Pre-Christmas Update

Well, a little while has passed since my last update and a fair amount has happened.  So much so that it's hard to detail it all here.  For that reason I'm going to dot-point list the goings-on for the last month and a half.

- it turns out Dell salespeople wouldn't know an active stylus from an active volcano

• The big news is that we've chosen the Dell XPS-12 as our staff computer for 2013.  Samsung couldn't produce a decent machine in time (or at all) and all the other options were either problematic in some way or just plain awful.  It turns our however that there is no support for an active stylus with this machine, so we're going to have to go without or use a capacitive stylus (it turns out Dell salespeople wouldn't know an active stylus from an active volcano anyway).  A shame, but not the end of the world.  The upside is that the XPS-12 is a really nice piece of kit, it's very fast, light and small.  Our teachers seemed quite impressed with it when we demoed it to them.  So we're quietly confident that we've chosen the right device considering the options.  Now we just have to get them delivered on time and get the staff used to Windows 8!


• We'd already decided we weren't interested in the Dell XT3, but it's worth noting here that Dell shipped us a demo that was not only heavily used, but broken.  It was also an awful clunky looking machine.  It's probably best if they don't keep that line going.


• We've been in communication with our parents about the plans to run two new programs next year.  Year 11's and 12's will need to supply their own computer next year, and year 7's will have a hybrid Windows 8 tablet supplied to them.  Parents of 11 and 12 students have been told they can supply a range of devices, basically anything that's a computer or a 10" and above tablet.  We'll set them up with network access at the beginning of the year, as well as some other tips and information.


• Our iPad group will continue into 2013.  I mention this because it's relevant as I was recently accused of being anti-iPad by an influential individual associated with the school.  I find this interesting because we run an iPad program with one particular group of students, and it was my interest in the iPad that got it going in the first place (I have two iPads myself).  Rather than unsettling that group by making changes, they'll keep plugging away with their iPads into next year.  The program was a trial, and it hasn't exactly set the world on fire, but it's not terrible either.  I quite like the idea of a multi-platform approach, as long as it doesn't put to much strain on the teachers or the I.T. Department.


• Finally, after much in the way of shenanigans, we've decided on a new Learning Management System (LMS).  Originally the decision was made to delay this decision until sometime in the future, however after coming to their senses the College leadership went with the recommendation of their 1:1 Working Party (or sub-group thereof) to implement the Scholaris LMS.  This is a widely used platform run on Sharepoint which can integrate well with our existing student data systems, making it something of a logical choice.  The Working Party went to great lengths to assess varying LMS options, create a comparison matrix of features and justify their preferences.  I'm quite glad that the recommendation was taken onboard, I only wish it had been immediate, rather than second-guessing the skilled and experienced people who arrived at said recommendation.

I think that's it, now it's off for a nice and hopefully relaxing Christmas break.  I say hopefully relaxing, because with the usual workload plus a 1:1 program, BYOD program, staff tablet rollout and a new LMS 2013 is going to be a HUGE year.

Dell Roadshow II - Try Harder

And try harder they have, but still not hard enough.

I got to attend yet another Dell Roadshow where they're showing off their Windows 8 devices again.  This time they actually had the newly released XPS-12.  I was able to play with it and ask all the hard questions about the supposed support for pen input. They tell me it will support an active digitiser, like the one on the Latitude 10.  I'll believe it when I see it.  Other than that, aside from being a little expensive the XPS-12 is a neat device.  It's robust and manages to pack that swivel screen into a package much the same size as the slimmest Ultrabooks.  Dell tell us that the swivel mechanism had been tested for 20,000 continuous repetitions and kept on going past that, and looking at it, I can believe that.

Other than that, Dell showed how expertly they've misunderstood Windows 8.  They have a couple of "companion" tablet offerings, The Latitude 10, based on Windows 8 running an Intel Atom processor, and the Windows RT based XPS 10, on Arm.  They've chosen to offer the latter with a keyboard dock and the former without.  This makes no sense.  Of the two, if I want one to be a primarily touch based experience with an onscreen keyboard, it's the RT device, as I'm going to be using Metro apps and they're made with touch in mind.  My Atom based tablet however can run legacy Windows software, which will benefit greatly from more traditional input methods.  So as you can see, they've got it backwards.  Way to go Dell!

[caption id="attachment_151" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Dell's new Windows 8 tablets, shown side-by-side. XPS-12 on the left and Latitude 10 on the right.[/caption]

Finally, the saga of the XT3 demo unit continues.  Dell have apparently sourced one for me, but the nice man at the Dell Roadshow informs me that they don't support it running Windows 8 and don't plan to.  In fact, they seem to think it and any successors may not have a future as a device anyway, so we can just about can that line of inquiry right now.

