How can improve results - Westcoast

Expert Guide

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How

classroom tech can improve results

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how and why technology can bring tangible benefits to schools, colleges & universities

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Here’s an idea: Design the smallest, fastest, smartest LaserJets ever. The all-new HP LaserJets. Now up to 40% smaller and 40% faster.1 We started with a blank page and asked “What do businesses need now?” We came up with the all-new HP LaserJets, built around a breakthrough in toner chemistry. Thanks to new Original HP toner cartridges with JetIntelligence, the new LaserJets are up to 40% smaller, up to 40% faster and use up to 53% less energy.1 See them at work at hp.com/go/newlaserjets

The world’s most preferred printers: Worldwide printer market share, and HP printer brand awareness, consideration and preference study in nine markets 2014. 1 Based on HP internal testing of predecessor devices completed 1/2015 or published information and subject to device settings. Actual results may vary. Faster refers to First Page Out Time (FPOT). For energy efficiency, the HP M252 is 15%, the HP M277 is 16% and the HP M553 is 53% better versus predecessor. For details see hp.com/go/ljclaims. © Copyright 2015 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP.

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PC Pro Expert Guide:

How classroom tech can improve results

contents How classroom tech can improve results – brought to you by the experts at PC Pro in association with HP

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4 Welcome 5 The Changing Face of Technology IN EDUCATION

The tech we use in the classroom keeps on changing, and the way we use it has transformed to match.

8 Making Tablets Work in the Classroom

Tablets have never been so usable or affordable, but to get the most from them you need to have a strategy in place.

12 Spotlight on the Sprout by HP

HP’s visionary all-in-one is a powerful creative workstation for blending the real and digital worlds.

13 The Other Side of Technology in Schools

ICT isn’t just about what goes on in the classroom – it’s also about delivering the infrastructure to support it.

16 Empowering Education – HP’s Vision for School ICT 3

Insights into the future of education from HP’s Vice President of Worldwide Education, Gus Schmedlen.

19 The TCO Question

When budgets are tight, spiralling IT expenditure is a nightmare for schools. Understanding the true costs of ownership can help you keep it in check.

22 The Future of Technology in Education

Classroom technology has come a long way, but there are even more radical developments on the horizon over the next ten to 20 years.

25 Closing Thoughts

Technology can help transform student outcomes, but great teachers still make all the difference.

26 case studies

Find out how schools and universities have cut costs, transformed lessons and improved productivity on the move with HP. In association with



How classroom tech can improve results Introduction Technology is fuelling a revolution in education, and every school can get involved

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s anyone who attended this year’s Bett could tell you, there’s a real energy surrounding ICT at the moment. Tablets and mobile devices, cloud-based services, a renewed focus on computing and the grassroots appeal of the Raspberry Pi are all breathing new life into classroom technology and getting educators excited about how they can use it. What’s more, this technology has never been so accessible to so many schools. Eroding tablet prices and low-cost laptops and Chromebooks mean that more schools can furnish more students with more computers, and 1:1 initiatives are changing from a luxury to a realistic option for many schools and colleges. We’re celebrating this revolution in this PC Pro guide, produced in association with HP. In the next 18 pages, we’ll look at how classroom technology has changed over the past 35 years, and how we’ve moved from schools where computers were a

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novelty to schools where laptops are a common sight in every classroom. We’ll look in depth at how you can choose and make the most of tablets in the classroom, before showcasing HP’s innovative new all-in-one PC, the sprout. We’ll take a step back to look at the hard-working infrastructure that keeps schools running smoothly, and at the TCO issues that can prevent schools from doing more with limited budgets. We’ll talk to HP’s Vice President of Worldwide Education, and look at the future of technology in schools and colleges. We hope you’ll find our usual guidance and a few new ideas, and perhaps catch a glimpse of where education and technology are headed. We also hope you’ll want to find out more, either on the pages of PC Pro or online at itpro.co.uk/tags/education. This guide can only be a snapshot of where education and technology are at the moment, and there’s a lot of exciting stuff that’s still to come. In association with



Visit the HP education site hp.com/hpeducation

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Changing Face of Technology in Education The tech we use in the classroom keeps on changing, and the way we use it has transformed to match

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rom the earliest classroom computers to the latest 1:1 device initiatives, the past 25 years have seen an incredible transformation not just in the shape of information technology, but in the way it’s used day to day in education. The more affordable and accessible computing power has become, the more educators have been

able to harness it as a teaching tool, and with the proliferation of mobile devices and the ubiquity of the internet, this process is only speeding up.

The Early Days While some lucky schools were able to dabble with computers from the earliest mainframe days, it was the arrival of In association with



pioneering home computers in the early 1980s that brought classroom computing into the mainstream. In the home, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 struggled for dominance, but at school the BBC Micro reigned supreme. Designed and built by Acorn Computers in 1981, it was developed in conjunction with the BBC to support the corporation’s ambitious computer-literacy project, designed to expose the people of A-level, O-level and GCSE computer Britain to the nascent power of the studies courses focused on coding with microcomputer. However, the Micro BBC BASIC or controlling primitive became more than a tutorial platform for robots with Logo, while science and viewers of The Computer Programme; it maths subjects adopted specialist became a hit in education, too. Thanks to educational software to illustrate government subsidies, a great version of principles or simulate experiments. the BASIC programming language and Meanwhile, primitive office applications a workable networking standard, the such as VU-Calc, Database and Wordwise machine became almost ubiquitous. introduced students to a brave new Around 85% of British schools had a world of productivity software. BBC Micro by the end of 1984. The computers themselves The introduction of were concentrated in the BBC Micro also science or computer helped define how studies labs. computers would be Over the next used in schools. First and decade the computers foremost, these were tools changed, but how they were for teaching about maths, being used didn’t. BASIC sciences, computers and and Logo remained the The BBC Micro helped mainstays of computer programming, although define how computers a few moonlighted in studies at secondary and would be used in schools tertiary levels, although business studies lessons.

In the home, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 struggled for dominance, but at school the BBC Micro reigned supreme

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the more advanced hardware of new machines allowed students to dabble in graphics and create more sophisticated programs. By the late 1980s, the BBC Micro started to look dated. Schools began to replace it with the new Acorn Archimedes or MS-DOS-based systems from RM’s popular Nimbus line. While it never became as common a sight in schools as the BBC Micro, the Archimedes still gained a substantial foothold, helped by Tesco’s Computers for Schools voucher scheme.

Suites and Whiteboards The year 1997 brought a new Labour government and the Stevenson Report into ICT in schools. This recognised ICT (information and communications technology) as a key priority for education, and recommended the construction of an overall strategy for promoting it. The government In association with



stepped in to help schools invest in new computers, classroom technology and supporting infrastructure, and ICT training for teachers. The results were tangible. Windows PCs and ICT suites became a common feature of secondary schools. Meanwhile, the introduction of laptops and interactive whiteboards into the classroom – accelerated by the 2004 Building Schools for the Future initiative – began to transform computing and technology from a separate subject area into a tool that could help primary students grapple with literacy and numeracy, and support the core science and humanities subjects at GCSE and A-level. Technology could even power new ways of teaching arts, design and media studies, putting professional tools into the hands of young people and letting them create. Yet just as much was going on behind the scenes. Management information systems changed the way schools tracked and managed students. Virtual learning environments supported new, hi-tech approaches to teaching and learning. School-wide networks and broadband access made it easier to centralise school resources, and to harness new educational resources on the web. By 2010, the technology that used to be confined to the ICT suite had spread out to reach every part of school.

If there was one downside to this ICT revolution, it was a shift away from the teaching of how IT could be made – the fundamentals of computing and coding – and towards the teaching of how IT could be used. Students who might have once been gripped by the possibilities of programming became bogged down by lessons in email and Office applications – important, but not the be-all and end-all of schools ICT.

A New Computing Revolution Luckily, the past five years have seen this reversed. While the coalition government’s scrapping of the ICT programme of study and promotion of classroom coding was both rushed and controversial, it did shake up the way computers are used in schools. Interest in computing and programming is undergoing a renaissance, helped by a strong grassroots community and the arrival of cheap, accessible computers such as the Raspberry Pi. At the same time, we’ve seen a transformation in the type of devices being used. The introduction of the Apple iPad in 2010 was a tipping point, spearheading a new breed of cheap, lightweight, robust mobile devices, ranging from Windows 8 tablets and convertibles to Android devices and Google’s Chromebook laptops. You no longer need a £500 PC

to put technology in the classroom: a sub-£200 tablet or laptop will work. This opens up many more possibilities. 1:1 schemes, where each student has their own device, have become a possibility for many institutions. Once computing power and web-based resources become unchained from the classroom or ICT suite, anytime, anywhere learning becomes a realistic option. You can use your devices on a field trip or around the school grounds. New interactive displays, high-speed connectivity and real-time communications and collaboration services make it possible for students to work together from different classrooms, or even different schools. Classrooms are becoming spaces for collaboration, not just top-down learning. Teaching becomes less about delivering content, and more about helping students find and understand the content out there. Best of all, the combination of these new devices and a revitalised interest in coding is giving educators the chance to experiment; to try new approaches and use unexpected resources to engage students in subjects across the curriculum. Whether it’s teaching physics using Minecraft or using 3D displays to look inside the human body, there’s scope to make technology work in the classroom in new, exciting ways. And do you know what? The best is yet to come.

