Stone Summer Update 2015 by Stone Group

UPDATE Summer 2015 marketing@stonegroup.co.uk stonegroup.co.uk @StoneComputers

The AV Maketh the Classroom HOW SAFE IS YOUR WIRELESS REALLY? PAGE 6 2 0 1 5

BATTLE OF THE TABLETS PAGE 8 ISO 14001

ISO 27001

ISO 9001

Registered

Environmental Management

Information Security Management

Quality Management

TECHNOLOGY LIFE HACKS PAGE 28

CONTENTS COVER STORIES

HOW SAFE IS YOUR WIRELESS REALLY?

BATTLE OF THE TABLETS

THE AV MAKETH THE CLASSROOM

TECHNOLOGY LIFE HACKS

Jay Abbott shares insights on securing your school's network

What's the difference between an iPad, an Android tablet and a Windows device?

Capture your student's attention with the latest AV tech

Tired of technology's little annoyances? We're here to help

THE AV MAKETH THE CLASSROOM

FEATURES

FEEL THE FORCE OF WINDOWS 10

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FROM THE EDITOR Get the lowdown on what’s packed inside Update

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF PC ON A STICK Find out how the PC on a Stick got on with its first day at school

THE BRITISH STANDARD FOR SUSTAINABILITY Here's the lowdown on why sustainability is important for your institution

SKYPE IN THE CLASSROOM See how teachers everywhere are joining together to create the world's biggest classroom

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BYOD IN THE 'EDUTAINMENT' ERA Is dynamic learning the future of education?

CASE STUDY: TEACHING IN 4K ULTRA HD Fairfield High School for Girls leads the way for 4K use in education

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IIYAMA A wide range of education monitors

FEEL THE FORCE OF WINDOWS 10 Find out more about how Windows 10 will benefit educational institutions

NEW TOOLS FOR THE CLASSROOM FROM ACER The Aspire Switch 10 E WHAT IS THIS THING? THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL WORLD OF STONE RECYCLING Can you identify these old pieces of tech?

SEN AND ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY Check out these 8 must-have products

CASE STUDY: TEACHING IN 4K ULTRA HD

SUMMER 2015

FROM THE

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EDITOR What a crazy few months it’s been! In the aftermath of BETT, Stone HQ has blossomed into a flurry of activity and we’re excited to show you what we’ve been up to. In our most vibrant Update yet, we’ve picked our favourite stories and fresh ideas to brighten up your term. This issue covers our expert guidance on getting the most out of your gadgets. We reveal the 8 must-have SEN products for inclusive IT (page 24), and our top tech life hacks to restore your sanity in the digital age (page 28). We've put together the ultimate guide to help you decipher the tablet: it’s a battle between devices to find out which one is right for you. We’ve also chatted with Jay Abbott, a network security expert for JustASC, who gives us the lowdown on the security of wireless in your school (page 6). Teacherpreneurs are leading the struggle to integrate edtech at a curriculum level, as we bid the traditional classroom adieu. This year will bring experimentation with new models of learning, so we’ll be exploring the world of ‘edutainment’ in an article on the adoption of BYOD in the classroom. We’ll also investigate the ‘world’s biggest classroom’, as Skype opens the door to a global learning community (page 30).

asking industry experts why you should care. And for those of you who haven’t already met our tiny companion, we'll be taking you through a day in life of our PC on a Stick and finding out how it got on with its first day at school (page 14). “Perfection is our goal, excellence will be tolerated,” reads Stone HQ’s motivational wall. This captures the coming months in a nutshell. Schools are getting better at thinking tech-first, and we’re working harder than ever to achieve your vision. Find out how we enabled Fairfield High School for Girls to move seamlessly between desk and whiteboard devices on a single operating system, and check out our article on what’s new in AV for education. We're also resurrecting old equipment from storage, and we challenge you to identify as many of the old pieces of technology as you can. Submit your responses to our team at marketing@stonegroup.co.uk, and you could be named as ‘Fossil Guru’ and winner of our mystery prize. Look out for the answers in the next edition of Update!

Missed the last edition?

Don’t worry – you can access the content whenever you like at www.stoneupdate.co.uk. Happy reading!

With the launch of Windows 10 on the horizon, we’ve been thinking about the HoloLens and its role in the classroom of the future, highlighting some of the new features of the system update. Looking to the future, we also evaluate the importance of the new British Standards Qualification,

marketing@stonegroup.co.uk stonegroup.co.uk @StoneComputers

Daley Robinson, Group Marketing Director 08448 22 11 22 marketing@stonegroup.co.uk

Current and past editions of Update are available to read online at any time on your favourite device. Whenever you see these icons, go online for bonus content using the QR code or the web link.

VIDEO CLIP

CASE STUDY

ONLINE CONTENT

UPDATE

BYOD IN THE ERA

The rise of BYOD in the classroom has unleashed a new generation of student. Born into the world of shiny smartphones, this student is an unstoppable tech-savvy machine armed with a tablet and ready to use it. As digital natives, they see online communication as a basic human right, and casually carry instant access to masses of information everywhere they go. Realistically, our education system needs to adapt in order to get the most out of these students.

COULD DYNAMIC LEARNING BE THE ANSWER? After all, there’s no reason why a student capable of memorising the entire periodic table from a YouTube song isn’t equally as capable of remembering the difference between meiosis and mitosis. It’s simply a matter of how the information is presented. Equipping classrooms for BYOD schemes is the way forward, but teaching methods can be slow to evolve – currently, more attention is often focused on implementing infrastructure than on actually involving personal devices in lesson plans.

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Once the engineers have all gone home, and your students sit with tablets at the ready, here are just some of the ways to explore the full potential of your BYOD scheme.

DYNAMIC LEARNING Many forward-thinking educators have already begun to experiment with the wealth of technology available through BYOD. For example, QR Code generators can provide links to educational content on-screen for students to scan with their devices. Another frequent favourite is the online classroom response service, Poll Everywhere. This platform can be used with a projector screen display to set multiple-choice or open-ended questions, where students can text answers and see the poll update in real time. The advantage of polls is that they allow everyone to participate instead of merely calling on individuals. Quizzing all of the students at once encourages retention of the material, whilst enabling the teacher to see the performance of the whole class. Apps can be incorporated into learning too – most notably iTunes U, an app containing educational podcasts from credible resources. Pupils can pause and replay information in their own time, at their own pace of learning. The art of embedding lessons within familiar forms of entertainment – such as apps, podcasts, or texting – has become known as ‘edutainment’, and has proven effective for translating course material into the language of the digital native.

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PREPARATION FOR THE DIGITAL WORKFORCE

ENCOURAGING RESPONSIBILITY

The thought of life after education can be daunting, especially now that so much of our world is based on technology. As it advances, the skills needed to survive in the job market are changing. For example, digital-age literacy, effective communication, and high productivity are all considered core competencies for today’s graduates. The new generation of students need to know how to succeed in the technologically-driven workforce.

Our education system has always valued analytical, uninterrupted thinking. That’s why a concern with BYOD is the potential for distraction and diminished attention spans. However, students were scrolling through their phones in class long before BYOD became a reality – the only difference is that they can now be used productively as well, to clarify doubt or look something up relating to the discussion. This could even encourage student engagement in a task, because they enjoy using their devices.

Regardless of which field of work they choose, students need to be adaptable to change and comfortable in a dynamic environment. Integrating laptops, tablets, and smartphones into the learning environment means that students are coming into contact with a wide variety of software and hardware devices. This introduces them to the methods of their future, and gives them experience of which device or app is best-suited for completing a certain task. They can also take advantage of the available technology to check their writing, and pursue real-world issues alongside their learning.

