You probably have a policy for them – the ubiquitous memory stick. Not that many years ago I was excited when I got my first 16MB one, and now everybody’s got them. They are wonderful. UNLESS they happen to contain the only copy of a file, and they go missing. Or you forget to bring them in on the day you needed the info (“I’ve done my homework, but I’ve left my memory stick at home Sir”). We’ve been suggesting for a while that students use either SkyDrive or Office Live Workspace to store files online instead. No more USB memory sticks plugged into your computers, and a lot lower risk from viruses and inappropriate files (because you can pass everything through your web filters). It also means that they can share work with other students if they choose, and collaborate in groups. And in the case of Office Live Workspace, they can Open & Save into their storage on the web, directly from Office. And they are both free.
But, it’s a bit of a boring subject isn’t it? Until you’ve lost your memory stick. (A bit like doing PC backups – boring until it’s too late!)
So the Office Live Workspaces team have created a video that just might appeal..
So now you know. You can encourage students to use their free Office Live Workspace individually, and we are also working with some of the Regional Broadband Consortia to provide it as a free service to all of your students through the Live@Edu service
I have spent the afternoon and evening today at the Institute of Education in London, participating in a series of workshops about blogging practice in education – specifically in the context of schools. I had been invited to talk about my experiences of blogging both personally and professionally, and cover again some of the material that I’d talked about at the blogging workshop.
Subjects included everything from “why blog” to “how do I get on the front page of the search engines”. And the thorny challenge of how to safely blog within an institutional mindset that might not understand it.
We moved from generic blogging discussions onto looking at blogging within a classroom context, which was a different approach all together.
You can get the mindmaps from the meeting on the Mirandamod wiki and download my “Blogging Good Practice” slides from my Skydrive.
Hopefully the recordings of the meetings will also shortly be available, which I think will be much more useful, because they will capture the deeper discussions, and the practical experiences and opinions from everybody in the meeting – physically and virtually.
It’s been a really interesting experience, and makes me determined to turn my PowerPoint presentation into a series of blog posts – because the PowerPoint slides don’t really carry enough of the information.
A last week I wrote “Windows 7 is getting closer”, and one of the readers on the Universities blog posed the question about Application Compatibility – their point was that they used over 450 applications, so couldn’t we test them all to check they work on Windows 7. (I’m wondering if 450 applications is a record – do schools use that many?) Hopefully it’s no surprise to learn that we can’t do all of that, but that there’s been a big focus on overall application compatibility in Windows 7 – back to both Windows Vista and Windows XP.
Later today, Mark Russinovich is hosting a worldwide roundtable on Application Compability that you might want to join in. As it is a single event for the whole world, it is at 7pm our time tonight, but I’ve had a look at the telly schedule and there’s nothing exciting on (thank goodness Britain’s Got Talent has finished – for so many reasons!).
Here’s the blurb:
“Windows 7 is approaching fast and from the application standpoint is very similar to Windows Vista. We’re going to examine Windows 7 application compatibility not only from the perspective of moving from Windows Vista, but also for those coming from Windows XP. Join us to discuss the most common challenges around application compatibility when coming from a legacy operating system, why changes were made along the way, compatibility technologies inside the OS and methods for getting incompatible applications to run on Windows 7. Along the way we share tips and tricks, demonstrate free tools to analyze and fix applications and answer your specific questions about application compatibility live.”
As part of the “virtual” experience, you may submit your questions about Windows 7 Application Compatibility to the panel live during the event—or submit questions in advance to vrtable@microsoft.com.
I use a web service called StatCounter on this blog, to keep an eye on where my readers are coming from, and what they are interested in.
As well as detailed stats, it also gives me interesting maps like this, which shows me where the readers are located:
Logging on this morning, I also discovered that they track search engines, and had a story on their blog about Bing.com, and the jump in use since it was launched last week.
The chart below tells the story, with Bing.com jumping to second most used search in the US.
Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Search Engine Market Share
I changed the chart, to look at use in Europe (unfortunately they don’t have the same kind of stats for just the UK), which showed that in Europe Google is overwhelmingly the number one search engine (note the scale difference), and also that habits haven’t changed that much since Bing arrived. The stats look like this:
I can now understand why, especially in the Europe, getting onto the first page of Google results matters so much. The research shows only a minority of people ever go beyond the first page, so if you show up on page 2 of a web search, you don’t exist for the majority of web users!