The affordable Chromebooks range has been a hit in schools

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Making Tablets Work

in the classroom Tablets have never been so usable or affordable, but you need to have a strategy

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or all the hype over iPads in the classroom, rolling tablets out into a school should never be seen as a quick fix. Deployed and used intelligently, tablets can be hugely beneficial, making technology accessible to a wider range of students, improving STEM skills and engaging students you may think hard to

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reach. All the same, they come with hidden demands in terms of monitoring and management, have the potential to be as distracting as engaging, and require a little thought and preparation. Rolling out tablets shouldn’t be a case of buying the cheapest or most popular option, handing them out and then hoping for

the best. You should work out a strategy, do your homework, then make sure you have the right hardware, software, services and support in place. Before anything else, you need to define your goals. What are you looking to achieve? How could tablets help you achieve that? How will they fit in with In association with



Windows tablets are compatible with existing Windows applications the school or college’s existing technology, and with the institution’s vision going forward? Are you looking to embrace a 1:1 device or Bring Your Own Device initiative, or to simply roll out a fleet of tablets to share around? What year groups are you planning to cover, and what kind of work must the tablets support? Are you looking at flipped classroom strategies, or collaborative learning, or adopting cloud-based services? Thinking about all these things will help you narrow down your choices, and help you focus on the type of tablet you’re looking for – and even whether a tablet is really the best tool for the job.

Windows, iOS or Android? Software is key on tablets. The three major operating systems all come with their own ecosystems and education programmes, which you may or may not want to tap into. In education, iOS is a hugely popular choice. The iPad range gives you great devices and access to the best app ecosystem. Many users, both staff and students, will find iPads familiar and easy to use. Many classroom-monitoring and device-management applications support iOS tablets, while Apple’s management tools are solid and have had time to mature. On the downside, you’ll be tied to one manufacturer; support for web technologies and services isn’t perfect; and the devices themselves are expensive. What’s more, iOS devices are designed to be used by only one user, which can make them difficult to manage if you’re not using them in a 1:1 scheme. Android is catching up fast. There aren’t as many superb educational apps as on iOS, but there are more than enough, and Android ties in well with Google’s own apps and services. Opting for Android also gains you flexibility. You have a choice of great devices from a range of manufacturers, you’re not tied to a specific device-maker, and the devices can be incredibly affordable. Android devices can support multiple user profiles, which is great when students need to share, and the new Google Play for Education initiative makes it easier to find great education-focused apps. As a platform, it’s maturing very nicely. Windows 8.1 is another strong choice. You get a strong, feature-rich and easy-to-use tablet OS with many of

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The three major operating systems all come with their own ecosystems and education programmes, which you may or may not want to tap into the advantages of Android, including multiple profile support, a choice of manufacturers and highly competitive pricing. There’s no doubt that Windows has the worst range of educational apps, but that’s slowly changing, and devices are compatible with existing Windows applications and the full range of web-based resources; good news as long as they don’t require a mouse and keyboard to work. There are also some superb Windows devices on the market, including flexible hybrid form factors that work brilliantly for schools.

Choose your Form Factor After software, hardware is your next concern. Generally speaking, you can divide tablets into those with a small screen (7-8in) and those with a larger screen (8.9-10.8in), with a few going supersized with screens of 12in and above. Small-screen tablets are often cheap, light and perfect for roles where students are interacting with ready-made content that’s designed to look good on a smaller display. They fall down when it comes to more creative or productivity-orientated tasks, where a larger screen with more space for an onscreen keyboard becomes a real plus.