BECOMING MORE ORGANISED Organisation is one of many crucial ways that students benefit from BYOD integration. When it comes to making notes, files saved on electronic gadgets are infinitely easier to re-read at exam time compared to massive folders full of scrawled notes and illegible diagrams. With tablets, students can use NotesPlus to make notes, tag notes on Evernote, record audio, use a capacitive stylus to simplify handwriting, and sync notes as PDFs to GoogleDocs. There’s even mind-mapping software available for the particular benefit of dyslexic students. These documents are then synced to the cloud for them to pick up later, saving both documents and time. Your students may forget physical notes and textbooks, but they’re unlikely to part willingly from their mobile devices. By keeping all notes, textbooks, and essays on their device, they can use the same one both at home and in class to stay on top of their education.

BYOD is an opportunity to motivate students to take control of their own learning. It requires discipline on their part to resist the call of Angry Birds – it’s up to them to use the technology responsibly. They’ll also be more motivated to take proper care of the device if it belongs to them, and ensure that it works properly by downloading their own software updates, thus eliminating the need for constant IT assistance.

DEVICE CUSTOMISATION Students are typically well-acquainted with their own devices. Fortunately, familiarity with a device is thought to make learning more efficient, since people tend to invest time and effort into customising their device to suit their own needs and preferences. Through BYOD schemes, students are no longer restricted to school or centre-owned equipment, but free to favour different devices for different reasons. This is particularly relevant with the ever-increasing variety of devices to choose from, as laptops and handheld devices become more affordable. BYOD can be a sure-fire way to keep your institution up-to-date with technology. Consumers are constantly being introduced to new and improved technology, and where schools may not be able to keep up with the latest models, students undoubtedly will.

UPDATE

HOW SAFE IS YOUR WIRELESS REALLY? Wireless networking is a true wonder of the modern internet age. Before its inception the possibility of truly portable devices was limited to a device that could be transported from A to B. Through its wonders we can not only transport devices from A to B hassle free, but use them on the journey - and everywhere in between. This ubiquitous access to networks has come at a cost though. In order for the connectivity to appear seamless, security is somewhat lacking. For the most part, the very design of wireless is insecure. Fundamentally the protocol broadcasts what it's looking for in clear text over the airwaves for anyone with the right equipment to see. Once a suitable connection has been discovered, the security is negotiated from that point forward. As harmless as that may sound, it does open up a few attack vectors you may not have considered that we will go into later. For now, let’s start with the basics.

What is wireless? Wireless is covered by a standard from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) called 802.11. There are a number of “extensions” to the standard that define specific operating modes and speeds such as (a), (b), (c), (g), (i) and (n).

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WEP, WPA, WPA2 – a secure wireless solution? The first wireless security solution was known as Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP). This system was designed to protect the data on a network from eavesdropping and to prevent unauthorised devices from connecting. Based on the RC4 Stream Cipher, when initially released it was thought to be more than adequate to protect the data. Not long after its release, an attack was developed that leveraged a flaw in the implementation, exposing the key used for the encryption to a brute force attack from any attacker that managed to listen to a few special packets. In modern times, this has turned into a well-documented and automated attack with the whole process - from identifying that WEP is in use, to being able to decrypt all traffic and access the network – taking only a few seconds. After WEP came Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) & WiFi Protected Access II (WPA2). These new solutions replaced WEP as a secure way of protecting wireless by implementing the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), providing a mechanism to dynamically generate a new key on every packet transmitted, and mitigating the attacks designed to break WEP. WPA2 further extended the available cryptographic approaches to implement the industry standard Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Counter Mode Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP).

SUMMER 2015

WPA2 with a strong key in use is considered to be secure by many standards, and it's true that a direct attack against this mechanism would require a brute force approach and a significant amount of computing power, rendering it a very strong cipher mechanism. What is not so obvious is that WEP, WPA & WPA2 don’t protect wireless from a number of attacks that could easily result in a serious breach. There are many other aspects of this that I will not cover - including a number of active RF defence techniques built into some of the latest generation equipment - as it would turn this article into a book!

A wireless attacker Let’s look at wireless from another perspective, that of an attacker. To an attacker, wireless is a noisy information source that is happy to play regardless of whether it is a client device such as an iPad or Android phone, or the wireless access point in your office or school. The protocol does not care. If you ask it the right question, it will answer. Let’s say that I want to attack a school’s wireless system. That system will be broadcasting its name “school.wifi”. This is known as the Service Set Identifier (SSID) and is the name of the wireless that shows up on your client device to connect to. It is possible to hide this name from the device, and at first that sounds like a good idea. But in reality all this does is make it difficult for new clients to connect, as it’s never actually hidden from a hacker, and it’s always in the air if you ask for it! So let’s assume that this particular “school.wifi” is protected with a strong WPA2 key. I have a few options available to me at this point. I could brute force attack the access point which might take a while or I can attack a client instead. You see, when an IT person thinks about the security of their wireless network, they think about it as they have been told to. We, however, do not. So, let’s instead launch a tool that can listen for clients rather than access points. In the same way that an access point has an SSID, a client has a Basic Service Set Identification (BSSID). This is the client’s way of seeing if it’s back at a network that it knows about. So when a client wants to connect to the wireless it broadcasts a list of networks, including every network you have ever connected to, just in case you need to connect to them again. How is this useful I hear you ask? It’s simple really. If I want access to the school all I have to do is force one of the clients to disconnect from the school’s secure network where I know it will also connect to an insecure one, temporarily make my computer look like the insecure network it knows about, and make sure that my signal is stronger than the schools one. That client will now connect to me instead. At this stage I can directly attack the client or route the client’s traffic through me, thus compromising the client and its level of access to be leveraged in a further attack on the school.

Sound complicated? It’s really not!

Scarily simple How about this for a kick in the teeth to the IT team. The most secure way of deploying wireless is known as WPA2 “Enterprise”. Enterprise mode enables a series of additional features and security protocols I won’t go into, but mainly provides additional authentication linked to the end user’s Active Directory (AD) credentials. This massively increases the complexity of an attack and theoretically makes the maths involved in a cryptographic attack unfeasible. But then I’m a hacker, so impossible maths is a challenge. Well, actually, it’s a pain. It’s easier to just bypass the need for it instead. The above approach is susceptible to an interesting attack that could be considered just “unfair” in the world of IT! If I want to break your authenticated, super strong wireless access, first I set up a similar one on my own machine replicating the same WPA2 Enterprise solution using open source tools. I essentially simulate the whole authentication piece, but have no actual knowledge of the username or passwords. Next I force all of the clients connected to your network to disconnect with a special packet I transmit into the airwaves, then transmit a higher power signal with the same network name as your “school. wifi” and all of the clients attempt to connect to me as if I am you. Now, each user is prompted to connect with their username and password - which they do. Of course the connection fails for them, but as soon as I have one person’s username and password, I switch off my copy of your network and everything returns to normal…but now I have a valid user account for your secure network, and just connect as a normal user Hardly fair, is it? Hacking is the art of finding flaws in a system of control. Penetration Testing is the same thing, but we don’t steal your data and we tell you how to fix it. Do you know how secure you really are? Written by Jay Abbott, Managing Director, JustASC. Jay Abbott is the Founder and Managing Director of Advanced Security Consulting Ltd. As an independent security expert, he is regularly quoted in the media on the subject of Cyber Security. He has spent most of his career engineering technical solutions to business problems. The rest has been spent reverse-engineering technology solutions to ensure that they are secure, in the ‘design it, build it, break it’ space.

UPDATE

"What's the difference between an iPad, an Android tablet and a Windows device?"

Sounds a bit like it could be the start of a joke, but it’s a question we’re often asked by customers looking to bring tablets into their institution. With the gaps closing between the three leading tablet platforms, it can often be difficult to decide which platform is right for your institution, and which is the best placed to meet your vision for integrating tablets into the curriculum. We’ve put together a helpful guide to the pros and cons of Apple, Windows and Android devices to help you decide which platform is right for you and your institution.

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SUMMER 2015

APPLE Pros

Cons

• Easy to set up and get going – iPad can be used straight out of the box, which can really come in handy if you’re deploying a whole classroom full.

• iPad doesn't support Flash, which can be essential for viewing some online content, particularly that which is interactive.

