Information Technology Update – June 8, 2017

iPad Neoprene Sleeves distributed to Year 7 Students

I received an update from our Vendor CompNow on the neoprene sleeves they have agreed to replace. The replacement sleeves have arrived in Australia but there has been an issue with the distribution of the sleeves from the Australian distributor to CompNow which CompNow are now chasing up. They will let me know as soon as the situation is resolved and the replacements sleeves will be distributed to the boys as soon as they are available.

eLearning Strategic Plan Review Update

As mentioned in the Crest earlier this year, this year sees the College reviewing its current eLearning Plan. This review is underway and ongoing with the ICT Executive Committee meeting regularly where the process and steps involved in the review are being finalised. One of the key parts of the review involves the gathering of data to clearly establish the current status of ICT and eLearning in the College. Another key part of the review is to get feedback from key stakeholders of the College community including staff, students and parents. The last few weeks have seen the College run focus groups to gain this valuable feedback from different people in the College community. The focus groups were facilitated by two highly respected leaders in education who are both external to the College and who have summarised their findings and reported back to the ICT Executive Committee. The next step in the process will be to run a College wide survey for all interested people in the College community to participate in. This will provide us with more valuable feedback on the eLearning and the use of ICT in the College. Other key parts of data gathering for the committee include investigating current best practice in the use of ICT in education at other highly regarded schools and the curating of best practice research papers and information. It is planned that the data gathering of feedback will occur in Terms 2 & 3 and the final report on the review is planned to be ready early in Term 4. Regular updates on the progress of this review will be provided in this column.

College iPads and the Neoprene Cover

We are quickly approaching the end of Term 2 and I have noticed a number of – students in Years 7, 8 & 9 with either missing iPad covers or neoprene sleeves or covers or sleeves in poor condition. This means many students are transporting their iPad to and from school and classes with little or no protection for their iPad in case it is dropped or in case something untoward happens to their College back pack with the iPad inside. While there can be no guarantee that the use of the cover and sleeve together will absolutely prevent all damage to a dropped iPad, together they certainly offer a high level of protection that supports most boys in most situations. – Please be aware that the College shop stocks both the College iPad cover and neoprene sleeve and available for purchase at any time.

Regards, Mark Holland

Director of ICT