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Issue 16 - 2016 │T3 │W6

Welcome to news.T4L News item

For the past fifteen issues we've brought you T4L News for schools in PDF format. From now on we'll be producing news.T4L with a fresh and revamped look that's easy to read on any device. We've focussed on accessibility and following WCAG 2.0 standards, so all links from articles will open in the same tab or window. If you'd rather links open in a separate tab, right-click or long-press and choose to open in a new tab. Or just tick the little check box in the top left corner. New issues will continue to be released in weeks 3, 6 and 9 of each school term and we look forward to bringing you the latest ICT developments and news to help you in your important role at school. So what do you think about our new look? Tell us in two minutes.

Managing local network issues Information item

Following on from the video we launched last issue about how ITD has been improving the department's Internet service, some schools are still seeing congestion occurring locally. So we've decided to work on a series of short videos to look at the important role schools have in managing their own local network issues to reduce congestion on their Internet link and internally on their local area network. Click the image below to watch the first in the series.

Video - Managing LAN issues - click to watch

Windows 10 Pilot kicks off News item

We are pleased to advise that the next step in making Windows 10 available to all eT4L schools kicked off this week with a pilot at 20 schools across NSW. Some highlights:

  • The platform is called Windows 10 Education and the pilot testing is based on the recently released Anniversary edition
  • Each school is testing on four different computers and has been asked to check a wide range of specific functions and access to corporate applications
  • Deployment is either via F12 at the PC or via an advertised job in Software Centre as wipe-and-load installations

Following a successful pilot, we hope to make Windows 10 available to all eT4L schools for selective deployment for eligible devices. That way, the school can decide when it is ready to move staff and students to the latest operating system. Look out for more on this exciting development in our next issue!

SMART Speakers power adaptor Tip item

Most schools in NSW have multiple Smartboard or Panaboard interactive whiteboards with SMART speakers mounted on the sides. While these speakers are good quality and very reliable, they are end of life and no longer sold. The most common issue schools have faced is failure of the power adaptor which renders the speakers unusable. Finding a replacement power adaptor has been a challenge, but one of our contracted suppliers, VISIONEXT is now stocking this item at a reasonable price due to growing demand.

Smartboard speakers and power adaptor

Why teach touch typing? Link item

Schools can no longer prepare students for the workplace of the future without providing them with skills necessary for using computers competently. One of those necessary skills is, of course, keyboarding. Unfortunately, as schools have concentrated on teaching students how to use computers to obtain and create information, they have often avoided teaching them how to type on the keyboard quickly, accurately, and with efficient technique. Here are some free online touch typing tutorials you may want to try with your students:

iPads and time synchronisation Information item

When using integrated computer systems across a network, it's really important that every device and component has time synchronisation active. Devices set to the wrong time or date will often have difficulties in complying with security access provisions and requirements and as a result, the requested access can be rejected. Most devices allow you to set a time synchronisation server to use, or accept one delivered by the network, so this is usually not a problem. But Apple iPads are a little different and they expect to be able to link directly to their own time sync servers hosted by Apple. This was recently identified as an issue as some iPads were failing to keep accurate time. We have now adjusted our firewalls to allow iPads to connect directly to their defined time servers to avoid such problems in the future.

Office 365 training for teachers Information item

Megan Townes is a Microsoft Teacher Ambassador who runs workshops and webinars throughout the year for NSW teachers. If your teachers would like to build and extend their Office 365 skills, it's worth joining the Microsoft Australian Education Community using your DoE Office 365 account. You'll be able to access professional learning in the form of webinars, workshops, twitter chats, teaching resources and more. In particular look for the NSW Rural and Remote DoE Workshops under the Teacher professional learning section for free hands-on training for DoE teachers. Upcoming courses include:

  • 12 - 15 September at Goulburn, Gundagai, Wagga Wagga and Cowra
  • 24 - 28 October at Port Macquarie, Tamworth, Armidale, Coffs Harbour and Cessnock.

