The Educated Kiwi
school 2.0
iPads in Schools
Sep 2nd
If you are wondering if it is worth rolling out iPads in your school check out Fraser Speirs blog. Fraser has journalled his experiences in removing computer labs and replacing them with iPads.
Google Apps – Round up
Jul 2nd
Well biggest decision of this year (at school!!) was what to do with a aging Mail Server and should we go Google School. Finally the decision was really made for me as: 1. Staff and students were already using personal gmail addresses to collaborate on work 2. Richard was pushing, pushing, pushing….. and 3. The old mail server started to ‘lock up’ periodically and needed several ‘restarts’ (while holding my breath) to get it back fully ‘online’.
So after deciding that educationally it was a good idea to move all 1200 users and even if we decided to move to another mail server we were going to have to migrate everything anyway ….we did it!
Was it painful ……?
Tech side ……well not really it takes a couple of hours to setup the correct settings from the gmail, then some mucking with dns entries to get everything pointing the right way, then email away to them to get recognised as a educational institute ….tech side done.
School side …..Migrating users especially email inboxes etc would be painful but we just talked to the staff said that we would run the old mail server in parallel for a month and they were to look at this as a good chance to clean up their email. This went down fine with the understanding that we were happy to work with them to make this transition as easy as possible. This worked well and we have had no issues with this approach at all.
Problems
- IMAP speed issues with attachments ….none? ..others have noted this but we haven’t ..not sure why not ..must just be lucky!!! LOL
- Gmail doesn’t like to be ‘polled’ continously ( seems to think its an attack) so by limiting how often this happens this has disappeared.
- Gmail uses flash to upload multiple attachments and this proved to be an issue with our internal proxy …took a bit of ‘tweaking’ but all sorted and staff now happy.
- Issue with syncing user information between our LDAP (AD) server and GApps is a ongoing one ..we have found this application works well from Google ..for all things except passwords due to the format AD stores them. So we are manually having to do this. Anybody with magic bullet cure for this …let me know!
Positives
- Email is reliable, spam is better than before and virus protection built in …all great!
- Educationally staff are continuing to find ways of uses collaborative tools weekly ..if not daily …from class projects to faculty planning …again great!
- We haven’t had to replace a dodgy server!!
Concerns
- Bandwidth is important …bring on the Loop with pairing to Google!! We have 12mbs down and 5mbs up ..and its working damm well ..less might be an issue
- Data Caps …. we have noticed an increase in data use as classes are using Google docs to work collaboratively ….but surely well worth it educationally and it will take something like 2 years to equal the cost of a new server …even if we were to double our internet usuage!!
Some ‘Comments’ I have heard…
- Why would you want to use Google Apps and give them your data – they are just another Microsoft in sheeps clothing – looking at world domination!! – I just don’t see that as the case …its a free service and it works great lets use it!!!
- Who ‘owns’ your email/docs? …personally I don’t care !! ..cloud computing is a concept we need to understand …you back up what is necessary but otherwise its very convienent ..and I’m all for that!
- what happens if Google goes belly up ….HELLO …if Google goes down I think we will have more to worry about than our email!!!
Well must believe in it ..I’ve now ‘helped’ migrate six schools and this is the full ’round up’
PHPMotion Redux
Jul 1st
Back in April 2008 I did a post on a YouTube clone called PHPMotion which was then in version 1. The software is now in version 3 and we have just installed it on our school server. The latest version is still a bit of a pain to install, it runs on PHP and MYSQL like wordpress, but is not as well supported or documented. The bottom line is you better be keen but you will save a heap on bandwidth and be able to give access to all those great videos available online. As well as YouTube videos you can also add clips from DVD’s. If you did this on YouTube they would quickly receive a take down notice from the copyright holder but with PHPMotion only accessible from the internal network people in the outside world are non the wiser – of course you must own the material to start with. As a Hard Materials and Graphics teacher I find some fantastic instructional videos on using tools and techniques which I can now share without using extra bandwidth.
Version 3 also has photo sharing which means you can keep photographs of students safely in the gated village if you so wish rather than using public photo sharing like Flickr.
If you want any help setting up a video sharing server let us know and we will see what we can do to help.
