The Educated Kiwi
Web 2.0
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’
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.
A Lesson in Social Networking
Jun 22nd
The June 20th episode of Buzz Out Loud quoted this post from Webware explaining how social networking helps bridge the digital divide and equips young people with relevant skills.
Ironic that nearly all schools block these sites. Someone said to me last week that there is no evidence that technology (ICT) improves learning. It wasn’t until later that I thought that there is probably no evidence that school improves learning.
The point of school is to provide a safe learning environment. If we are really so afraid we could set up “walled garden” social networks, but generally most young people in NZ have a profile with bebo and don’t want to change, so why not let them use it to collaborate at school?
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.
Tag Crowd
Apr 14th
This is a tag cloud for the achievement standard 90658 in History, an interesting way to see what is important
appropriate attempt change content context description developed essay evidence examples historical includes issue organised paragraph period related relevant structure supported
created at TagCrowd.com
A day of video
Mar 28th
Played with Yahoo Live today and found it clearer than ustream. Thanks to John Spencer for forcing me to have a look. Yet another example of video becoming a huge part of the net
Then there is other options like qik which allows streaming from your video capable mobile phone.
Not quite sure how ready I am for streaming live from my study but then I haven’t done my hair yet this morning either.
drop.io
Mar 9th
has been around since November last year and is a very convenient file sharing web 2.0 app. No signup or e-mail address is needed, just create a URL and drop your file with password protection if you wish, it couldn’t be more simple. The creators of drop.io feel that your privacy is paramount and do not snoop at your files, your files automatically become RSS feeds and they give you a number of ways to upload files including a wordpress plugin. I find the wordpress plugin particularly interesting as a way for students to hand work in. In case you are wondering .io is an Indian Ocean domain.
Yahoo! NewsGlobe
Feb 14th
Well worth a look with your class to start the day and see where the news in the world is coming from. Yahoo NewsGlobe
More from the web is us/ing
Oct 16th
Had my Nephew visit yesterday from Waikato University he asked whether I downloaded much at uni. I had to tell him that we had dial-up in one flat and used napster to get music, not to mention my computer was a P 200 with two gigs of hard drive space, less than many phones today. Odd then how little some other things had changed.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o[/youtube]
Anti social networks?
Sep 3rd
Last week the Bay of Plenty Times reported a story of a girl being bullied via Bebo, a social network site. You can read the entire article here.
I find it particularly interesting that the parents of the bullied girl blame the school and state that:
Tauranga Intermediate has not done enough to address the issue, both with the students and with the rest of the school.
I am sure that Tauranga Intermediate, like all schools, has strict anti-bullying policy. Further in the article it states that Bebo is blocked at school which means that the offences must have occured in someones home.
When asked whether parents of the girls who have bullied Johnelle had accepted partial responsibility, he (the Principal) said he’d had a “mixed” response.
So who is responsible? The school is the obvious target but how many parents really know what their kids are doing on the computer?
I know a number of people, including teachers, who let kids use the internet unsupervised. I have advised the same people to either use software like ‘NetNanny’ or have the computer in plain view. The response is invariably ‘my kids wouldn’t know about that yet’. How much more can I do? I would like to say “At that age I would not have known and neither would you but times they are a changing!”
I personally feel that the school should do something about it. We have a responsibility to provide a safe environment where children can learn and they often learn through making mistakes. Better for them to make their mistakes in a controlled and supervised environment.
Fortunately the good folks at elgg.org have equipped us with just the tool. Elgg is an open source social network designed for education. It seems to have all the features, including a blog engine, needed to be able to train our students in the appropriate ways to use social networks. Although it cannot yet equal Bebo or Facebook for features, I think it will provide enough customisation to hook our students, and plugins and themes are in constant development. Best of all it is administered by us, it can be made a completely closed system and will hopefully be an invaluable communication tool for the school.
I agree that Bebo should be blocked at school but I am not anti social networks. I myself use facebook to connect to friends around the globe and I use this blog to voice my opinions, what we need to address is anti social behaviour.
I have still yet to talk to our school administrators about deploying it and I wondered if anyone has used it successfully or has any other thoughts on the matter.
Del.icio.us howto thanks to commoncraft
Aug 8th
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x66lV7GOcNU[/youtube]
New video posted on you tube from the folks at common craft a very good explanation of how to set up and why to set up del.icio.us or any social bookmarking service.
Wiki Wiki
Aug 1st
I have been using my wiki, the link for which can always be found on the right hand side of this blog, a lot lately. The ease of editing and creating makes it a very useful tool. I remember creating a year 13 History website a few years ago and eventually giving up because editing and keeping it updated in dreamweaver/frontpage made it too difficult and time consuming to be worthwhile. A wiki on the other hand is just like its name, quick. So if you are getting your students working on a collaborative essay or other work try out a wiki. You can either use one of the free ones or both our schools have them within our moodle sites.
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