Always Moving Up, But Never Moving Forward - 8 weeks to move your schools IT Provision to the next level
Introduction
Even though we are fast approaching the 24th year of the 21st century, many schools, as far as IT provision goes, are stuck somewhere between 1985 and 1990. Sure, schools have made major investments in computing equipment such as bigger and better servers, faster computers, improved WiFi etc, but even so, many schools are still stuck in a rut and not sure what the next step should be?
For some schools who have real budget issues, they might not have even got that far. Running on old computers and laptops and having to suffer with very long login times and laptop batteries that last only half the lesson. If you are teaching that is a real disaster, believe me I’ve been there and got the T shirt.
This blog / podcast is going to explain how you can take your school's IT provision to the next level in just 6 weeks. Most, but not all, of what I talk about will be free, thus helping those schools with a really tight budget. But importantly, you will end up with a truly 21st century learning platform that will open the door to many cutting edge AI tools that will not only enhance your teaching but will gently introduce children to the fantastic world of AI. So, let's make a start.
Week 1 - Decide what the goals are.
Decide what you want to achieve - what do you want your school's IT provision to look like at the end of this journey? If you are an academy trust then this discussion should be made on behalf of the schools you look after, but if you are a “light touch” academy you will want to give schools a choice.
In this example we are going to make a move to a totally cloud based and truly FREE 21st century learning platform “Google Workspace for Education. But why this one?
- Built from the ground up for education.
- It’s totally FREE although a paid version is available.
- Google looks after everything, all you have to do is login and use it.
- It allows teachers and more importantly children to access work at home on almost any device.
- It has the ability to allow children to collaborate on projects so if you are an academy trust it allows your school to work together and share work.
- It has the fantastic Google Classroom, a one stop shop to create and deploy lessons to your students.
- It opens the backdoor to dozens of other resources simply by using “Log in with Google”
- It works seamlessly with Chromebooks. One of the few devices in IT that “just works”.
- Seamlessly bolts into other apps such as the brilliant Canva where you can easily set up single sign on for all your children.
Week 2 - Carry out an audit
Before you make any move, audit your school. Make a list of what works and what doesn't and why. If you are an academy trust, do this for each school. By the time you have finished you should have a single sheet of paper that you can quickly refer to. Reference any problems to the IT budget and involve your IT support company who might be able to offer assistance.
Week 3 - Apply to Google
Apply for a Google Workspace For Education” account. I would strongly recommend you buy a separate domain to host this. Your IT company should be able to help and in some cases complete the whole process for you. The biggest issue is verifying your domain and school. Apart from that it's pretty straightforward and I have never had a problem with any of the applications I have made on behalf of schools.
Week 4 - Review you IT kit
Whilst you are waiting, review your IT kit. Have you got enough, is it fit for purpose, if not why not? Identifying the problems now will save you time later on. Can some of it be upgraded or does some need to be replaced. This is important because poor and none reliable kit will make or break the upgrade and future lessons.
If you are thinking about buying new, take a look at Chromebooks - because almost everything you will do is cloud based, Chromebooks are a good choice but go for a 14 inch screen because the experience is so much better. They are one of the few devices that “just work”, with a battery that lasts all day and a device that boots in about 20 seconds. With so many advanced cloud based platforms now available, many free of charge, there isn't much a Chromebook can't do these days.
Week 5 - Add the users and create the login cards
Once you get confirmation that you have been accepted by Google, start to add your users, your IT team will normally help with this but to save money this is something you can do yourself. Users can be pulled automatically from a Microsoft Active Directory or bulk imported using a spreadsheet.
Whichever method you choose, make sure you create a login card for each user with their email address and password printed on it. Take it from somebody who knows, when you start your first lessons this logon reminder can save the whole lesson.
Week 6 - Sign up to Canva
Just having a Google account opens the doors to lots of online sites where users will be asked to login. The most common way these days is “Log in With Google”. This can be used with one of the best free apps you will ever use and that is Canva. Canva can be described as “The Swiss Army Knife of Graphic Design” and will add a whole graphic design package to your Google system totally free of charge. Simply apply for an education account, get verified and enjoy the benefits of the premium edition with single sign on for all your staff and children. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Week 7 - Training for staff and prepare for launch
Remember there is no rush and this isn’t a race. So be patient and once everything is set up and running think about training for the staff. This can be done via a staff meeting or inset day. You may find that some staff have already used Google Workspace For Education at a previous school and are quite conversant with it, for some it will be totally new.
The training should cover what the system is, logging in, accessing applications and what is available. Training should also cover Google Classroom, adding your class and how to set up assignments. As part of the launch you may decide to limit access to certain year groups, for example year 5 and year 6. This is a good starting point, but my advice is you need to get other years groups accessing the system within a couple of terms. This introduction stage will give you a chance to “iron out” any issues, identify any problems and build confidence.
Week 8 - Launch day
The day will arrive when you finally launch your 21st century learning platform to children. Before the lesson starts make sure children have their login cards and that you have randomly tested a few accounts. I have a special introductory lesson that I normally go through with children. This explains what cloud computing is, what they are using and how they can access it from home.
I then kick the whole thing off and walk them through using and customising their Gmail account. I would then link the following lessons to their current topic work and create a Google Classroom assignment for them to access and complete the projects assigned. From there on it’s just a matter of using it.
Final Notes
The idea behind this blog / podcast is to give schools some idea of how they can, in 8 steps, take their computing provision to the next level. Moving from a system that has perhaps failed to meet expectations over the years, to a system that not only exceeds what they are currently capable of doing, but can be can grow with the school. A system and way of working that is free to the end users and is able to access some very advanced tools such as AI and AI graphic design. All available from Google Cloud 24/7. After all, isn’t this the way everyone is working these days, why should children be left out.
John Goodier