[Alug]OT: Standard of IT in schools across the country
Sorry to be off-topic, but I was hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction (if I remember correctly, some of the people on the list have experience with educational institutions). I have recently got involved in the creation of a CDROM presentation to be placed inside schools (high schools and sixth form). In order to do this, I need to get a grasp on the specs for the machines I am deploying on. I discussed this with Norfolk County Council and was told the following was recommended locally: * Windows 98 or XP * 1.7Ghz / 80Gb / 256 Ram * All students had Internet access on their desktops This only covers Norfolk of course and is only a recommendation I was wondering if a national minimum standard of computer technology exists, or whether each school sets their own standard? Please email me onlist, or directly if you can help. Ashley
"Ashley" <lists@ashleyhowes.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> I have recently got involved in the creation of a CDROM presentation to be placed inside schools (high schools and sixth form). In order to do this, I need to get a grasp on the specs for the machines I am deploying on.
I discussed this with Norfolk County Council and was told the following was recommended locally: * Windows 98 or XP * 1.7Ghz / 80Gb / 256 Ram * All students had Internet access on their desktops <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Sounds a bit on the high side to me. After all, 1.7GHz and 80GB was still pretty state-of-the-art little over a year ago. How many schools keep all their equipment that new? Such bravery, putting XP net-facing in such numbers. Of course they keep all the machines patched... -- GT
On Monday 27 October 2003 17:25, Graham Trott wrote:
Sounds a bit on the high side to me. After all, 1.7GHz and 80GB was still pretty state-of-the-art little over a year ago. How many schools keep all their equipment that new?
Me too, also bear in mind that if the school is using RM connect or any other RM supplied infrastructure the chances of a pupil being able to insert a CD rom and play the contents is very unlikely (even the win98 based RM clients are VERY locked down). Better to have something that can be installed/managed centrally and therefore no disks to get lost/damaged etc. In fact in at least one school I regularly attend to, there are NO cdrom drives in the teaching areas. If you are talking about something that is to be run as a presentation by the teacher, then in the schools I have dealt with, teachers have access to Laptops/Projectors etc as a teaching resource. Usually these are quite recent, some will have been supplied as part of Computers for Schools etc, some may be bought just for this sort of thing.
Such bravery, putting XP net-facing in such numbers. Of course they keep all the machines patched...
Not really brave at all. Most Schools I have dealt with have either their own net proxy, or one supplied by the education centric ISP. You don't really think that most schools have machines sitting with a clear route to/from the Internet do you ? Wayne
Wayne Stallwood wrote:
You don't really think that most schools have machines sitting with a clear route to/from the Internet do you ?
We have a proxy. We can't visit SSL sites, can't recieve a response from pinging a web server, can't ssh/p2p/irc to the rest of the world, most interesting web sites are banned under "crime" or "humour" and can't send emails using a normal SMTP server. Grr.
We have a proxy. We can't visit SSL sites, can't recieve a response from pinging a web server, can't ssh/p2p/irc to the rest of the world, most interesting web sites are banned under "crime" or "humour" and can't send emails using a normal SMTP server.
And, in Norfolk schools at least, can't d/l ISOs either which is a disappointment. Syd
On Tuesday 28 October 2003 20:05, Syd Hancock wrote:
We have a proxy. We can't visit SSL sites, can't recieve a response from pinging a web server, can't ssh/p2p/irc to the rest of the world, most interesting web sites are banned under "crime" or "humour" and can't send emails using a normal SMTP server.
And, in Norfolk schools at least, can't d/l ISOs either which is a disappointment.
Syd
I guess there is a thin line, I for one am glad the students don't have COMPLETE access to all the web has to offer. and certainally no p2p seems like a reasonable restriction. I guess the big question is, do these limits restrict the use of the school's computers as a learning resource ? It's a difficult situation, the schools do not have the resource to watch over every pupil and make informed decisions as to what content is suitable. So they are forced into an area where they have to filter the access to what may seem like over protective levels. I think it is wise for the schools to err on the side of caution in these circumstances.
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On Mon, Oct 27, 2003 at 09:21:59PM +0000, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
Not really brave at all. Most Schools I have dealt with have either their own net proxy, or one supplied by the education centric ISP. You don't really think that most schools have machines sitting with a clear route to/from the Internet do you ?
I thought that Norfolk County Council had to recently tell all the schools to not use their computers because of massive virus infection rates and had to send in the "experts" to fix the problems. They were also looking for a company to tender for a contract to ascertain the current level of network security but the bit in the paper didn't mention if this involved remedial work. Adam -- jabberid = quinophex@jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem
On 2003-10-27 17:25:53 +0000 Graham Trott <gt@pobox.com> wrote:
Sounds a bit on the high side to me. After all, 1.7GHz and 80GB was still pretty state-of-the-art little over a year ago. How many schools keep all their equipment that new?
I think specification varies from county to county, but I heard about a forthcoming DFES ruling that no machine should be over 5 years old.
Such bravery, putting XP net-facing in such numbers. Of course they keep all the machines patched...
...or they tell schools to switch them off and wait for the engineers to arrive, like with primary schools? -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know. Please http://remember.to/edit_messages on lists to be sure I read http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ gopher://g.towers.org.uk/ slef@jabber.at Creative copyleft computing services via http://www.ttllp.co.uk/
Ashley wrote:
Sorry to be off-topic, but I was hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction (if I remember correctly, some of the people on the list have experience with educational institutions).
I only speak for the school whose sixth form I'm currently attending in Lincolnshire...
I have recently got involved in the creation of a CDROM presentation to be placed inside schools (high schools and sixth form). In order to do this, I need to get a grasp on the specs for the machines I am deploying on.
I discussed this with Norfolk County Council and was told the following was recommended locally: * Windows 98 or XP * 1.7Ghz / 80Gb / 256 Ram * All students had Internet access on their desktops
* We run Windows 2000 with a few NT machines dotted around still - haven't made the jump to XP or server 2003 as we've yet to get them to work together well in testing. * Since the latest upgrade nothing below a PIII processor/Athlon (except my linux boxen :) ) - mostly betwen 1 - 2 Ghz with 128 - 256 Mb RAM and hard disks between 8 and 40Gb * There are around 200 PCs currently on the network - all with internet access (2 meg) through a proxy to a service run by a group of muppets in Lincoln. * Most have CD-ROM drives. The CD-ROM drive cannot be seen in My Computer by students, but it's pretty easy to get round by making a shortcut to d:\ in a home directory * There are two laptops and projectors in the IT department and one that is lent out to other departments We got rid of all our RM kit a long time ago.
This only covers Norfolk of course and is only a recommendation I was wondering if a national minimum standard of computer technology exists, or whether each school sets their own standard? Please email me onlist, or directly if you can help.
I would think there is a massive range of specifications. Whilst I think we are very fortunate with our IT equipment, being a Grammar School IT is very much seen as a second rate subject. Schools are generally having a hard time financially at the moment. Depending on the area and the ethos of the school there is probably a large range. I'm not sure but I think it's down the the school to keep its IT equipment up to date using its budget - there are probably some guidelines I don't know about though. Ben "tola" Francis
participants (7)
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abower＠thebowery.co.uk -
Ashley -
Ben Francis -
Graham Trott -
MJ Ray -
Syd Hancock -
Wayne Stallwood