• As iPad is ubiquitous in the consumer market, the user interface will be one that the majority of the younger generation will be very familiar with. Even to those who aren’t familiar, iOS is simple and easy to get to grips with.

• Third party apps are required in order to set up file sharing and access to shared drives.

• There are hundreds of thousands of apps available in the App Store, including a large selection of high quality educational apps. • Apple closely monitor and filter the apps available on the App Store, giving them greater control over quality. This also means there is no malware threat from App Store content. • iPad comes preinstalled with services including AirPlay, AirPrint and AirDrop, allowing you to present on an external display at the touch of a button, print straight from the device, and share files between students and staff quickly and easily with compatible hardware.

• Apple devices are the most expensive of the three tablet providers, and by extension, accessories are also more expensive. • iPad has limited physical connectivity as it doesn't come with USB or HDMI ports, and to achieve better connectivity you often have to purchase additional accessories. • There's less flexibility in terms of form factor – iPad only comes in two sizes, the Mini (7.9”) or the Air (9.7”).

• Apple offers great support for syncing solutions, making them perfect for Mobile Device and Application Management. • It’s now easier to integrate iPad into a Windows environment, thanks to software like Foldr, which helps you connect to your servers by turning them into cloud storage.

Find out how Windows and Android compare overleaf 9

UPDATE

ANDROID Pros

Cons

• There's a wide variety of hardware available – with high-end devices from major players to cheaper options from lesser known manufacturers. User interface also varies depending on manufacturer, so you have the flexibility to choose a tablet which meets your institution’s needs exactly.

• There's less tablet optimised content available on the Google Play Store than there is on the App Store. The Play Store is also less strictly filtered, so there's a greater number of lower quality apps. However, with Android you do have access to over 200 alternative app stores, and any one can be set as default across your tablet estate.

• Android devices are for the most part significantly cheaper than iPad, although this can depend on which tablet you choose. • The multiple user functionality also gives you the ability to customise backgrounds, widgets and content between users, as well as set different restrictions for each user – so the same device can be used by staff and students alike. • Android devices have a classic file directory – meaning the back end file structure will be familiar and easy to manage. • There is a greater variety of form factors available in terms of screen size, meaning you can select the right device for its purpose.

• Updates to the operating system are often fragmented – whereas with Apple when a new iOS is launched everyone gets access to it at the same time, Google often force staggered roll-outs of their updates by device due to differences in user interface between manufacturers. This also means that some applications are not compatible with all devices. • The Google Play Store lacks a lot of the major educational app titles that are available via the App Store for iPad. • Although Android devices offer multiple login functionality, this is on a device level rather than a user level, meaning users cannot be centrally managed on the network.

• Widget functionality is available with Android, meaning you are able to gain quick access to or visibility of online content.

Tech Terms

Office RT – The mobile-optimised version of Microsoft Office 2013 which comes with tablets running Windows RT.

iOS – The operating system that runs on Apple devices.

Office 365 – The service from Microsoft that allows the use of the Office suite on Windows as well as providing cloud storage and 60 minutes of Skype calls per month.

Android – The operating system developed by Google which runs on devices across a number of manufacturers. App Store – Apple’s dedicated platform for downloading apps. Google Play Store – Google’s dedicated platform for downloading apps, which is the default store on Android devices.

Apple ID – An ‘all-in-one’ account which can be used to login to a number of Apple services including iCloud, iTunes and the App Store.

Windows Store – Microsoft’s dedicated platform for downloading apps, which runs on Windows devices.

Active Directory – A service available on most Windows Server operating systems which authenticates and authorises users and computers in a network.

Windows RT – The edition of Windows 8/8.1 designed specifically for mobile devices, which doesn’t include the desktop interface or the full Office suite.

Group Policy – A feature of Windows that enables you to control the working environment of user and computer accounts, including applications and users’ settings.

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SUMMER 2015

WINDOWS Pros

Cons

• There are devices available that run the full Windows OS and therefore offer the full experience and versions of the applications, whereas with Android or iPad you get a scaled-down version of applications such as Word or Excel (Microsoft Office Mobile). The traditional desktop available with these particular devices also adds a degree of familiarity to the experience.

• Some Windows tablets (usually the cheaper devices) run Windows RT, which doesn’t include the desktop interface or access to the file structure. This also means that these tablets can’t run full versions of some applications including Office.

• Windows devices are often pre-installed with either Office, Office 365, or Office RT. Office 365 is available to students and teachers for free to use on up to 5 different devices across all 3 platforms, meaning that they can seamlessly sync their work between their devices at school and at home. • The Pro flavour of Windows provides native support for powerful admin tools such as Active Directory and Group Policy, allowing management of multiple tablets at the user-level as opposed to the device-level.

• The Windows 8 interface is very different to that of earlier Windows iterations such as XP and Windows 7, meaning the interface could be unfamiliar to users and would require additional knowledge to run it successfully. • The number of apps available in the Windows Store is significantly lower than what’s on offer in the Google Play and App Stores, and is growing at a much slower pace. • Like Android, the Windows Store lacks a lot of the high quality educational content available via the App Store.

• There is a much wider variety of connectivity options and hardware add-ons – many Windows devices come with USB, mini/micro USB or mini HDMI ports. • A number of manufacturers offer 2-in-1 Windows devices, which come with keyboards and can function either as a tablet or as a mini laptop. • Windows 8 comes with multi-tasking and splitscreen functionality which is way ahead of both other tablet platforms, meaning, for example, a student could work on a project or essay whilst viewing or reading related content from the Internet on the other side of their screen. • Legacy apps and software can be used with Windows tablets which are running the full OS.

If you’d like any more advice on tablets and how to choose the right one for your institution, talk to us about our TalkTechTeach programme on 08448 22 11 22 or email marketing@stonegroup.co.uk. 11

Feel the force of Windows 10 for education UPDATE

The upcoming release of Windows 10 means that Microsoft are yet again set to dominate the field of technology. Having targeted Windows 8 and 8.1 mostly towards their tablet customers, Microsoft are now working to unify their existing product families, along with new releases, around a common internal core and application system. With Windows 10, they're pushing towards “one Windows” across PCs, tablets and phones, and have created an operating system focused on userfriendly features. This is particularly exciting for the field of education, because of the two new devices they have also announced - the HoloLens and Surface Hub. Their HoloLens is a sneak peek into the classroom of the future, where the most immersive learning experience you could imagine is one step closer to becoming a reality. THE WINDOWS 10 EXPERIENCE Microsoft believes that interacting with technology should be as natural as interacting with people. That's why the 'Windows Insider Program', their new open-development process, was launched last September. Over 1.7 million contributors, known as Windows Insiders, have delivered over 800,000 pieces of feedback in order for Microsoft to develop a more seamless user experience for Windows 10. The ‘seamless’ experience will allow apps, services and content to sync through OneDrive and transfer across devices, enabling the user to start something on one device and continue it on another. To achieve this, Microsoft is developing two versions of Windows 10. Both versions use the same code, but are formatted to fit different screen sizes. One version is for PCs and tablets with screen sizes 8 inches or larger, the other is for smartphones and phablets with screen sizes 8 inches or smaller. New apps are to be ‘universal’, so that

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developers can build a single app that targets PCs, tablets, phones, Xbox, the Internet of Things and more. FEATURES The idea behind Windows 10 is to combine the best features from both Windows 7 and Windows 8 into a system built for the era of mobility. For example, the start menu from the taskbar is Windows 7-style, with some Windows 8-style icons, and can go full-screen to make it easier to navigate with touch. The new Settings app is also a combination of Control Panel from Windows 7 and Settings from Windows 8. The benefit of this is that users will already be familiar with the navigation from the previous generations of Windows, and able to start using it effectively straight away. The taskbar search box incorporates Microsoft’s digital personal assistant, Cortana, and will search online across all of your Windows 10 devices, as well as in OneDrive. PC features, such as the taskbar, can now be accessed by 2-in-1 devices as well, because they're running the full Windows 10. When removed from a keyboard, continuum mode will prompt you to approve the toggle transition into tablet mode, which includes full-screen windows and start menu, and you can use touch gestures to switch between apps. Within the task bar, there’s also a task view button that shows all of the open apps and can switch between desktops; this is now larger with more touch-friendly buttons.

