Sydney Region Computer Coordinators Day Term 1, 2007 Sydney Region

 Wrap up of Term 4, 2006  Technology Update  Integrating ICT into Teaching and Learning  DET Portal Management Utilities  School Website Project  MS Office -Tips and tricks  Effective Use of the Internet and  School ICT forum  Network Cameras Agenda

Sydney Region Wrap up of Term 4, 2006 Wrap up of Term 3, 2006/Technology Update Integrating ICT into Teaching and Learning Art Rage 2 Professional Office Tips and Tricks - PowerPoint The effective use of Internet Access and The OASIS Thin Client pilot Showcase presentations On – Line school planning – PLANiT Peacesong Tapestries

Sydney Region Primary school CC day T evaluations 1Wrap Up of Last CC Day & Updates 2Integrating ICT into L&T 3Art rage 2 professional 4Office Tips and Tricks 5Effective use of Internet & 6OASIS thin client & STEMS 7Lunch and Networking 8PLANit 9Peace song tapestries

Sydney Region High school CC day T evaluations 1Wrap Up of Last CC Day & Updates 2Integrating ICT into L&T 3Art rage 2 professional 4Office Tips and Tricks 5Effective use of Internet & 6OASIS thin client & STEMS 7Lunch and Networking 8PLANit 9Peace song tapestries

Sydney Region Term 4, 2006: Evaluation – General Comments Tom Fitzgerald- peacesongs Excellent. Great to see something with a community spirit (and free) Great-inspiring want a Mac version ASAP Absolutely fantastic A very flexible music program. Thanks Tom Excellent resource, especially the free studio-something the school will use. Excellent to see people trying to help pc computers catch up with Macs Absolutely fascinating- but only for those with “sound” experience Very involved but very interesting. Have to look into more Technical detail too long What a wonderful idea. Anything to promote peace in our current climate has to be good What a passionate person. Can definitely see how this could be used and know some teachers who could be very excited. Really good- woke me up and got me thinking Michael Tunks – Planit/webit Innovative Webit-very expensive for small schools but very user friendly Thanks Michael. Webit very easy to work with Interesting, good presentation Great software, easy to use  Please refrain from lengthy private conversations during presentations  Turn mobiles to vibrate

Sydney Region Sydney Region ICT news-1- OASIS Thin Client Update 65 Schools have been migrated to date All schools will be migrated by the end of Week 9 in Term 3 Each school will be provided some computers with their OASIS cutover. Exact numbers can be obtained from Stuart Hasic. This is NOT to replace EVERY OASIS computer at your school. The full schedule is available at the Sydney Region OASIS website: (DET Intranet Only) The schedules for Terms 1 and 2 are final. Term 3 is to be confirmed with each remaining school. Schools that have a Sentral/GProxy or MGM Wireless SMS system and have been cutover will need to apply to have OASIS Thin Client work with these systems

Sydney Region Sydney Region ICT news-2- School Transition Enterprise Management System (STEMS) STEMS will again run as a Regional Priority in 2007 The software will be updated for 2007 and made available to all K-6 schools during term 2. A solution to allow K-2 schools to electronically provide transition data for next year's year 3 students will hopefully also be provided. High Schools have requested that the program be brought forward with the return date for Year 6 data now Friday of Week 9 in Term 3. K-6 schools using STEMS now for K-6 tracking will not lose any data by installing the new 2007 version Questions about STEMS for 2007 should be ed to

Sydney Region Sydney Region ICT news-3- Stu's EduWeb 2007 and Logons Wizard for Windows The main updates for both of these programs was to streamline logon accounts for students Instead of the “school based” firstname.lastname logon, the Logons Wizard now creates accounts with the same name as the students' AIBE accounts. This means student John Smith does not have to remember John.Smith and John.Smith56, he only has to remember the latter. However, students with usernames longer than 20 characters will have their Windows logon truncated to 20 characters automatically, so they will have to remember two usernames (blame the parents). EduWeb 2007 was modified to work with the new accounts and to also include a link on the front page to the DET Portal.

Sydney Region Sydney Region ICT news-4- Sydney Region School IT Support Forum Since its inception in November 2006: 285 members 470 posts in 171 Topics in 37 Boards in 8 Categories Average of 3.93 posts per day Most viewed topic - Sample School Website Top board - Internet Browsing and Male to Female Ratio 2.5:1 Join the Forum!

Sydney Region Sydney Region ICT news-5- Identifying Problems Before School Starts Stu’s Pinger Sydney Region IT Support Unit has implemented a new tool to alert support staff of problems that have occurred overnight in all Sydney Region schools and regional offices Stu's Pinger is a program that runs every morning before work and performs a quick test of each school's router, server and CPC server to ensure they are all responding and operational. Failed devices are immediately identified and a report is automatically ed to SR IT Support staff for further action. This may be as simple as contacting the school to ask if Internet or their server is working. A restart may well solve the problem. Identifying these problems before teachers do can reduce frustration at school

Sydney Region Sydney Region ICT news-6- Content Pre-positioning Cache devices (CPC) Currently Sydney Region has installed over 200 CPC devices in schools. The CPC appliance provides two main types of services: (i) Digital Learning Objects DET has been involved in The Learning Federation's projects for development of "digital learning objects". Given the size of the repository (around 300 Gb), the most reliable method is to use a caching service available inside each school or college LAN to hold the content, and to ensure that cache contents are reliably maintained and updated as new content is released. (ii) Computer management & maintenance The ability to store and deploy a variety of maintenance software: Antivirus updates and Microsoft updates General software, disk images, PC management - via an Altiris Package Server cache which allows PXE booting from the network & re-imaging workstations, software distribution Network services - DHCP, DNS, WINS

