Lies and Damn Lies Not Included

Recently, we've been gathering some information on the progress of our BYOD program, which reminded me of some research we did last year when planning for our 1:1 program.

We'd been keen to know what other schools were planning for their computing fleet, particularly given the recent changes to the I.T. landscape (I'm speaking specifically of the iPad, Android and touch-enabled devices).  Using connections I had with networks of I.T. Managers and E-Learning people I put together a survey.  The survey was constructed with the intention of finding out what the future computing device plans were for schools in general.  It received over 100 replies and helped dispel a few myths that were emanating throughout our College and other's.  Below are the pretty graphical results of that survey, with my take on what the statistics (lies, damn lies not included) mean.  I figure 15 years experience with Education I.T. puts me in a good place to interpret the responses:

[caption id="attachment_267" align="aligncenter" width="604"] This represents the way things are now. The Windows platform accounts for the large majority, but that’s less than the 90% or so it accounts for outside of education.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_268" align="aligncenter" width="549"] Schools were asked whether they intended to change from their answer in the previous question. Interestingly, over half of schools have no plans to move away from what they’re doing now.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_269" align="aligncenter" width="547"] Here we see what those changing are switching to. Investigating multiple platforms or just Windows 8 seems to be the theme. Note the interest in BYOD.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_270" align="aligncenter" width="548"] This essentially combines those two situations in the previous graph.  It shows all responses that indicate a change to one platform, or multiple including that platform. Note again, the BYOD.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_271" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Most of the schools changing are doing it on what they consider to be a large scale, few seem to be small-scale changes.  This gives the data on proposed changes more credibility.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_273" align="aligncenter" width="545"] This shows which grade-groups schools are targeting with the change in their fleet.
Very few primary-only schools responded, so they aren’t well represented here.
This probably indicates that most schools are changing school-wide (note middle-school grades weren't an option, this may have yielded more information).[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_274" align="aligncenter" width="546"] No surprises here, this may just mimic the wider installed base of systems. It may also indicate those involved in laptop computing on more mature platforms seeing little need to change.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_266" align="aligncenter" width="545"] NSW respondents number the highest, with Tasmania well represented.
Many thanks to the TISIT and MITIE forums for providing the responses.[/caption]

To sum up.  The information gathered shows few schools diverging massively from what they were doing before.  This is apparent when you take into account that most moving to Windows 8 are probably using a previous Windows already, which is more of a logical upgrade path than a sweeping change.  Schools changing to iOS aren't nearly as widespread as some may have thought and poor old Linux an Android lag behind the rest.  With respect to the latter, that story is far from over, particularly if Google can sort out a few interoperability issues.  Time will tell.

I hope you found this as interesting as I did.

Spicks and Specifications

[caption id="attachment_245" align="alignright" width="300"] The Bee Gees talk Devices with old Monkey Boy.[/caption]

It's probably a little late to be getting started on our Year 7 device rollout, but with everything else we've been asked to do, this is the absolute earliest we could expect to get things underway.

When I say "getting started" what I really mean is beginning the process of looking at devices, and as usual the first step is to work out what we want exactly, and get some quotes.  That, followed by; seeing some physical machines, establishing a shortlist, showing off the options internally, then picking something is roughly the process we'll go through.  It's worth sticking around to see that process, as over the years we've got it down to a fine art, particularly the part of assessing the candidate machines.

This time I've made one change though.  We'll be producing a serious and complete Request for Quote document to lay our our requirements fully.  One of the biggest problems we've encountered over the years is getting machines to meet a spec, a price, and receiving them on time.  I will not haggle this time, nor will I accept delivery weeks late.  I don't have that luxury when the program is being funded by parents who expect to get what they're paying for when we say they will.  I expect resellers and manufacturers to put up there best most reliable option first and expect no second chances.

The process of arriving at a machine spec. is an interesting one, and can be difficult when the industry is in such a state of flux as it is now.  Luckily we've been keeping a close eye on the Windows 8 device market since this time last year, and we now know what we can expect for roughly what sort of money.  We used that knowledge plus input on preferred features from our teaching staff to arrive at this specification:

That probably lends itself to one or two types of machine, but if we're to get something that matches the above, we've got to work with that.  Which we will do, I suspect I know what models the quotes are likely to bring, so it'll be interesting to see if I'm right.

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.