Some things a Head needs to know

about ICT

ICT Conference for IAPS London North and SouthWednesday 21st March 2012

Mark S. Steed, MA (Cantab.) MA (Nottingham)

Principal, Berkhamsted School

Some things a Head needs to know about ICT

1. Who should make ICT budget decisions?

2. Some key principles of ICT strategy

3. Other strategic issues

4. The future of teaching and learning

5. What is going to make the biggest difference in your school?

6. Protecting your school on New Media sites

7. Questions? Discussion

Who should make Strategic ICT budget decisions?

ICT Strategy

Who sets the ICT strategy?

ICT strategy cannot be seen in isolation – it has to be part of a whole school strategy.

ICT Strategy

Who sets the ICT strategy?

ICT strategy cannot be seen in isolation – it has to be part of a whole school strategy.

ICT strategy is too important to be left to the Network Manager.

ICT Strategy

Who sets the ICT strategy?

ICT strategy cannot be seen in isolation – it has to be part of a whole school strategy.

ICT strategy is too important to be left to the Network Manager.

Someone in the School Leadership Team needs to take strategic responsibility for ICT

ICT Strategy

Who sets the ICT strategy?

Educational priorities must inform ICT priorities

Learning from Past Mistakes

Supply Driven ICT procurement

Learning from Past Mistakes

Supply Driven ICT procurement

Interactive Whiteboards

Learning from Past Mistakes

Supply Driven ICT procurement

Virtual Learning Environments

ICT Strategy – An Example

Educational priorities inform ICT Strategy

Teachers want to Stream YouTube or ClickView clips

Make videos in lessons

ICT Strategy – An Example Educational priorities inform ICT Strategy

Teachers want to Stream YouTube or ClickView clips

Need excellent internet connection

Make videos in lessons Need a media server Need a lot of storage

ICT Strategy Educational priorities inform ICT Strategy

Typical ICT User Group The member of the Senior Leadership Team with

Strategic Responsibility for ICT Head of e-Learning - Teacher (ICT Classroom Support Technician) At least 4 teachers

3 “enthusiasts” who are not techies 1 “cynic”

ICT Strategy Who sets the ICT strategy?

Typical ICT Strategy Group The member of the Senior Leadership Team with

Strategic Responsibility for ICT Head of e-Learning - Teacher (ICT Classroom Support Technician) ICT Network Manager The Head or Deputy Head The Bursar

Some key principles of ICT strategy

ICT Strategy

Key Principles:

ICTNetwork

ICT Strategy

Key Principles:

Reliability

ICTNetwork

ICT Strategy

Key Principles:

Reliability

Security

ICTNetwork

ICT Strategy

Key Principles:

Reliability

Performance Security

ICTNetwork

ICT Strategy

Key Principles:

Reliability

Performance Security

ICTNetwork

ICT Strategy

Key Principles:

A faster, more reliable, more secure network is always possible

ICT Strategy

Key Principles:

A faster, more reliable, more secure network is always possible

- at a price

ICT Strategy

Key Principles:

Ultimately, ICT budgeting is no different to any other budgeting:

It comes down to senior managers conducting an informed a cost-benefit

analysis

ICT Strategy

1. Network Speed

The speed of the network is determined by the simplicity/ complexity of the overall

network the processing power of the servers the speed of the switches the speed/bandwidth of the network

cabling the volume of traffic at peak times

ICT Strategy

1. Network Speed

The speed of the network is determined by the simplicity/ complexity of the overall

network the processing power of the servers the speed of the switches the speed/bandwidth of the network

cabling the volume of traffic at peak times

Is it worth upgrading the servers?

Is it worth upgrading the switches?

Is it worth upgrading the network

cabling?

Is it worth upgrading the speed of the

internet connection?

ICT Strategy

2. Network Security

ICT Strategy

2. Network Security

Beware the Network Manager who wants to prevent pupils and teachers accessing the School Network

ICT Strategy

2. Network Security

ICT Strategists need to balance issues of security, accessibility and cost

ICT Strategy

2. Network Security

ICT Strategy

2. Network Security

ICT Strategists need to balance issues of security, accessibility and cost

ICT Strategy

3. Network Reliability

The reliability of the network is determined by

the quantity and availability of spare capacity, the network may be required to cope with peak usage [‘resilience’]

the quality of the network cabling the quality of the network monitoring by

the Network Manager the availability and quality of the

Uninterruptable Power Supply

ICT Strategy

3. Network Reliability

The reliability of the network is determined by

the quantity and availability of spare capacity, the network may be required to cope with peak usage [‘resilience’]

the quality of the network cabling the quality of the network monitoring by

the Network Manager the availability and quality of the

Uninterruptable Power Supply

How much spare capacity do we

need?

