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SSAT in association with Becta are inviting Secondary Schools (the invite has also been extended to LA’s) to a free half-day workshop of Online Reporting. This is an opportunity for Schools to find out more about the governments expectation that by September 2010 all secondary schools will be offering parents secure online access to information about their children’s learning and experience of school. As part of the workshop schools will be advised to consult with their local authority on moving towards online reporting and will also have the chance to discuss with leading practitioners how ICT is being exploited to improve parental engagement.

Shropshire Schools might like to attend:

ACN1007752 West Midlands 21st Nov 08, 10am Conference Aston, Birmingham
ACN1007753 West Midlands 21st Nov 08, 1.30pm Conference Aston, Birmingham

For immediate confirmation of your delegate place(s) and access to venue details, book online at www.ssatrust.org.uk/events. Please note you have to be registered on the SSAT website in order to view and book events.

Registration is free and open to all via the homepage at www.ssatrust.org.uk. If you are unable to book online or for further information please email engagingparents@ssatrust.org.uk or call Lyn Currie on 020 7802 9054.

Every week it seems there is a front-page headline proclaiming another government agency data stick lost, or a laptop stolen exposing personal details of thousands to persons unknown.  Clearly the amount of damage done will be limited to the nature of the data exposed and how accessible it is to those who have obtained it, but exposing personal data to persons unknown could be career-threatening.  Data that is encrypted to a suitable level will never present a security risk yet many teachers carry data sticks that contain personal details of pupils such as names, Unique Personal Numbers, details of academic achievement and behavioural/health issues - all wide open to the next person who picks up the mislaid data stick in the street.

Schools need to assess the risks of sensitive data being removed from their systems.  A Shropshire County Council policy for schools information security can be found here, and  Becta offers some Data Security advice for schools .  One of the basic Technological safeguards suggested is that removable data be encrypted.  Data encryption used to be a potentially arduous and expensive task.  It’s not so difficult or expensive any more and with this in mind it might be suggested that encrypting personal data held on portable devices is essential.  Becta offers a list of data encryption programs that are of varying ease to use.

Having just installed TrueCrypt I can confirm that this is a user-friendly program and I would be happy rolling out to teachers to encrypt data sticks.  It has versions for Mac OS-X, Windowsand Linux.  Data can be encrypted on an entire drive or simply within one folder/directory, and the ecrypted directory can be hidden altogether to prevent data from being demanded under duress (although I can’t see this being a problem with the majority of the kinds of information we have in education).

Now to think about an article concerning  encrypting emails…

Becta is pleased to announce that ‘Emerging technologies for learning- volume 3’ has just been published. This follow-up edition complements the first two ‘Emerging technologies for learning’ publications from 2006 and 2007.

The ‘Emerging technologies for learning’ series aims to help readers consider how emerging technologies may impact on education and learners in the medium term. The publications are not intended to be a comprehensive review of educational technologies, but offer some highlights across the broad spectrum of developments and trends. It should open readers up to some of the possibilities that are developing and the potential for technology to transform our ways of working, learning and interacting over the next three to five years.

Copies can be downloaded from www.becta.org.uk/research/reports/emergingtechnologies

Read the rest of this entry »

Recent high level security breaches concerning loss of personal and sensitive information have highlighted the need to update security guidance.  Please see latest advice from Becta at:

schools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=lv&catcode=ss_lv_saf_dp_03&rid=14734

Last year Childnet undertook research with some 400 trainee teachers reviewing how the topic of E-Safety could fit into the initial Teacher Training Curriculum. This work was commissioned with funding and support from the TDA and Microsoft. The results highlighted that e-safety needed to become an integral part of teacher training and that those entering the profession needed practical support and resources to support their learning. See report at http://www.childnet.com/publications/policy.aspx

Responding to this need Childnet and its partners have launched a new set of resources including a website and DVD called ‘Know IT ALL for Trainees’ The video content is introduced by Karl Hopwood and can be viewed online at http://www.childnet.com/kia/traineeteachers/default.aspx The TDA are distributing the Trainees DVD to the 250 Teacher Training institutions across England over the next few weeks.

