gift of failure, Jessica Lahey
  • Change, Richard Gerver
  • The Cyber Effect, Mary Aiken
  • The $100 Startup, Chris Guillebeau
  • The marshmallow effect, Walker Mischel
  • Mindfulness, Gill Hasson
  • The Art of balance, David J Bookbinder

Although I have hit my target for the year I still look forward to further reading in the remaining months of 2018.    I continue to try to ensure that my bookshelf is never empty of books yet to read.    I think it was in Naseem Talebs Black Swam where he mentioned the importance not of the books you have read, but of the books yet to read.   There is always room to learn more, to refine or change your views and to continue to evolve.   This is something I hope to continue to do.

I must also acknowledge that reading has also become a bit of a wellbeing activity for me.   It provides an opportunity to step away from the stresses and concerns of the working week and managing a household.   It provides me a space to relax.     And on my return to the normal week I often am able to take a fresh perspective on issues or to arrive at new ideas or solutions.

My bookshelf still has a number of books unread on it, including a couple of heavy but interesting titles.   I also intend to revisit a book I read some time ago in Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence.

So with that I will put my laptop down and get back to reading.

Mobile phones in schools (again!)

The issue of mobile phones in schools is once again raging with various schools deciding to ban mobile phones.   On social media teachers and school leaders are split.   Some occupy the ban all mobiles camp citing mobile phones as a distraction and also concerns around student mental health, addition and screen time in relation to overuse of social media.   Others support the use of mobile phones in classrooms as it provides teachers with an additional tool which can be used to engage students in their learning opening up new opportunities and learning experiences not available without mobile phones.  It also helps in preparing students for the real world where they will invariably need to manage their own phone use.

I have repeatedly stated my view, in that I am for allowing mobile phones in schools.    In the real world we all have phones vying for our attention.   Some adults manage this potential distraction and even addiction better than others.    It is due to this I feel we have a duty to work with students and help them learn to manage their mobile devices and their online presence along with the potential resultant distractions.   If teachers don’t spend time working with students to discuss and consider these issues then who will?

The one question that I would like to raise via this post is, has anyone thought of discussing this issue with students?     We are hearing plenty for educational bodies and individual school leaders and teachers but what about the students.    Have we discussed with them the concerns that those who wish to have mobile phones banned have?    Have we discussed with them the potential positive benefits of having mobile devices in school and in classrooms, along with the potential ways that such devices could be used?    Have we asked them what they think?    Have we discussed creating an agreement for the proper use of mobile devices in school, developed collaboratively between staff and students?

To me banning something is seldom effective.   Work arounds are created making bans ineffective.  Students might simply get sneaky, trying to use their devices when their teachers aren’t looking.   Some students may develop more creative solutions to get around bans.    I suspect the Smart watch may be one such work around.   The students phone would be silent and out of sight however their Smart watch would allow students to continue interacting with social media without ever having to get their phone out and get caught for having it.    Are we going to start banning watches next?

The argument regarding mobile phones in schools continues to draw polar views, as is almost always the case on social media.    The answer, in my eyes, as is the case in most things in the “real” world, lies between the polar opposite views.   For me the answer is to allow mobile phones but to discuss their proper use and the rules around this with the students.    An agreement has to be developed.   Outside of what is agreed, where students cannot use them responsibly then maybe a ban is appropriate, however I would hope in most schools and with most students, that a shared agreement can be reached and both students and teachers can benefit from having another tool available to use in lessons and around school.

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.