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Issue 74 - 2021 │T2 │W9

 

Link - access past issues in the archive




Windows 10 v1607/1709 rebuilds News item

NSW public schools are taking advantage of new Windows and Office features by rebuilding their older versions of Windows 10 to v20H2 with Office 365. We've seen the incredible average rate of 4,000 devices updated each day since our last newsletter in week 6. The task of removing unsupported and vulnerable operating systems from the department's network continues, but significant numbers of the oldest Windows 10 installations are still in use. Rebuilding devices with versions 1607 and 1709 remains the highest priority and all assistance schools can provide in locating and updating these devices is greatly appreciated. The plan remains to disable these old devices from the DETNSW domain after June 30, 2021. This means that a rebuild to the latest Windows version is necessary to allow these devices to continue to work. Check the progress this term!

eT4L Windows Builds - Please concentrate on rebuilding old 1607, 1709 and 1809 devices as soon as possible.

YouTube unblocked for Stage 4/5 News item

The department ran a successful pilot with 24 schools in 2020 where students (K to Stage 5) had access to YouTube in Restricted mode for 10 weeks. We are currently working on implementing a staged rollout of YouTube Restricted Mode for students in Stages 4 and 5, planned for release in mid-Term 3. The results from this release will inform future implementation for students in Stage 3. Stage 6 students and staff will continue to have the same access to YouTube that they currently have. Why are we doing this? Research and evidence-based practices support the use of video to include, engage and motivate students in the classroom. When used effectively, educational videos can improve knowledge transfer, demonstrate complex procedures, reinforce learning and help explain difficult topics. Video in the classroom is also powerful when students can safely watch the content themselves. Teaching modes such as blended learning and flipped classrooms benefit from the availability of this technology. More details about how high school students will access YouTube in restricted mode will be in the next issue of news.T4L.

YouTube Restricted mode - coming for Stages 4 and 5 students!

NSW DoE: Protect yourself online PL item

Email scams are impacting organisations all over the world. As we are the custodians of a wide range of personal information, we all need to do our bit to be cyber secure. Cyber safety is everyone’s responsibility. We can all learn to keep our username and password safe from being phished. Please alert all your staff to these MyPL courses designed to help you protect yourself online:

The Cyber NSW Essentials training is a comprehensive course presented by Cyber Security NSW, on all types of cyber-attacks such as social engineering, vishing, tailgating and smishing. The two Phishing courses are great for improving your online safety skills and also to start conversations with your students to improve their digital maturity. Remember - if you get a suspicious email, DO NOT click on any links or open attachments. Forward it to abuse@det.nsw.edu.au then delete it. If you have questions about this training, please email DoE Cyber Security at cyber.security@det.nsw.edu.au. 

Cyber security awareness training for Education

Student Digital Portfolios PL item

Hurry! It's happening this week! Sign up your class for a student incursion to make their own work portfolio! Let our tech experts instruct your class to design polished work portfolios and workplace-ready resumes using Microsoft, Google or Apple tools. Click the links below to find out more and register! Students will learn how to showcase their accomplishments and feel proud of their work. Your class can follow along with the incursion in real-time, or watch and then work in their own time after the incursion.

Join T4L's Student Digital Portfolios incursions.

Photo libraries on Google Drive Tip item

School staff and students are always taking photos. Classroom activities, assemblies, excursions, performances, sports carnivals and more. School photo libraries are often massive repositories of JPG files and often just dumped into a folder on the school's eT4L file server. They take up valuable space, it's often hard to find what you are looking for and it's also only accessible from school. This quick video below will demonstrate how you can move your school's photo library to the cloud, and in this case, to a Google Shared Drive, so that multiple staff can have ownership and access. In addition, using the Google Drive app on a mobile device, the Shared Drives school photo library will be easily accessible on the go as required.

Photo libraries on MS Teams Tip item

What if your school doesn't use Google Drive for its cloud storage, and instead uses Microsoft OneDrive, Teams or SharePoint? Getting your school's photo library onto Microsoft Teams, so it works effectively, is not as simple as dropping your photo files into the Files tab of a channel. This quick video below will take you through a much neater way of doing it so that you end up with an easily navigated photo library from where it's simple to download the exact picture you need! Remember - school photo libraries are subject to The Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998. The NSW DoE Legal branch offers advice about privacy laws applicable to photographs, video and sound recordings held by schools and the department.

HP Devices - in stock! News item

The following devices are now back in stock! Please check the HP PPS Australia catalogue on EdBuy for the below HP devices.

  • HP ProBook x360 11 EE G5 – Student (Windows)
  • HP ChromeBook x360 11 EE G3 – Student (Chrome)
  • HP ChromeBook 14 G6 - Advanced (Chrome)

Three HP devices have returned to stock.

ICT Thought of the day Fun item

ICT Thought - I got a voicemail saying I won $500, or tickets to an Elvis tribute! I just had to press 1 for the money or 2 for the show.

In-place upgrade for W10 v1809 News item

ITD acknowledges the challenge of rebuilding almost 90,000 devices that are still running Windows 10 v1809. With a mandatory government requirement to only allow in-support operating systems on the department's network, ITD's Desktops team have worked tirelessly to develop a scalable and reliable in-place upgrade (IPU) solution to bring as many of these devices up to v20H2 as possible, in the shortest amount of time. Following successful pilot testing in multiple schools, we are pleased to advise that we will commence a staggered deployment of Windows 10 v20H2 as an in-place upgrade for 1809 builds only. The benefits include:

  • No need to manually F12 rebuild v1809 devices
  • A daily 4pm maintenance window to avoid school disruption
  • A silent push of the upgrade pack to each device wirelessly
  • Once deployed, the device automatically restarts and completes the installation of the Windows feature upgrade
  • Installed programs and data remain on the device.

