Hi all, I work for a secondary school in the Midlands as an ICT Technician. I saw the news regarding BECTA and was rather shocked to see it go (in fact only two months back I applied for a job with them - I feel for the people who will lose their jobs, but I'm glad I wasn't offered one)!
The school I am at are an RM school. See further comments embedded below: On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 8:29 AM, Alan Bell <[email protected]> wrote: > Colin McCarthy wrote: >> Smart Technologys the makers of 'SmartBoards' one of the two popular >> interactive whiteboards already do a linux client. Its almost exactly the >> same as the windows version and works perfectly. I have used to many times >> at our LUG meeting which occasionally meets in a school. >> eBeam is a device that sticks to a standard whiteboard. This projects an IR grid and where the grid is broken is interpreted as the position on the screen. They do a mac client, so a Linux client certainly shouldn't be difficult. >> Capita recently bought Ramesys (a large education IT provider) so there is >> little chance of BFS, Building Schools for the Future, schools to have any >> local control and choose Open Source software. >> >> FOSS does stand a chance in private or indepenent schools. >> As far as MIS systems go Integris is another large player in the field. This handles timetabling, student information, staff information, behaviour records, assessment data, exam entry and much more. Integris has now moved to be web based, and will work currently on Firefox and IE. I'm not currently sure of how well it works using Chrome. This MIS software ties in VERY closely these days with any sort of online system. There was a government mandate that states that by September of (I believe) this year, any parent / carer should be able to access details of their child online at any time. Systems such as RM's Kaleidos, which is based on Sharepoint provides this link to the school's MIS system. This would be a massive stumbling block for any school moving away from their local council's plans. Personally I do agree that Moodle is an excellent platform for online learning, and should be used as a separate thing to parents gaining access to their child's data. Another interesting point is that some local authorities own the computing equipment and software licenses that school purchase. A school will then effectively pay their authority appointed supplier for this sort of "managed" equipment and then basically loan it from the local authority. While I would ADORE a situation where we have FOSS everywhere in schools I struggle to see schools / authorities going so far. I can however see the basic infrastructure being MS Windows Desktops, MS Windows Server and then as many Open source tools as possible. I argue this as for a large number of users and stations active directory is quite possible the best way of managing all of the PCs and User requirements with software deployment, GPO's etc. I would however use open source video editors, open office, etc, etc, etc Other areas that schools could save cash are "behind the scenes". The Xibo project is an excellent digital signage solution. If software exists that can be used to organise lettings in the school would be a good area of saving also. Inventory software would also save a nice amount of cash. Matt >> Mark Thomas and SiruisIT do a lots of FOSS stuff in schools. Maybe they >> could be on the Ubuntu UK podcast to talk about it. >> >> Colin >> > it is Mark Taylor (@Mark_Antony on twitter, Antony is his middle name) > and yes, he would be a good interviewee for the podcast. Becta have done > some good stuff relating to Open Source, if you look through the 152 > downloadable publications they have produced several are advocating open > source technologies and they have made several advisories about the > risks of being locked in to high cost proprietary software. I think they > were influential in getting Microsoft to offer an alternative site > license to the one that means that you have to pay by the total number > of computers in the building, regardless of what they were running > (under the standard scam if you install a media suite of 30 Apple > computers you would have to pay Microsoft for each and every one of them > even if they run no Microsoft software). Becta also set up the Open > Source Schools project and you can read more about the Becta close there > http://opensourceschools.org.uk/bectas-closure.html Ultimately I don't > think Becta did enough to justify their cost, and that seems to be the > view of the new government too. > > The interesting question is what, if anything, fills the void. Stuff > like the home access program will go or be managed by the department of > education (no great loss if it goes). Publications and advisories will > be pumped out from all directions. Not sure how good this is going to > be. Schools will have to make up their own minds a little bit more > (which they did anyway, but could just point at a Becta publication to > abdicate responsibility for poor purchasing decisions). Microsoft may > put up their prices in the absence of a collective bargaining point (a > role which Becta tried to do with limited effectiveness) personally I > think Microsoft prices going up would be a good thing, too much effort > has been put to saving pennies in that direction rather than looking > about for real savings. > > > Just to clarify a few points made: > > BSF schools can tell their system integrator what they want and that can > include open source software. A few have done so to a limited extent (I > think just insisting on Moodle). > > SIMS is a problem, Capita do not appear to be interested in supporting > open standards at this time. It is a big application, it was big when I > was using it 18 years ago on Novell Netware 3.1.1 and it must be huge by > now. There are alternatives, but I don't think anything with the level > of maturity that would be required for deployment. Schooltool is the one > I would look to, and interestingly enough that is supported by the > Shuttleworth foundation. > > RM is quite Microsoft focussed, but they have been around forever and > used to actually build their own computers, remember the 480Z? They also > were one of the largest suppliers of the eeePC running Xandros. I had an > RM branded one for a bit. They are actually less dependent on Microsoft > marketing money than the regular box shifters. > > > -- > [email protected] > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/ > -- Matthew Holder ICT Technician - the Earls High School Personal Email - [email protected] Personal Website - www.mattmole.co.uk -- [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