With additional support from Becta we have also produced a complimentary set of resources for existing Teachers (in secondary schools) to help with their professional development and understand the importance of E-safety and where this topic can be taught in the curriculum. This content is introduced by Ruth Hammond and can be accessed at http://www.childnet.com/kia/teachers/ This website also contains an interactive online version of the excellent Becta ‘Signpost to safety’ document with hyperlinks to all the available online resources, websites and training resources. See http://www.childnet.com/kia/teachers/resources.aspx

Dear colleagues

Some of you may be familiar with the BBC News School Report.  The BBC works with KS3 students in 250 schools to help them make their own news reports. (bbc.co.uk/schoolreport)  There’s a UK wide School News Day on March 13th when the reports are broadcast on school websites and on BBC programmes.

Many of the students are bringing up issues relating to mobile phone/handheld devices in schools as topics that they would like to report on.  In advance of this Helen is looking for information on how secondary schools are using/regulating mobiles in the classroom and any issues that teachers or students are concerned about eg what is on kid’s phones? How can they be used positively as an aid to learning and teaching?

Do you work at or know of a school/s that has had problems in the past?  How was it resolved?

Do you work at or know of a school/s that uses mobiles as part of the lesson or for setting homework - what benefits do you see?

If you can help provide a viewpoint either positive or negative on the issues relating to mobile usage in school, please contact Helen.Shreeve@bbc.co.uk

Are your teachers using and sharing
digital resources for learning and teaching?

Becta and the NEN invite your school to join this programme to:

§  exploit online digital resources

§  create new materials to support learning and teaching for secondary aged students using those online digital resources

§  work with your RBC (and possibly its Local Authority and other schools) to produce these materials and then share them across the NEN.

Projects last from April to December 2008.  Funding will be up to £25,000 per project. Bids are required by Friday 22 February 2008.

Further Details

[Taken from the NAACE newsletter]

Following their interim report in January 2007, Becta’s final report on installing MS Vista and Office 2007 remains cautious. The key recommendations [quote]:

• Upgrading existing ICT systems to Microsoft Vista or Office 2007 is not recommended and mixed Windows-based operating environments should be avoided. However, Vista should be considered where new institution-wide ICT provision is being planned.
• No widespread deployment of Office 2007 should take place until schools and colleges are sure that they have in place mechanisms to deal with interoperability and potential digital divide issues set out in the report.
• To ensure widest compatibility of files between different applications, users of Office 2007 should not save in Microsoft’s new Office format (OOXML).
• Due to limitations in Microsoft’s implementation of the Open Document Format (ODF) international standard, users should in the short term continue to save files in the more widely adopted .doc, .xls and .ppt formats.
• Pupils, teachers and parents should also be made aware of the wide range of free-to-use products currently available and on how to use and access them.
• The ICT industry should be facilitating easier access to ‘free-to-use’ office productivity software.

Becta’s Executive Director of Strategic Technologies, Dr. Stephen Lucey, said, “Our objective is to make sure schools and colleges get the best possible value for money. Our advice is to be sure there is a strong business case before upgrading to these products as the costs are significant and the benefits remain unclear.”

The full report is available at http://publications.becta.org.uk/download.cfm?resID=35275
Press release http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=35287&page=1658&catID=1633

On January 10th 2007 at BETT, the Minister for Schools Jim Knight announced a Home Access taskforce in order to evaluate ways in which home access to technology and the internet can be delivered. As a result of this taskforce BECTA is looking for schools willing to participate in pilot programmes starting at the beginning of November.

To qualify primary or secondary schools should have an average or above average (> 15%) free school meal eligibility amongst pupils and be willing to work with both Becta and the IT industry to quickly implement a pupil / parent purchase scheme within a sample year group.

For further information or an informal discussion please contact ben.chapman@becta.org.uk (Tel. 07831 160 110)