In Thursday’s blog post on Windows 7 release dates, I asked if you’d had a chance to run the Beta or Release Candidate version on one of your older machines yet – and I received a welcome deluge of emails from people who had.
It would take me ages to give you all of the scientific details of configurations, so instead I’ve gone for a ready reckoner table of the responses.
Thanks to the EduGeek community too, as they have continued to provide more examples of kit they’ve tried it on. The emerging view is that whilst it will install on 512MB RAM, it is slower than XP on older kit, but when you move to 1GB RAM it’s faster. You can read more on the EduGeek Windows 7 forum
I haven’t yet received a single email from somebody who has failed to get Windows 7 running on one of their computers, which I think is probably even more significant than the detail in the list below! (See the bottom for my own inglorious failure!)
So, for your delight and delectation…
Also, take a look at the Windows Club forum, where somebody has Windows 7 running on an old P2 processor (266MHz) and 96MB RAM - which is definitely NOT in my list of "recommended things to do". And PC World are reporting "Windows 7 hits a new low" - the 'new low' is lower specification hardware.
During half-term week, we joined the Welsh Assembly Government at the Urdd Eisteddfod in Cardiff Bay, to launch Welsh language support for SharePoint. Steve Beswick, of Microsoft, and Meri Huws, of the Welsh Language Board, officially launched the pack with Jane Hutt, the Welsh Assembly Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills.
This follows on from the work we did a little while ago to make Windows and Office available in Welsh. We do all of this through making a free Language Interface Pack available for download, which you can then use to convert your system over.
There are already quite a few schools and local authorities in Wales using SharePoint – for example, Swansea run their learning platform on it, and the addition of the Welsh language option will extend the potential use.
Julie Davies, a teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Bryn Tawe in Swansea explained why it was so important:
As a school and centre of excellence for Welsh medium education, we have always taken advantage of new Welsh language initiatives and resources. We are very excited to see a large IT company recognising and responding to the need for more resources in our first language. I believe Swansea Edunet which is based on SharePoint will improve communication within the school, and create an effective learning community for staff members and pupils.
But why SharePoint in Welsh, and why is it so important to education? Well, the answer on the day was:
Mae Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 yn darparu lleoliad sengl, integredig lle gall defnyddwyr gydweithio’n effeithiol, chwilio am wybodaeth, rheoli cynnwys a llyfnhau prosesau gweinyddol. Mae’n integreiddio’n hawdd â systemau TGCh sydd eisoes yn eu lle, ac mae’n gymorth i wneud penderfyniadau ar sail gwybodaeth drwy cynorthwyo i staff gael hyd i wybodaeth yn haws, i’w rhannu ac i adrodd arni.
You can find the English version of this in the Welsh Language Board press release in English (Welsh version here)
The downloads are now publicly available using the URLs below. I got a surprise checking these links – the pages are all in Welsh!
SharePoint Server 2007 Language Pack (X86)
SharePoint Server 2007 Language Pack (X64)
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack (X64)
The Windows 7 team announced it will be available on October 22nd – that’s the date in the stores, so I don’t know if we’ll get the version for education (ie the Volume Licence version) any earlier. Even if it was earlier, I can’t believe it would be in time to roll it out before the end of the summer holidays (shame). Given the positive feedback that seems to be flowing around the current Release Candidate (did you know you can install that and run it free until July next year?), perhaps we could collaboratively build a list of devices people have been running it on – especially some of the entry-level netbooks and laptops.
As an aside, if you, or a student you know, is going to buy a new laptop this summer – eg all those sixth formers heading to uni – then the Windows 7 team also mentioned that there will be news soon on the Windows 7 Upgrade Option. My understanding is that this is similar to the “Tech Guarantee” we’ve offered in the past, where if you buy a new PC after a certain date, you qualify for a free or low-cost upgrade to Windows 7. More details when I have them…
Time for sharing – what devices have you got Windows 7 running on already, and what spec? Add a comment to the blog, or drop me an email via the link above, and I’ll publish a table in a couple of weeks, based on typical experiences of computers that are in schools today. Given the experiences of running Windows Vista on older laptops, the real interest is not going to be “Does it run on what I’m going to buy this summer?”, but “Does it run on what I bought last summer, and the summer before?”
