Category: Wireless

Wireless in every classroom

Posted on by John McLear

Government’s meddling in technology in education is overdue. Remember the “every classroom gets an interactive whiteboard” push, well, I think we’re due another and due to the Governments latest appointment it makes the most sense that you will be seeing a push for “every classroom gets wireless Internet connectivity.”

So what would a wirelessly connected room bring?

It would certainly tick one of Naace’s boxes of empowering pupils devices as they would be able to get online and access learning resources and have their device “updated” by the school either via purchased apps or via free apps online.

Who wins from a wirelessly connected school?

There are really 4 or so big hardware players in this market, namely Netgear, Cisco, Meru and Ruckus. Most other companies can’t compete as the residential grade wireless isn’t up to the job in high densities. Who wins from a services point of view? There are hundereds of wireless installation companies, the key ones that have the skills to do school specific deployments are Ergo, RM and Primary Technology.

Why would the government make a push for this?

It’s true that Gove doesn’t seem very interested in technology in education however with the new appointment of Phil Smith and his background at Cisco I can imagine he will want to put a stamp on things and what better/easier/more natural way than trying to improve the nations infrastructure by empowering pupils mobile learning devices and at the same time empowering “legacy” school owned equipment such as netbooks and laptops.

Eduroam goes 3G in the UK

Posted on by primaryt

Janet have announced 3G support for Eduroam, this is great news because we are now one step closer to getting a decent level of data connectivity exclusively for edu into classrooms!! Good work everyone involved.  More info and registration of interest available on the Janet 3g eduroam page and the video below..

Review of Fizzbook – Fizzbook spin by zoomstorm (Netbook)

Posted on by primaryt

The Fizzbook is designed for schools, so we’re going to check it out then throw it into a few schools and see what the kids think. First things first though, we need to check the hardware and software to make sure its ready to be abused in a classroom!

Hardware
The touch screen is difficult to use with a finger, it requires a sharp point, I’m usually too lazy to get the stylus out but I do prefer a touch screen over a mouse pad.
As you can see in this video, the stylus / writing recognition doesn’t work well enough..
I did a skype test and the camera and audio quality was fine but the screen decided to develop a bug and wouldn’t “Flip” the screen to its foreign alignment.. See video:

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor passed all 4 system requirements so this device should be Windows 7 ready however I’m not sure that the placement of the OEM sticker (hidden under the battery on the inside of the device) is the smartest idea ever. Especially if you begin an install without mains connected…..
The speakers are crisp and clear and it has a separate input for a mic and output for external speakers/headphones.
Battery life is 4.5 hours which is less than a EEE (Sorry if I keep comparing!).
The keys are usual netbook size, no big surprised there, they are tricky for adults to use but I think the kids should get on great..
The wireless on the device picks up points fine and connection is easy and sensible. One thing however that is important to note is that the device has 802.11 b/g and N support which is great and is incorrectly documented on most sites stating that is only has b/g!
The device can be dropped from 50cm although I’m not sure that telling the kids that is a good idea…. The attitude of providing a device that “can” be dropped will only lead to tears later in life when they receive a device they can’t be dropped..
Finally, there is a rattling noise that comes from the tab on the handle, this tab is a great idea because it means you will know who’s or what class this device belongs to!! Genius!
Software / Operating system
I’m guessing no one made the decision to include the Windows Live bar in IE but it’s there and it takes up far too many pixels on a very small screen. Removing the Windows Live bar and favourites is a must just so you can see the actual content you want to see!
Bullguard is installed by default and proves to be a real pain in the wazoobi.. Uninstalling this will make your life easier and your experience happier.
I did a skype video call test and the audio and video quality were average to good, the camera seems to rotate sturdily on its pivot points which is always nice when small fingers are about!
The start up time to desktop was 90 seconds, 15 of these seconds just gave me a black screen before the BIOS logo even popped up.
Below is video of me using it on the net, accessing flash games and beginning an internet session as a pupil would.

Now its time for kids to tell me what they think!

More pictures of the device can be found here

#hhl09 Hand Held Learning day 1 review

Posted on by primaryt


First presentation of the day by Dawn was great. I didn’t agree with the guy from the second presentation. I then walked around the exhibitors hall, most of which was pointless and confusing as at a hand held learning a lot of devices exhibited were net books which as far as I’m aware isn’t hand held according to um.. Hand Held Learning…..

I don’t know who vetted the presenters but that might need reviewing.. It was good to see the spinny netbook things we have ordered in the flesh before they arrive in the office and also a semi affordable class feedback system (£1600 for a class set)

I didn’t eat/drink at the conference as I went to meet friends/family at a pub for lunch, we came back to see a few semi decent presentations on web2 and mobile learning then it seriously went off on a tangent..
Lots of people who I wanted to meet were there. My twitter was buzzing and I think I gained a lot from chatting with people.
After the conference we headed out for food before heading back to the conference venue to the evening function which we left during the awards ceremony.. The awards ceremony was a joke and I won’t be going again next year. Sorry to say that but at £6 for a bottle of beer and £25 for the best value bottle of wine…
My impression from the conference was that it wasn’t about learning but about money. Everything was incredibly over priced, from the tickets to the exhibitors stands and from the wine to the nibbles. In comparison to #fote09 this was not an inclusive conference..
Time to practice what we preach? Let’s see if BETT2010 is a similar experience…