Moodle …the hidden cost of Ownership
May 13th
The Hidden cost of Moodle use is more than other LMS providers in the New Zealand market ……….YEAH RIGHT!!
Recently the Ministry MLE roadshow visited Tauranga and I had some calls from local teachers who attended asking about the hidden cost of running Moodle in a school as it was indicated that running Moodle could be more expensive than one of the commercial vendors (eg Knowledgenet or Ultranet). I decided to sit down and work out :
1. How much has it cost our college to run it
2. How much does commercial support cost
so………
Costs for us to run it at Katikati College, Roll 950.
Hardware -well we started using it 6 years ago on a rebuilt old Pentium box which we then moved last year to generic server that runs Moodle and our static website with raided 300GB drives and 4GB RAM (as a virtual machine ..so we can easily move/backup it) …hardware cost : $3500
Software – runs on Ubuntu Server (free) , Moodle …well free
Time to set it up: Well initial set up took Richard and I maybe an hour the first time (including server install)
Time to maintain: Richard would be lucky if he spends 2 hours per month …and most of that’s adding new modules he likes the look of or adding functionality.
Time to train staff: Hmm …the big one …well that’s been huge but its just been seen as part of the PD we would provide for any new system we bring into our college that adds value….so actual cost $0
Commercial Support
So if you don’t feel happy to do this yourself I found a number of companies that actually specialise in Moodle installation, support , training and hosting (no pesky servers onsite). Try Catalyst (Ministry development partner) or Totali ….just 2 of many companies that offer cost effective solutions for Moodle.
What do we need to compare this to?
Well Knowledgenet has its pricing on its website
For Katikati College:
Install cost : $6600+GST
Monthly Cost : $336.67 +GST
So to be fair there is no hardware cost at all but it would cost our college $11000.00 the first year then $4400 per year after that!! …..sorry I just don’t see the added value!! In fact recently at the KAMAR conference Richard stated that for the install cost alone he would maintain a Moodle installation for life!! (feel free to email him!!).
Sure I’ve heard the comment that Moodle is not as ‘easy to use’ as other LMS’s ..I really dispute that …it all depends on the level of commitment to Professional Development your school is willing to put into implementing a Learning Management System ..and isn’t that the same for any ‘new’ initiative in a school ?
Finally for all you doubters out there have a look at this http://docs.moodle.org/en/Top_10_Moodle_Myths
Thought it really sums it up as I think just because Moodle has no company actively marketing it in NZ we in the education sector does not make it any less relevant or applicable?
Finally Moodle has over 20 000 registered installations worldwide ..all in areas with multiple LMS’s available …can that many people really be wrong?
Will it Stick?
Jan 21st
One of the things we all like to do here at TEK is throw stuff at the wall and see if it sticks and I have to say that most times in education you have to run up to the wall and push it on extra hard to make it stay. This can get exhausting as between us we only have a limited number of arms and every now and then something new and shiny distracts us and we forget to hold up the old stuff. As we have probably mentioned before the key is getting buy in from the staff and/or students so that it stays stuck by itself.
I have set myself two ‘ICT’ related goals to achieve before I head back to work next week. The first is to create a blogging site for Mt. Maunganui College, the second is to create a wiki for Technology Teachers to submit relief work so that none of us have to come up with relief lessons on the morning when we feel the worst.
Both these things are reasonably straightforward to setup but they require a reasonable investment of my own time, not only installing the systems but also generating awareness and then supporting users (all without financial reward).
The second goal is the easier of the two. Go to Teach Tech and you will find a basic mediawiki install where teachers can share content. Contacting those likely to contribute will be done through the BOP GTTA (Graphics and Technology Teachers Association). After that it is just a case of waiting for the emails to come flooding in, I hope.
The first goal is a little harder as it has been requested from senior management after seeing what happens in other schools with blogging. Having set up a blog server at Katikati College I am aware that only a couple of keen teachers have really used it so far although it is growing in popularity. The thing I am most scared of is that I put this thing in place and then have to tell the whole staff that they have to use it, or I am only given half an hour in staff meeting to sell it. In short I will have to do it well to avoid a backlash.