Some doors close, some more open (but not enough)!

So the search for a Windows 8 based computer continues.  The OS launch has been and gone, and it’s now early November.  I’ve had some small wins, like making a contact at Samsung, who was quite positive about the likelihood of them being able to provide enterprise-grade local support for their upcoming products.

We’ve also been let down on a few occasions though.  The most recent being that I’ve received confirmation that the Lenovo X230T will not be supported running Windows 8.  So that’s off the table.  Also off the table are the offerings from Fujitsu and Toshiba, for reasons I’m about to cover.  The result of this though, is that the field is much more narrow than it was.  With Lenovo, Fujitsu and Toshiba out, that leaves Dell, Acer, HP and Samsung.  Acer don’t really have anything suitable and neither do HP, so it remains to be seen whether Dell or Samsung can produce something.  I’ll be meeting with Dell in a couple of days to find out about their two possible machines, and Samsung are showing some promise, although I have my reservations about their Ativ Pro running a ludicrous 1080p resolution on an 11” display.

That’s enough looking forward, lets look back at what went wrong with the Toshiba and Fujitsu machines.  I’ll start with the Toshiba, it’s problems are basically self-explanatory.

The tablet we received was the M930, which comes with a multi-touch display, a stylus, a core i5 and a range of connectivity options.  On paper this unit looks good, but as soon as you take it out of the box it begs the question “WTF?”

[gallery ids="37,38,39"]

then your lead balloon is going down like it was filled with Sulphur Hexafluoride.

Probably the most bizarre aspect of this device is the lack of a mouse.  Oh wait, there is a mouse, it's just that it's possibly the most pointless token effort imaginable.  In my experience, users aren't so keen on ye olde pointing stick, a technology that some manufacturers still persist with for various misguided reasons.  I could only assume that if users don't care for the pointing stick, then having it built into the right-hand bezel of the keyboard with sideways mouse buttons is going to go down like a lead balloon.  Then if you concede that those sideways mouse buttons are what most would consider upside-down (that is, most of our users initially, and wrongly assumed the top button is left-click and the bottom is right-click), then your lead balloon is going down like it was filled with Sulphur Hexafluoride.

That's not the only problem either.  The device converts from tablet to pseudo-laptop using a hinged slider mechanism.  The mechanism is not only quite stiff and difficult to use, it also makes the most awful noise you've ever heard.  When I first used the hinge to convert the device everyone else in the office turned to look at what I was doing, with looks on their faces that said "what are you doing to that poor computer?"

Other than that, the machine was fine, it was quite speedy, the touchscreen was responsive and the keyboard was decent, but none of that mattered.  After seeing the two flaws mentioned above we spent some time laughing about this clownputer, put it back in the box and returned it.

Okay, so what was wrong with the Fujitsu then?  The Q702 (pictured below) also looked good on paper, and even had a proper touchpad.  It's core i5 was fast enough, and with the dockable keyboard containing a second battery it got great battery life.  It even looks as neat in person as it does in the promotional material.

The big issue with this machine was the touchscreen.  It's multi-point screen felt strange to begin with, not as smooth as the gorilla-glass coated tablets we're used to.  It felt like the resistive screen on an oldschool Tablet-PC.  None of that would matter normally, we don't think our users would be bothered by the feel of the screen (and if they were, we wouldn't be).  What they would be bothered by would be the lack of responsiveness the touchscreen exhibited.  Sure it worked well enough that normal touch and swipe operations worked perfectly, as did multi-touch gestures.  The problem was evident when swiping rapidly and repetitively to scroll through a long document, or sometimes even a heavily loaded Start Screen.  The screen would miss one in every few swipes.  This meant you couldn't flip neatly through your start screen and you couldn't get the fast scroll going down a page like you could with an iPad.  To anyone that was used to that on their phone or tablet, it felt like something was broken.  We therefore couldn't put this in front of our users and say "here, this is your wonderful new machine with Windows 8" knowing that the experience would be less than ideal because of the touchscreen problem.

So, after trying and failing to communicate the problem to Fujitsu and get a fix, we've struck the Q702 off our list as well.  I might add that the price-point for the Q702 was such that you'd expect it to be flawless.  It's not cheap, so we felt this made it even harder to justify the machine.

Now, on we go, the list is ever shorter, as it our timeframe.  With only a few weeks until I absolutely must order something new for our staff, we've not got a lot of options remaining.

Eek!

