Introducing: Rural Access Gap

Last week, the Premier and Education Minister made a significant technology announcement as part of a wider initiative. $366 million to be invested over two years, to close the digital gap in schools by retooling regional schools, upgrade learning spaces, upskilling teachers and giving students cutting edge distance education platforms and digital education resources. Check the department's website for more information about the Rural Access Gap, which is a part of the Schools Digital Strategy. Also, watch this introductory video.

New model Apple Macs in DoE

A few days ago, in the United States, Apple announced and refreshed their MacBook Air, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro 13” products. They also ended the sale of the old models of these devices. The old models have been removed from EdBuy. Apple are progressively refreshing their entire fleet of computers, moving from Intel processors to their own M1 processor. It integrates the CPU, graphics and much more onto a single chip. They will also ship with the newest MacOS, called Big Sur. This sudden change has introduced some challenges for the department, as we work to ensure software compatibility and familiarise support staff. What we do know is:

The new Mac mini / Apple Caching Server (ACS) solution for NSW DoE is NOT ready. Please hold off ACS purchases.

The compatibility of some third-party software titles such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Cloud is unconfirmed.

While these new Apple models may appear on EdBuy, at this stage, our recommendation if considering purchase, is to limit the amount ordered. Buy one or two only for testing purposes and confirmation, prior to any larger orders being placed. Updates will be provided in news.T4L.

New Apple line-up with M1 chips

3rd-party software in 2021

Back in issue 61, we advised that a range of third-party educational software and services was being made available to all schools that requested them, with the department covering the subscription costs until the end of 2020. Subscriptions to titles like Clickview, Edrolo and EnhanceTV, among others, were taken up in large numbers. As 2020 draws to a close, schools should consider whether or not to renew their existing contracts, to continue their use into 2021 - at their own cost. The Department will shortly be calling for submissions from vendors of online learning tools, wishing to be included on a new pre-qualified panel. During 2021, successful vendors will be included on a dedicated intranet hub, allowing schools to compare products, pricing and technical requirements, and purchase access via a streamlined ordering system. More information about the new online learning tools hub will be included in future issues of news.T4L. A SchoolBiz article about this was recently published.

Reminder: T4L Rollout in Term 1

We are excited to let you know that the 2020/21 T4L Rollout will kick off in Term 1, 2021! The T4L team have been busy working with our partners to ensure a great choice of devices on offer. The change to the regular schedule is due to the significant impact on services, programs and supply throughout 2020. news.T4L will keep schools informed about important dates and if you have any enquiries or need information relating to the rollout, please email the T4L Rollout team: T4L@det.nsw.edu.au

The 2020/21 T4L Rollout of computer devices...stay tuned for future updates

Book T4L sessions for your SDDs

Are you planning your School Development Days for Term 1 next year? The Technology 4 Learning and stem.T4L teams will offer a range of live, virtual sessions on ICT, STEM and the DoE’s most utilised technology platforms, on both Wed 27th and Thurs 28th January 2021. Each PL session will be livestreamed and run for 1 hour. All you will need is a device with internet connection, connected to a panel or projector, to share with larger groups. To work with your schedule for the days, sessions begin on the hour at 10am, 11am, 1pm and 2pm on both School Development Days. If you attend live during the SDD, selected sessions are also NESA accredited! Attend one, attend them all - or choose a selection that suits your staff and school. And if you can’t make the live sessions, they will be recorded. Register to receive the recording link when released, or to watch on demand later in the year. Find out what is on offer and register now!

Book T4L sessions for your School Development Days in January!

Augmented Reality on iPad!

Apple has released new resources to support Augmented Reality (AR) in the classroom! Help your students learn in new ways with AR apps on iPad. Using AR, lessons become more personal and meaningful. Students are able to interact with life-size and lifelike objects and relate abstract concepts to their immediate surroundings. They can actively explore everything from the details of an iconic monument, to the wonders of outer space. Your Apple Teacher account gets you in to explore nine amazing AR apps, or just get this free downloadable ePub and start wowing your students today!