I have decided to go with WordPress mu again but this time using the Buddypress plugins. This makes WPMU look and feel like Facebook or Bebo which enables users to add friends, create groups, post their status etc. The idea is to get users to use the platform to generate content without it feeling like work and once they are used to the interface then the transition to blogging will be smoother. One of my problems is that in my head the target audience are the most cynical teachers (you know the ones I mean), if I can sell it to them then I should get everyone else. I am probably being too hard on myself, I will be happy if a handful of people use it, blogging isn’t for everyone but we shall see if it sticks.
Katikati Goes Google School
Oct 30th
As you can see from the Image below we have begun our transition to Google School. Our initial reason was we see no point in going to ms exchange and find squirrel mail inadequate so why not try google. But then of course this gives us the benefits of having each student seeing a unified homepage (Google can lock down the gadgets kids can add to an EDU set) and every student has their mail,documents and website at their fingertips.
Customising it has been easy as uploading a couple of images and now it’s just the process of pointing our Domain at the right place and we go live. I will blog the results of the full student and staff transition in the next few weeks.
Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students
Oct 25th
Being a long weekend I have finished a few books and one of the ones I should have blogged about a while ago is “Doing School”. I brought this book from Amazon after having listened to the author on itunesU. The basic premise of the book is that the author followed five successful students around for a year and reports back on how they got through the academic stresses of that year.
I won’t review it here as there is plenty of reviews on the amazon page linked to below but I found it really made me think about what I wanted for education. That I am not happy to continue to teach like we have done for the past fifty years and that if we always do as we have always done we will always get what we always got, which really is no form of progress.
Ipod touch
Sep 16th
As I sit here waiting for an appointment I decide it is a good time to try writing a post on my new iPod touch. I have had it for two days now and it is an amazing device. I won’t go into the reasons why I chose it over the iPhone but I get pretty much the same experience.
To begin with text input is very easy and the auto correct is excellent and the places where I spend most of my time have good wifi coverage.
(next day) I shouldn’t start writing posts when I know I will be interupted. No chance of that now while I sit in a hall with 7 other staff supervising exams.
Back to the iPod touch; most useful app so far apart from the wordpress app I am using now is mocha vnc light which allows me to screen share my laptop wherever I am in the school. Handy because not all my apps, like aim work through the proxy yet.
Watch this space for more updates on using the ipod touch in the classroom.
Laptops – What are the issues
Aug 10th
Lots has been said re how education is changing with laptops as affordable as they are becoming. We at Katikati College have now had laptops available on a student by student basis for over a year and are now considering removing some of our specialist IT rooms in favour of continuing to increase the number of laptops available in scheme.
Our laptop programme which is available to all students on an hour by hour basis (booked by staff) and has been a huge success ..it has changed our school without it being only the ‘well off’ that can afford for their kids to have laptops. We blatantly stole this idea from Arthur Phillip High School in Sydney and it has totally changed our school with IT being utilised as a tool to support the curriculum without the pressure for it to be used all the time. But there has been some things we have worked out along the way…….
1. Before you have lots of laptops ..get your wireless right..we didn’t have 10′s of thousands of $$$ to buy a commercial solution to full wireless coverage. We have had full wireless coverage of our site for over 5 years but we have had to upgrade from basic units to Cisco 1131 units to get the coverage we need. This is an absolute MUST if you want to run more than half a dozen laptops off an access point and at $1000NZ while not cheap we have found we can support 70 off one unit well. Recently we completed a online survey on Moodle with all of our staff off one access point ..no problem
2. None of the laptops we have found are designed to run (with a standard battery) for anywhere near 5 hours so heavy booking creates major issues later in the day ..this is an issue that needs to be addressed within your school …we have solved it with laptops that get ‘rotated’ into service later in the day
3. Laptops aren’t heavy on their own but if you have someone issuing them …100 is heavy especially if they are being issued every hour!!
4. Security..Security ..Security …where do you house 200 laptops?
5. We have designed charging cows for 70 laptops. This require 3 phase power ..this is expensive to put in.
6. Dont let your technician take personally any software changes done to laptops by students …we just reimage any machine that does not look ‘standard’ any time spent trying to ‘fix’ problems created by students is time wasted (We use G4U – its free and works well). If the damage is sorted we have found they generally don’t bother to do it again as thats not the ‘game’ ..just like vandalism to buildings.
