Windows 10 for eT4L is coming

ITD is working on a Windows 10 version of Universal Desktop to be available at all eT4L migrated sites. Windows 10 will have an unrestricted release and will be available for selective installation by each school when they are ready, to some or all DoE standard Windows devices. Previously, the Windows 8.1 release was authorised for deployment to touch enabled hardware only. Testing is currently underway against all core DoE applications and hardware. The existing wipe-and-load build methods (F12, Software Centre & UDM initiated) are currently undergoing a redesign to improve overall stability and efficiency. We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress over the next few months leading up to this exciting launch.

Windows 10 for eT4L Schools

No Windows 8 on desktops?

NSW DoE started moving to Windows 7 in 2009, as soon as it was released and our standard desktop and laptop builds have been working with this stable and reliable environment ever since. When Windows 8 was released, it was more consumer-focussed and represented a major change with apps and a preference for touch interfaces. It simply didn’t fit our enterprise needs at the time. Windows 10 however offers a wide range of improvements that provides a bridge between traditional desktop applications driven by keyboard and mouse, touch-driven apps and cloud-based services. Better support for centralised system management and a clear upgrade roadmap was also critical to the decision to commence this change. It also helps that many staff and students are already using Windows 10 on their personal devices at home.

Safe Schools Framework PL

A professional learning module developed for teachers and school leaders introduces the National Safe Schools Framework. In six self-paced sessions you will learn how you can promote wellbeing inside and outside the classroom. You will be challenged to explore your own role in addressing student wellbeing and once you have completed this module, you can print a certificate of completion.

Assistive technologies video

St George School has produced a new ClassMovie highlighting how they have been taking advantage of new developments in portable and sophisticated assistive technologies. This has allowed their students with disabilities to engage in their learning more easily and provide them with access to mainstream in purposeful and authentic ways. Click the image below to watch their ClassMovie.

MS Disability Answer Desk

Microsoft is committed to accessibility by developing technologies that eliminate barriers for people with disabilities and enable individuals to take full advantage of their capabilities. They recently launched a new service called the Disability Answer Desk where people with disabilities can get support with Microsoft products and accessibility features. Available as a 24/7 telephone service: 1800 280 300 and as an online chat service.

Disaster resilience education

With the recent severe weather event that hit the east coast of Australia, it’s important to understand how disasters can affect us all. A new website for schools by the Australian Emergency Management Institute provides a toolkit of disaster resilience education resources, helping to develop a shared understanding of the critical role everyone plays in developing a disaster resilient Australia. Resources are designed to be flexible to individual learning styles and are aligned to curriculum.

Real NSW Photo competition

Any budding photographers at your school? Students of all ages can submit a photo to the Real NSW competition which closes on July 15. The focus of the competition is to have students present themselves in a situation photo that helps to portray them in a way they’d like to be shown. With junior and senior categories available, there’s an opportunity to show off creativity and win some great prizes. Find out more and get snapping!

What do you think of MyPL?

Did you know that a new MyPL is currently being developed under the Great Teaching, Inspired Learning (GTIL) project? People that use MyPL are teachers and principals, course developers and deliverers, frequent and occasional users – and their opinion about MyPL is important. If you have a spare five minutes, please complete this quick survey to help guide the development of MyPL v2.

SPA Update

To date, 264 secondary schools have been cutover to Secure Proxy Authentication (SPA). On May 26, a further 108 sites were cutover and shortly afterward, an issue was identified which caused multiple authentication popup requests, slow access and failed requests to occur for some users. To alleviate the issue, we rolled back those 108 sites and made adjustments to the proxy configuration which led to a better user experience as schools moved to secure authentication. With the end of term upon us, it has been decided to recommence SPA cutovers in remaining secondary schools during Term 3. At least two weeks’ notice will be provided in advising each school’s scheduled cutover date to allow them to prepare students and staff. Close monitoring of proxy server performance will ensure a smoother transition for all sites.

Use OneNote? Get Office Lens

Many teachers have discovered the versatility of OneNote - especially from Office 2016 – and use it every day. But have you discovered Office Lens yet? It’s an app that gives you a scanner in your pocket. You can use it to take pictures of things like business cards, notes on whiteboards and napkins and anything else you want to keep on hand. Office Lens trims, enhances and makes pictures readable. Weird angles are straightened, shadows are cleaned up and the images are automatically synced to OneNote, so you can get to them on all your devices. It’s free for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.

Can’t type in Word 2016

A small number of users on Yammer have reported having a problem after deploying Office 2016 via UDM on some PCs. Upon starting Word 2016, the startup screen allows you to choose from a set of templates, but after selecting the Blank Document option, there is a flashing cursor, but the user cannot type onto the page. No error messages appear. To help us gauge the impact of any ICT issue, it’s important that service desk tickets are logged via EdConnect. In the meantime, there is a workaround solution: In Word 2016, click File > Options > General and near the bottom of the options window, untick “Show the start screen when this application starts”. Then close and reopen Word.

UDM software deployment

Universal Desktop Manager (UDM) in eT4L schools, is a powerful console used to manage Windows clients including the remote deployment of new software. But how it works is a bit of a mystery as far as schools are concerned, so here’s a little primer. You’ve selected a computer (or computers) in UDM and you’ve selected software to deploy to them and submitted the job. What happens next? Well, each managed Windows PC has a Configuration Manager (CM12) agent which triggers a "Machine Policy Retrieval and Evaluation Cycle" every 60 minutes. That’s the bit that checks if there is any software assigned to that PC and retrieves and installs it if it is sent as an auto-install (Required) package. If it is an optional (Available) package, it makes it appear in the Software Centre for you to trigger manually if desired.

My software didn’t arrive!

There could be many reasons why a package deployment didn’t occur on some or all of the selected PCs in UDM and it’s worth trying to find out why.

Check the deployment status in Fleet Management Reports
Open Configuration Manager in Control Panel and on the Actions tab, confirm there are at least 8 actions displayed. If less than that, there’s likely a problem with the CM12 agent. An F12 rebuild could be the quickest fix
Confirm in Software Center if the computer has received the policy for the deployed package.

eT4L Windows updates

Carrying on from the previous two articles, it’s important to also know that Windows Updates are also treated as software deployments via CM12 as far as installation is concerned. It is possible that a Windows update has installed but a reboot of the PC is required. This could prevent anything else installing as Windows only allows one installation to run at a time. Either way, if your computer has received the policy for a package install you should see it in the Software Center. If it’s not showing there, then it means the policy hasn't been offered to it by the servers or the CM12 agent is not functioning.

Still can’t work it out?

You deployed those software packages from UDM and they still aren’t arriving at some computers and you’ve gone through all the suggestions in the previous three articles. So what do you do? Log a service desk call with EdConnect on 1300 32 32 32 and choose option 3 for ICT support. Please provide as much detail as possible including what troubleshooting you’ve tried.