This can make the added expense and weight of a larger device worthwhile. It’s also worth looking at convertible devices. Many manufacturers – including HP, Asus, Lenovo and Dell – produce hybrid Windows or Android tablets that convert easily between laptop and tablet forms, either by having a screen that can sit flat against the keyboard, or by having the tablet slot into a separate keyboard dock. Convertibles can give you the best of both worlds, with a tablet for apps and simple touch interaction, and a laptop for more focused, project-based work. However, most tablets will work with a simple, cheap Bluetooth keyboard, while some education-specific tablets, including HP’s Pro Tablet 10 EE and Pro Slate 10 EE, are supported by an optional keyboard base that effectively does the same thing. Not all tablets are built to the same standard, and schools can be a harsh environment. There’s always a risk that the £79 cheapie you buy today might become a false economy within weeks of the warranty ending. That’s why it’s worth getting a hands-on feel for any potential purchase, so you can get a sense of how well it’s been assembled, and whether the screen, chassis and ports will last beyond the first six months. In association with



A degree of ruggedisation need no longer cost the Earth, while a decent case or secondary shell can be a wise investment if the device itself doesn’t feel rock-solid.

Screens, Speed and Battery Life On a tablet, the screen is more than a display – it’s your primary means of interaction. You won’t be able to control lighting across all school environments, so a bright screen that’s visible in everything from gloom to moderate daylight is worth having. A high resolution is a bonus, although not quite as critical, while a sensitive, responsive touchscreen is a must. In the classroom, powerful sound can be something of a drawback, but speakers with a little warmth and range will help in some

Battery life and connectivity are the other key issues. As far as the battery goes, it’s becoming hard to find a tablet without the wherewithal to manage a school day, and most recent models will cope well with an overnight charge if you don’t constantly run demanding apps. For connectivity, micro-USB or full-sized USB ports make a tablet more versatile, particularly with Windows models, while any kind of display output can be helpful if you want to connect a tablet to a TV, monitor or projector to illustrate a point or showcase a student’s work.

Preparing the Groundwork Simply choosing your tablets is only one part of a successful deployment. Too many schools roll out a fleet of tablets

Absolute Manage, VMware AirWatch and Lightspeed Mobile Manager, and the tools built into the OS at ground level. For example, Apple has MDM tools integrated into iOS, OS X and OS X Server, making it easier to support iPads with other Apple hardware. Android now has integrated MDM, working with Google’s own cloud-based tools. The few tablets supported by the Google Play for Education initiative take things one stage further: they allow teachers and admins to set up student tablets simply by tapping them against their own tablets, with network settings, apps and restrictions all transferring across via NFC. Windows tablets will of course work with the features in Windows Server 2012 R2, not to mention Microsoft Intune. While third-party solutions make sense if you’re working across platforms, your school might be able to work with free or existing applications.

Apps and Training

Too many schools roll out a fleet of tablets without considering whether their existing network infrastructure can handle the new workload applications, and a well-placed headphone socket will make the device more versatile. The fastest tablets now compete with low-end laptops when it comes to performance – and some, such as Microsoft’s Surface Pro series, now exceed that mark. Raw speed is not the be-all and end-all for schools, and a quad-core ARM or Intel Atom processor will have the horsepower to run most school applications on Android or Windows devices. Only console-quality games and high-end graphics or video applications stretch the fastest processors these days. You probably don’t want the former running on your classroom tablets, and if you’re planning to run the latter, then you might want to consider laptops or convertibles instead.

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without considering whether their existing network infrastructure can handle the new workload, so equipping the network and classrooms with new switches and wireless access points can be a smart idea. Some schools may be moving from a mostly Ethernet-based environment to one where wireless access is the norm, while tablets will frequently need to interface with online, cloud-based services for administration, software installation and updates. This makes it essential to ensure that your school has ample connectivity, both wireless within the classroom and to the outside WAN. You’ll also need effective mobile-device management (MDM) tools. Here there’s a choice of third-party tools, including

A tablet on its own adds nothing to a student’s education; it’s the apps that inspire and empower. The mistake that some schools make is to focus solely on educational content, without looking at ways in which more general-purpose apps can be usefully employed. Audio, photography, productivity, animation, quiz and screencasting apps can all be used to support a wide range of subjects, particularly if you’re keen to push a more active or collaborative approach to learning. As we mentioned before, the new Google Play for Education initiative can also push you in the right direction, while existing web-based resources can be used across tablets as effectively as laptops, particularly if keyboard input is minimal and the apps use HTML5 standards instead of Adobe Flash. Beyond all this, though, comes training. Deploying tablets in the classroom isn’t only about handing out devices, but about training teachers to use them. That means helping them get to grips with the technology, as well as helping them understand how they can make the most of it. Find out what works and share best practice across departments. Look to other schools for ideas, or attend TeachMeets and other community events. You may find tricks and tips that transform not only the way you use tablets, but also outcomes for students at your school. In association with



spotlight On the

Sprout by hp HP’s radical reinterpretation of the desktop blends the real and digital worlds