Special Dell-ivery

When I say “special” I mean a delivery so special it can’t be delivered at all!

Some time ago I started work trying to get hold of a Dell XT-3 Tablet.  It’s a current model and it meets some of our requirements.  I also know of another school using it in a tablet PC program, so it’s got some credibility.

That’s all great, however months have gone by since I originally enquired about getting a demo machine.  After signing the required paperwork to ensure them I won’t break it, sell it, or take it to Mordor and throw it into a volcano nothing has happened.
If it wasn’t for the fact I have to keep my options open here, I don’t think I’d bother with it at all.

UPDATE:

After several enquiries and one somewhat unhappy email making it to people high up in Dell’s Australian sales team, I’ve been told I can have an XT3.  Apparently it’s one they found somewhere else in the company (so not a made-to-order demo like we usually get).  But I’ll take it anyway.

Chasing Geese

So, we have our first test machine for our staff machine rollout next year.  The idea here is that the teachers get something ahead of the kids that sets the scene for our 1:1 program next year.

The machine sent to us was the Lenovo X230T (pictured).  Interesting because it’s a traditional Windows Tablet PC form-factor with multi-touch capabilities.  Available in an i5 version (which is where we’ll be aiming), it seems to tick a number of boxes, on paper at least.  Probably the only issue is how well it runs Windows 8, apparently some schools have looked at it previously, and had trouble getting some drivers to work.  I’ve been told by a reseller though, that they believe the drivers are due to be updated for Win 8 soon, so I guess we’ll see.



It’s been handed to one of our teachers for a look and the impression has been overall quite positive.  The demo model didn’t have an SSD though, which we’d require if we were to buy it.

Whether it turns out to be any good or not, it’s nice to at least have it.  It wasn’t easy to get hold of.  We were originally told by one reseller that we could have it as soon as another school was finished, only to have that reseller spend weeks trying to track it down as it went from school to school, avoiding us like we had the plague.  When push finally came to shove we were told that the particular demo unit had been arranged by another reseller and we couldn’t have it.  We contacted said other reseller and had it in our hands within a week.

Needless to say, we won’t be hurrying back to that first reseller anytime soon.

BYO, but not the kind I like.

This is old news now, but I thought it worth an update here on our timeframes and requirements for 1:1 and all the rest (yup, it's grown).

I've recently notified all teaching staff of our intentions for computing going forward so here's a potted version of that.

1:1 in Year 7
Identified as our best area to target with a new program (for a variety of reasons), we'll be rolling out new Windows 8 based, touch and pen enabled PC's to Year 7 next year, but not at the beginning of the year.  This will take place mid-year at the beginning of third term.

New Staff Devices
It's time to do away with the old Lenovo laptops which are suffering badly from a higher than expected rate of hardware failure.  We're replacing these with Windows 8 based touch-enabled devices with a pen.  This will happen in December/January next year. 

BYOD in 11 and 12
Our senior students (year 11 and 12) will be asked to provide a machine of their own from the beginning of 2013.  They'll be given access to our network and some network resources and provided limited I.T. Support (ie. their connectivity will be maintainted, but not their PC).
They'll be allowed to bring anything, within limits.  Basically, anything that has a screen-size 10" or larger and has a keyboard (and probably some software requirements as well).

LMS
We've got a sub-group of our Working Party underway investigating different Learning Management Systems with a view to selecting one and running with it in 2013.

More potential devices?

I've made a few more contacts with regard to devices for staff and/or students.  Dell are in the process of finding me an XT3 (the basis of a Hobart schools 1:1 program), and Toshiba seem to think they can send me a demo of one of their M930.  So at the moment it looks like I might have up to four candidates, with more to be released in a month or two.

I also have a meeting arranged with Samsung.  I have to travel a couple of hours for the privilege, but they seem keen to approach schools with the promise of longer warranties supported by local service centres (that are yet to be esablished).  Interesting!

A Touch Scarce!

With the need for a specific type of Windows 8 device for both teachers and students next year, the search has begun (okay, it began back at the Dell Roadshow, but I was really just window-shopping then) for a couple of models to fit the bill.

Our consultant from the workshop was quite strong on suggesting we contact Samsung to see what they had to offer.  After some stuffing around to try and find someone to contact, I've done just that.  It'll be interesting to see if they can meet our needs.  They have some cool looking new Windows 8 devices available, but the big question is around whether they can provide local warranty and support at enterprise level (or better than retail level, at least).

