Browse by Tags

Last week I wrote about schools using Learning Gateway to connect with parents and followed that with looking at the practical issue of making sure your data is up-to-date . The targets for schools to provide online parental reporting are DCSF & Becta guidelines, not legislation – and as such there...

With all of the changes in the way that ICT is being used in learning, there’s an increasing demand for staff to have remote access to schools systems, from home or other times when they are away from school. Sometimes it can be enough to provide access to your learning platform, but it is becoming increasingly...

People are definitely getting concerned about the need to secure data in schools. On Tuesday, in the "When too much security means less security" post I mentioned that there are new stricter penalties faced by organisations for losing/disclosing personal data, with fines up to £500,000. And...

In December, my local BBC News station showed an interview with a head teacher, who’d had to crawl across a sloping playground, covered in black ice, to send out a text to let parents know the school was closed. Which surprised me because he was using one of the systems that allows you to send out the...

Part five of the series of Top 10 ICT Money Saving Tips for schools , based on my BETT 2010 presentation. Every time we release a new version of our software, and you upgrade to it, it is well worth doing a review of what extra features it includes that may be able to save you money. Typically I find...

Ever since Windows 7 was launched, I’ve had a steady stream of people asking me if I know of schools who have implemented Direct Access . Direct Access allows you to setup your staff laptops so that teachers can always have secure access to your school network wherever they are, but without forcing them...

I keep an eye on the Information Commissioner’s Office press releases on their website ( in the hope that we’re not going to see schools appearing too often ), where I suspect they have a busy Press Officer producing a constant stream of news (last 2 weeks : Recruitment firms fined; mobile phone customers...

This is probably something for local authorities, who’re running big datacentres, but there are likely to be readers of this blog that are either in that role, or are running big datacentres in their school. And given the size of some of the transactional databases in schools today, this might apply...

One of the websites I read via its RSS feed is that of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). And you need to read today’s release before your students! Students receiving exam results this summer can find out more about their grades by using their rights under the Data Protection Act. Guidance...

This is just a quick one for Monday morning. Last week, when I talked about Information Security, and Becta’s guidance, at the Learning Gateway Conference, there was quite a bit of interest in the two-factor authentication that would be required for all teacher access to sensitive data from outside the...

At today’s Learning Gateway Conference, I talked about the Becta Information Security guidelines. My perspective was “here’s the Becta official advice, and here’s my take on an action plan for you”. Even though the subject was Information Security, and it was after lunch, the hour seemed to whizz by...

Sorry, they have now all gone. I’ve laid my hands on some ‘Windows 7 Release Candidate’ DVDs. So if you’re interested in spending a little more time understanding what Windows 7 does, and have a spare computer hanging around, then email me and I’ll pop one in the post to you . Four interesting things...

This Friday, my colleague Ian McKenzie, is hosting a Live Meeting on “Information Governance and Assurance in the Public Sector”. It’s one of a series that he’s been running, and I thought it would be worth telling you about this one because it has relevance to your challenges. And the good news is that...

I was at a conference yesterday (sadly covered by Chatham House Rule so no juicy snippets) which looked at security of public sector ICT systems, and there was a session which was about malware. Although it was delivered in a matter-of-fact deadpan way, it left me feeling just a little bit nervous (and...

If you’ve been following the story so far , you’ll know that Becta have published new guidelines for Information Security in schools. It has happened in a few stages, with the detailed information finally being published in the autumn. This included information on the various protection levels that applied...

We made a few announcements in BETT week – and during the course of this week, I’ll make sure I write about them all (if you’re impatient, you can see them all here ). One of the most significant from a product/service perspective was that we announced the launch of the London Grid for Learning’s new...

Yesterday, Jason Burton and I went along to the Capita One conference in Leicestershire to talk about “Business Intelligence” and “Information Rights Management”. In real English, that means "how do we turn this mass of data into real information” and “how do we keep some control over how people...

Woke up early this morning. I don't get a daily newspaper delivery, and it was absolutely bucketing it down - hence no trip to the newsagent. So instead I settled down with my TES to catch up with all the latest news. And suddenly I found myself staring at a reference to this blog - in the "5 things...

As you may know, I enabled Windows Vista’s BitLocker encryption on my laptop a couple of weeks ago, and since that time I have been reassured to know that should something happen to my laptop, all of the data on it is fully encrypted and secure. The whole process was very smooth – I simply enabled it...

To the famous Diana Ross tune I’m Coming Out * I’m BitLocker’d up, I want the world to know, Got to let it show, I’m BitLocker’d up, I want the world to know, Got to let it show… I don’t know why it took me so long to get started. My new laptop has a TPM chip in it, and even though...

With the news this week on Information Security guidelines for schools – and the obvious need for encryption on teachers’ laptops from now on, I think it would be timely to remind you how to ensure that you buy the right licences for Windows Vista – so that you get the licences for BitLocker, which is...

And, boy, do they take some reading. We’re rocketed from ‘ worry, but I can’t tell you why’ to ‘ this is what you should really worry about’ , in a mere 125 pages. How does that make you feel? For the minute, if you want all of the specifics on the Becta Data Handling guidance, you’re going to have...

I’m continuing to read the new Becta guidance documents on Information Security, and think about the consequences. After a few discussions with people, and comments from others here and elsewhere, I thought I’d try a to create a visual way of understanding where we are. This is by no means definitive...

I have a colleague, Ed, who’s a legend around here. He’s the Microsoft UK Chief Security Advisor. Obviously that’s a bit of a mouthful, which is why we call him “Ed the Fed”, because of his career history – which obviously makes him an ideal person to ask about Information Security. ( I was going to...

The Becta Information Security advice page for schools has been updated, and they provide a more detailed document ( Keeping data safe, secure and legal ) which goes further than their previous advice, but not yet far enough. In fact, if you take the report at face value, you’re going to lock up your...