Microsoft Bring Your Own Device to School Discussion Paper

Since we produced our first ‘BYOD to School’ whitepaper last year, there’s been a lot said about Bring Your Own Device in schools, and plenty of different views expressed about which model is best. From all those discussions, I and my colleagues are convinced there’s not a simple solution – there’s definitely not a ‘once size fits all’ approach to BYOD. Nor a simple decision framework to even work out whether Bring Your Own Device is right for your institution.

My colleague Sean Tierney, continues to work on this subject, and he’s just finished working with Bruce Dixon (from the Anytime, Anywhere Learning Foundation) to update last year’s BYOD to School whitepaper. They have both been passionate advocates for 1:1 learning programmes for many years, their whitepaper aims to examine the potential deployment models from teaching, learning and IT management perspectives.

As they say in their conclusion:

	BYOD is a trend that needs to be carefully examined in an education context to ensure that the models we deploy are successful. At the heart of good 1-to-1 learning is equity to ensure that all students have equal access to technology rich experiences, and simplicity to ensure that it is easy to manage and sustain. Between equity and simplicity, however, come considerations of cost. So while today’s confluence of affordable devices, cloud computing and innovative technology dangles a tempting prospect in front of us, educators face a number of difficult decisions before we finally deliver student learning experiences as broad, deep, relevant, complex and creative as we would like them to be. This discussion paper presents some of the varying BYOD models, their nuances and the considerations that accompany them. 1-to-1 access to technology is challenging traditional ideas about teaching and learning, and the arguments herein emphasise that decisions need to be education-based, not purely technology-based. They need to deliver tangible benefits for student learning.

The arguments also question a number of assumptions about BYOD. In particular, it questions whether BYOD really reduces the total cost of device use in schools, or whether that cost has been hidden; that is to say, passed on to parents. Hasty decisions made today risk casting a long shadow and undermining some of the important achievements made to date.

Most importantly, there needs to be agreement on the equitable and sustainable provision of technology so that the core ideas of 1-to-1 learning, refined over many years of classroom experience, are not lost. This is especially important, given that previous educational innovations have taught us that early reports of success can overlook complexities that only become apparent over time.

Bruce and Sean are adamant that all stakeholders – teachers, parents, students and principals – need to work through the tough decisions early to drive home the best outcomes for all students at all times. And that’s exactly what the ideas discussed in the discussion paper.

click here to download the e-book

Be safe in Cyber space

The cyber space or the internet is a place where an uncountable number of data transfers happen. While you log in to an account your user name and password is passed through many network. But it’s safe. But even it’s safe there are many ways to hack the accounts.

What kind of accounts you have?

·        Email accounts

o   Gmail

o   Yahoo mail

o   Live mail

o   Hotmail

o   Outlook mail etc.

·        Social networking

o   Facebook

o   Tweeter

·        Online banks

o   Pay pal

·        E-commerce sites

o   Ebay

o   Amazon

Why to make it safe and why hackers hack accounts?

            All our accounts contain our personal details. On social networking sites we mentions most of our private details photos and more.

            In our emails we register for many site. For online bank accounts, e-commerce sites and more.

            A hacker look in to hack those accounts for criminal works or some bad unwonted work and to clean our bank accounts by transferring all the money to his account.

If the internet is safe how a hacker hack our accounts?

            There are many methods for hacker. In true only few hackers are there who can hack the brake the algorithm and decrypt the data transferred via the internet.

            Visit the below link for more information about encryption.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryption

Methods of hacking.

·        Phishing attacks

Phishing is the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, banks, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure unsuspecting public. Phishing emails may contain links to websites that are infected with malware. Phishing is typically carried out by email spoofing or instant messaging, and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to deceive users, and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies. Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures.

While you browse a site and to prevent phishing attack follow the below steps.

o   Check the site URL before entering the user name and password

o   Before you log in to a site with your user name and password check whether the site is going through a secure connection or not.

§  Unsecure – http://facebook.com

§  Secure – https://facebook.com

Always check for the https on log in.

·        session hijacking

·        Trojan horse

A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is a hacking program that is a non-self-replicating type of malware which gains privileged access to the operating system while appearing to perform a desirable function but instead drops a malicious payload, often including a backdoor allowing unauthorized access to the target's computer. These backdoors tend to be invisible to average users, but may cause the computer to run slowly. Trojans do not attempt to inject themselves into other files like a computer virus. Trojan horses may steal information, or harm their host computer systems. Trojans may use drive-by downloads or install via online games or internet-driven applications in order to reach target computers. The term is derived from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology because Trojan horses employ a form of “social engineering,” presenting themselves as harmless, useful gifts, in order to persuade victims to install them on their computers.

