What is Becta?
•Government lead agency for technology in education•Leading the national drive for effective use of technology in learning•Co-ordinating and leading the e-strategy (Harnessing Technology)•Working in partnership with DCSF, DIUS, other agencies and key industry partners
My background
•Originally a teacher (secondary science)
•Worked for an ICT training supplier
•Have been at Becta for over 5 yrs in a range of roles
•Now Head of Capital Building Programmes
Key messages
•It is never too early to start planning
•You can’t do it all on your own
•Keep a very careful eye on the budget
•There is plenty of help and advice available
Why do you need to consider ICT early?
•We are transforming learning not just putting up buildings•ICT has the potential to;
–change the way we learn (and teach)–enable personalisation–allow learning to take place off-site and outside school hours
•New ways of learning and teaching can have a profound effect on the design of spaces in the school and the way we use technology in those spaces
•Changing the design later can be very expensive
Starting early•Important to be involved in discussions with
designers/architects from the outset– at least 3 or 4 yrs before new school opens
•If you are a BSF school ensure you get involved with the LA’s plans at earliest opportunity
•Don’t start with specific technologies – start with your vision for how technology will improve learning and teaching
•Don’t leave it too late to engage the ICT supplier
Preparing for increased use of ICT
What can you do now?•Making best use of current investment–learning platforms and online learning space–MIS e.g. pupil tracking and reporting to parents–fully utilising existing ICT resources
•Change management–preparing staff for new ways of working–training, exemplars, ICT champions, ‘sand-pit’
• A model for self-review, helping schools to assess where they are now in their use of technology and plan for improvements
• Promotes a national standard for ICT and enables progress towards the ICT Mark
• All schools should make use of the self-review framework
• Particularly useful in helping to develop vision and strategy ahead of a major change
Self-review framework
Elements of the self-review framework
Curriculum
Learning & teaching
Assessment
Extending opportunities for learning
Professional development
Resources
Impact on Learning
Leadership and management
Moving towards a managed service approach
•A managed service usually includes:–Helpdesk (logging incidents and telephone support)–Technical support staff (on site and mobile) –Hardware maintenance and application support–System and desktop monitoring–Remote hosting–Disaster recovery–Asset management
Benefits of a Managed Service
•School staff can concentrate on reaping the benefits of ICT (learning, teaching, management)
•Lessens the impact of losing experienced staff•Guarantees high levels of service (availability, reliability)•Improves processes by using best practice standards•Better cost control – true costs are clear and can be
measured against benefits•Transfers risk
Preparing for a Managed Service
•Understand how much current support for ICT is costing (TCO)
•Introduce best practice processes (FITS)
Understanding Total Cost of Ownership
All the costs associated with–purchase –implementation–operation–maintenance
Including–user training and self support–formal support and maintenance–consumables –hardware, software, network infrastructure
ICT Investment Planning Tool
•Simple spreadsheet planner •Developed by Becta and Local Authorities•Informs ICT investment decisions in schools •Provides :
–calculation of true current cost of ICT systems–calculation of likely future costs–comparison with costs of a managed service
•Available to download from the Becta website
Framework for ICT Technical Support (FITS)
•Based on ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)•Covers the four main aspects of technical support provision
–reactive–proactive–change–strategic
Benefits of using FITS
•Tried and tested processes, adapted to school environment•Provides ready made templates, checklists and downloads
–can be used as they are or personalised
•Separate administrative and technical tasks –helps assign resources appropriately
•Protects teachers from getting too involved in technical support issues
•Helps measure technical support requirements and costs•Helps prepare staff for managed service approach
Supporting the building project
•Don’t under-estimate how much time it will take•There will normally be some professional support supplied (e.g. by LA/Sponsor/DSCF)•At school level you will need someone to be the key link to the overall project manager/director, design and construction companies, ICT supplier •If asking senior staff member(s) to take on this role you must release them from other tasks
Additional support
•Becta’s Capital Buildings Programme team can provide some direct support
•For BSF, Partnerships for Schools have a team of Education ICT Advisers
•For many projects additional ICT consultancy may be required
–depending on existing resources/capacity of the LA or sponsor –this can be procured from Becta’s Consultancy Services
Framework Agreement
Budget issues
•Particularly an issue with ‘one off’ new builds (Academies and One School Pathfinders)
•There is a formula for calculating the ICT budget BUT the money is not ring-fenced
•If the construction budget is overspent the project manager will look for savings elsewhere (especially the ICT budget)
•Be very clear from the outset what is and isn’t in the ICT budget (e.g. CCTV ‘out’ but music keyboards ‘in’)
Is it all worth it?
•http://www.p4s.org.uk/library/bsf_voices_djanogly_and_hadley.jsp#Wow
Further information from Becta
•Capital building programmes
www.becta.org.uk/schools/capitalbuilding•Self-review framework
www.becta.org.uk/schools/selfreview•FITS
www.becta.org.uk/fits•Investment planner
www.becta.org.uk/schools/leadership
(follow budgeting, financial planning)
Further information cont
•Becta Procurement Frameworks
www.becta.org.uk/schools/procurement•Becta Technical standards
www.becta.org.uk/schools/techstandards•Partnerships for Schools (for BSF)•www.p4s.org.uk•NCSL BSF Resources •bsf.ncsl.org.uk
ICT Excellence Awards 2008
•seeking out the best and brightest schools that are using
technology to help learners achieve and to benefit the
whole school community
•closely aligned with Becta’s Self-Review Framework and
the ICT Mark
•Includes a ‘support for schools’ category
ICT Excellence Awards 2008
•Find out more, view 2007 winners, and
enter online at
www.becta.org.uk/excellenceawards
•Don’t miss the deadline of 30 April 2008
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