Innovation and creativity are two things many of us believe in, and in different ways our schools, engage, facilitate, support and promote this. Often through creativity and innovation we get to highlight many of the values of our respective pedagogy and our school missions. In a world where change is occurring at lightning speed, the impact on the way we function, interact and develop is being pushed to new frontiers. Much of this influenced by technology. As the era of wearable and embedded technology comes to our doorstep, and already the first commercial products are being offered to us the consumer. We face exciting times, but in tandem challenging times for us as educators who are in many ways the gate keepers of critical thinking, open discourse and reflection to support these dynamic changes.
A wonderful example shared here is from ACS Hillingdon International School. ECIS ICT Community member Sue Wakefield (Lower School Integrationist ACS Hillingdon International http://teachspace.hillingdon.info.) A group of high school students from the Advanced technology Class have produced a video called “I need a bigger screen” using 100 iPads to create a ‘wall’ of ipads. The students are trying to get as many hits as possible – her lower school students were also involved with the project, They are asking if you enjoy the video, please pass it on to anyone you think might like it and share it with your students. This video below exemplifies how creativity and innovation can become part of the fabric of our school day, and in tandem collaborating across age groups, provides rich opportunities for all involved to learn.
I Need a Bigger Screen – 100 iPad Video Wall from ACS Hillingdon on Vimeo.
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Featured article “American International School of Bucharest transitions into the Cloud” from Johnson K. Jacob Director of Information Technology American International School of Bucharest Romania
Over the last few months, the American International School of Bucharest (AISB) engaged in an extensive project to reduce total cost of ownership through a comprehensive examination of our IT-based systems. The project was grounded in a change management model that sought to answer the why, what and how we communicate and collaborate as a learning organization. As part of this endeavor, the IT department evaluated a number of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms. Notably, an extensive comparison was conducted between two of the world’s leading SaaS platform providers: Google Apps for Education and Microsoft Office 365 for Education. Both platforms promised to enhance our organizational capability and business capacity. In the end, AISB opted to select Office 365 as our new platform of choice for all organizational communications and collaboration. The final decision was based on 11 broad categories/criteria, which included: platform standards, storage capacity, online web apps, desktop client availability, legacy document fidelity/compatibility, hardware and OS compatibility, licensing, professional development, backend management, technical support and cost.
Office 365 aligned with AISB’s current and future needs with added benefits including: 100% compatibility and integration with our Windows infrastructure; features that focused and supported 21st migration of legacy documents; document fidelity; easier transition as a result of familiarity with existing Microsoft Office systems; upgrade to Microsoft Office 2013 desktop and mobile clients for all users; free Office desktop and mobile clients for all students; minimal disruption and smoother changeover; compatibility with a variety of operating systems (iOS, Android, Windows) and devices (iPads, smartphones, touch devices etc); higher availability of in-house, local and international expertise and support; improved data loss prevention; 99.9% financial guarantee; and significant savings through reduced cost. The changeover and migration started at the end of February and the entire school transitioned into Office 365 in early March. We are happy to report that the migration was successful and smooth. Over the next few weeks and during the transition period the leadership and IT team facilitated the process by scheduling time and opportunity to engage faculty and staff in their professional learning through many Office 365 workshops. We hope to maximize the promise and potential of Office 365 as an enabler and catalyst in transforming AISB as a model learning organization. We aspire to continue to prepare, engage and inspire our community of learners by raising capacity and self-efficacy for the use of technology in teaching and learning.
Check out our Office 365 migration pathway, timeline and professional learning
Digital Bytes: Comparing Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps: Both Sides
Thanks to Johnson K. Jacob for sharing AISB’s process for evaluating Microsoft Office 365 and Google Docs. This month we share resources for schools that are considering the move to cloud-based email, calendaring, and collaboration tools:
ZDNet.com: Microsoft Squares up to Google in the Schoolyard
EdTech Magazine: How Office 365 is Changing the Way Schools Operate
UC Berkeley bConnected Project: Microsoft vs. Google Assessment Matrix
Edutech for Teachers: Google vs. Microsoft: Cloud Apps for Educators
theJournal: Microsoft Office 365 or Google Apps for Education
EdTech Magazine: Peeling Back the Layers of Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps
Information Week: Google vs. Microsoft: Choosing Cloud Apps for Schools
10 comparisons between Google Apps and Office 365
Review: Microsoft Office 365 vs. Google Apps
Professional Development
Join us at the International School of Prague April 28-May 5 for information and details contact
Michael Peters Upper School Digital Learning Facilitator mpeters@isp.cz
Google Apps Events
Find out about a Google Apps for Education event in your area.
Upcoming Google in Education Summits produced in partnership with Google in Education:
Full schedule of events and locations
http://www.appsevents.com/
Google Apps for Education Germany Summit”, a fantastic two day event taking place at Frankfurt International School on Saturday, May 10th and Sunday, May11th 2014. The summit is focused on helping educators get the most out of Google Apps for Education, in both primary and secondary schools as well as higher education environments. We have sessions lead by some of the world’s leading Google apps experts including Google staff and Google certified teachers and trainers.
Flat Connections Conference – Sydney, Australia June 18-20, 2014
The Flat Connections Conference is a unique event that includes students and educators to envision the future of education and of learning communities as they use leading technology tools such as wikis, blogs, social networking and digital storytelling.
Flat Connections Workshop – Atlanta, Georgia, USA, June 25-26, 2014
The Flat Connections Workshop – Connect, Collaborate, Go Global – will take place at Atlanta International School, just ahead of the ISTE conference. This workshop provides educators and education leaders with the resources and skills to connect their learning and take it from local to global. Embedding global learning and competency is not a plane ticket but a mindset and a curriculum imperative. Where do you start? This workshop will show you how. Workshop designer and leader: Julie Lindsay
ISTE Conference – Atlanta, Georgia USA June 28 – July 1, 2014
The ISTE Conference will be held in Atlanta this year and will feature hundreds of sessions on the theme “Connected learning, connected world”.
They are gathering input on keynote speakers for this year, feel free to submit your suggestions at https://www.isteconference.org/2014/program/keynote.php.
Information about registering for the ISTE Conference is available here: https://www.isteconference.org/2014/attend/.
ECIS Annual Conference – Nice, France November 19 – 23, 2014
The ECIS Annual Conference will be held in Nice, France this year. The theme of this year’s conference is “Inspiring Education” and will feature sessions on enhanced pedagogy, cultural agility, innovation, and showcasing best practice. If you are interested in proposing a session, the Call for Proposals is now online and is due on May 8, 2014.
Your words, your input…..
Please remember your links, your thoughts, your resources, your conferences/events are important to this blog if you have something you wish to have featured drop us a note jmikton@isp.cz a week before the first day of the month
have a good month