Khanya - Tech

ADSL subscribers have long been complaining about the limits that are associated with ADSL services. MWEB has now been at the forefront changing this with some of the other service providers following their lead. What this implies to the consumer is that more affordable, uncapped Internet is now available. This is good news for consumers and great news for schools for which broadband Internet access is not a luxury, but a necessity.

Schools being cut off from the Internet due to reaching their data cap have become a familiar site, causing a lot of frustration. Schools need constant access to the world wide web – emails need to be downloaded, antivirus software needs updating and most of all, educators and learners need access to the wonderful educational material available in cyber space.

The latest move from service providers should be welcomed with open arms and schools should be encouraged to make use of this opportunity to get more value for their money and to ensure that they will always have access to the wonderful resource of the Internet.

The monthly subscription depends on the speed of the DSL line. A 384 Kbps line will cost R219 (uncapped). This basically means that you can download as much data as you would like and pay a fixed amount of R219 per month. A 512 Kbps will cost R 299, while a 4 Mbps will cost R 539.

The above costs exclude the Telkom DSL line rental, which is R 130 for a 384 Kbps line, R 300 for a 512 Kbps line and R 360 for a 4 Mbps line.

Other service providers now also followed Mweb’s example and a company like Vox Telekom have come up with bundled options (data including the line rental) of R 339 per month for a 384 Kbps, R 589 for a 512 Kbps and R 899 for a 4 Mbps line.

It will be in the school’s interest to look at these kind of uncapped options. It will not only save money, but will also ensure a more satisfying internet experience.

From the comments on the previous posting, it is clear that the AUP still forms an important part of the management of the computer labs at our schools. The AUP is therefore a document that needs to be in place at each school. It is normally expected form the LAN administrator to take the responsibility of developing the AUP as well as implementing it.

An AUP is however of little value if it not enforced properly.  It is important that all users are familiar with the content of the AUP and understand exactly what is expected from them when they use the ICT facilities at the school.  Although most schools have such a document in place, most users are unaware of it and have never been made aware of its content.

How can a LAN administrator ensure that
•    Users are familiar with the content of the AUP?
•    Users adhere to the policies as set out in the AUP?

It is however a fact that at most schools such a document is not in place. This generally leads to a free for all.  In some cases the absence of an AUP results in the complete meltdown of the system. Labs are becoming dysfunctional due to misuse by some of the users who use the system according to their own criteria.

Drafting an AUP therefore needs to be a well thought through process. There are quite a lot of factors that need to be considered when drawing up your ICT AUP.

What elements do you think should be contained in a good AUP?

From the comments on the previous posting it is clear that our LAN administrators are faced with quite a few challenges. The more effective LAN administrators are those who have found ways of dealing with these challenges to minimize the effect that it has on their day-to-day running of their labs.

Often it is thought that technical skills are the only skills that a LAN administrator must possess to effectively manage the ICT infrastructure at the school.  Although it is important that a LAN administrator does have a basic technical knowledge, it is certainly not the only skill that will determine whether he/she will be effective. A good LAN administrator need not necessarily be a trained network engineer, nor is it required from him/her to have completed numerous high level technical courses. It is rather how he/she use the basic skills obtained while attending our own custom made courses and training interventions to apply the acquired knowledge in the day-to day running of the laboratory.

We can therefore not argue that a basic technical understanding of how the Khanya standard networks work is an essential part of the LAN administrator’s arsenal. That these basic technical skills are the only ones needed to run a lab effectively is however a misnomer.  There is also a bulk of other skills that is essential for a LAN administrator to possess should he have any intention of managing the ICT infrastructure at the school effectively.

The following are a few other skills that I think is vital for a LAN administrator to possess:

·         Communication skills – He/she often needs to assist users  in dealing with everyday computer related issues

·         General management skills – he/she needs to manage all computer related activities at the school

Are there any other skills that you can think of that will assist our LAN administrators to become more effective in their duties?

Since most schools do not have the luxury of assigning a dedicated person to look after and support their ICT infrastructure, they are forced to select one or more teachers to take on the task as LAN administrator. It is then required of these individuals to not only manage the ICT equipment at the school, but also to do some basic first line technical support to ensure that the technology at the school is always up and running.

The task of LAN administrator can therefore indeed be a daunting task, coming with it’s own unique challenges. LAN administrators are generally teaches of which it is required to perform theses extra duties while they are still expected to perform their day-to-day duties as an ordinary teacher. Below are 3 challenges that I can think of that have a definite effect on the duties that a LAN administrator is supposed to perform.

1.      The lack of technical skills  - Most LAN administrators do not have the technical knowledge or background to perform their duties effectively

2.      Time constraint – Although the duties of a LAN administrator is time consuming, these teachers are normally expected to still do their normal compliment of teaching and other administrative duties.

3.      The lack of interest – A lot of LAN administrators take on the charge simply because they are asked to do so. They do not necessarily show any interest in the technical nature of their duties and therefore have no interest in acquiring more skills that will ultimately assist them in their tasks.

The above are just a few challenges I can think of that prohibits our LAN administrators performing their tasks to the maximum.

What other challenges can you think of`?

The start of the academic year always comes with a lot of new challenge. The planning of the new academic year normally starts well before the first learners arrive at the doorsteps on the first day of school. When the schools do their planning, they normally concentrate on issues like staff, curriculum and financial management. One important issue that also needs careful planning (but is often neglected) relates to the management of the computer facilities and the planning of how this facility can be used to help reachinging the goals as set out in the school’s broader management plans.

