Born was the txt speak. GR8 (Great), M8 (Mate), K (Ok) and L8R (Later) are just a few examples of the way we had to communicate in order to get the point across in such a short message. So txt speak existed out of necessity because of the limit that was implied to us, sometimes I could rewrite a message about 5 times to make it fit, I hated someone replying with simply “OK” arghh what a waste of a txt!

However in our new technology enhanced world there are almost no limits to the amount of text that you can write in a message. So the requirement for txt speak as we knew it is now effectively extinct, where the old style does exists its either older generations ‘trying to be cool’ or laziness. We also now have the ability to send photos, voice and video messages using services like Snapchat, Facebook etc. Our written messages are also gaining emotion, you will rarely receive a message which doesn’t contain an emoji. I really like the use of emoji as often written language in a text message could be read and interpreted in many different ways and emoji can add a new dimension and feeling to the message.

Some txt speak is still in use and has actually made it too far into the real world e.g. LOL (Laugh Out Loud not Lots Of Love like in the old days). You will now actually here people saying LOL instead of actually laughing!

Modern txt speak are actually now full words but words that don’t even exist in the english language for example; ‘bae’ (which has taken me 4 attempts to type as Chrome kept autocorrecting it to ‘be’. ‘Bae’ is used as a romantic term of endearment. Also ‘fleek’ which means looking good.

A bug bear of mine is ‘FOMO’ meaning Fear Of Missing Out (old school txt speak) where we have a generation where ‘Bragging Rights’ exist and that life is a constant competition to ensure each post into social media will hopefully outdo the last, when will going to the cinema to watch a film or a concert to watch your favourite band be good enough, if you can’t just enjoy it while you are there in the moment and tell your friends after will we develop an issue in being able to properly communicate our feelings and emotion?

I am guilty of using my devices too much, but I do remember a life without it and I feel I do know when to stop.

So where is this heading? Will we have a generation turning up for interviews using words that we do not understand? Will these words be written in exams? Will teachers marking the exams understand them? Should they?

I have been meaning to write a post about this for quite sometime and then today I attended an RM Seminar where Simon Ansell presented a presentation on ‘The Serverless School’ and it was great to see someone who shared a lot of similar ideas. So let’s have a think about what would be involved in creating a ‘Serverless School’

Things to consider

• Legacy Apps
• Authentication
• Core Application Platform (Email, Apps)
• Printing
• MIS
• Internet (connection)
• Wifi
• Devices
• Storage
• Backup
• Training

I may have forgotten some things but this is everything I can currently think of.

Legacy Apps

A big reason to resist the move to be completely serverless is legacy applications. Software that teachers use which they need for their lessons. There are a few options here as I see it. The first option is to do some research and try and find new alternatives to the software. Many old software packages now have new web based versions that are either as good or sometimes even better. You could start off by looking in something like the Chrome Web Store. The next option is to look at creating a virtualised desktop that can be accessed via the web. A good option for this is using something like Ericom AccessNow which works in pretty much any modern web browser.

Authentication

When you make the move to go completely serverless then you will no longer have an LDAP (Active Directory) server in your school to authenticate against. At this point you will probably want to move onto the next point which is Application Platform as this is likely to become your new authentication method. The other alternative is to look at using a Single Sign On product e.g. RM Unify, YouID, Airhead these products can also then be used to provision your users on other platforms too.

Core Application Platform

By Core Application Platform I am referring to your main productivity system e.g. Email, Word Processing, Spreadsheets etc. Now there are really only 2 to choose from Office 365 and Google Apps for Education. Anyone that knows me or has read any of my blog posts before will know I am a big advocate of Google Apps and have been for over 8 years, I was one of the first people to deploy it into education in the UK

Printing

When you make a move to serverless the issues are going to probably be that your current printers will need to be served from a print server. When choosing the Google Apps route you can use Google Cloud Print and you can get Google Cloud Print ready printers too. For legacy printers that are not Google Cloud Print ready you can build small print servers that are connected to the printer and run open source software to make them available. Simon from RM says he has achieved this using RaspberryPi.

MIS

Many schools now already have the MIS hosted off site. If you have SIMS.net then you will likely have it hosted and use remote desktop to access it. There are also quite a few cloud based MIS systems available now such as RM Integris, Progresso and a recent one that I have seen Arbor.

Internet

As a rule of thumb the calculation that I have recommended to people is a 10mb connection per 100 students. I think this should probably be seen as a minimum now that we are looking at students having more than 1 to 1 devices. Students are likely to have maybe a Chromebook, Phone, Watch and eReader type device all requiring a connection to the Internet of Things. Also assuming we are looking to go ‘Serverless’ you will want to have a redundant connection into your school, preferably coming into a different physical location.

Wifi

A solid reliable Wifi system will be essential in order to be able to get all your portable devices connected to your cloud systems. There are many good Wifi providers now available, my personal favourite is still Xirrus but some other big contenders are Aruba, Meru, Aerohive and also when working on a tight budget Ubiquiti is pretty awesome! You need to make sure your Wifi has the capacity to be able to handle the amount of physical clients you are likely to have, think beyond 1 device per person! When an access point says it supports 30 clients this is likely to not be enough!

Devices

In your move to a ‘Serverless School’  the traditional Windows desktop is probably not what you need anymore. Something more like a Google Chromebook is going to be the perfect device for most of your day to day tasks. You might also want to look at Chromebox and Chromebase as a desktop replacement. Recently Google has also announced Google Play for Education which allows for management and provisioning of Android Tablets. iPads are also still very popular in schools and are still the perfect device for creating quick videos using iMovie.

Storage

Once you have all your data in the cloud you need to make sure the provider you are choosing complies with EU laws. Google Apps for Education and Microsoft Office 365 both comply with the legal requirements to handle your data. Google Apps for Education now has unlimited storage so you don’t need to worry about ever running out! Currently their only restriction is one single file must not exceed 1Tb, not really an issue

Backup

Once you are using Google Apps or Office 365 you are mainly going to be relying on retention policies for your backup. In both platforms deleted files will go into a bin and stay there for around 30 days and then the administrator will also get another 30 days to recover after that (these numbers are not exact). Google Vault was a paid for service but is now included for FREE for education. When using Google Apps there are also some extras you could purchase to make your backup service more robust if you feel you need it. A third party options such as Backupify. Backing up your MIS data will be handled by your hosted MIS provider.

Training

Last but not least in fact probably this should have been at the top of the list. If you are going to be successful in going to a ‘Serverless School’ you will need buy in from all stakeholders. In order for many users to see all the advantages they are going to need training and support. You should be making IT training an important feature in your in house CPD. I have seen many great examples of this and one of my favourites is probably where you put on Pick and Mix training every week where staff can pick sessions that they are interested in. If the school decides it is going to completely migrate to a ‘Serverless School’ then the school will have to make time for the appropriate training and support and make it compulsory.

Well there you have it. I think I will definitely be back to this post to add to it in the future but for now this has covered alot of the areas that are required when thinking about implementing a ‘Serverless School’.

As you may know I am presenting at the Google Education on Air Event in May. Google provided the presenters with a copy of Weekend Language a book by Andy Craig & Dave Yewman which will help you to be a better presenter by presenting with more stories and less powerpoints.
The book had me hooked from the title Weekend Language. “Think about it: on weekends, we’re all great communicators because our default is storytelling.”

I read half the book on the first day! Then I was lucky enough to get to do a Google Hangout with one of the author Andy Craig.

It was great to read an inspiring book and then get to see and speak to a pro in action.

The theory behind a successful presentation inWeekend Language boils down to a simple acronym:

STORY

S – Suspend PowerPoint

T – Tell a Story

O – Organise Your Narrative

R – Remember Mehrabian

Y – You Must Prepare

The book then goes on to cover in detail each part of STORY.

Lots of what the book says you will already know from watching great presenters. You only have to watch a few TED videos to notice that the best presenters use all the techniques featured in this book.

Ditching PowerPoint (temporarily) is a great idea it can only be great for improving your narrative to many people rely on PowerPoint (other presentation software is available) to prompt them and even provide all the details for their presentations. I know I have been guilty for putting lots of details into my presentation slides but I often did this so that people who didn’t attend can still get all the info from the slides. The tip in Weekend Language is to hide the detail slides from the presentation so you don’t present them but they still exist if you share the presentation after.

Story telling is an art but it is definitely essential when presenting. It really is the key to leaving a lasting impact from your presentation. It is often one of the only parts you remember in enough details to retell your colleagues or friends after.

Organise Your Narrative is all about making sure you are getting your point across using what Weekend Language call the “So what, who cares?” test.

Dr Albert Mehrabian carried out a famous study that showed how vocal and nonverbal communication can account for as much as 93 percent of message understanding, so the use of pauses, body language, pacing, eye contact and position on the stage are all critical to being a great presenter.

Preparation is the final point and probably the most simple! Great presenters are always well prepared, often the presenters you think are so relaxed and feel so spontaneous are actually the ones who practice and rehearse the most.  Weekend Language recommend practicing in front of a camera and watching it back or simply in front of a mirror.

Day 1- Leading for the future: From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET hear from speakers who will challenge us to innovate and improve education. In the kickoff session, panelists will tackle the question “What are the skills of the future?”. Keynote speakers include actor and Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton, Google Vice President Laszlo Bock, Google Science Fair 2012 winner Brittany Wenger, and education experts Sir Michael Barber and Michel Fullan, OC. There are educator panels on “transforming learning with technology” and “empowering students.”

Day 2- Shaping the classroom today: From 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. ET there are over 100 sessions led by educators from 12 countries and 29 U.S. states. Sessions have been designed to offer practical advice and examples. Find ones you like and add them to your calendar. Sessions include:

• “Effective professional development for 1:1 Chromebooks“
• “Using Google tools to break borders and build global citizens”
• “Bring CS First, a free computer science program, to your students”
• “It’s all about students- student tech support programs“
• “Bringing the maker movement to your classroom”
• “Building your personal learning network (PLN)“

Register today on the website or learn more in the blog post. You can help spread the word about this free event by sharing the announcement Google+ post and tweet.

I am presenting a session title Simple Chromebook deployment you can connect and watch my live at 4:30pm on the 9th May 2015 if you click here

Enjoy!

We are currently broadcasting on a Friday at 12pm using Youtube Live Events which uses Google Hangouts On Air.

It is so simple to get started broadcasting live. All you need is a computer with a mic and webcam and that is it! Go to the Youtube Live Events page and create a new event. You will see the below screen.

You can create an event and start immediately or you can schedule the event to start in the future (don’t worry it still doesn’t start without you clicking start). Once you have created your event you can share the link with people so they can connect to your live session.

When you click Go live now it will open up a Google Hangout and you can click Start Broadcast. While you are live you can use all the features of Google Hangouts e.g. Screen sharing and it also lets you know how many viewers you have.

Once you have finished your live stream it automatically gets stored on Youtube so that anyone can watch it later.

I hope you might try it out, teachers could even record their lesson using it and then students that are away could tune in live or re-watch the lesson from home at a later date.

You can see our Catch Of The Day series here, or tune in next Friday

The main speaker for the day was Andy Cope. Andy is a trainer, speaker, teacher and author of a popular book series Spy Dog and also ‘The Art of Being Brilliant’. Now I will start off by saying the theme of what Andy was talking about was quite unexpected for me and I initially felt quite critical but I found his whole workshop very thought provoking and inspiring.

Andy has been doing a Doctorate at the University of Loughborough investigating the science of happiness and positivity.

I couldn’t possibly do Andy’s presentation any justice in a blog post, he is a great public speaker, hugely entertaining and has spent years researching and studying his area of expertise.

The talk starts off by talking about things that cause us not to be happy ‘The 4 horseman of negativity’ and how we can all get stuck thinking about the monotonous days we have and the feeling of constant tiredness. Now I will say now not everyone feels like this but they are definitely things that make you feel negative. The analogy that Andy says many people live their life to is that people are always looking for the end of the rainbow, instead of just enjoying each day and living each day to its most we are always looking forward to something in the future e.g. Can’t wait until the Easter holidays, then they come and then you can’t wait for the Summer. It seems we are almost conditioned to be like this and we learn this behaviour from our friends and family and even brands ‘TGI Fridays’ for example is a brand that this whole concept is their branding.

So we need to celebrate life ‘It’s the best show on earth’.

Ok so not everyone feels this way some people are in the upper positive area of life but some people are at the bottom and Andy refers to them as ‘Mood Hoovers’. I think we all can probably think of someone who is a mood hoover in our lives, someone who always sees the negative in everything and even when you feel happy can bring you down. Andy talks about being a 2%er someone who is at the top and is generally an all round positive person. I felt like I must fit into this area as a lot of the negative feeling that many people in the room agreed with I didn’t feel applied to me in my life.

So how can we be happier, well Andy has surveyed thousands of people to find out what makes them happy and has even spoke to Britain’s happiest man to find out what makes him so happy… It turns out it is quite simple he is happy because ‘he chooses to be’ and I thought that was very important. When life can sometimes be tiring and difficult you have to choose to be positive and have positive feeling about it and the boost that alone can give you is incredible. Andy said when he decided to become a 2%er he needed to find something simple in life to think about each morning to put him in a positive mood for the day. I have tried it for about a week now and I am not sure it works as Andy may have intended it to but is does make me laugh each morning which means it is having a positive effect

The last part I would like to mention is ‘The ripple effect’ Andy described this as basically our happiness being passed on to others e.g. smiling at people as you walk down a corridor will make them feel happier which means they may smile at someone else and so on and so on. Now I do this anyway and it is not a conscious effort it is just the way I am but I have felt the opposite before where I have smiled at someone and have got no response back and it can make you feel a little negative so I really do understand the ‘mood hoover’ analogy.

I believe some people do just have an innate ability to be happy and see the positive in life but maybe some people will need to make a little more effort, I am happy to be a 2%er

When Andy finished he showed a really great video of an airline that made its customers happy during the safety announcements and it reminded me of a video I had seen on YouTube. So I will leave you to watch this and be happy

A Learning Commons must have a more relaxed common sense approach. There are now so many different things that can have so many different rules that there would be no space for all the posters on the walls or a huge contract for students to have to read before entering.

What I propose is more effective is instead of rules e.g. Do not eat, do not play games I propose more suggestive statements e.g. Games are fun, some people are here to work. This way people are more free to make the judgment themselves. Below is a sample of my current Learning Commons expectations.

As you can see they are not rules specifically and I have found that students respect and appreciate this a lot more. And this is it! The only poster that needs to be displayed I wanted everything to be committed into one resource which can be displayed. It is clean, modern and complete.

Codio is a platform for teaching coding/just coding. It’s already being used all over the world by students as young as 8 years old right through to professional developers. The real beauty of using Codio is that students learn how to code for real, without being hand-held or nannied every step of the way.

Network Managers will love it because it lets every user have their own development environment without having to do anything or maintain anything! No security worries just let students go!

It has “Stacks” that allow teachers to pre-configure environments for learning, including languages, databases, web servers, components and even entire code workspaces.

As you may know I am a PHP developer (and proud!) I am currently a big fan of the Laravel framework (another blog post to follow in the future but if you do want to learn more now Laracasts is awesome!)

Anyway back to Codio I wondered whether I would be able to you Laravel with it, guess what you can!

You can have access to a full Terminal and then use things like Composer to pull in packages etc and build awesome web projects.

I am not always a fan of online IDEs but Codio does work really well! It has Autocomplete, Code Beautification and my favourite multiple cursors.

You can pay for the platform to get more features but I have just been using the FREE version and it is working great! p.s. Works perfect for coding on Chromebooks!

There should always be someone available in your learning space and during peak times e.g. Lunchtime you are probably going to require more support. There are a few ways to provide increased support without necessarily costing you more money.

• Host special subject events
• Enlist support from senior students (prefects)
• Create a student support group (Leadership Programme)
• Invite other staff to use the space

One way to get more staff support in your learning space could be to host specific subject days and promote them as days when a member of staff from that department will be available to help with homework or anything else related to the subject.

If your school has a 6th form or has a prefect type system then you could enlist the help of them. Although they are not staff they should be respected and can provide you with the additional help during busy periods, it is also great experience for them.

Creating a student group that can help support you is very worthwhile. I have created a Learning Commons Leadership Programme which gives students a progressive path with certification and will gain them valuable leadership skills.

Sometimes just having the presence of other members of staff in the space is support enough. Make your space welcoming for staff too and they will like to use the space for socialising, meeting and relaxing.

I love the Kickstarter concept an find myself often backing some great products. I saw a lot of potential in Play-i for teaching programming to children, also who doesn’t love a robot!

So I backed the project then just had to wait…..

Christmas Eve 2014 they arrived!

Perfect timing! It gave me the Christmas holidays to learn! (play)

The robots have lots of features:

The apps are very simple to use, if you have ever used Scratch before then you will be programming these little guys within seconds! I also bought the Xylophone attachment which is great fun! I made Jingle Bells as my first song by copying the notes from someone playing a Xylophone on Youtube.

Make Wonder have now made a magazine which is available online for free and has lots of cool ideas and project to make.

I will post some projects soon that you could try out in a coding club or computing lesson.

 
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