grumbledook.org

Category: IT Management

  • Do *You* Know A Technical Champion?

    Last year, in Northamptonshire, we tried something slightly different. With all the work that goes on nationally through TeachMeets, Unconferences, and other alternative CPD events it was clear that there is so much educational expertise that doesn’t seem to stick its head above water too much. Now, we all know about the success which is…

  • The Perils and Pitfalls of being ‘The Block’ to learning & teaching

    Once again I fall into the role of the fervent defender of the blighted IT Support teams in schools. As much as I enjoyed a good argument (oh no you don’t!) there are times when I feel that the word compromise is missing from the vocabulary of some people. In a short break from the…

  • The Calm Before The Storm

    I can’t believe that the summer is drawing to a close already. Exam results have come down and been issued out (congratulations to all who did well and commiserations to those who tried but didn’t quite get what they wanted , needed or deserved), some teachers are off on their second holiday and others are…

  • Usernames – Should they identify a pupil?

    Completely forget about this post over on my blog on EduGeek. Thankfully, this site now this pulls in all my posts from any possible blog I use so I thought I would send this one out anyway … from November 2009. In a discussion about student IDs I got a tad frustrated by the take…

  • The Secrets of Upward Management

    One of the areas of blockage I have come across, and had ranted to me by many readers, is that you just cannot get FITS implemented in your school due to the lack of SLT support … even to the point of where SLT are derogatory about it all and are dismissive of any change…

  • Filtering and the Nirvana of your own connection!

    In a recent article by Miles Berry, over on Merlin John’s site Agent4Change, Miles raises a number of really good points about saving money in this year of austerity … but there are a few points that still get me about Open Source and an almost blind faith that it can solve nearly all our…

  • Safeguarding student email – Safermail and Exchange

    Original article posted at https://learningpossibilities.lpplus.net/Pages/safer-mail.aspx for LearningPossibilities I’m pretty sure that most people know my position on the use of technology to routinely lock down and block what people can access or can do. Basically, I think that not enough thought goes into it, it takes control away from the teacher and that it puts…

  • Ask not what your support provider can do for you…

    Ask not what your support provider / technician can do for you, but what you can do for them. I know that will sound very wrong to some people … putting the onus back on schools rather than the techies but when I am working with some schools who buy in their support from outside…

  • Sharepoint Articles

    This week will see a few blog posts go up. First will be one already writte, exploring a bit more about sharepoint and web 2.0, next will be talking about why we filter emails and what impact the management of it can have, then finally I will be asking around about how different people feel…

  • Why do people want to start fights?

    A recent tweet (or rather a retweet) had the following URL (in which we see ten commandments from a technically savvy teacher to technicians) – http://bit.ly/dpdjFO – and whilst I can understand the intention I just find it opens up the can of worms that is techie/teacher bashing. On places like the TES forums you…