Please visit https://T4L.link/ipu for detailed information and advice about the 20H2 managed in-place upgrade.

Image - Windows 10 20H2 in-place upgrade

Get your devices ready for IPU Tip item

In-place upgrades mean that you won't need to gather your Windows 10 v1809 devices in order to F12 rebuild them. We are planning to switch on the daily IPU maintenance window this week. As long as the target devices are powered on and connected to the school's network - either wired or wirelessly, the upgrade process should start. There are some important tips to be aware of that will help to deliver successful upgrades:

  • PLAN how to take advantage of IPU to update your fleet
  • Advise all staff and students about the upcoming daily IPU maintenance window - between 4pm and 6am each day
  • Shutdown / Restart target devices BEFORE 3pm to ensure previous updates are applied and completed
  • Notebooks and Tablets need to be connected to power and turned on to upgrade wirelessly
  • The upgrade pack is over 4GB in size and deploys to each device from the school's eT4L server. It won't impact internet service, but the wired / wireless network may be congested
  • Because of this, you should plan to upgrade a fraction of your fleet each day until all are complete (by June 30!)
  • Once the upgrade pack is deployed and the device restarts, installation must not be interrupted and takes 20 minutes to less than an hour, depending on current state
  • If an IPU fails, an F12 rebuild is required.

Please visit https://T4L.link/ipu for the very latest updated advice about the 20H2 managed in-place upgrade.

In-Place Upgrades are happening for your 1809 and 1909 devices

Apple Caching Server on EdBuy News item

Apple Caching Servers were removed from EdBuy when the latest model Apple Mac Mini with M1 processor and Big Sur operating system were released. To ensure compatibility with Jamf Pro and the department's network, preparations and configurations for this new platform were required at the back end. This work is almost complete and the new Apple Mac Mini M1 device has returned to EdBuy with a new listing - Apple Caching Server, M1 chip and product code AM-ONLY-ACS-JAMF. It is critical that when placing an order for an Apple Caching Server for your school, that this is the ONLY item on the purchase order. Please DO NOT add an Apple Caching Server to any single order containing other Apple products. This is because ALL Apple Caching Servers are enrolled in the Department's JAMF Pro console, and not the school's. From the start of Term 3, to set up your new Apple Caching Server, just unbox it, locate in the main server/router room and plug it into power and ethernet. When that's done, just turn it on and it will self-configure. No other action is required. If you need advice, please log a call to request help from the local field team's Apple Champion.

Apple Caching Server - Mac Mini M1

Signed MS Office macros Info item

Many DoE staff have created their own custom macros to automate functions in MS Word and Excel as well as other MS Office programs. Many more use these macros in MS Office. For security reasons, there is an upcoming change that will affect MS Office macros. We will soon require all MS Office macros to be digitally signed. Unsigned macros will no longer work on DoE computers. Cyber criminals are increasingly trying to compromise organisations through malicious code in Office macros.  Using social engineering techniques, they entice users to open email attachments that autorun their macros.  This allows them access to sensitive information, or to install malware on computers. From 16 June, staff can digitally sign their macros. Then, from 24 June, only digitally signed macros will run on the department’s computers. For more information, including a user guide, please visit the Signing MS Office macros intranet page.

Watch out for Macro Malware! All MS Office macros must be signed from 24 June 2021 to allow them to run.

Microsoft School Transformation PL item

The Microsoft School Transformation Program is accepting registrations for Semester 2! Your school can go through an amazing digital transformation, with free and dynamic workshops! Microsoft Australia will support your school across two teaching terms, to transform your use of its technologies to empower student learning by delivering:

  • 1 x Transforming Education Leadership workshop (½ day)
  • 1 x IT Pros workshop for Computer Coordinators (one-hour afternoon session)
  • 1 x Inclusive Classroom workshop (one day)
  • 1 x 365 Teacher Academy (1 day)
  • 1 x MIE Trainer workshop (2 days)
  • Monthly community calls
  • Regular check-ins with the MIE Trainers
  • Optional workshops for Teams, SharePoint, and OneNote

Registrations close Friday, 25 June! Head on over to https://bit.ly/nswdoemstp for all the details!

Register for the Microsoft School Transformation Program

LinkedIn Learning certificates Info item

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Access to LinkedIn Learning through your NSW DoE account, will no longer be available after June 30. Make sure you and your Stage 6 students jump back in during these next two weeks, to download any certificates for any completed courses! How do you do that?

  1. Launch LinkedIn Learning from your Portal
  2. Click on the Me icon at the top-right
  3. Select Learning History
  4. Click on the 3 dots beside the courses completed
  5. Select Download certificate

Don't forget to download certificates for any of your completed LinkedIn Learning courses before June 30.

More news.T4L in Week 3!

Information Technology Directorate publishes three issues of news.T4L a term. Remember - share each issue with your staff! If you don't receive email notifications whenever new issues of news.T4L are released, why not subscribe?

 

What great ICT initiatives have been working at your school? Share your story with us at T4LNews@det.nsw.edu.au

NSW DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIRECTORATE