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22 | ROUNDTABLE: A SUCCESS FOR EDTECH? | PRIMARY AND SECONDARY


“Without doubt MOOCs have immense potential and utilise modern technology very well”


Martin Hamilton: We have two real choices for edtech in schools – locked down products that essentially function as black boxes, or hackable devices that will bring out the best in our enthusiastic and capable pupils. The later takes us back to the spirit of the computer revolution of the 1980s, giving pupils the opportunity to get ‘under the hood’ and be hackers in the truest sense of the word rather than simply users of office automation products. This approach can apply to many classes of device, from Android to Arduino, and Raspberry Pi to Chromebooks – once the blue pill is taken and the developer mode switch is flipped. Happy hacking!


Simon Harbridge: Schools and colleges are now also beginning to recognise the importance of responsible IT asset disposal, not least for the security of its students and staff, but also the safe and legal disposal of potentially dangerous components. We saw further reports of illegal disposal by some organisations and the


importance of choosing an IT recycling provider carefully. Refurbishing legacy devices is not only an obvious piece of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) but a good way of extending the life of past IT investments. We have seen a number of secondary schools do this in order to equip their feeder primary schools, for example.


James Penny: The Technology in Education report that the government endorsed in 2014 laid out the challenges and progress we have made. There are barriers around connectivity and funding but they can be solved, and a push by government will move this ahead very quickly. The ETAG group is now looking at the wider landscape and will report to ministers on how to move the technology agenda forwards.


Jon Silvera: Our main realisation is that there is a definite lack of cohesive support and reference materials to help teachers introduce actual programming, that’s text-based programming, throughout all key stages. We have


refined the FUZE programming platform to deliver in this area and clearly demonstrate it is easily achievable to bring real programming to the classroom.


Shaun Wilkinson: Edtech has come a long way in 2014 and, with the trends in BYOD, document sharing and print/scan functionality moving on, it points to schools requiring a much more integrated, all-encompassing IT infrastructure that includes total network security. Document management will develop quickly over the coming months and years, both because of the high volume of electronic documents in use and the need to drive further efficiencies in schools. There will be a need to securely file and easily access classroom notes, reports, lesson plans and hand-outs, as well as paperwork related to school management such as invoices, contracts and records. Therefore, UTAX expects to see much more integration between hardware and software in order to provide wide-reaching solutions that bring multiple benefits. ET


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