On smaller devices, a Windows 8-style Start experience allows you to swipe to the right to see the most-recently installed apps, or drag down to see the Action Centre that’s synced with your PC. The Workflow keyboard is still there but improved, with a new microphone button above for inputting voice commands; this can recognise names of contacts and automatically add correct punctuation. Messaging on Windows phones has also been improved, with support for messaging apps so that you can switch to Skype, for example. APPS Device-independent apps mean that you will have access to the same app across different sizes of device, with touch-optimised versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote and Outlook. The new Office apps will no longer require a keyboard or mouse, which is useful for taking your work on the go. The new Word has the familiar Office ribbon reformatted into a tab on the app bar, and can view documents optimised for touch screens. PowerPoint also has the familiar Office ribbon, and both have a Recent Documents list that roams across devices and OneDrive. With Outlook, it’s a left swipe to delete e-mails, a right swipe to flag, and you can set a personal image for the background. In addition to Microsoft Office, other familiar apps are now tailored for touch screens. Calendar looks the same, but has been optimised to support gestures like pinch-to-zoom. The new Photos app is optimised to fit the right screen; it doesn’t display duplicates and bursts, but does auto-enhance photos and auto-create album names based on place, time, and people in photos. It also formats photos to look nice in Collections, and syncs albums to the cloud so you can share them.

SUMMER 2015 The People app collects friends from across your social networks, and lets you perform quick actions like placing phone or Skype calls. The Maps app now features Cortana, and she can remember where you parked your car, and the Music app will soon be able to store your music collection in OneDrive. PROJECT SPARTAN Project Spartan is the codename for the new browser designed to fit in with the touch-optimised Windows 10 apps. As the successor to Internet Explorer, there’s a new user interface and rendering engine, making it faster and easier to use. With the new browser, you can annotate onto a live webpage, read articles distraction-free and save your favourites to read offline later. In note-taking mode, you can annotate webpages with a stylus or finger, click anywhere on the page to add a keyboard-input comment, or clip a portion of the page then share to social networks or email. Another mode, reading mode, standardises the way you read sites, by cropping out adverts and making articles go into ‘bleed view’. There’s also a reading list that pulls from the right, where you can add sites or PDFs from any device, and it’s available for offline-use. Students could take advantage of these features while researching in a classroom, by annotating pages as they read and highlighting key facts for later; Spartan would then allow these pages to be shared out to OneNote to produce a collection from different sources. CORTANA The digital assistant, Cortana, is available on smaller devices as well as the PC/large tablet version of Windows 10. She's built into Spartan, and located in the new search box on the taskbar. She knows 7 languages, and can do impersonations like Yoda from Star Wars. You can ask questions out loud by saying “Hey, Cortana” followed by the question, for example a student could ask, “Hey Cortana, why is the sky blue?”, and she will answer by serving up relevant results. You can also type commands into Cortana via the search box; a student could search for the carbon cycle and it would start gathering relevant information from various sources around the internet, including pictures, articles and videos. Cortana keeps an editable notebook about you, including your interests and device-usage habits, to tailor search results and appropriate responses. This would be useful for classes of students

who are studying similar topics, and increase the efficiency of them finding the relevant information.

SHE KNOWS 7 LANGUAGES, AND CAN DO IMPERSONATIONS LIKE YODA FROM STAR WARS. SURFACE HUB Microsoft has announced two new devices that will run on Windows 10, one of which is the Surface Hub: an 84-inch touchscreen PC intended to take the place of a big screen television, a home PC and an entertainment centre. It’s also designed to act as the centrepiece of a modern office. Thanks to Windows 10, the hub has touch, voice and pen capabilities. It is equipped with microphones, integrated cameras and connections such as wireless projection, HDMI and Bluetooth, as well as ports for peripheral devices. Microsoft says that this new device can evolve the way teams meet together in a corporate environment, and is great for brainstorming or demonstrating in meetings. In an education setting, this could be used to address the drawbacks of long-distance learning. The Hub uses apps such as OneNote whiteboard, so that notes can be synced via OneDrive and be available for both the teacher and the student’ devices, and live webcams could allow the teacher to join via Skype as though they were actually in the classroom.

HOLOLENS The second new device announced, the Microsoft HoloLens, means that Windows 10 is going to be the world’s first holographic computing platform. HoloLens gives you the ability to design and shape highdefinition holograms that can integrate with physical places, spaces and things. There are no wires, phones or connection to a PC needed. Advanced sensors can see what you’re looking at and understand what you’re communicating with your hands and voice, and you can hear the holograms in surround sound, even if they are behind you. This is a new medium to express creativity, and a more efficient way to teach, learn, visualise your work, and share ideas. The HoloLens uses augmented reality, so virtual objects are displayed as though they are real physical objects. This has potential for a classroom environment, where students could be challenged to apply concepts to virtual tasks. For example, scanning a real object into the system, creating a new virtual copy of the object, and allowing the student to manually adjust the height, length, and width. Students could demonstrate their understanding of concepts such as scale factor, and visually see the distortion when they didn't correctly increase a given dimension of the object.

UPDATE

New tools for the classroom from Acer As an Acer Platinum Synergy Partner, we’ve teamed up with them to bring some great oﬀers on two of their brand new devices perfect for education. The Aspire Switch 10 E comes with a 10.1-inch display, boasting 1280x800 resolution and featuring wide viewing angle IPS technology for better collaboration and sharing.

Acer Aspire Switch 10 E A versatile 2-in-1 perfect for school and everyday use • Easy Click 2-in-1 device • Versatile four modes design: touch, type, view and share • New Snap Hinge ™ 2 for even faster transformation between modes • Technology Access Program compliant • Sophisticated textile pattern on top and rear covers • Up to 11 hours battery life – keep working through the school day • Dual web-cams

Speciﬁcation

£219

stonegroup.co.uk

+ Windows 8.1 Pro + Intel® Atom™ Processor + 2GB Memory + 64GB Storage + 2MP Front and Rear Cameras + 10” Display + Weighs only 1.2kg with keyboard

SUMMER 2015

Acer TravelMate P236-M A 13.3” notebook that delivers robust productivity, security and reliability •

802.11ac wireless for fast connectivity

•

Slim, stylish and perfectly portable

•

Non-glare Acer ComfyView display

from

£359 Speciﬁcation

+ + + + + +

Windows 7 Professional Up to Intel® Core™ i5-4210U 4GB Memory 500GB Hard Drive 802.11ac 13.3” HD Display

UPDATE

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF…

PC Stick on a

Trial day in the classroom I plugged it into my monitor, switched it on and that was it – all set up and ready to teach in just over 5 minutes over morning coffee. My tech team (Year 8 students who help out in my class) thought it was excellent. One of my students told me:

“This would be great sir! I would use it in my bedroom to turn my TV into a smart TV and to mirror my laptop to my TV to stream music and videos.”

I asked another student of mine to load the presentation I’d prepared and then plug in my USB clicker to allow me to move around the classroom rather than being at a desk. A second USB port would be advantageous but it didn’t stop me doing what I needed to. We were also able to use a Bluetooth keyboard which I’d earlier paired with the PC on a Stick. The students loved this as it meant they could wander the classroom and still use the keyboard.

Teaching with the device I came to a section of my class where I was showing a YouTube video on the design and development of keyboards. The video streamed very well at 720p

– I was very impressed, as were my class. The addition of the PC

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to my classroom meant that my laptop was free for me to work on whilst the presentation and video were playing to the class. I was loving the full functionality of the PC on a Stick and the flexibility to work with it. My first lesson was over for the day and I really wanted to push the PC on a Stick and have a go at using the Scratch (web coding) online software to design a game. This is quite an intensive process and I found it worked really well, as did the game design demo that I used for my Year 8s. They were even able to add their own code to the project!