But regarding getting hold of one of these new Windows 8 based machines to look at, there's not a lot available right now (September).  I've been promised a look at a Fujitsu Q702 soon, and I may be able to get hold of a Lenovo X230T as well (which may or may not be able to run Windows 8).  But other than that most of the manufacturers are telling me to wait until October 26, then they'll have something to show.  That's scarily late in the year for staff PC's, which are intended to be rolled out in January at the latest.

1:1 Planning Workshop

So, we've recently had our workshop on planning a 1:1 Computing rollout.

I didn't personally have a lot to take away from it, most of the content was the sort of thing I'd heard before, but I think our teaching staff really did get a lot out of it.  Our consultant (Travis) has a lot of experience with 1:1 computing and was able to articulate the need for teachers to update their teaching to coincide with the rollout.  Also, the importance of a Learning Management System was very apparent.  The key to a 1:1 rollout is students being able to learn anywhere, anytime.  If they have a device of their own this could be in class, at home, somewhere outside in the school grounds, at a friends place or anywhere with connectivity.  The best way to allow for this is with an LMS, where lesson content is stored online and is available to the student anywhere learning doesn't have to stop when the timetabled class does.

So I guess we're going to need a new LMS, or to start taking the one we've got more seriously.

The other big takeaway from this workshop was the idea of pen-based computing.  Teachers were instantly impressed by the idea that they can use a pen on the screen of a tablet PC to annotate documents and take notes.  This was identified as a requirement for new staff computers (due at the start of next year) and the 1:1 student computers, as was the need for these machines to be the same(or similar).

Windows 8 is clearly going to be a feature here next year.  Travis reinforced the advantages to that platform, meaning that we in the I.T. Dept. had better get familiar with supporting it ASAP.

Finally, I heard a great statistic that casts doubt on the efficiency of new touch-screen devices.  Apparently research has shown that you're three times more efficient using a physical keyboard than you are using an on-screen keyboard.  So typing on a touch-screen sucks... who woulda thunk it?

UPDATE:

So it's time for a budget re-visit as a result of all this.  The addition of pen-based devices adds overall cost tot he machines themselves.  Also an LMS looks like adding a mimunum $10k as well.  The biggest budget yet just got bigger!

It's not Travis Bickle.

... and I need to get that out of my head, seriously.

Anyway, Travis is the name of a consultant we've engaged to help us work on our 1:1 approach.  He works for a company whose primary concern is to help schools with technology programs, and has previously been a teacher and run a program of his own.

It'll be good to get some outside help, a bit of perspective, and hopefully an impression of the scale of this (for those who seem to think it's just a matter of getting some computers).  It will also be good for me to get an idea of where we stand with getting the teachers (and the way they teach) up to speed.  That's obviously going to be crucial.

What's the rush?

So, in a recent meeting of the College ICT Committee, the 1:1 plans were discussed, and critically, the budget for said plans has started to take shape.

The budget will be the biggest I've been responsible for putting together.  Although the idea is that we'd be asking parents to contribute to the cost of the program, it still represents a considerable dent in the College's cash-flow.  But I guess that's the price we need to pay to ge the program started.

Timeframes have also been discussed.  There was some talk of looking at kicking it off at the beginning of 2013.  I can't see how that's even possible.  There's only 1 term left in 2012 and for a normal sized rollout I'd already want to be looking at some candidate machines.  Then there's the question of our staff laptops, which are due to be replaced at the start of 2013.  I think a 2013 start is going to be pushing our luck.

Dell Roadshow

I've recently travelled to Slowbart to see what Dell have in store with their Windows 8 based machines.  I can't say I really feel any more enlightened though.

The Dell sales guys brought some pretty standard laptops and ultrabooks, and an old Windows 7 tablet, but not much else.  They had Powerpoint slides of the Dell XPS-12, which is certainly an interesting machine (although I wonder about the durablity of the hinge mecahnism), and a plastic mock-up of their Windows 8 slate (the Latitude 10, I think).

Anyway, it ws nice to be able to talk to the Dell people, and I certainly got some good information about availability.  That is, that it looks like we wont see anything until after the Windows 8 launch. I also learned that there will be a lot of Intel Atom based equipment coming out, due largely to Intels very aggressive pricing of this platform.  I'm told this is an improvement on the old Atom chips.  It would need to be.

I Like More Beer at My Parties!

So, today it's been suggested that we form a Working Party to work out how to implement this 1-device-per-student program.

The thought has been that we target Year 10 as a starting point for this program. If we figure that we've got 6 grades (7-12) then the computers we buy will be best run as two 3 year cycles (they can hardly last 6 years), the second will start in Year 10.  This means getting the students in Year 11 and 12 with machines in their hands sooner, there's a difinite need there.

