This September I am starting at a new school and I was over the moon to find when I went in for prep days, a new, shiny, 65 inch Smart Technologies Whiteboard waiting for me! It is a thing of beauty and for all techies or novelty lovers, I just have to talk about the fact there is no projector, yet there is wireless bluetooth speakers. Having no projector means you don't have to stand in certain spot to dodge the glare, you have no bulb to suddenly need changing on the morning of an observation and it it just looks so slick! It feels like a huge TV and looks like one, with its buttons on the side and the speakers sit nicely above the screen, making you feel like you are in the cinema, loud and clear sound and completely wireless with an easy to use control panel in easy reach. But then I asked about the Smart software for me to use on my Macbook at home because you know, like many teachers I continue working on an evening at home...and here is the bad news that lets the board and Smart Technologies down. You have to pay for the licensing now and this is to be renewed annually, or every two or three years depending on the package you buy and for how many people you purchase it for and how many boards they have in their classroom. And there in an instant, the love of my day had broken my heart, instead of getting on straight away and using my amazing board I am now researching what my options are, not only as an individual but as a school we are now trying to work out how to allocate the software to make it accessible for all the staff because as you can see in the photos, the cost of licenses are extortionate. And Notebook Express doesn't have enough free features to make it workable for most educators. I don't think Smart realise how tricky they are making it for Schools to use the software. I am incredibly lucky to beginning a new stage of my career in a school which values Computing and can invest in carefully chosen resources, however my previous schools and many schools in England would most definitely struggle to raise the funds to run the software, which in many ways makes me feel like a kid looking in a sweet shop window...on the way to the dentist. Smart you have disappointed me at a time when I was your biggest fan, I thought you wouldn't be as money hungry as you have revealed and, yes, I know you are a business but schools are educating the adults of tomorrow, who will carry this tech and you may have lost a lot of friends.
My friend has just told me about her whiteboard at her new school which is a Ctouch, which sounds interesting as I've never used nor seen one. However I couldn't get on with my Promethean, using a pen continually and not been able to use my fingers to swipe made me feel like I was in Scarborough on a freezing cold, rainy, December day, it was just a bit drab and not very enjoyable. Intrigued, I'm now going to look into whiteboards a bit more and will report what I find! Being computing co-ordinator means that you hopefully have some knowledge of how computers work and don't freak out at the idea of using tech. Unfortunately, many staff will think that under your co-ordinating role you are also responsible for all technical difficulties in school...as you should see in your job description, you aren't. It took me a while to start voicing this to members of staff as like many people, I wanted to help, but with a growing list of my own responsibilities, books to mark and resources to get ready it became increasingly clear to me of the importance of stating that you aren't in charge of the technical issues. I've found the best way to manage this was to say I could come to look at their problem at break times or after school, but also use the tagline 'but I'm not in charge of technical problems and may not be able to fix it.'
Most of the technical glitches I could sort pretty quickly but other times it had to wait for our Technical Support Assistant because it was too complicated for me, therefore it became important that I developed a way for staff to communicate their problems with him. I've found setting up an email or having a log book in a central location the best way to manage this. Either way, you are the face of all things tech, so keep smiling, but don't forget- you're not in charge of technical issues and it's ok to say so! So you've been awarded computing co-ordinator? Congratulations! I'm sure you can't wait for that TLR payment to hit your bank account, however now you have the hard bit of actually co-ordinating! You may have inherited a well co-ordinated curriculum or you may like me, be the gardener to a seed which has never been grown before. Either way a start point is necessary. Check to see if Computing is on your school's School Development Plan (also known as School Improvement Plan) if it is, it will give you a clear idea of what the management hope for the subject and what Computing will look like. For me, it was to have a well established curriculum with a higher profile of the subject across the school. I soon realised that this starts with how staff feel towards the subject and very swiftly issued a skills audit to evaluate their opinions. Your VLE or online portal should have a decent online audit for staff to complete, however if you are struggling I've uploaded one here for you. If you don't have access to The Key you can also try this instead. Once you have evaluated staff confidence and skills you will have a better idea of what training is needed to ensure all staff can successfully provide quality Computing lessons. From here you can decide the best approach to training, if this appears as a minefield, my training pages may give you some ideas on the options available. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
February 2017
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