Following the launch at BETT, we wanted to get a real insight into how the PC on a Stick would be useful for education. So with that in mind, John Cowell, a Computing and ICT teacher, agreed to trial it for us and push the mini PC to its limits. Here’s how the PC on a Stick got on with its first day at school…

Coffee and a Pause After pouring a coffee – the life blood of all teachers – I began to consider all of the possible uses for this really inexpensive and flexible tool in my classroom. I soon learnt that it can be configured to your in-class Twitter feed, social media and class YouTube page to enable you to be a more secure and professional teacher. As it is also a fully operating Windows 8 PC, you can also mirror to the tablets in the classroom using one of the many pieces of software available on the market. It also meant that I could prepare my lesson plans as I normally would, ready for the day ahead.

“I love your new toy sir! I like that we can all collaborate on your screen whilst you work on a spare device.” Lesson four was my planning time for the day and a few of my colleagues passed by to look at my new teaching tool and have a good look at how they might be able to use it in their class. The Head of PE has just had a big 70” screen fitted to the sports hall and he wanted to test it out as a feasible video and sound streamer. He also wondered how he could increase the onboard storage. We plugged in a 64GB memory stick and this worked really well.

SUMMER 2015

My new toy As a Computing & ICT teacher, trainer and university lecturer, I was excited about having the chance to try out the PC on a Stick. At first glance I couldn’t believe that someone had managed to squeeze a computer into such a tiny package. The portability and flexibility of it, functioning as a full-fat PC, is phenomenal. I can take it to all the places I teach without the need to carry a laptop – it’s great. I thought that Raspberry Pi was small when I first used that, but the PC on a Stick is something else! I started to get all excited and became inspired with the tech possibilities.

Beginning to play In true teacher style I began using it at home first to iron out the kinks. I did the true tech geek thing! I ripped open the shiny new of piece tech, ignored the instructions, plugged it in to the side of my HD TV at home and powered it up.

The set up was so easy and in less than 15 minutes I had a fully functioning Windows 8 PC on my TV…

RESULT!

Pimping My Device Getting it ready for use in my classroom was simple. I began to use the internet to download and install all of the programs that I use as a teacher everyday in my classroom. This is absolutely amazing because it shows me that this compact computer is limitless. I was able to access everything in my cloud storage, which as a teacher makes me more reliable and shows that I'm prepared for my lessons.

“I can see a real place for this in a practical classroom, such as PE, where space is a problem. It could be mounted onto the back of the screen out of the way and used with a remote control which is really handy.” Not one to be selfish, I also let the Tech Club have a play with this fantastic new gadget! Their verdict – "We can see a real place for this major technology in the school environment.” I continued to use it for the remainder of the day, and much like the morning’s activities – my new buddy didn’t let me down! It performed surprisingly well and really broke down the barriers to tech and allowed the focus of my classes to be about the teaching and the learning and not the hardware going wrong.

“This would be outstanding as a classroom display tool, I could see this plugged into projectors and used as a PC with a Bluetooth or wireless keyboard for the classroom. You could stream to it and use it as a fantastic teaching tool. I’d get loads of apps from the Windows store, set my class twitter feed up on it and use cloud computing for everything! There are so many possibilities.”

My final word The PC on a Stick was a welcome and refreshing addition to my teaching and learning tools. I’ve given it the dedicated tasks of running my display and delivering my teachable experiences, hosting the class blog, displaying notices and homework and streaming media. I feel it's a robust and versatile tool. I look forward to pushing it to its max when I teach Graphics to Year 7 next term using the free GIMP software. The PC on a Stick can almost be described as an HDMI dongle, since it can plug directly into a TV or computer monitor with an HDMI port. It lets you turn any monitor into a fully functioning all-in-one PC, with the ability to install your favourite apps. I am certainly going to continue with it plugged into my classroom screen. I’ll let you know how the journey goes.

UPDATE

What is this thing? The weird and wonderful world of Stone Recycling In our on-site recycling facility, we often get to see some weird and wonderful stuff coming through the doors to be recycled. We’ve been hunting around for some of the most interesting bits of kit, and are challenging you to guess what they are! In some cases we’re looking for the make and model, but in others we’re just eager to find out if you can identify what it actually is! Send your answers to marketing@stonegroup.co.uk for the chance to win a prize!*

stonegroup.co.uk

SUMMER 2015

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to have a go, send your answers to marketing@stonegroup.co.uk Answers will be printed in the next issue of Update. *No purchase necessary. The winner will be selected at random on 4th May 2015. Winners will be notiďŹ ed by email on 5th May 2015, details of which will be printed in the next edition of Update.

UPDATE

Case Study Teaching in 4K Ultra-HD: Fairfield High leads the way for 4K use in education

Overview +

Fairfield High School for Girls in Manchester has made a significant investment with the addition of eight new classrooms, all fitted with the latest cutting edge 4K Ultra-HD [UHD] interactive screens

Stone Group installed nine 65â&#x20AC;? SMART Board 6065 touchscreens, each with astounding 4K UHD resolution

Since making this investment, the teaching staff at Fairfield High School for Girls have been able to move visual lesson material seamlessly between touchscreens on their desks and touchscreens on the classroom wall

Pupils have benefitted from greater engagement in lessons

stonegroup.co.uk

SUMMER 2015

Background

Challenge

For over 200 years, Fairfield High School for Girls in Droylsden, Manchester, has been teaching pupils at the highest level of academic achievement. However, this is a school with the future in mind. In September 2004, as part of the Specialist Schools Programme, Fairfield succeeded in becoming a designated Science College and now actively encourages the role of women in the science and technology sectors. Ten years on and they are still investing in the school to future-proof both the students and the facilities.

Stone Group worked with Fairfield High School to address two major challenges:

Last summer, the school secured investment to build eight additional classrooms. As part of the refurbishment, they wanted to update their current Audio Visual [AV] solution to embrace the newly emerging technology of touchscreens, which they hoped would enable the school to improve teaching for both staff and pupils.

Future-proofing the eight new classrooms so that they grow with the school

Deploying systems that allow teaching staff to move audio and visual material seamlessly between desktop screens and wall-mounted touchscreens

Jamie Rowland, Network Manager at Fairfield said, “We tried various different touchscreens with demonstrations provided by Stone Group. For teaching staff it is really important that we are able to provide them with devices on a single operating system, which allows them to move seamlessly between the touchscreen system on the desk and the whiteboard on the wall. Valuable time can be saved if we can provide staff with devices that have similar controls.” As a result, it was decided to keep the new screens in line with existing interactive whiteboards around the school the SMART range of touchscreens. This would also reduce any time on training, as the teachers were already familiar with SMART notebook annotation software.

UPDATE

Solution Stone Group worked with Fairfield High School to provide nine SMART Board 6065 touchscreens with 4K resolution and nine Stone All in One desktop PCs for the teachers’ desks. The 4K screens provide greater clarity, making the screens easy to read and capturing the attention of the students wherever they are sitting in the classroom. This is important when the screens are used to project science experiments or other detailed demonstrations, as the 4K screen can bring the subject to life in detail unachievable with lower resolution screens. Incorporating Stone All in Ones with the school’s new AV solution has helped to enable a fluid transition from desktop screen to interactive display. It now means that teachers can have the same engagement with the class regardless of where they are in the classroom. Equipped with Windows 8, the Stone All in Ones enable teaching staff to utilise a number of new mathematical teaching applications, which rely heavily on interactive displays and the ability to drag and drop.