How many spare machines shall we

have sitting on the shelf?

How much should we invest in UPS?

How much time should we devote to

monitoring the Network?

Other key ICT Strategic Issues

ICT Strategy

ICT Hardware Replacement Policies

3, 4 or 5 years? To repair and upgrade or replace? To replace as part of a rolling programme

or on failure?

ICT Strategy

Back up and Disaster Recovery Policies

Prioritisation of data

How often to backup?

Remote location?

How often does the SMT test the procedure?

ICT Strategy

Internal Service Level Agreements

Response time Replace kit Network Downtime Backup and Recovery

times

ICT Strategy

Internal Service Level Agreements

Internal SLAs allow the Senior Leadership team and the ICT Support team to agree acceptable standards and thus provide a framework within which School ICT purchasing, network development and training decisions can be made.

ICT Strategy

Storage and Archiving Policies

High costs of storage

Increasing use of media files

Archiving software Annual

Housekeeping Identification of

data to be kept/ destroyed

ICT Strategy

Offsite Management

“Don’t lift the bonnet”

Remote services/ maintenance

Managed Services

Cloud Computing solutions

ICT StrategyTen Questions to Ask your Network Manager

1. If there were a major fire in the server room, how long it would be before each of these services would be restored.  List . . e.g. email, School MIS, etc.

2. Can you retrieve a file which was last seen one month ago, and how long would it take to retrieve

3. If a generous donation of £250,000 was given to the School specifically for ICT developments (in addition to the normal budget) what would you recommend we spent it on, and what would be the advantages for the School and end users (Pupils, Staff, Parents)?

4. How many individuals are sufficiently privileged administrators that they can see my (the Head’s) documents, emails, etc.?

5. If a pupil got hold of a staff password, and started using it, how would we ever know, and how long might it take?

6. If your budget was suddenly cut by 50%, how could you cope, and what would be the effects on the School and the end users?

7. What would be the effect of our main Internet connection being severed by a JCB somewhere?  What services would we lose?  Have we any backup systems in place, or would they have also been severed by the same JCB?

8. Can you show me any records of the systems’ reliability over the past 12 months?  Do you regard the reliability as acceptable?  If not, how could we improve it and how much would it cost?

9. What might happen if a major incident occurs while you (or any one specific member of your staff) are away on holiday abroad for 2 weeks?

10. For each member of your technical staff (including yourself) what would be the immediate effect on the running of the system if they suddenly (with no notice) left.  What specific tasks would it be difficult for the others on your team to perform, and how long might it take to recover fully from the loss?  Is there adequate documentation to minimise such a problem?

Available in pdf format on the ISC Website

ICT Strategy Integrated Communications

Photo Credit: Interactive Schools

An Integrated Communications Strategy

The future of teaching and learning

What is going to make the biggest difference in your

school?

Empowerment

Empowerment

Teaching and Learning (teachers/pupils) Learning Platform (Head of eLearning) Research Skills (Librarians) School MIS (Database Manager) Multi-functional Devices (Bursar) WIFI and Network (Network Director)

Protecting your School onNew Media sites

New Media Sites

Facebook Twitter TweetDeck YouTube Blogs Flickr

Schools can set upFacebook PageFacebook Group

Given that the minimum age for Facebook is 13, it is best that Prep Schools steer clear of this medium.

However it is probably worth the school gaining control of the direct URLs to protect its reputation.

Facebook pages have direct URLswww.facebook.com/berkhamstedschoolYou have no right to own your school

Facebook page – it is first come, first served It may be wise to set up the page – if you

don’t someone else will and you won’t have control of it.

The School can “push” information to parents Less invasive than receiving an email

More regular updates Short, digestible pieces of information

Parents/Friends can opt in Parents/Friends can receive it on their mobile

phones or on computers

We can link to items on the school website or elsewhere on the web.

Key personnel can update information live from mobile phones

Can set up multiple school Twitter accounts @berkhamstedsch @berkhamstedprep @berkhamstedboys @berkhamstedgirl @berkhamsted6th

Tweetdeck allows you to run multiple Twitter accounts very easily

You have no right to your School Twitter address – it is first come first served

School Channel

Email: principal@berkhamstedschool.org

Twitter: @independenthead

Blog: http://independenthead.blogspot.com