·        Key logger

Keystroke logging, often referred to as key logging or Keyboard Capturing, is the action of recording (or logging) the keys struck on a keyboard, typically in a covert manner so that the person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are being monitored. It also has very legitimate uses in studies of human-computer interaction. There are numerous key logging methods, ranging from hardware and software-based approaches to acoustic analysis.

How do I get Student Advantage in Office 365 Education?

With a little under a month until Student Advantage becomes available (that's December 1st, put it in the diary!) one of the questions I am getting asked most frequently is: how do I get Student Advantage in Office 365 Education?
I’m going to cover this off in two posts, this first one to discuss how to get Student Advantage added to your existing Office 365 Education tenant. The second post will be a student-view; how to access and download the software.

Part One: How institutions get Student Advantage

Let’s start with a recap of how you qualify. Any institution will need to meet some criteria:

1. You must have an OVS-ES or EES volume licensing agreement.
2. You must cover 100% of your faculty/staff for Office on that OVS/ES or EES agreement.

As long as you meet the criteria you’ll need to contact your licensing reseller after December 1st to order the Student Advantage licences. What happens next depends on which volume licence agreement you have.

OVS-ES Customers

Once you’ve placed your order with your reseller you’ll get sent a link to retrieve your keys from the Volume Licensing Service Centre (VLSC). Through here you’ll see your product keys and be able to access the redemption interface to enter your keys into your tenant.
After you’ve entered the keys you’ll have the licences available (note, the image below does not show the Student Advantage Office 365 ProPlus licences, it’s just for illustration):

You can then follow the process for assigning these licences to your student users in the normal way; either via the admin centre, or Windows Remote PowerShell. These will be in addition to any other Office 365 licences a user may already have, such as Exchange Online Plan 1 or Office 365 Plan A2.

EES Customers

As with OVS-ES you’ll need to contact your reseller to order the licences. Once the order is processed an email will be sent to the Online Services Manager, Notices Contact, or the Primary Contact. This email will contain two links: one to sign in, and one to sign up.
Whoever is going to process this email needs to ensure they are fully signed out of any and all Microsoft Online Services (this includes Outlook.com, SkyDrive, Xbox Live, Office 365, etc.). This will avoid accidentally attempting to associate the licences to the wrong place. Given that you’ll already have a tenant with users in place you’ll need to click sign in and authenticate with your Office 365 administrative credentials.
This process provisions the licences to your tenant, and once completed you’ll be able to assign them to your users following whatever process you currently use.
Check back soon for part two where I’ll cover how a student accesses their software once you’ve allocated their licence.

Get Student Advantage in Office 365

With a little under a month until Student Advantage becomes available (that's December 1st, put it in the diary!) one of the questions I am getting asked most frequently is: how do I get Student Advantage in Office 365 Education?

I’m going to cover this off in two posts, this first one to discuss how to get Student Advantage added to your existing Office 365 Education tenant. The second post will be a student-view; how to access and download the software.

Part One: How institutions get Student Advantage

Let’s start with a recap of how you qualify. Any institution will need to meet some criteria:

1. You must have an OVS-ES or EES volume licensing agreement.
2. You must cover 100% of your faculty/staff for Office on that OVS/ES or EES agreement.

As long as you meet the criteria you’ll need to contact your licensing reseller after December 1st to order the Student Advantage licences. What happens next depends on which volume licence agreement you have.

OVS-ES Customers

Once you’ve placed your order with your reseller you’ll get sent a link to retrieve your keys from the Volume Licensing Service Centre (VLSC). Through here you’ll see your product keys and be able to access the redemption interface to enter your keys into your tenant.

After you’ve entered the keys you’ll have the licences available (note, the image below does not show the Student Advantage Office 365 ProPlus licences, it’s just for illustration):

You can then follow the process for assigning these licences to your student users in the normal way; either via the admin centre, or Windows Remote PowerShell. These will be in addition to any other Office 365 licences a user may already have, such as Exchange Online Plan 1 or Office 365 Plan A2.

EES Customers

As with OVS-ES you’ll need to contact your reseller to order the licences. Once the order is processed an email will be sent to the Online Services Manager, Notices Contact, or the Primary Contact. This email will contain two links: one to sign in, and one to sign up.

Whoever is going to process this email needs to ensure they are fully signed out of any and all Microsoft Online Services (this includes Outlook.com, SkyDrive, Xbox Live, Office 365, etc.). This will avoid accidentally attempting to associate the licences to the wrong place. Given that you’ll already have a tenant with users in place you’ll need to click sign in and authenticate with your Office 365 administrative credentials.

This process provisions the licences to your tenant, and once completed you’ll be able to assign them to your users following whatever process you currently use.

