The Anchor

ICT Update

ICT Update 2017

This year, all students from Years 8-12 started the year having received their laptops before official lessons began. Year 7s received their laptops at the  “Out of the Box’ evening session. The possibilities that this technology provides through the multitude of professional software packages installed on it are endless and hopefully in the coming years we will see them making use of their laptops as a:

  • creative / design studio
  • multimedia / programming suite
  • audio recording studio
  • video editing suite
  • problem solving / analytical tool
  • organisational tool
  • and much more!

All of the software required for subjects is already installed on the student laptops, including the Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Master Collection. It is a fantastic opportunity that our students have to access these programs and it enables the laptop to be used as much more than a word processing device. Many students will find that they are exposed to OneNote through Class Notebooks as teachers delve into using a wider range of technology in their classrooms.

 

This year is the 7th year of the Laptop Program. Students can clearly see the benefits of increased access to ICT infrastructure, as well as recognising the challenges associated with its use and the possible distractions that technology poses.  It is empowering that students have the opportunity to learn about managing their own ICT device and the responsibilities associated with it as part of their College education.

 

Computers for Learning

With the use of technology comes a certain level of responsibility for students. In the school diary there is a brief outline of the College policy regarding student use of computing resources. Students and parents are required to read this and sign to indicate they understand their responsibilities when using the computers.

 

Laptop Program

All students are part of the laptop program and need to continue to remember the guidelines required for effectively managing their devices. A couple of these are:

  • Your laptop must remain in the case provided at all times, and be zipped up whenever moving between classrooms.
  • Your laptop must be fully charged each night.
  • Your laptop must be ready to use in every class. This means not having additional programs open, and applying the “Fix My Computers” if necessary prior to lessons. A good principle to follow is to do a full ‘restart’ of your laptop during Care Group.
  • Notify any damage or problems immediately, before the problem has a chance to get worse.

Feel free to contact the school if you have any questions regarding the laptop program.

 

Network Passwords

Students are responsible for managing their own network passwords. Their passwords are the ‘key’ to many ICT systems (including computer logons, laptops, email, ECOLI, printing credit etc.) and need to be treated confidentially.

 

Passwords must be changed every six months, but can be changed more often if the student wishes. To ensure optimum security passwords:

  • can NOT include part of the student’s username, first name or last name
  • be at least 8 characters long
  • include at least three out of four of the following character types: lower case letter, upper case letter, number and symbol.

More information about passwords is on ECOLI.

 

Internet & Print monitoring

The internet is an important tool for all students at Endeavour College. It is used for research and creating information systems making it a powerful learning tool. At school the internet is to be used only for school purposes, and always under the guidelines of the supervising teacher.

 

It is possible for students and staff to access information quickly and download large amounts of data in a relatively short period of time. With this quick access comes a need for the College to allocate adequate internet time/data download to students so they may acquire all the information necessary to meet the demands of the curriculum. This process is designed to encourage students to be accountable and responsible when using this potentially expensive resource.

 

Students are allocated 500MB of internet usage each month. While there is no way of students checking how much credit they have used in a given month, as long as students stick to the guidelines of only using it for school purposes they won’t be charged any extra. Students who use more than 500MB will be required to justify their usage and may be charged for usage not deemed to be required for school work.

 

For printing each student is allocated the ability to print 100 (Year 7 – 10) or 150 (Year 11 – 12) A4 pages to a black & white laser printer per term. This equates to $10 and $15 of printing credit respectively. Additional pages can be purchased from the Student Services. Students will be able to monitor their usage for printing via the web browser interface when they have logged on to a College computer. It should be noted that unused printing rights cannot be transferred to internet download rights. These accounts will always remain separate.

 

Colour Printing

Colour printing comes out of the standard printing credit, but at a cost of 50c per page (or the equivalent of 5 normal pages). Care should be taken when printing, because even a single word of colour on an otherwise black page will be charged at 50c instead of 10c should colour options be selected.

 

Useful Links from Home (Bookmarks)

Endeavour Website: http://www.endeavour.sa.edu.au/

Webmail: https://webmail.endeavour.sa.edu.au/

ECOLI: http://ecoli.endeavour.sa.edu.au/

School Email:  admin@endeavour.sa.edu.au

 

Sasha Loveday

E-Learning Leader

New Staff

Mr Timothy Reynolds

Timothy has been appointed as the new junior ICT technician.  Coming from a 'tech heavy' family, and studying for a degree in Information Technology  at Uni, he knows his tech very well.  Timothy is an old scholar having graduated in 2015.  ​