Issue 97 - Term 2 Week 6

The annual T4L Rollout normally commences with ordering during Term 3 and delivery of devices during Term 4 each year. Following feedback from 2022, we now aim to send rollout allocation emails earlier than last year, allowing schools plenty of time to carefully consider their device needs and determine what to order. The 2023 rollout will deliver to all eligible Central/ Community Schools, Primary, Secondary, Infants, Schools for Specific Purposes (SSP) and Environmental Education Centres (EEC).  We're currently finalising the catalogue, which includes some new models from our vendors. A link will be included in each school's allocation email. Keep an eye out for the week 9 issue of news.T4L for another update and head to the T4L website to get all the important dates around the rollout as soon as they are released!

The Vendor Support Team advises the following changes to the dead-on-arrival (DOA) process for newly received computer devices and peripherals purchased via EDBuy from our contracted vendors, Acer, Dell, HP and ASI/Microsoft:

• To report a DOA device, the school no longer calls the vendor directly. Please call EDConnect on 1300 32 32 32.
• Edconnect will assign a DOA hardware incident directly to the vendor on behalf of the school.
• DOA can be claimed within 21 days of the warranty start date for HP, Acer and Dell and 30 days for ASI/ Microsoft.

The new process means Edconnect is the first and only contact point for DOA situations.

Many schools have an aging, or end-of-life telephone system, that may no longer meet business needs. Some telephony vendors have recently sent schools an end-of-life letter, advising of the need to replace or upgrade their existing phone system. There is an alternative to older PABX models, with Telstra IP Telephony (TIPT) now available to schools. TIPT is a cloud solution, without an onsite controller, and is fully supported by the department. If your school has a letter from a telephony vendor, or has any questions about upgrading or replacing your phone system, please contact ITD’s Telephony Team for advice. Lodge an online request with EDConnect. Choose Telecommunication Support...Other, then provide details of your request.

Around 1,500 schools use the department's Jamf Pro mobile device management solution to locally manage their fleet of Apple iPads and/or iMacs and MacBooks.  Jamf Pro is a powerful and comprehensive platform for wirelessly and remotely managing each of your Apple devices, including the configuration of standard settings and deploying apps and updates easily. But for many new users, it can be a daunting system. If you need to learn about how to use Jamf Pro and how to do certain specific functions, the Jamf 100 playlist on YouTube is a great place to start. It contains almost 40 short videos that have been curated into learning different tasks. It's probably the easiest way to get familiar with the Jamf Pro console at your school!

Microsoft recently added two new Surface devices to EdBuy for school discretionary purchase. Three models of Surface Laptop 5 and two models of Surface Pro 9 are now available, each with different specifications. All models have been tested and approved for building via the school's eT4L server using the appropriate Microsoft USB network adapter. Many schools are not familiar with the Surface range on offer, so Microsoft have shared a new resource to help schools learn all about each model and highlight the features and benefits in a school setting. EdBuy also includes a variety of Surface accessories and peripherals to further enhance each device.

ITD launched self-service Chromebook enrolment into the department's Google domain in 2017. This delivered a set of standard automatic configurations, making Chromebooks a great choice for students in the classroom. Since then, over 113,000 Chromebooks have been enrolled in our domain! Then, at the start of 2022, we introduced Google Delegated Admin (GDA) - an optional way for individual schools to deliver their own local level of Chromebook management to their fleet. Hundreds of schools dived in and are using the tool to further customise how their Chromebooks work at school. But GDA is not for everyone. There is a level of technical understanding, but School ICT Coordinators or TSOs should be able to manage it with a little guidance. The Google Delegated Admins community on Yammer is a great way to get peer support, but sometimes, people need to be shown how GDA works. The T4L team have put together a new online webinar that will cover all the basics for anyone interested in getting started - what GDA is, what you can do with it and how to do it. If your school wants to make the most of your fleet of Chromebooks, why not register to join Stu Hasic on Tues 20 June at 3:30pm?

If you missed the recent Administration Marketplace Panel for Schools (AMPS) and Student Finance Solution Roadshow, here is a link to the recording of the Roadshow presentations. This recording includes key information and benefits of AMPS, along with vendor demonstrations by Compass, School Bytes and Sentral. Please share the video with any colleagues that could not attend one of the recent roadshows. Schools should now be evaluating and determining which solution best suits their needs and considering when you will transition off EBS. Transitioning this year will ensure you have adequate time to adjust as well as access support and training, prior to the decommissioning of EBS.

We're currently arranging the delivery of 80 brand new stem.T4L 3D printer kits for Term 3 loans in schools. This kit contains the amazing Flashforge Adventurer 4 and to support these schools, the T4L team is excited to launch a new interactive online session that we're calling 'The 3D Print Doctor'. Our 3D printer specialist, Greig Tardiani will run regular sessions where schools can ask their questions and get tips and advice on getting the best results from their printers. And if your school already has 3D printers but needs help with getting them going, you'll also be able to jump into a session with The 3D Print Doctor! More details about joining will be announced on Yammer and in the next issue of news.T4L!

By now, we're all well and truly aware of the department's Yammer service. But did you know that the T4L team presents a weekly online show that's built around our Yammer community and showcases school and corporate staff that use it? Each show highlights  amazing work happening in our schools and discusses authentic teaching and learning activities using tech in the classroom. Most of our highly tech-engaged staff use the collegiality of Yammer to make their work easier, and have amazing stories to share. Greig and Stu find and chat with new superstars every week and help to give their stories a wider audience. They've already chatted with over 140 different guests across almost 100 episodes! As Microsoft prepares to rename Yammer to Viva Engage, we've recently changed the name of our show to Viva Hot Spots. You can join us live every Monday afternoon during school terms and chat with the crowd, or catch up on any of the past episodes via the recordings. All you need to know is at the Viva Hot Spots website!

Here's a great way to revolutionise your digital classroom - take our mini masterclass! You'll discover how you can streamline your teaching and help your students succeed. Recently, the Google for Education team joined us to help unlock the power of Google Classroom and we captured it in a 55 minute recording.

• Find out how to deliver the backbone of learning using Google Classroom
  
• Learn how to host student learning and assessment tasks and collate results for efficient feedback
• Be guided through incorporating self-marking formative assessment tasks, complete with feedback and teacher insights
• Uncover how to use Google Practice Sets for integrated student support
• Explore how to check the originality of student work with unlimited Originality Reports

Watch this session on-demand!

Information Technology Directorate publishes three issues of news.T4L each term. Remember - share each issue with your staff! And if you aren't receiving an email notification as soon as a new issue of news.T4L drops, then you're missing out! So why not subscribe?