Here’s my list so far, for my own laptops:
After I told you my favourite Windows 7 feature last week, I’ve now decided what my second favourite feature is – you can setup the default printer according to your location.
This is great for me, as I use my laptop in the office, at home, and out and about. I’d be working at home, hit PRINT, and then realise it was going to a printer somewhere in Reading. And there’s been more than one occasion when I’ve had to ring somebody and ask them to grab something urgently from the printer and put it in the shredder!
Now, with Windows 7, I have set up my default printers so that at home it prints on my inkjet (connected through my home PC) and in the office, it will print to the nearest printer to my desk.
Your staff can avoid that awful “OMG, I’ve just printed my CV in the school office” moment!
Late last year, I spent a few days down in Kent with the New Line Learning Academies with a film crew, recording their stories of parental engagement, new styles and places for learning, and their lessons of change management. We featured their story in the Innovative Schools case studies, which we launched in the autumn, on the Innovative Schools website.
They have a combined roll of 2,500 students at the two academies, and as a result, managing students – from application onwards – is a big job.
I came across their name again today, when Pythagoras (one of our partners) asked me to publicise their webinars for their Student Relationship Management system. New Line Learning are one of their early customers, and Alan Enfield the Vice Principal is quite glowing about them:
We chose Pythagoras because they listened to what we wanted, and they set up a working model with our data. The fact that they have a dedicated educational business unit showed us that they were serious about what they do and not just after adapting a standard sales model to get a quick financial return. They were interested in our approach to the problem, and we felt that they wanted to produce a good working solution almost as much as we did.
Pythagoras are running a series of webinars over the next couple of months specifically for education. Given Alan’s praise, it might be worth registering for the upcoming free “Microsoft CRM webinar for Education” on either this Friday, or on 10th July.
More info and register for 10am on June 5th More info and register for 10am on 10th July
More info and register for 10am on June 5th
More info and register for 10am on 10th July
You can find out more about the Pythagoras CRM on their website
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Alex Pearce, from Great Barr School in Birmingham, is the UK’s only Microsoft MVP for education (MVP= Most Valued Professional), which means he has access to early product information, and worldwide communities of SharePoint specialists. A lot of what Alex does is related to his school’s Learning Gateway, and also in helping other schools in understanding the capability of what they could do with theirs. He was speaking about SharePoint Governance in Education at the EduGeek conference on it last week.
Well, now Alex has put together the “Learning Gateway Conference” on 15th July at The Belfry, near Birmingham (Yes, The Belfry). As Alex says:
It is promising to be the best education SharePoint event this year for both technical and non-technical staff. Whether you are a Network Manager, VLE Co-ordinator or Head Teacher you will find this conference an opportunity to learn from industry recognised experts speaking about the technical best practice of the Learning Gateway and how to get your staff, pupils and parents engaged and secure. In addition you'll be able to network with your peers and see how others are pushing forward their Gateway. Whether you are running your own Learning Gateway or using a hosted solution such as LP+, Shirelands Learning Gateway or RM Kaleidos, you will find any one of the sessions useful to enhance your environment for all. For more details of what the conference covers and who should go please see the track overviews. Visit the website: http://www.learninggatewayconference.co.uk
It is promising to be the best education SharePoint event this year for both technical and non-technical staff. Whether you are a Network Manager, VLE Co-ordinator or Head Teacher you will find this conference an opportunity to learn from industry recognised experts speaking about the technical best practice of the Learning Gateway and how to get your staff, pupils and parents engaged and secure. In addition you'll be able to network with your peers and see how others are pushing forward their Gateway.
Whether you are running your own Learning Gateway or using a hosted solution such as LP+, Shirelands Learning Gateway or RM Kaleidos, you will find any one of the sessions useful to enhance your environment for all.
For more details of what the conference covers and who should go please see the track overviews.
Visit the website: http://www.learninggatewayconference.co.uk
The conference costs £150, and given the range of speakers and subjects, I think that it shouldn’t be too difficult to sell the day to the senior management team. (Just print out the Agenda from the site, and take it to the meeting). Especially as the government’s online reporting, learning platform and e-portfolio deadlines start rushing towards us.