The following are some issues that need careful consideration when you are devising your school’s technology plan for the year ahead: 

1. Did we identify capable and reliable LAN administrators that will be responsible for managing the day-to-day running of the lab?
2. Are the identified LAN administrators properly trained to manage the computer lab in a responsible way?
3. Is the Khanya file in place? If it is in place, does it contain all the necessary documentation?
4. Do we have a backup strategy in place?
5. Do we have an anti-virus update strategy in place?
6. Are all the educators registered on the server?
7. Are all educators trained in the use of the system?
8. Do we have a computer lab timetable in place?
9. Do we have a technical sustainability plan in place?
10. Do we understand the importance of having our compute lab up and running at all times and also to act according to the proper procedures in cases where we experience any technical problems with our computers?

If the answer is NO to any of these questions, Khanya schools are requested to contact their facilitators for more guidance and to help them to deal with the challenges they might experience. Can you think of any other things relating to the computer laboratory to consider when planning for the year ahead?

I had the privilege of presentation a session on the use of blogs for educational purposes at the ESN annual conference held at The Cape Academy for Maths and Science. At this session it was clear that a lot of educators are still not aware of how blogs can effectively be used as an educational tool. The idea of a blog is new to most educators and most of those who attended the session were amazed at how easy it is to set up.

Creating a blog is very easy and is free. Typical free hosting sites include www.edubloggers.com and www.wordpress.com. You can set up you own blog by simply registering at one of these sites, choose your blog address, change the appearance of your blog to your liking and start blogging within a few minutes.

Follow the following steps if you are interested in creating your own blog.
• Log on to www.wordpress.com
• Register your blog by filling in the details on the registration page
• You can now activate your blog by clicking the activation link in the email that will be utomaically sent to the email address provided in your registration details.
• Your blog consists of two parts – the actual blog (eg: www.myblog.wordpress.com) and the administrative part which can be accessed from the URL www.myblog.wordpress.com/wp-admin

If you are interested in more detailed instructions with accompanying screen shots, you can comment on this posting, supply your email address and the instructions will be sent to you.

Please keep me updated on the progress of your blogs and sent the URL to your blog addresses to denric@mweb.co.za

Richard Watson, the author of Future Files, predicts amongst other things that all keys will be obsolete by the year 2030, by 2009 the art of writing letters will be lost and that post offices will be a thing of the past by 2019.

With the advance in technology and the increase use of GPS devices, he also predicts that come 2015 getting lost will be something of the past. This basically means that GPS devices will be so common that you will always be able to work out where you are. Does this imply that we will eventually loose our sense of direction?

The effects of being too dependent on technology can be seen in our everyday lives. The luxury of saving telephone numbers and email addresses in our address books have resulted in most of us not being able to recall any of these details when we are suddenly stuck with a malfunctioning telephone or computer. At schools learner’s writing abilities are already affected by using short hand type of messaging when communicating via SMS and other technologies.

Does this mean that we will loose our ability to think, reason, and remember? Are we creating a society of individuals enitrely dependent on technology for survival?

With electronic mail (email) becoming an integral part of our daily lives, more and more people are reliant on this way of communication. We generally expect people to respond to urgent mail messages in a reasonable period of time. Often we send mail messages that the recipients conveniently claim not to have received. The question is: How can you be sure that people are reading your important mails?

Most email applications provide utilities to track whether your mail has been opened by the intended recipient.  If you use a program like Microsoft Outlook you can set it to send a receipt when the mail is delivered and if you are sending it to another Outlook user you can also tell when it was opened. This can be easily configured by choosing Tools; Options; Security and select the Request S/MIME receipt for all S/MIME signed messages check box.

The problem with this method is that the recipient of you mail message has a option to send the receive notification or not. If the recipient chooses not to send the notification, you will have no way of knowing whether the message was read or not.  

A solution for the above is provided by a website called DidTheyReadIt.com. It inserts a tiny image into the mail that is accessed only when the mail is opened (without the recipient noticing). It will then send you a report on all mail messages stating when it was opened, for how long it was opened and even from where it was opened.  

This service can be tried free of charge for the first 10 messages after that you need to pay. The cost of this service is about R 400 and can be used with most mail programs.  

If you are willing to pay, want to track whether important emails are read, for how long it is being read and from where it is being read, you can consider this application to provide detailed reports on all your important mail.

Do you think this is a good way of keeping track of your mail messages?

The server plays an integral part in any client-server network (like the networks used in the Khanya schools). Not only is the sever providing important services like user authentication, data storage and internet services; it also manages the entire network. The smooth operation of our labs is highly dependent on this crucial component.

Due to the number of ICT technology used in our schools and the limited technical support available, it is not always possible to ensure that all the Khanya labs are up and running on a continual basis. With older servers failing on a more regular basis, more and more reports are received of schools not being able to use the educational software available due to network related problems.

The above is a situation schools definitely cannot afford. Although it is important to acknowledge the role that the server plays in the smooth operation of our networks, we should also put measures in place to ensure that the schools can still get the educational benefits from the use of their equipment should the network malfunction for one or other reason.

One way of ensuring business continuity in such a situation is to use the workstations in the computer laboratory as stand alone computers. Learners at primary schools can for instance still get educational benefit by logging on and using locally installed LTSM material, without being dependent on network related services. Server down should therefore not imply that the lab is down.

Can you think of any other ways of using the technology effectively in schools that are negatively affected by network problems?