“We opted for the Stone All in One with touch capability and Windows 8 operating system, so that our teaching staff would have the ability to swipe smoothly, the screen at their teaching desks, as they would when standing up at the front of the class. With the added ability of an HDMI out port on the Stone All in One, this acted as a video splitter so we could have dual display without the need for extra devices,” added Jamie. Stone equipped the school with corresponding visualisers, which can project any item onto the interactive displays, bringing a new lease of life to curriculum areas such as Science. Before installation, Stone Group’s Infrastructure Services team [SIS] conducted an on-site survey to ensure the

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installation would deliver optimal impact on teaching and learning. Jamie comments, “We really valued Stone Group’s input into the positioning of the screens. There is a difficult balance to be made between positioning the screens so that teachers can reach every part of the display, while also allowing pupils at the back of the classroom to be able to see. Stone Group came in and helped us to devise an installation height, which met the needs of both teachers and pupils.” With a tight two-day window for delivery and installation, Stone Group worked efficiently with Fairfield High School to plan a suitable delivery and installation schedule. In addition, all cables and brackets were sent to the site ahead of the screens, ensuring a smooth delivery and installation program.

Results Headteacher Mr. Brendan Hesketh comments,

“By investing in the latest 4K touchscreens we have equipped the school to be ready for future technological advances. As teaching software develops and expectations from staff and pupils increase, the AV technology will grow with the school. The teachers and pupils are very happy with the displays, as they are Ultra HD. This adds real clarity to the lessons, without the need to switch off lights and close blinds, which is sometimes still necessary with the lower resolution screens you would normally get from a projector or interactive whiteboard.”

SUMMER 2015

PROLITE B2280HS-B1DP

PROLITE B1980SD

++ 21.5” TN LED screen ++ 130mm height adjust/ 90° pivot angle function ++ 1920 x 1080 native resolution/Aspect ratio 16:9 ++ 2ms response time ++ Contrast 1000:1 typical ++ Brightness 250 cd/m2 ++ DVI, VGA, Display Port ++ Speakers 2 x 1W

++ 19” TN LED screen ++ 130mm height adjust/ 90° pivot angle function ++ 1280 x 1024 native resolution/ Aspect ratio 5:4 ++ 5ms response time ++ Contrast 1000:1 typical ++ Brightness 250 cd/m2 ++ DVI, VGA ++ Speakers 2 x 1W

OUR PRICE £102

OUR PRICE £101

OUR PRICE £120

PROLITE B2083HSD HEIGHT ADJUSTABLE

PROLITE XB3070WQS-B1

PROLITE E2083HSD ++ 19.5” TN LED screen ++ 1600 x 900 native resolution/ Aspect ratio 16:9 ++ 2ms response time ++ Contrast 1000:1 typical ++ Brightness 250 cd/m2 ++ DVI, VGA ++ Speakers 2 x 1W

OUR PRICE £70

++ 19.5” TN LED Screen ++ 110mm height adjust/ 90° pivot angle function/Portrait Mode Base ++ 1600 x 900 native resolution/ Aspect ratio 16:9 ++ 2 ms response time ++ Contrast 1000:1 typical ++ Brightness 250 cd/m² ++ DVI, VGA ++ Speakers 2 x 1W

OUR PRICE £80

PROLITE XB2483HSU-B1 ++ 24” TN LED screen ++ 130mm height adjust/ 90° pivot angle function ++ 1920 x 1080 native resolution/ Aspect ratio 16:9 ++ 2ms response time ++ Contrast 1000:1 typical ++ Brightness 250 cd/m² ++ DVI, VGA, Display Port, USB ++ Speakers 2 x 1W

++ 30” AH-IPS LED ++ 109mm height adjust/ 90° pivot angle function ++ 2560 x 1600 native resolution/ Aspect ratio 16:10 ++ 5ms response time ++ Contrast 1000:1 typical ++ Brightness 350 cd/m² ++ DVI, VGA, HDMI, Display Port ++ Speakers 2 x 3W

OUR PRICE £507 E&OE

UPDATE

The AV Maketh the Classroom

Being a teacher is more challenging than ever. Traditionally told what, when and how to impart knowledge, the recent AV revolution has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the role. But in the right hands, this new technology could have the power to capture the ever-decreasing student attention span. According to neuroscientific research into the ‘Multimedia Principle’ (Clark & Mayer, 2011), student learning is enhanced when information is received simultaneously through more than one modality – for example, vision and hearing – especially when the material is organised. These findings suggest several advantages of audio-visual in education.

Updating your AV display will not only increase the life of an existing unit, but make every seat in the classroom a good seat. And with the cost of this technology dropping, it’s more accessible than ever, even for schools on a tight budget. To help you understand what makes sense for your situation, and how you can use it to inspire and stimulate your students, we’ve compiled our guide to audio visual equipment.

We've got plenty of experience implementing AV solutions for many schools and colleges, and we’ve found that the most innovative teachers are no longer satisfied with wornout projectors and pull-down screens. They're integrating the new display technology to link aural and visual information in an organised way, helping students to make connections between concepts and recall related details.

Touchscreen Displays Unlike interactive whiteboards, interactive touchscreens connect directly to a device without the need for a projector. They offer all sorts of benefits when it comes to sharing content with student devices. Some touchscreens come with their own in-built OS, which removes the need for them to be connected to a computer, and apps can be downloaded straight to the screen from a dedicated store. Touchscreens can offer a truly immersive experience as they are now available in 4K (Ultra HD), taking front of class teaching to a new level. A great way to access interactive content, it aids the delivery of creative and memorable lessons by allowing the teacher or student to actually write on the screen with their fingertip.

stonegroup.co.uk

SUMMER 2015

Digital Signage

Large Format Displays

Digital signage software allows you to centrally manage and deploy communications to one or multiple screens in an organisation, across a host of locations, no matter how far away they are.

With recent advances in technologies such as OLED, Large Format Displays can deliver viewing experiences in technology that’s lighter, thinner and more energy-efficient than previous tech. And with the emergence of 4K, these displays can now deliver a captivating, visually rich experience in ultra-high definition.

Installing a digital signage solution allows you to communicate relevant information quickly and effectively to students and staff alike, such as exam timetables, or something as simple as daily canteen menus across the whole campus. Giving you the flexibility to deploy the same information on multiple screens in multiple locations, software can be cloud based or an on-premise solution for smaller deployments.

Interactive Projectors Interactive projectors mimic the function of an interactive whiteboard on a traditional whiteboard, or alternatively any flat surface where the image is projected. This allows a teacher or student to interact with the projected image using an electric or mechanical stylus and often simply a finger. The cost of buying an interactive projector setup is cheaper than buying an interactive touchscreen, meaning they can be a good option when budgets are tight. They’re completely scalable, and solutions are available for anything from a small classroom to a large hall. Projectors can also be retrofitted to existing whiteboards, making them a cost-effective and relatively hassle-free solution to install and get up and running.

The projected image has far greater clarity, delivering four times as much detail as 1080p HD. The higher pixels associated with 4K UHD give a much closer viewing experience without the grid-like structure of the images becoming visible, meaning you and your students will see crisper, ultra-sharp visuals. Perfect for those lessons where detail is key, extreme resolution will enable students to look deeper at whatever they’re studying, be it atoms, plants, or planets. Last summer, we helped Fairfield High School for Girls in Manchester update their AV solution to embrace the newly emerging technology of touchscreens. The 4K screens provide muchneeded clarity to lessons. They’re used to project science experiments or other detailed demonstrations, as it can bring the subject to life in detail unachievable with lower resolution screens.

Mayer, R., & Clark, R. (2011). E-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons.

UPDATE

SEN and Assistive Technology 8 must-have products

Software

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13 Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a piece of dictation software that offers students the flexibility to dictate a piece of work and their computer translate it into written text. Easy to set up and use straight out of the box, the speech recognition interprets words with 99% accuracy. In a matter of minutes your students will be able to translate their thoughts hands-free into words on a page, simply by speaking into their computer. Dragon is also available for Mac, as Dragon NaturallySpeaking 4.