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t doesn’t look like an ordinary all-in-one, and it definitely doesn’t work like one. Sure, the sprout by HP is a powerful all-in-one Windows 8.1 PC, yet it’s also so much more. HP’s new baby is a radical reinterpretation of the desktop PC, and its potential for classroom use is instantly recognisable. The sprout by HP differs from ordinary all-in-ones in its incorporation of the HP Illuminator, an Adonit Jot Pro stylus and an innovative touch-enabled mat. The Iluminator combines a DLP projector with a 14.6-megapixel camera and an Intel RealSense 3D camera. This enables the illuminator to both project a second, Full HD display onto the touch mat, and capture or scan 2D images or 3D objects placed on the touch mat. Here’s where the magic happens: using HP’s innovative Workspace software, you can grab 2D objects from a digital object library and drag them onto the touch mat display. You can twist them, make them bigger, or alter and adjust them in a range of different ways. You can pull out the stylus and draw a new object, then rotate it and resize it with your fingers. You can combine your drawn object with existing digital objects in designs, collages, presentations or animations. You can then drag a real 2D object – a mask, a photo, a flower, a model butterfly – onto the touch

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mat, scan it, then remove the object and pull a perfect 2D facsimile into your composition. In fact, thanks to the RealSense 3D camera, you can do the same with 3D objects and compositions. You can take the best of the real world and the best of virtual worlds, and assemble them in any way you want. The sprout by HP even has built-in tools to remove objects cleanly from backgrounds when you scan an image or photo. It’s an incredible creative tool, perfect for education. Working with the sprout by HP is simple, intuitive and – most of

all – fun. It’s an engaging way to work, with clear applications in maths, literacy, history, geography, art, design and science. Imagine projects where real-world objects mix with digital text, digital photos and animation. Leaves, flowers or seashells are scanned in an instant. Old coins, toys and photos work seamlessly with material pulled from the internet. Pupils can put their hands directly in their handiwork. This is kinaesthetic learning taken to the next level; it feels as easy and hands-on as doodling with a pencil. It’s also collaborative. The sprout by HP has real-time teamwork tools that enable, for example, the class to watch the teacher using a front-facing HD camera, while also seeing and interacting with what’s going on in a feed from the touch mat. Students can step up and add their own new elements, while the class makes suggestions and the teacher advises. To see the sprout by HP in action is to see the start of something exciting. A growing library of Windows 8.1 apps already supports it, including animation apps, games, 3D modelling and character design, and a virtual piano. The Crayola Color app enables younger children to draw and paint on the touch mat with their fingers. And this library is only growing, with considerable interest from developers, designers, artists and schools. People are responding to the sprout by HP’s imaginative potential.

MAIN SPECS: Intel Core i7 processor Nvidia GPU 8GB of RAM 1TB hybrid drive 23in Full HD screen In association with




The Other Side of Technology in Schools ICT isn’t just about what goes on in the classroom – it’s also about delivering the infrastructure to support it

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t’s easy to forget that schools can actually be medium or even large enterprises, with several hundred end users to support, a range of back-office services to deliver, and a network needed to ensure they can all worth together. That’s why there’s more to schools ICT than simply putting hardware in the hands of teachers and students. Without the network infrastructure, servers

and systems to support it, that hardware won’t do anything.

The Network That starts with the network. Many school networks have developed on an ad hoc basis, expanding to match the needs of the school or cover new extensions without

Make sure you have enough access points In association with



necessarily having been planned with that expansion or greater user numbers in mind. Taking a good, hard look at the backbone, cabling and switches can be an unpleasant but necessary task for school network managers. With more PCs and devices connecting, the growth of high-definition media, and increased use of cloud-based services, the demands on school networks are more likely to grow than shrink. This is even more true for wireless networks. Once, they might have had to support a handful of laptops in a classroom. Now, they might be expected to support many laptops, Chromebooks and tablets, all trying to connect to resources on the network or on the internet at large. The trick here is to ensure that you have an ample supply of wireless access points. The old rule of thumb was roughly one access point per 25 users, which means one access point per classroom, but if you’re economising or serving a smaller number of devices, then most enterprise-class (not consumer-grade) access points should be able to handle somewhere between 40 and 60 users in comfort, or several classrooms at a time. Be aware, however, that wireless networking is rarely so cut and dried. Some busy common areas such as a cafeteria or library may need a dedicated access point, and variables such as the fabric of the walls, interference and metal parts of the structure also come into play. A proper site survey can help you plan a wireless network properly, and at the least it’s worth doing an informal site survey, using freely available tools such as NetStumbler.

