Bromley ICT Forum Blog

Synetrix had carried out a major upgrade last Thursday 20th September which has has the unfortunate effect of throwing Bromley Schools off the webmail system.

I have spoken to Synetrix this morning and they assure me that they are working to resolve the problem ASAP. They also tell me that they have left instructions for schools to retest their email systems. These instructions are available at the schools talk2synetrix.com accounts.

For those of you who haven’t visited the site here are the instructions below:

Some trouble shooting advice that schools could do to help Synetrix diagnose the fault. Some sites are advising after following steps 1&2 webmail is accessible.

Schools will need to browse to webmail.domainename to enter their email.

1.) Ensure schools are not using a short cut to webmail as thge platform has been upgraded and will no longer work.

2.) Ensure schools are not using favourites to get to webmail.3) Hold Ctrl and F5 to clear cache and cookies
Does webmail work?

4) Reboot system
Does webmail work?

5) Open command prompt, type: ipconfig /flushdns
Does webmail work?

6) Within command prompt, ping webmail.schools domain name (what response are you getting?)

If you are still having problems please let me know via the blog

The London Borough of Bromley is putting together a paper outlining options and advice for Bromley Schools in the purchase and establishment of an effective Learning Platform.

The best place to start in this process is obviously with Secondary Schools as many are moving down this track already. We have a number of Bromley schools using Moodle while some others are using Learning Gateways (Sharepoint). As you may be aware, the LGFL have endorsed Fronter as a London wide solution. Needless to say the solutions out there are varied and if they have one thing in common is that they are not cheap either financially or in human resource management. I am also concerned that whatever solution or strategy is decided, it is one that best meets the needs of all Bromley Schools.

Before the borough puts out a recommendation, I would be interested to hear if any Bromley Secondary Schools have made a decision on a VLE platform and, if so, what platform do they intend to use, along with the provider.

Any further information or comments would be welcome.

For those schools looking for further advice

Becta have created a section of their website to help planners understand the issues and expectations:
http://localauthorities.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=pf&catcode=ls_pict_06

• What is a learning platform?
• How to use the Learning Platform Services Framework
• Learning Platform Services Framework suppliers
• Funding for your learning platform
• Learning platform functional requirements and technical specifications

Special congratulations to Clare House Primary School for gaining the prestigious ICT Mark Award. The school now joins Warren Road, Darrick Wood Junior, Highfield Infants, Darrick Wood Secondary College and Valley Primary School among successful Bromley schools enjoying the professional recognition that the ICT Mark bestows as best class schools in the use of ICT.

Current Becta research shows  that ICT Mark accredited schools are

• four times more likely to be rated as outstanding in the overall effectiveness of the school category. (ICT Mark Schools: 40%, national primary: 9%, national secondary :10%
• three times more likely to be rated as outstanding in Achievement and Standards category
• three times more likely to be rated as outstanding in the Leadership and Management category
• four times more likely to be rated a outstanding in the Teaching and Learning category.

The first step towards achieving the ICT Mark for your school begins with registration on the BECTA Self Review Matrix.

For further information please contact Andrew Ferrier  (0208 461 6224) or email him at andrew.ferrier@bromley.gov.uk

For those of you out there interested in generating surveys and analysing responses, there is a great online tool called Surveymonkey.

Surveymonkey will create online surveys for you. You can choose between multiple choice reponses, rating scales or open ended text. The basic package is free but you are limited to 10 questions and a 100 responses per survey. The survey is published as a web page with a specific address that can either be included on a web site or added as an email.

I have already enrolled and have used the survey to gather information from schools and I certainly recommend the program.

You can access Survey Monkey at the following website http://www.surveymonkey.com