Inspiration 9 Inspiration is an intuitive mind mapping tool that allows users to brainstorm, structure their thoughts and visually communicate concepts. It allows students to tangibly represent their thoughts without having to fully develop them, which can be an issue for some children. Information can be represented with symbols and images to trigger memories, and notes can be added later to develop the concepts further. Visual mind maps can then be instantly transformed into an outline for a written piece of work.

stonegroup.co.uk

Read&Write Gold 11 Read&Write GOLD 11 is a toolbar containing literacy support features designed to make reading, writing and research much easier for people who face dyslexia or similar learning difficulties. Working discreetly with all mainstream applications, it sits handily at the top of the computer screen, and can be equipped with a wide range of features including text-to-speech, talking dictionary, translator, and word prediction. The ‘Sounds Like and Confusable Words Checker’ uses audible definitions and sample sentences to help students select the correct spelling of the word. It’s also customisable, so you can pick and choose the features you want on the toolbar according to the student’s individual needs.

ABBYY FineReader 12 FineReader is a piece of Optical Character Recognition software (OCR) that can convert images of text into digital and editable text. Thanks to ABBYY’s ADRT® technology, the formatting of original documents is retained with outstanding recognition accuracy. This means that students more comfortable writing with pen and paper are able to transfer their work easily into a digital format, without the hassle of having to manually type it all up.

SUMMER 2015

Digital technology has a lot to offer all children and young people. No longer restricted to the static desktop, or the standard keyboard, mouse and screen layout, we have the freedom to customise specific technology experiences to suit each child’s unique combination of needs.

Text-to-speech software can help those who have trouble reading text on the screen – whether due to visual impairment or literacy difficulties. Or for a child with severe motor impairments, the latest speech recognition software can provide alternative means of input to an ICT device, while still allowing access to all the usual functions. With a huge range of adaptations available on the market, we asked leading assistive technology suppliers iansyst to recommend some of the top products available for SEN at the moment. Here’s their list of the top hardware and software to explore.

Hardware Franklin spell checkers Livescribe Smartpen The Livescribe Smartpen works and writes like a normal ball point pen, but allows you to convert notes into digital text that can be revisited at any time, while simultaneously capturing audio in the classroom. Paired with the Livescribe+ mobile app, the pen syncs everything you write to an iPhone or iPad, and notes are organised, tagged, searchable and converted into fully editable text. Tapping on your notes will also play back the corresponding audio, giving context and detail to the notes. Having this capability can assist students with communication, cognitive, reading, short-term memory or developmental issues organise their thoughts and assignments much more easily.

Irlen Coloured Overlays Irlen supply a range of coloured lenses and overlays to help those with visual perception problems, ADHD or autism read with ease. Children with these conditions can often experience problems reading on white paper and can experience distortions, causing a slow reading rate, strain or fatigue, and a decrease in comprehension of what they are reading. Irlen coloured overlays can be placed over a piece of white paper and help to improve the brain’s ability to process visual information, improve clarity and stability and reduce strain and fatigue. The overlays are precisiontinted to meet the needs of the individual.

Franklin supply electronic pocket devices to provide spelling and dictionary support for people who struggle with spelling or choosing the right word. They perform a wide range of functions, including providing dictionary definitions and synonyms via a thesaurus. The phonetic spell-correction function is particularly helpful, using text-to-speech technology to hear pronunciations such as ‘nolij’ to find the word ‘knowledge’. Another function, ‘Confusables’, identifies and defines commonly confused words and homonyms, for example ‘here: locally’ or ‘hear: listen’. Students also have the option to create a unique ‘My List’ to save up to 40 words for personal review that they particularly struggle with.

Wizcom Scanning Pens Wizcom pens enable users to scan full lines of text in a document, store the information, and transfer it to any Windows based application. Simply by rolling the pen across the printed text, it can scan and recognise English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. Once on the PC, the text is fully editable and can be resized, recoloured or have the font changed to allow easier reading. The pen also removes the need to take notes from a book or document by hand, helping those with cognitive or shortterm memory issues reformat the information they need to visualise and process it more efficiently.

UPDATE

Sustainability. A key factor that most organisations in today’s society strive to achieve. But, why is it so important? Why should you care? And, why should you be selecting providers that are certified to British Standards for Sustainability? Our resident Group Compliance Manager, Martin Ruston, gives us the lowdown…

City of Bath College

University of Portsmouth

“Recycling is a major responsibility and very important because the college gets audited every year, as part of national requirements, on its recycling process to ensure we are disposing and recycling our IT assets in an environmentally responsible way. Ensuring we have the correct paperwork and documentation as part of this is vital. The fact that Stone provide us with the documentation we need gives us total peace of mind when we are audited that our redundant IT equipment is being disposed of or re-used in an environmentally responsible, sustainable and secure way.”

“Portsmouth has aggressive carbon targets, with a reduction goal of 30 per cent by 2016. It also has a number of policies, plans and practices that support this commitment. This includes managing procurement using a sustainable procurement code of practice and encouraging the adoption of recycling, waste reduction and ‘green’ meetings within the University’s community.

Mark Besley, ICT Administrator, City of Bath College

“With the help of Stone, Portsmouth now receives an efficient and secure door-to-door recycling service that not only meets our carbon reduction needs, but echoes our own zero landfill policy within our recycling and waste management scheme.” Robbie Walker, Security Architect, University of Portsmouth

stonegroup.co.uk

SUMMER 2015

What is sustainability?

How is it measured?

The concept of sustainability is about meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. For a long time, environmental impact had been the main focus for many organisations craving a sustainable philosophy. However, the umbrella of sustainability holds more scope than this and also requires considerations on both social and economic issues. At its core, it’s an approach to balancing different - and quite often competing - needs against awareness of the environmental, social and economic limitations businesses face.

Through the newly released standard for sustainable development – the BS8900 certification.

Put more simply, it’s about managing People, Planet and Profit – otherwise known as the triple bottom line. The principles of sustainability have long been a focus for us and we continually monitor our business strategy to ensure we incorporate key issues that are raised by our staff, investors and customers. Why is it important for businesses? There are “financial gains” such as extended ROI and increased profitability, but from a deeper point of view, organisations can get a lot more satisfaction through sustainability. Here’s just a few reasons why managing sustainability is important: +

Builds trust with customers

Allows for deeper understanding of customer needs

Improves engagement between staff, investors, customers and other stakeholders

Improves efficiency in business practices

Improves the attraction and retention of employees

Improves customer sales and loyalty

Builds credibility and improve relationships

Strengthens community relations

Contributes to environmental efficiency through management systems (i.e. ISO 14001)

Creates the opportunity to learn from customers, employees and community

Encourages a more innovative and adaptive approach to environments

Enhances brand awareness

Organisations are examined on how well they demonstrate that they meet the specific guidelines and requirements of the BS8900 standard and are then awarded the certification based on the successful fulfilment of the criteria. It demonstrates that, those who were awarded, have taken a genuine and effective approach to addressing and managing sustainable development. The BS8900 certification is designed to help organisations to continually evolve their approach to sustainable development. It allows them to evolve and adapt to meet the new and continuing challenges and demands faced every day. It demonstrates that the business is growing in a responsible manner and can reduce the negative impacts, whilst realising the positive benefits for people, profit and planet. A key objective for us last year was to become the first in our sector to be able to demonstrate conformance for sustainable development. Our achievement of the certification to this standard provides you, our customers, with clear evidence that we’re a supplier focused on sustainable issues, which is central to our strategic objectives. Aligning ourselves to BS8900 standards has given us a clear strategic vision that ensures effective engagement with all of our stakeholders, identification of relevant issues and assessment of risks against current and future policies. Applying this process ensures that we’re aligning our strategy with sustainable issues of significance to the environment we operate in, and in doing so, identifying any further opportunity for development. How does it affect you and why should you care? Over the last few years, educational institutions in particular have increasingly been focusing on the sustainability of their suppliers due to their own policies for sustainable procurement. The selection of suppliers with sustainability policies in place and credentials to back this up is an exceptionally important element to ensuring sustainable development within the supply chain and beyond. It provides you with tangible evidence that, as your supplier, the organisation is focused on sustainable issues that are central to the business’s strategic objectives. It also gives you valued assurance that the organisation will assist you in meeting your own sustainability policies. We work with a number of institutions, including the University of Portsmouth and City of Bath College, where sustainability and sustainable development policies are high on the agenda. The fact that we're accredited to British Standards for sustainable development only helps increase their confidence in our abilities as their IT provider.

uston, r Martin R pliance Manage m o C Group

UPDATE

Tired of technology’s little annoyances? We’re here to help. There’s a life hack for everything, and we’ve uncovered 20 of our favourite tech tips to make your life that little bit easier. Take a look!