So, it looks like our Working Party will be small.  Featuring myself, our e-Learning Coordinator, a member of the Board, and our English Faculty Head (a keen technology user, and teacher of year 10's).  That's fine by me, a smaller group should be much more nimble and decisive.

UPDATE - Our Working Party is now 5, we welcome our Librarian onboard.  This will be handy when we come to looking at e-texts.

A funny thing happened...

I've recently been asked to attend meetings of the College Building Committee / Master Planning Committee.  The idea is that the current building projects we're working toward need some guidance from I.T.  That's great, I couldn't be happier, as there have been a number of things that haven't exactly been ideal in previous construction projects (the comms racks that were too small for the servers, the expensive A/V systems that noone can use to name two examples).  So now hopefully we'll have less problems in our new buildings, or at least avoid repeating the same mistakes.

So anyway, what does this have to do with this blog?  Well my first one of these meetings took us off on a bit of a tangent.  We got very heavily into the future of I.T. at the College and how that affects new teaching spaces.  Take for example the four computer labs we currently maintain.  Should they be allowed for in a new construction project?  I couldn't imagine that would be a good idea, the use of desktops is going to receed in the coming years and these spaces with them.  But it's not simply good enough just to leave them out or remove the labs, you need a coherent plan for the future.  That's the road this meeting started to go down.

The meeting ended up with the Principal suggesting that the conversation is best continued at a Board level.  So apparently that means I'm about to see what happens at Board Meetings.  I hope I can remember the secret handshake! ;)

Sowing the seed.

It's been an interesting year so far.

The uncertainty about the College's next principal (which I have my suspicions about) has allowed time to ponder some things.  Particularly about future directions and trends in I.T.  With a change in leadership possible, it's not been the right time to try making any big changes, so we've been doing something different with our ICT Committee this year.  We've been running what I call 'New Technology Sessions".  Instead of meeting and going through the usual administrivia of budgets, apllications and policies we've been delving into some concepts that I felt a committee of ICT decision makers should be aware of.  From simple things like Web 2.0 and Cloud, to some of the programs that are going on in other schools, and even more confusing concepts like BYOD.  So far it's been received well by the group, who actually seem far more interested in these sessions than the regular meetings which I know from experience that some loathe.

This year is intended to be the I.T. Department's "break" year, with the DER rollouts finished and less College PC's to be renewed than in years to come, we'd figured this to be a good time to consolidate, to look at getting caught up on some infrastructure upgrades and generally not have to push all year.  That fits in well with the idea of New Technology Sessions, the Committee is also out of the DER rollout phase so they should sit back and take stock too.  Work out what the priorities are for using what is certainly more technology than the school has ever had.  Those thoughts might even be able to guide our infrastructure upgrades somewhat.

All a-Board.

There's nothing I love more than a meeting, particularly one that happens hours after I finish work.  This one was particularly unusal, first because I barely knew anyone at the meeting, and second because I appeared to be an agenda item.

Just going back a little to the days before this meeting.  I had conversations with the principal to get a feeling for what we might be saying to the members of the board, and was asked to bring a little bit of content with me.  Just a nice video to show and some notes.  It was all quite last minute, but I got them together in time to get to the meeting.

So, after the meeting starts I'm annouced as being there to tell the board something about our plans for computing.  Frankly, that wasn't quite what I had in mind, after all, I wasn't even clear on why I was there in the first place, let alone aware of any plan.

Anyway, so I deftly deferred to the principal, who got things rolling.  We showed our video and chatted about the future of computing, 1:1, different approaches, and a false start turned into a very productive meeting.

We even got to the point of talking about Windows 8 and the changes I could see coming, about how this would be the basis for a 1:1 computing plan and the desire to start moving in that direction.

So, the principal and I came away from the meeting with the support of The Board to go ahead and start working out how to move to an environment where every student has a computer of their own.

I feel my hope for 2012 being an easier year slipping away very quickly.

First Post, w00t!

If nothing else this exercise will be an interesting return to running a blog.  Although I've blogged before (most recently, here), this will be the firs time I've had a subject matter that constantly provides so much to blog about.

Because of time constraints, some of these entries are going to be posted retrospectively, but most should be reasonably current.  Definitely the first bunch will be "the story so far", basically catching up on what's happened in the months since we started this project.  So please, if I mention Planking or Psy, please don't be all "that's so last month", because it very much is, and you're probably a tool anyway.

I'll try to keep it light and coversational, I seem to do a lot of formal writing in the form of reports, proposals and official communications, so I'll try not to sound like a suit.

L8r.