ICT Managed Service – friend or foe? Conversation number 3

The BSF ICT managed service has had a lot of mixed press of late. We discuss why this is and what can be done to ensure you get the managed service you want.

Stating the obvious in BSF

Have just been penning some thoughts on what a local authority and those about to embark on a BSF procurement should think about. This might seem like motherhood and apple pie, but surprisingly often forgotten in my humble experience!

• Be clear what you want
• Its OK to change your mind, but do communicate this with the bidders
• If it isn’t written down it wont happen – (and hasn’t been budgeted for)
• Don’t just send ICT folks to ICT meetings
• Let your thinking evolve during dialogue but remember to reflect the changes in the output spec
• Dont accept a locked down managed service ..it doesnt have to be
• Don’t re-buy what you already have
• Remember, bidders like to sell what they have sold before.
• All bidders can answer the docs well, look for evidence during dialogue of what they write.

Driving Innovataion – Part 1

ICT within BSF should drive innovation and transformation, sadly this is not always the case.

The easy option is just to fill a school full of products from the ICT supplier’s catalog without much thought for integration, teaching or learning. However, this is not only poor value but a massive missed opportunity to use ICT to transform the lives and aspirations of our young people.

So what is ICT innovation and how can it drive transformation?

Innovation is concerned with applying new ideas, technologies and methods to a particular problem. Furthermore innovation can be further enhanced by taking ideas, technologies and methodologies from other sectors / markets and integrating them into the subject area. In other words cross pollination.

This type of approach can bring about exciting results and help engage young people. For example using the kind of business intelligence technology that is employed by Amazon, such as ‘people who bought this’ recommendations and their star rating system, could so easily be applied to content and target a student’s learning style and preferences, thereby assisting with Personalised Learning.

Key Points for Developing Innovation within BSF

• Local Authorities need to evolve their thinking and specifications during the engagement process – outdated output specs are too often the norm.
• Local Authorities should challenge bidders to specifically identify funding / kpi’s for innovation within their bids – good intentions don’t get delivered
• Once a ICT partner has been selected an Innovation Framework should be created
• Students, Parents and Teachers should be actively encouraged to engage with the innovation process
• The ICT solution must be designed to evolve and embrace innovation, both small and large

Part 2 – The Nuffield Innovation Framework – coming soon

The Role of Data – Conversation Number 2

Slight change to format this time with just one subject under discussion. This is the first of several duscussions that will look at the impact of ICT on the transformation of learning. This time we look at the role of data, and particuarly “so called” business intelligence. BSF schools are packed with technolgies that generate lots of data, is this data just a storage nightmare or can it be used for something useful? Listen here or subscribe in itunes. Around 50 minutes of debate and we would love to hear your views.

Separate ICT BSF Procurement

It is speculated that Partnerships for Schools wish to change the procurement model and potentially separate the procurement of ICT from that of the LEP and construction under certain conditions from Wave 7 onwards.  This is supposedly to accelerate progress and spending, thus allowing educational transformation to be started early from an ICT perspective.

It is no secret that both RM and Microsoft have been lobbying Jim Knight and P4S for this for sometime.  P4S have always stated that they wanted to retain joint procurement as it ensures that ICT and buildings are closely integrated.  However, with the pressure from the recession it seems that any form of accelerated spending seems the order of the day.

At BSF Conversations we believe that this is a VERY BAD idea and undermines one of the key aims of BSF.  You only need to look at a number of schools being delivered right now from separate procurement processes to see how poor the integration of the building and ICT is and how much money and potential has been wasted as a result.

Furthermore, the proposed model of selecting the ICT partner and then getting them to work with the two remaining bidders to ensure that there is some integration is, in our humble opinion, fraught with danger.  Most ICT suppliers have preferred construction firms / consortia.  It would seem almost super human to put these allegiances completely to one side.

If ICT spending must be accelerated then the one thing that could meaningfully be procured in advance could be the Learning Platform.  However some forward thinking Local Authorities, such as Wolverhampton and Sandwell,  are approaching this by seeking to contract the Learning Platform within 12 month of Financial Close, thereby getting transformational services delivered early whilst still ensuring the the buildings and ICT are tightly integrated.

2nd Podcast Done

Nigel and I have just recorded our second podcast. It’s now in post production, i.e. getting rid of the worst mistakes, and should be published soon.  The edition is about data and Business Intelligence and how educational value might be obtained.

Doing the second podcast was more difficult than the first.  I likened it to parachute jumping.  The first is easy because you don’t know what is going to happen.  The second is hard because you do.  Enjoy!

1:1 Device Ownership

This is a topic I can clearly see both side of the argument. Most authorities through BSF are leaning towards the specification of a 1:1 device ratio and many towards personal devices. At the moment I don’t know which one is best and would welcome comments / discussion.

Pros

* students learn to take responsibility for the device (charging, keep intact etc)
* helps them become a knowledge worker / learner
* support personalised learning
* helps eliminate digital divide
* students can make the device personal

Cons

* students lose, break, damage device often
* no affordable device suitable today
* places huge admin burden on school / ICT techs
* poor spend of limited resources
* need refreshing often
* disruptive – charging etc during lessons

I guess a good question might be is ‘ how would you feel towards and treat a laptop that you had to hand back in at the end of each day, rather than one you were trusted to look after?’

This post was orginally placed on Andy Davies’s Blog.

Personal Learning Devices – Conversation Number 1

Well finally we got the first episode done (this is the hard one surely?). In this episode we kick things off with some background to this series of podcasts. Our main subject of conversation is the topical issue of a personal learning device. 48 minutes turned out not long enough to do this subject justice and I think we will be returning here in the future. Feedback is really encouraged, as are suggestions for future topics and offers to join in on a future conversations.

Listen and subscibe on itunes via the Itunes Music Store (under Education|Educational Technology) or listen here!