iPads, to me, are brilliant devices for multimedia in the classroom. While I know a lot of teachers use them for “office” work, I never really felt comfortable typing on glass. As Stephen Fry put it, it’s like typing with frostbite on your fingertips. The question here, though, is about efficiency, and if I’m understanding … Read more
Many schools use Chromebooks along with G Suite for Education to manage all the applications they need. It’s really handy as you can switch on and off different apps for different types of users, known as Organisational Units. In my school, for example, we have Organisational Units for Staff and Pupils. These are further broken … Read more
The simple answer to this question is yes. An interactive whiteboard is made up (mainly) of two parts – a projector and the whiteboard itself. The projector’s job is to project whatever image is on to the whiteboard. Even if you didn’t have the whiteboard, the projector would be all you need for playing movies. … Read more
In 99% of cases, the answer to this question is a resounding “yes.” However for lesser known companies, it might be a good idea to check before you buy, just in case!
The quick answer to this question is no but the longer answer to the question is yes, sort of. The “sort of” is that you can post a link to a video recording if you have posted it online. For example, you may have recorded a lesson on YouTube Live and this will have a … Read more
Technology changes all the time so I’m marking this as advice in October 2019. There are 2 options – buy new or buy refurbished. If you buy refurbished, do note that Chromebooks have a total shelf life of around 6 years so check its AUE (Automatic Updates Expiration) as it will be a pain updating … Read more
Anything that Google makes needs to be GDPR compliant for the same reason that McDonald’s has to make sure that their food is correctly labelled with calorie contents – they are the leaders in their fields and there are millions of people wanting to bring them down! To put it mildly, if Google’s services are … Read more
What is the difference between G Suite and Aladdin; and what are the pros and cons of both? Before I start to answer this question, it might be helpful to explain that both these services, while they have some overlap, are two very different products. Interestingly, Aladdin is actually built on Google’s (G Suite) servers … Read more
Setting up a school blog, thankfully, isn’t such a difficult thing to do anymore. However, the real question is whether you really want to do so! Like everything else technology-related, things move quickly. The trouble with school blogs is that they can clutter up a school website with old irrelevant information very quickly. The trick … Read more
Many schools have a web site that is hosted by a service such as EduBlogs, WordPress, Scoilnet, Weebly and so on. Unfortunately, the bad news is that you cannot access G Suite for Education without owning a domain of your own. By using one of these services you are effectively using their domain, hence your … Read more