Home Access in Kent

Throughout the ICT Headteachers Conference, there were a series of presentations and debates. They can be downloaded via our Kent Trust Web site or see below.

Demos, the independent Think Tank who supported the faciliated debate sessions have provided their feedback of the days outcomes in the form of a Powerpoint Presentation and a Podcast. This will enable you to hear feedback from presenters and delegates on the day and understand the key ideas and outcomes.

You can view them here:

Demos Powerpoint

Demos Podcast

Presentations from the Day

Conference Open - Graham Badman

Keynote Speech  - Home Access Task Force

Open Source and Home Access – Philippa Weaver and Paul Sharrad

Home Access in Practice – Alison Gaunt

A Vision for the Future – Andy Hutt - Slides, Supporting Document

The Programme of the day

Home Access – the Background

If you have any queries or comments about the conference, or to be send copies of any of the presentations/documents please email The Digital Curriculum Team.

Andy presented a highly amusing journey through the near past and into the present.Much of the presentation showcased what can be done now, but for most present this came as something of a futuristic revelation! Andy has agreed that we can post parts of his presentation, and we will try to get this up as soon as possible.

For a background to the Homesdale Malling Federation, we previously produced Podcasts from a recent Becta Harnessing Technology Conference. Alison Gaunt is the e-learning director for the Federation.

We will be providing some resources from the presentation and posting them on the ICT 2008 Kent Trust Web. The session showed how home access was influencing childrens achievement and allowed them to present their own view of learning.

DEMOS has been tasked to capture the discussions from the conference, and they are in the process of preparing the feedback. We will post this as soon as it is returned, and the debate can be begin!

 Photographs from the ICT conference 2008 can be found HERE.

There has been much national debate around the use of Open Source software in schools. Becta, the government agency for ICT in schools has recently been in the press for its new contract to AlphaPlus Consultancy to explore how Open Source can benefit schools. Essentially Open Source software is free to use and allows users the freedom to alter, develop and customise the underlying code. Support for users comes usually from a community web site and supporting forums.

Phillipa Weaver and Paul Sharrad gave an inspired walk through the open source applications they are using. We will publish a list of the titles they have mentioned, and the web links from where they can be downloaded. The real message is cost! Great applications can be freely available and have as many features as commercial software. We will follow this up with further information from the two presenters, and plan to put together a page on Kent Trust Web to advise schools.

The discussion around the tables covered the following key points:

• Free appplications are welcome, but should be able to run on Windows as well as Open Source networks and operating systems. Indeed most can. Moodle, the Open Source learning platform is one such application that runs on both Windows and Linux.
• There are two areas where Open Source can have an impact, but they require differing levels of commitment from a school: one is the use of free applications that run either in a browser or can be installed on any operating system, including window; then there is the leap of faith required to move your server infrastructure to Open Source completely. If considering the latter, its worth remembering that most educational applications from Curriculum Online only run under windows, and the same goes for SIMs etc.
  
• There is a cost to Open Source. The cost of the software is nil, but the technical expertise required to deploy and maintain Open Source operatring systems and servers is not widely available in the school ICT marketplace. Most network managers have Microsoft skills, and may be reluctant to give them up. The small number of Open Source enthusiasts available to schools means that schools may end up over-reliant on key individuals. This needs to be addressed head-on.
• I couldn't find any schools listed in the ICT Register as examples of best practice or as Open Source consultants. In addition I am not aware of any ICT Mark schools using Open Source as their main network and desktop operating system. Schools with the expertise should seriously consider taking their school ICT through the acid test to show that it really can be done, and that Open Source can meet educational aspirations against the ICT Mark standard.

I am going to open up as Clusterweb page to list those applications that are available for school use, and look at how schools might wish to consider Open Source alternatives such as Open Office to enable home access. Open Source has a future in education, that has been proven by other countries who have adopted it, such as France. The debate needs to focus on how it can be managed in a school environment.

Note: whilst the issue was briefly up on the conference blog, an anonymous commentator made a number of useful points. I reproduce these points below, (and have the IP address of the orginator). One point to make is that anonymous commenting is silly when the specific nature of the content indicates the author. Anonymous comments are cowardly when directed at individuals, and I don't generally publish them. Well made points are constructive and illuminating, and the comment does highlight one of the key issues, and is thus reproduced below:

From Anon 

" Paul Sharrad used to be ict manager at Swadelands who also used a complete open source server and clien solution - what a mess that is now since he left! school are now moving to a server 2008/vista desktop solution which gives much more functionality and management.

open sourse - look at the long term costs and stop jumping on a bandwagon"

The Home Access Task Force was set up by DCSF in January 2007 to explore the potential for providing every child with an internet connected computer at home. The Task Force has been working to look at how this might work in practice and the research evidence that supports it. Kent has been involved in the report

Stephen Rayner and Kirsty Tonks from Shireland Language College and Crockets Lane Primary gave an excellent overview of their ICT test bed project, which uses the Microsoft Learning Gateway. Some of the applications were pretty impressive (and Potteresque!). The project is important because Sir Mark Grundy Chairs the Home Access Task Force, and is the principal of Shirelands. One of the Test Bed project strands was the use of ICT to link institutions wioth communities, which Shirelands led on.

The ICT Test Bed project at Shirelands was one of a number across the country between 2002 and 2006, which aimed to "... investigate how the sustained and embedded use of ICT in learning spaces can improve learner outcomes, classroom practice and institutional development. Uniquely, the project offered a longitudinal view of change in 30 schools and colleges over a four year period."

The projects were evaluated by Nottingham Trent University.

The discussion and comment around our table centred around the following:

• The considerable investment in time and money required to develop content and concepts.
• Kirsty gave an insightful view that home connectivity and the ability to leverage consumer device formats was likely to be more effective than providing computers to families.
• Once families have been given kit and connectivity, how is this sustained after the huge cash injection of the project?

Programme 

9:30 - 9:40 - Welcome to the event - Graham Badman - Managing Director,

9:40 - 10:30 - CFHE Keynote Presentation - The Home Access Task Force Stephen Rayner & Kirsty Tonks

10:30am – 11:00am - Facilitated Debate – Session 1 - Demos

11.20am – 11.50am - Open Source Technology and Home Access - Sandwich Technology School & Dover Grammar School for boys Philippa Weaver & Paul Sharrad

11:50am – 12:20pm - Facilitated Debate – Session 2 - Demos

1:20pm – 1:50pm - Home Access in practice - The Malling Holmesdale Federation Alison Gaunt

1:50pm – 2:20pm - Facilitated Debate – Session 3 - Demos

2:20pm – 2:50pm - The Vision for the Future - Andy Hutt

2:50pm – 3:20pm - Feedback from debates

3.20pm – 3.30pm - Conference Close - Grahame Ward – Director of Resources, CFHE

We had a few difficulties with the Home Access Blog at yesterdays ICT conference, so we had to set up an alternative. We are just in the process of transferring the posts back to this Home Access Kent Trust Web Blog. They should all be up by the end of today.

Welcome to the blog for the ICT 2008 Conference - "Next Generation learning" which will focus on a debate around Home Access and it's impact on teaching and learning in Kent. The Conference will take place on 19th June 2008 at the Ramada Hotel, Maidstone.

 Some useful links you may wish to look at:

The inital DCSF Consultation to Home Access Technology

Becta Board papers which update members on the home access taskforce.

Information for Parents

 BETT 2008 - Presentation on Home access and parental support by Mike Briscoe and Chris Stevens

Universal Access and Parental engament - Leaflet for School Leaders

Naace response to DCSF consultation on Home Access

We look forward to hearing your comments and  your partcipation on the day.

The Digital Curriculum Team