Check back soon for part two where I’ll cover how a student accesses their software once you’ve allocated their licence.

we looked at how an institution can associate Student Advantage licences with an existing Office 365 Education tenant. Today, we'll answer the question “how do I get Student Advantage in Office 365 Education?” from a student perspective.

Once an institution has allocated the Office 365 ProPlus licences that underpin the Student Advantage benefit students will not necessarily see anything different in their experience of Office 365. So, in the spirit of sharing, here are a couple of ideas for how to spread the word:

• Send an email to all students informing them of the new software available to them.
• Promote a link to the software through your student portal.
• Put posters up around school / campus advertising the new software.
• Use social media to communicate the new benefit.

The direct link, if you want to include it in communication, is:https://portal.microsoftonline.com/OLS/MySoftware.aspx but without the direct link, here’s what you need to know…

Students will need to sign into Office 365 with their credentials in the usual way, such as through your SSO portal, directly into OWA, etc. Once there, click on the little sprocket in the top right-hand corner, and select Office 365 settings from the menu.

This will take you to your main settings page, where you can see all sorts of interesting things, but in the context of Student Advantage and Office 365 ProPlus we’re only interested in thesoftware link.

Clicking the software link will take you to the page, below, where you can access your Office 365 ProPlus software!

Simply select the appropriate language, and whether you want the 32-bit or 64-bit (click advanced to unlock that option) and then click install. Your Office 365 ProPlus experience will then begin.

If you’re running Mac OS X then this screen may look a little different to let you download Office for Mac 2011.

Office Mobile for iOS and Android

One of the additional benefits of Student Advantage is that Office 365 ProPlus enables the use of Office Mobile for iOS for iPhones and Office Mobile for Android for Android phones. I wrote about this a little while ago, with links to the various stores (iTunes and Google Play).

The apps themselves are free, but require an active subscription to use. Download the app to your device, and sign in with your Office 365 credentials to get started.

source

Teaching and Learning Scenario - Lync

Ramandeep has been absent from school for five weeks following a road accident. Recovery is slow, and there’s still no firm date for her return. The school sends work home with her brother, but, as she tells her mum, she feels more and more cut off.

‘I just don’t feel I go to that school any more. I sometimes think they’ve forgotten me. When I first had the accident it was all fuss, and visits, and flowers and chocolates. Now I hardly ever see any of them.’

Next day, Ramandeep’s mum went into school and spoke to Ramandeep’s year leader.

‘She’s really down I hate seeing her like this. It can affect her recovery, and her work is going to suffer.’

He understood and promised to speak to Ramandeep’s teachers and her friends, but he also made a mental note to follow up on a thought that niggled in the back of his mind. He went off to see the network manager.

‘Sal, you know when we took on Office 365 Education, and we decided to move our email to it, and then get started on a proper online portal. Well, isn’t there also something called “Lync”? I wonder if we could use it to solve this little problem.’

He explained what he had in mind. Sal thought it was a brilliant idea, and entirely possible, given a bit of advice from Microsoft, and a visit to the local university where they used Lync all the time to save travelling costs between two campuses.

Within a few days, the year leader and Sal had been round to see Ramandeep, with a tablet borrowed from the pilot ‘Surface’ project running in Year Seven, set up for Lync. And suddenly, there on her little screen was a tightly framed gaggle of familiar laughing faces – Ramandeeps’s friends who’d been prepared in advance.

That was just the start. Over the next few weeks, Ramandeep had Lync tutorials with her teachers, about the homework they’d set. She ‘sat in’ on some lessons with her own class and, of course, had some personal sessions with friends. Many of the ideas, such as being able to take her turn at reading in assembly with the aid of a smartboard in the hall, came from Ramandeep herself.

Best of all, so far as Ramandeep was concerned, was that when she shared in a classroom session, she could record it to watch offline later.

‘That’s great, I often get things much better the second time,’ she said.

(When Mr Johnson heard she’s said that, he made a mental note to discuss lesson pacing with his colleagues)

‘All this must be costing the school a fortune one way or another,’ said Ramandeep’s mum to Mr Johnson on one of her visits.

‘Oh no,’ he said. ‘It’s completely free to schools as part of our Office 365 package.’

‘Unbelievable,’ said Ramandeep’s mum. ‘I just know how much money and trouble went into the video conferencing set-up we have at work. I wonder if they know about this?’

By Christmas that year, Ramandeep was back at school, but the experience the school had with Lync during that time led to a whole lot of interesting innovations including screen sharing by staff during planning sessions. Integration with ‘OneNote’ also enabled staff working group members to share their ideas on what they were seeing on their screens.

source 

How the internet works

source - youtube.com