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I.C.T. Curriculum Support
Newsletter - November 2008Issue 15Comparing this to the cost of the purchase andinstallation of a wall-mounted or trolley based TV(approx £400 per classroom) significant savings could bemade across a school, to the extent that this savingcould be put towards the purchase of interactive boardsfor the small percentage of classrooms without one. Itis the opinion of the ICT Curriculum Support team andmyself that this would be a far more useful resource fora school.Another factor to be kept in mind is that a number ofTVs currently installed may well be analogue TVs sothey will all need Digital Freeview boxes attached tothem when the digital switchover comes. The USB TVTuners mentioned above have both Analogue andDigital tuners in them, and so they are future proof.Further guidance on this matter can be obtained fromthe ICT Curriculum Support Team based at CamelonEducation Centre who should be consulted beforeproceeding with any ICT purchases or any AV purchasesthat may have an alternative ICT-related solution orimplication. And if you are in doubt over ICT-relatedalternative solutions, ask them anyway.It goes without saying that this should be doneirrespective of the funding source. And, as ever,purchases should be made through the ICT Help Desk.
New approach to Primary back up
On a weekly basis, the servers that are in primaryschools are backed up centrally to a storage deviceat Municipal Buildings. The central device whichstores backups for all 49 primary schools is strugglingto cope with the huge volume of aggregated datainvolved. Part of the difficulty is created by a largenumber of media files containing either video oraudio clips which can be very large.Following discussion between ICT Team 3 and ICTCurriculum Support staff, we have identified folderswhich could be pruned to reduce the size of thebackups.
In future, during summer holidays, all dataresiding in folders Primary1 to Primary7 and “AllUsers” (which are all accessed through the PupilShare button on the staff desktop) will beroutinely erased.
It will be the responsibility of school staff to move tothe Curriculum folder any data that they wish to saveprior to the end of term. On return after the summerbreak, the saved data could then be moved back ifrequired.Meantime, it would be a great help to all if youcould review your own folders and remove anyunnecessary or out of date data and periodicallyreview these areas to keep them as tidy as possible.
Additions to ASfL Programs
New versions of two of the most commonly used programs have been purchased: Clicker5 which is now ready tobe rolled out across the Authority and Kidspiration3 which is in waiting.
Clicker5:
Enough licences have been purchased to allow Clicker5 to be installed on all PCs in schools. This newversion:
• Enables direct access to hundreds of online resources; no need to download and save from theinternet then install into Clicker as was the case with Clicker4• Saves automatically all resources such as pictures and sound files used in grid sets - no need tocopy and save before sharing with other users• Allows instant switch access for all grid sets - no need to start from scr
atchStaff development for Support Teachers and for SLA will be offered as part of a rolling programme but staffdevelopment is also available on request for schools.
Kidspiration3:
Site licences have been purchased for all Primary Schools. The new version includes a set of Mathstools which should enable pupils to organise their work with greater ease.
Talking Photograph Albums:
These have been purchased for all Enhanced Provisions as they have provedthemselves to be amazingly flexible and wide-ranging in the support they provide for all pupils.
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