Other than these issues .its all been plain sailing!!
inTouch – The Mobile Administrator
Jul 24th
The purpose of this post is two fold – firstly it shows the new “press this” feature in wordpress 2.6 which brings up a post window whenever you click the link and wish to post about something you have found and secondly it’s another example of handheld use in schools. Have a look.
inTouch – The Mobile Administrator | Main / Home Page browse
iTunes K-12
Jul 3rd
As I scanned my newsfeeds this week I noticed that the iTunes U section of the iTunes store now has a K-12 section. So far only a handful of US schools are taking part but no doubt this will be a valuable and growing resource for us all.
Australia Streaking Ahead?
Jun 24th
On reading that NSW is going to abandon Microsoft Office in favor of Open Office I was impressed. The path of least resistance was to simply keep on with Office but no, in typical Aussie fashion they are going to thumb their noses and go with change. What does this mean for us? I guess we won’t be far behind especially after Douglas Harre’s statements at the recent edtech meetings. I do find myself agreeing that in 2001 the Microsoft agreement was a good idea as word processing etc was different just like I feel sorry for those clusters that came before us when there was so much less opportunity with ICT. I would like to make the transition sooner rather than later especially as staff are switching to Office 2007 anyway and have been giving OO.org out to staff to use at home or on family members computers. Many of course struggle to believe how can something be good if it is free.
Also in the article was the governments laptop for every student, well it would seem they meant computer access for every student but I digress I enjoyed reading the comments on many of the blogs surrounding this governmental decision and the overwhelming negativity within them. I worry that people don’t get the point.
Disqus
May 22nd
It is probably best to visit disqus.com to understand it properly but it is essentially turning blog comments into forum style posts. I have just added the disqus plugin to this blog to see how it works for us but I can see it being a valuable discussion tool for subject blogs on our school wpmu site.
Sometimes you just gotta throw things against the wall to see if they stick.
YouTube Clone
Apr 16th
This is one of the reasons I will miss Katikati College when I leave for my new job in a few weeks.
A couple of weeks ago Richard found an open source YouTube clone called PHPMotion and said it would be cool to have this as a video server on our internal network. I got to work installing Ubuntu server as a virtual machine on my MacBook Pro and 3 days later after a bit of head scratching and command line in terminal we had KTV.
I have to say that it is not as easy to install as wordpress and some experience is required. We repeated the installation process on a redundant 3GHz dual core pentium box and popped it on our network. A week later and we have 65 videos with 7 categories and Phil Cranston in our Social Studies department has already used it in conjunction with Katipedia (our mediawiki based wiki) to create an assessment task.
We have deliberately set this up as internal access only and I would like to see videos created by students uploaded and viewed by peers. We have left registration open to students, although if they use false names and email addresses we just delete them. We like to encourage responsible use and participation rather than blocking them out.
As a team Kelvin, Richard and myself have been able to create some awesome cutting edge resources. The ability to be able to get something like this to happen in the space of a couple of weeks is rare and something I doubt I will come across again.
If you want any help or advice setting up wordpress mu, phpmotion or any other open source content management system we are only too happy help.
Whole school blogging
Nov 4th
“Why are you always in such a hurry, Mr. Lipwig?”
“Because people don’t like change. But make change happen fast enough and you go from one type of normal to another”
Terry Pratchett, Making Money
Artists paint caricatures of people and Terry Pratchett writes caricatures of humanity. The reason I enjoy his work so much and for so long is because of the clever observations he makes about human behaviour and in particular the mentality of the mob.
I have been fortunate to be in a position where I have implemented a multi user blog site in our college. We did not tell anyone what was coming and we did not publicise it once it was there. The only way anyone has found out about it is because myself and another member of staff introduced it to our classes. That was 3 weeks ago.
We now have 237 blogs (quarter of the students), out of those 5 are run by departments (half of which I was surprised at) and our librarian is getting stuck in with the library blog. I am also getting e-mails asking for specific functionality which I try and accommodate and so far the students have kept it clean. I have only had to deactivate one blog for bad language but after the student was spoken to it was reinstated.
I can’t help but think that this would never have happened if it had to go through committees and approval processes, one can only imagine the conservative points of view which block so many good ideas. As it is our students are acting as responsible internet citizens, learning skills that will serve them as the workforce of the future.
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