Sydney Region 2007 Web Awards Term 1, 2007 Technology Update

Sydney Region Learning Management and Business Reform Program - Better Systems, Brighter Futures The LMBR Program aims to bring about a staged replacement of the Department’s current finance, human resources, payroll and student administration systems. Phase one has begun and will span the next 36 months. LMBR is a vital part of our continual improvement to meet new demands and the changing expectations of students, parents, teachers, administrative staff and employers. LMBR will help us to be more flexible. It will provide better school and TAFE administrative systems, finance and human resource services. It will also assist in developing smarter ways to work over the next decade and beyond. LMBR is integral to achieving the Department’s Corporate Plan targets as well as those of the Government’s State Plan and the NSW ICT Strategic Plan. Throughout 2007, the program will be looking for staff to fill a variety of positions across a range of grades. I encourage your staff to keep an eye out for job advertisements at and consider being part of this critical initiative. An LMBR site on the intranet has been established to provide staff with the latest information about the program, key contacts and responses to frequently asked questions. The LMBR site can be found at: I commend the website to you and your staff as a source of information about the LMBR program and encourage you to visit it regularly. Andrew Cappie-Wood DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING MANAGING DIRECTOR OF TAFE NSW: 9 March 2007 Term 1, 2007 Technology Update

Sydney Region Microsoft-DET Enterprise Agreement Extended for 1 Year Notification has been provided that the existing DET Agreement with Microsoft has been extended for one year, now expiring on 29 Februrary, This probably means that Windows Vista is not on the agenda for another 12 months - but we can now order MS Office Enterprise 2007 and Expressions Web (the upgrade to MS FrontPage 2003). It is expected that MS Office 2007 and Expressions Web will be included in the next Windows SOE provided with T4L in Semester 2 (assuming there is a T4L after the election) Full details of the agreement are here: soft/index.htm Term 1, 2007 Technology Update

Sydney Region Term 1, 2007 Technology Update Draft Information and Communication Technology Standards Our Regional Information and Communication Technology Advisory Group have endorsed a set of standards to improve the reliability and support of ICT systems in our schools. These standards, which can be accessed at the Sydney Region website: apply to computing hardware, software and networks. For assistance in relation to the Draft ICT standards, schools are asked to contact their nominated Technology Adviser, or log a Help Desk call requesting support from the SRITSU School Support. Technology Advisers are also available to assist schools in developing ICT aspects of their school plan and to assist with the development of ICT infrastructure development projects. Source: InPrincipal 2/3/07

Sydney Region Investing In Our Schools (IIOS) Grant payments appearing at successful schools. Now that cheques are coming through to schools in the Federal IIOS program, it is essential that if your school is spending money on ICTs that you contact a Technology Adviser to ensure the solutions you'd like to implement as recommended and supported "Maximising" your grant by purchasing cheaper second-hand or non-contract PCs, notebooks and network cabling will only lead to problems in the future. Schools with these grants should contact either Paul Clark or Bambos Meitani for advice Term 1, 2007 Technology Update

Sydney Region State Labor Promises an IWB for every school From SMH 16/3/ "Classrooms throughout NSW public schools will be equipped with interactive whiteboards connected to each other via a broadband network, under a $158 million program announced by the Iemma Government today. The four-year program will see every public school in NSW receive one of the large touchscreens that is capable of displaying internet pages, acting as a white board and providing a teaching interface. The new boards will come with video conferencing so that students will be able to connect to other schools or receive specialist lectures from professors at universities." "The State Government would also spend $29 million to give all students their own online workspace where they can securely receive and post their homework. It would also allow parents to have online access to their children's school reports. A further $63 million will be spent to increase the bandwidth and speed of the Education Department's network." Term 1, 2007 Technology Update

Sydney Region Professional development Teachers Website A new website with an online professional development database for NSW teachers is now available. The NSW Institute of Teachers website: The Education and Training Information Service (ETIS) at the Centre for Learning Innovation in Strathfield has launched its comprehensive website which contains a broad range of material. Term 1, 2007 Technology Update

Sydney Region Podcast Downloads and the Authenticated Browsing Environment A podcast is an audio broadcast that has been converted to an MP3 file or other audio file format for playback in a digital music player or computer. The "pod" in podcast was coined from "iPod," the predominant portable, digital music player, and although podcasts are mostly verbal, they may contain music. While podcasts may be offered for download from a variety of sites, it is essential that copyright provisions be adhered to. For more information on the Department’s position on podcasts and copyright refer to: Copyright: Podcasting in Schools Policy Term 1, 2007 Technology Update

Sydney Region Information on ICT standards and directions “The NSW Department of Education and Training is committed to the use of ICT to support and enhance teaching and learning. The Information Technology Directorate and the Centre for Learning Innovation collaborate on the identification, evaluation, recommendation and potential standardisation of technologies that may represent a teaching and learning value proposition. The following documents are available for general review Technology Directions Paper on Interactive Whiteboards (pdf 93kb) “Future papers on other technologies will be added to this site over time”.

Sydney Region Computer Recycling/Energy use USEFUL ENERGY LINKS: Eco school grants through Environmental Trust Climate change resources for schools Energy information for students and teachers DEUS Solar Schools Information about green power Choosing energy efficient appliances

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