Augmented Reality on Apple iPad

EduTECH 2020 on-demand

OH NO! Did you miss out on all the amazing content and resources from EduTECH 2020 last week? Australia's largest educational technology conference went digital in 2020, but never fear, the fantastic sessions are available on-demand - all the way through to the 5th of February 2021! Several of the sessions on offer are also NESA accredited. So there's still plenty of time to check out the NSW Department of Education's Let's Get Digital Channel! Just sign up and dive right in! All the instructions you need are at our T4L EduTECH page.

EduTECH 2020 sessions are now available on-demand

ICT Thought of the day

ICT Thought - When Google is really confident with its answer, it puts it in a big box at the top. - try it for yourself...

Manage My Access launched!

Back in issue 64, we announced our two new modern, mobile apps for requesting and granting access to additional applications. Manage My Access (MMA) and Manage Staff Access (MSA) make it easy for staff to submit requests directly to their principal or delegates on-the-go. We are pleased to announce that MMA is now available! It saves you time and effort when you need to request access to applications or additional permissions on top of those automatically assigned when you take up your main school role. If you move between schools and need access to different tools, then you'll definitely want to use MMA. Via the app, it's easy to request access to applications and to teacher and SAM roles for all your schools. You'll find Manage My Access under My Applications in your Staff Portal. Why not add it to your My Essentials now, so you can easily access it via the Staff Portal app on your phone? Principals and their delegates will be notified of your requests and can assign access in just a few clicks. A huge improvement on AMU!

Get MMA through your Staff Portal to request access to corporate software and services!

Students that leave NSW DoE

While a student is enrolled in a NSW Public School, they are allocated user credentials that provide them with access to email, student portal, Google G Suite, Microsoft Office 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud. They can access these services for free, both while at school and from home - or anywhere else. BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY LEAVE? Students need to be informed that from the date they leave a NSW Public School - i.e. when the school has marked them as a Leaver in ERN - they have 180 days before they lose access to:

Their school email account (GMail)
Their Google Drive contents
Any Google Classrooms they were joined to
Their Microsoft OneDrive contents
Any Microsoft Teams they were a member of
Their access to Adobe Creative Cloud

So from the time that they leave, they have 180 days to check all their content/files in these school-provided services and download anything that they need to keep. There is no need to delete what they do not wish to keep. Anything left in their cloud repositories after the 180 days will no longer be accessible to them. As the year draws to a close, please share this information with all affected students. Jason Towers from Taree High shared this great poster for year 12 students.

Updated your iPad Wi-Fi certs?

IMPORTANT REMINDER: All Apple mobile devices in schools and corporate offices will need an updated Wi-Fi Security Certificate from 30 November 2020. The affected devices are:

iPhones and iPads
Apple TVs
MacBooks and iMacs using Wi-Fi

PERSONAL APPLE DEVICES: From 30 November, when users (staff or students) try to use their personal Apple device with DoE Wireless (DETNSW), they will be prompted to ACCEPT/TRUST a new security certificate. Please advise users if they see this prompt, to accept it and continue as normal.

MANAGED APPLE DEVICES: Does your school use Zuludesk (Jamf School), Mosyle Manager, Apple Configurator or some other MDM apart from the standard DoE Jamf Pro service? Local action is required PRIOR to 30 November. Please read this detailed Yammer discussion for further instructions. Your iPads may not connect to DoE Wi-Fi after this date, if you do not complete the necessary tasks. Don't leave it until after they stop working!

New Wi-Fi Certificates - local action may be necessary!

eT4L Tier 1 updates

As part of the regular maintenance by ITD of the fleet of eT4L-built Windows desktops, laptops and tablets in schools, the next cycle of Tier 1 application updates is scheduled to be automatically deployed. The Tier 1 applications that will be upgraded in this cycle include:

Adobe Flash Player - 32.0.0.433
Adobe Reader - 20.012.20048
Google Chrome - 86.0

No action is required on the part of the school as all updates are delivered in the background. The deployment is scheduled to commence on Monday 16 November and will be progressively applied to all eT4L Windows PCs on the network.