1 Use the tiny, yet perfectly-shaped, hands of Lego figurines to hold your power cords in place.

Say good riddance to tangled earphones by wrapping them around a wooden spool

4 Be everybody’s hero and take an extension lead to share charger access at airports

Nurse your keyboard’s broken foot back to health by using a binder clip to take its place

DIY smartphone speakers - position your device in a plastic, paper, or glass cup to amplify the volume

To prevent tangles, Apple earphones are magnetically attracted to the corners of a MacBook

Make your computer password much harder to crack by simply adding an accented letter

stonegroup.co.uk

Password

8 Run the sticky end of a post-it note between your keyboard keys to swipe up the crumbs and debris

•••••• û

SUMMER 2015

9 The spring from an old pen makes a surprisingly effective barrier to protect your charger cable from bending and fraying

12 Placing your laptop on top of an empty egg carton can quickly cool down the device

Put a waterdamaged phone into a bag of rice overnight to absorb the moisture and hope for the best

16 Don’t have enough memory to update your version of iOS? Connect your device to iTunes on a laptop – it doesn’t take any memory to update it there

Speed up your smartphone’s charging process – put it on Airplane Mode to minimise the battery drainage

Avoid sending emails that haven't been proofread by leaving the recipient field blank until you’re ready, or you can change your Outlook settings to delay outgoing emails

14 Use special characters on an iPhone by holding down a letter until a small menu pops up, then hit the corresponding number

15 Replace the “en” on a Wikipedia link with “simple” to remove complex or irrelevant information from the page

17 When you accidentally text the wrong person, immediately put your phone on airplane mode and delete the message once it fails to deliver

18 Instead of “Ctrl, Alt, Del” press “Ctrl, Shift, Esc” in Windows to go straight to task manager

Ever accidentally closed a Word file without saving it? Have no fear – you can still rescue your document: + Open a new Word document

19 If you hate seeing advertisements, enable AdBlock or AdBlock Plus extensions

+ Select File – Info – Manage Versions + Click on the little dropdown + Select ‘Recover Unsaved Documents’ + Select your document

UPDATE

IN THE CLASSROOM Edtech has entered an era of experimentation. Over the past 20 years, schools have seen their students adapt to different ways of learning – and now the classroom is transforming too. Teachers everywhere are stumbling upon Skype and joining together to create the world’s biggest classroom. Skype is a free and easy way to open up your classroom and connect your students to the world. They can learn from other students, expand their knowledge, and connect with other cultures. Teaching has transcended the walls of the classroom and merged from the traditional ‘one teacher, one classroom’ situation into a global community – sharing experiences with no limitations. By taking learning beyond the textbook, it has become more authentic, engaging and suited to the 21st century student. It’s time to redefine what is possible in your classroom. The Skype in the Classroom community is an opportunity to incorporate more innovative, collaborative activities into your lesson plans. Explore the online profiles of likeminded educators, and invite inspirational guest speakers into your classroom. Joining the virtual adventure is easy – and you can do it too.

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WHAT IS SKYPE? Skype is a communication software that allows users to make calls, send instant messages and video conference online. It has a friendly user interface and is available on most devices: including your computer, mobile, and tablet. Video calls are free, allowing you to see each other in real time – you can even use Skype to call or text any phone number in the world at a cheaper-than-usual rate.

HOW TO USE SKYPE IN THE CLASSROOM It takes a few minutes at most to download the Skype software onto your computer from their homepage. You’ll need to create an account, in a similar process to registering for any other web tool. The ‘Skype in the Classroom’ website makes it easy to find guest speakers and lessons from anywhere in the world. Search by subject area, or filter for the newest additions. At the click of a button, an interactive map allows you to scan the world for guest speakers and teachers. Register for any lessons you are interested in, send a quick message from your profile page to the speaker and you’re good to go. Learn how to integrate Skype successfully into your classroom with the help of simple guides available on the webpage. They teach you about the different features available, where to find connections, helpful tips and hints for successful linkups, and how to overcome challenges (such as different accents and time zones).

SUMMER 2015

COLLABORATE WITH OTHER CLASSES, NO MATTER WHERE THEY ARE Experience new cultures by connecting with students from other countries. It’s important for students to explore the world around them, and multi-cultural social experiences can now happen in any classroom with an internet connection. Schools from across the globe can communicate, arrange video calls to get to know one other, and collaborate on research topics. Making international links with native speakers has never been easier. Skype allows students to experience new cultures by seeing what other homes, schools, clothing, and festivals look like first-hand. Interacting with people from different ethnic backgrounds can reinforce understanding of cultural differences and teach about the differences in social norms. Face-to-face language learning gives students a chance to practice what they’ve learned in real conversations – exchanging stories, songs, and making friends with students of a similar age. In oneto-one chats, you could provide students with a list of suggested topics based on the curriculum, and an entire class could practice speaking a foreign language at the same time. Let your students virtually explore a different climate by partnering with classrooms that have faced tornados, hurricanes, tsunamis and floods. Learn about the natural disasters of the world, or simply ask a class on the other side of the world what the weather is like outside of their window. Discussing topics such as the seasons with people from other parts of the world can help students to be aware of climate change, or they could collaboratively gather data from different climates to be analysed and compared over time.

FIND GUEST SPEAKERS AND INVITE THEM INTO YOUR CLASSROOM Imagine if your students could meet their favourite authors without having to leave the classroom. Skype in the Classroom makes it possible with hundreds of new literacy lessons and activities designed to inspire young readers and writers. You could ignite a passion for literature while developing key communication skills.

Skype can allow classes to talk to scientists while at work, giving the students a window into the work of a scientist and allowing them to engage with experts face to face. This sort of experience is something that wouldn’t be possible even with a field trip in person. As part of their astronomy studies, 207 US students were able to tour and talk to scientists living in a simulated Martian habitat at the University of North Dakota. They were able to ask them many questions about travelling to, and living on, Mars. For example, “How could we protect astronauts from radiation on a trip to Mars?”

TAKE A VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD Use Skype to introduce your class to scorching deserts, frozen wastelands, and towering mountain ranges. You could challenge students to apply real-world context to their studies, by connecting with a variety of scientists, explorers and conservationists over the course of the school year. Fabien Cousteau, a world-famous oceanographic explorer, is making history by giving thousands of students around the world the ultimate field trip through Skype in the Classroom. It’s called Mission 31 and it takes place aboard the Aquarius lab, the world's only underwater marine human habitat and lab. From there he reaches out to classrooms to show them both the tight quarters inside a real working lab and the beauty of the marine life around him. Connecting students to the world beneath empowers them to take an active part in preserving our oceans. By video calling with the Mission 31 team, students have felt like they are diving alongside the actual explorers. Beyond gaining an appreciation for our oceans, students are learning future career possibilities and how they can save our planet.

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STUDENT DEVICE REPAIR SERVICES HELPING YOU TO HELP YOUR STUDENTS

We understand that your IT Service staff are eager to assist students as far as possible. After all, when student satisfaction can make or break the league tables, can you really afford to disappoint them? Unfortunately, many service teams don’t have the insurance or remit from the college to perform hardware repairs. Students are often left stranded when the worst happens and a deadline is looming. That’s why we’re keen to work with you to enable technicians to offer both software and hardware solutions for students’ personal devices.

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If you’d like to find out more about our cost-sensitive services, contact our Repairs Team. E-mail repair.centre@stonegroup.co.uk to see what we can do for you.