I have managed to clean up a few things. Firstly, I think I solved my "Dodgy Database" issue. After restoring a "known good" copy of the database, we were still having "weird" issues. By chance, on a call to FileMaker tech support for a totally unrelated issue, I found out that FileMaker 8.0 is *not* compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Therefore, an upgrade of affected computers to FileMaker 8.5 seems to have sorted the problem (and thankfully we had enough licences to cover this!)
The new AUP for staff has caused quite a stir. Many staff are concerned about privacy, thinking that the IT Department is just Big Brother, and will look at their private banking details, emails from their wives, etc. No matter how much you explain that we can only monitor on the authorisation of the Principal (based on reasonable suspicion), and we can only monitor / audit to (a) restore systems to normal operation, or (b) ensure compliance with the Policy, some people still don't get it. Are we being too unreasonable? I certainly don't think so, and there's nothing in the Policy that bothers me personally...still, you can't please everybody all the time!
At St Patrick's, we had our "planning meeting" on Thursday to decide what we're doing with all the money that Kevin and his mates want to throw at us. We have to reach a student:computer ratio of 1:1 for grades 9-12 by 31 December 2011. Bearing this in mind, the ICT Oversight Committee has decided that beginning in 2011:
1) All Year 9 students will be issued a laptop. This laptop will remain in their "home" classroom in the Year 9 campus (yes, we're getting a special, new Year 9 facility in 2011, but that's a whole other story). The laptop will still be considered that student's own computer, and they'll be expected to look after it.
2) When a student moves into the Senior School (years 10, 11 and 12), they will take their "Year 9" laptop with them...only difference is now they will be able to take it home if they wish.
3) Year 7 and 8 students will be required to purchase an iPod Touch, with which they can access the Internet, our Learning Management System, etc. There are no doubt plenty of other applications for these (a graphics calculator is one that I found the other day - in 30 seconds!) that can be of use in many curriculum areas. For times that the iPod is not sufficient, we'll still provide some computer labs and laptops for students to use.
We still have to manage some side issues...like when our initial Grade 9s get to Grade 11, the Grade 12s that they share classes with will need to be equipped...but hopefully I have a plan that allows this to happen. There will also be lots of hurdles to overcome with this plan, but I have another 12 months to sort most of those out. My immediate future is to plan our implementation (including infrastructure, support staff, all costs) and report back to DEEWR by 23rd September. Something tells me the next few weeks are going to be busy.
The next couple of weeks might be even busier, if I happen to go to Melbourne for an HP ProCurve training course between 8 and 11 September. Not quite sure if I want to go yet, as it will mean being away for our 5th Wedding Anniversary - something I'd rather not miss! On the other hand, if HP are giving me a ~$4000 course for free, I'd be a fool to pass it up.
One last thing....I (finally) have a clean desk! Here's the proof:
I can't take any credit for this masterpiece...my much better half came into the Office on Friday and did this for me (whilst waiting to go to the dentist). I promise I'll try and keep it looking this good!
Right...better go and start planning. Yes, even on a weekend :(