Full-day hands-on workshops (9am - 3pm) and Twilight presentations (4pm - 6pm) are available to choose from. Full details at the above links.


REMINDER - Has your school completed its T4L Rollout order?

Secure Proxy Authentication News item

The rollout of Secure Proxy Authentication (SPA) is recommencing at the end of this week and will continue until the end of term 3 by which time all remaining secondary schools will be cut over. Last term, SPA rollouts were put on hold while some network issues at the State Data Centre were investigated and addressed. Since the end of May, 264 secondary schools have been running successfully with SPA. These resources will assist secondary schools to prepare their students and staff for their cutover. All schools will be provided around two weeks notice before their scheduled cutover date.

So what's in eT4L's El Capitan? News item

Previously, we published an article to explain how eT4L schools can have selected staff deploy standard Mac OSX operating systems, including the latest, El Capitan. Various software packages are included and it also supports the automated connection of network printers and eT4L resource shares for logged on users. So what exactly is included in this new Mac Managed Operating Environment (MOE)? We've also published a new guide that explains it all for you.

Ransomware warning Information item

Of all the types of malicious software, ransomware is both distressing and destructive. It is used by criminals to extort funds from their victims. The attack works by users unknowingly installing software, such as CryptoLocker on their computer or mobile device, usually received via a phishing email or a link on an unreputable website. Upon opening, it quickly encrypts your files, making them unusable. It then demands that you pay a ransom to decrypt the files. The best defence is common-sense. Don’t blindly click on email attachments or links. In April to May 2016, Australians reported more than 200,000 ransomware attacks. Not even DoE was immune. Fortunately, ITD was able to respond and prevented losses to DoE’s enterprise services without the need to pay the ransoms. Learn more about Ransomware and how to best avoid it.

NSW DoE Windows 10 for eT4LNSW DoE Windows 10 for eT4L schools

Guides and documents archive Link item

Since the launch of ITD's new Technology 4 Schools website many of the older pages on the previous intranet have been removed. PDF documents that were previously hosted on the intranet are now no longer available there. To address this as an interim measure, we have published a page on Yammer to host an archive of older PDF instuctions and guides. Most of the current content is now in our new site, but until all documents are updated and rehosted on the new site, this archive will assist in finding documents that may still be used as general guides. It should be understood that changes in the operating environment may have occurred since these guides were first produced, so there may be differences as a result.

Planner now in Office 365 News item

All students and staff now have a new tool included in their DoE Office 365 service called Microsoft Planner. Schools might use it for coordinating a faculty group or for school planning and managing milestones. One of the most valuable aspects of Planner is that it helps teams organise their work visually. Each plan has its own Board, and within each Board, each work item or task is represented by a Card that can have due dates, attachments, categories and conversations associated with it. Every Card can have documents (or pictures) attached, so it's easy to understand what the Card is about at a glance. In addition, Cards can be organised on the Board into customisable columns called Buckets, which can be prioritised and tagged with coloured labels. Confused? You can always check out the Quick Start guides.

Microsoft Planner now included in Office 365

Creative writing with Pobble 365 Link item

Sometimes, all that it takes to kick off a creative writing session is a photograph. The conversations that a great picture can provoke gradually get filled with rich vocabulary as the students' thinking gets channelled towards describing characters or settings. Their imaginations can run wild, and soon their stories can pour out onto paper or online documents. Wouldn't it be great if the teacher didn't have to find these stimuli every day? That's what Pobble 365 is for. It brings a new exciting image every single day of the year and it is available at no charge. You can even share the best stories on the website to showcase your students' work.

Internet Peering enhancements News item

The internet peering solution provided by Equinix that was highlighted in the video from our last issue referred to a new 20Gbit/s direct link for high-value educational content providers. By removing that content from the Telstra general internet link, massive improvements have become evident as shown in the graph below.

Graph showing the benefits of peering on the Telstra Internet link. Click for larger view More T4L news in Week 9

Information Technology Directorate publishes news.T4L three times every term. Remember to share each issue with your staff!

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NSW DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIRECTORATE