Monday 20th June 2016 Flash – it’s the web security disaster that just keeps on giving. Flash has been particularly popular for use on animated web sites used by K-12 schools. Adobe this week issued a patch for its Flash Player browser plug-in containing 36 – yes, 36 – security updates. One of these was for a critical zero-day vulnerability, which … Read More
Setup Guest access for shared computers
Do you still need a local file-server on your school network? If school-owned shared computers are being used by staff and students only to access their personal files or shared resources on remote cloud servers (such as Google Drive), there is little need to have individual local network logons, or roaming profiles, etc. So long as the computer has a network connection, it can … Read More
School bells (and announcements) on an iPod
Tuesday 26th August 2014 This might be worth checking out for your school – an iOS app that can use your school’s existing PA system to: Schedule bells (hourly, daily, weekly) that are fully customisable (time of day, etc); Select from a library of school bell sounds; Add your own music selection directly from iTunes; Select different themes / music … Read More
DIY Cabling – New ACMA Regulations
Wednesday 23rd July 2014 In years gone by general ‘computer network cabling’ was exempt from the various rules and regulations that applied to telecommunications cabling. As of 1st July 2014 the regulations set by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA – a Federal Govt Authority) require that technicians who are installing computer network cabling to be registered, after satisfactorily completing … Read More
Mobile anti-virus not needed: Google
Thursday 3rd July 2014 Mountain View, California: The majority of Android smartphone and tablet users do not need to install anti-virus and other security apps to protect them, despite dire warnings from security companies selling such products, Google’s head of Android security says. Adrian Ludwig, the lead engineer for Android security at Google, said there was “a bit of a … Read More
Going BYOT? – Improve your Internet access
Thursday 5th June 2014 When schools rolls out a BYOT program they might be adding hundreds of new devices to their network. All using the school’s existing bandwidth to access the Internet. You will definitely need more bandwidth to support BYOT. But you can make better use of your existing bandwidth using a proxy server. Every time a student clicks on a link to a … Read More
BYOD Sandpit
Tuesday 13th May 2014 Thinking about implementing BYOD in your school? The BYOD Sandpit contains support documentation and resources developed by teachers, school communities and consultants. The material at BYOD Sandpit is provided to help inform discussion on the implementation of BYOD in K-12 schools. There is a great deal of info on this site relating specifically to NSW DEC schools, including step-by-step … Read More
Faster School Internet access
Tuesday 6th May 2014 Every time a student clicks on a link to a web page, resources are downloaded over your school’s Internet connection to the student’s computer – using valuable bandwidth. So, imagine if you could store commonly used web resources inside your school network, and encourage students to use those common resources from inside the network, rather than repeatedly downloading … Read More