and media files. Servers tend to proliferate in schools as much as they do in any other enterprise. Luckily, school network managers have the same weapons as their enterprise equivalents: virtualisation and consolidation. Even a basic microserver with a dual-core Celeron processor is capable of handling a couple of modestly demanding roles, and you’ll see cost savings in terms of admin, cooling and power. Move up to a quad-core Xeon processor with plenty of RAM, and four or more virtual servers can be run from a single physical box. This doesn’t mean that smaller schools should think about putting all their eggs in one server basket – having two or more physical servers inevitably makes the network more resilient – but consolidating servers on modern hardware can help schools reduce their overheads while improving network performance.

School network managers have the same weapons as their enterprise equivalents: virtualisation and consolidation

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Servers Unless they’ve moved to a cloud-based or hosted environment, all schools need at least one server, and – generally speaking – most need four. One handles staff and pupil authentication, another handles file and print duties, another email and internet access, and another applications. However, many schools also like to separate file and/or application servers between those handling curriculumrelated materials and work for staff and students, and another holding data and resources for admin staff, including any All schools SQL databases for need at least the management one server – information systems most need four (MIS) and hosting any intranet. Beyond this, you may be looking at servers to hold and deliver classroom software

Data and Security

Where there are servers and hundreds of systems on the network, you can guarantee that you’ll need storage and backup. Modern direct-attached storage (DAS) and storage area network (SAN) solutions are faster, more affordable and more flexible than they’ve ever been, handling multiple servers and multiple roles with ease. DAS solutions can be more effective within smaller schools, but SAN provides more scope for larger schools to scale upwards, and could be a wise investment for institutions where volumes of data are likely to grow. With student coursework, curriculum resources and MIS data to protect, dedicated backup is as important to schools as it is to any business enterprise. Again, modern backup solutions have a huge advantage over those of the past. Not only are data transfer and retrieval speeds much faster, but they’re designed to integrate with SAN, Ethernet and virtualised environments. Deduplication makes it easier to optimise your backup, saving time and disk space, so much of the pain of a disaster disappears. In association with



Finally, schools and colleges have legal obligations to protect school and student data. In some cases, good server-side security and adherence to best practice should be enough, but hardware firewalls and network security appliances can provide institutions with real peace of mind, and remove some of the burden of securing complex networks.

Document Management It’s always surprising that more schools and colleges don’t invest in documentmanagement systems. Most have to deal with a lot of paperwork, such as parent correspondence, individual education plans, forms and staff documentation, and all face legal requirements to retain and securely store information. With a document-management system in place, involving high-speed page scanners and supporting scanning, forms and OCR software, there’s no need for staff to waste time digging through filing cabinets; you can search stored documents at the touch of a button, and answer queries quickly.

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Moving some applications to the cloud can not only reduce long-term operating costs, but it can also reduce the workload of those managing the network Investing in document management can also make it easier to move to digital workflows, and help reduce copying and print costs. Perhaps most importantly, more of the information becomes useful. Data held hostage on paper becomes data you can analyse – and act on.

The Cloud Most UK schools need to work within tight budgets, which makes it tempting to move some back-office services to the cloud. With Microsoft Office and Google Apps being offered free for educational use, schools may want to look at moving key applications – email, intranets, even

SharePoint-based virtual learning environments – away from local infrastructure and letting Microsoft or Google handle the job. Not only can this reduce long-term operating costs, but it can also reduce the workload of those managing the network. At the same time, network managers need to consider such a step carefully. There may still be performance benefits to hosting some applications locally, and any migration requires a careful, managed approach. Moving to the cloud can help schools trim costs and stretch budgets further, but it shouldn’t be regarded as a miraculous quick fix. In association with



Empowering Education HP’s vision for school ICT Insights into the future of education from HP’s Vice President of Worldwide Education, Gus Schmedlen

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us Schmedlen, HP’s Vice President of Worldwide Education, isn’t passionate only about technology, but also about how it can be harnessed to transform education and the lives of the students coming into contact with it. We spoke to Gus about HP’s latest products for the education market, and about HP’s vision for the sector.

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Can you explain what HP is doing to help schools, to help learning? We feel that technology interventions in schools have to have measurable, meaningful outcomes. It’s not just about delivering devices to schools and hoping something good happens.

You’re launching a new line of tablets and laptops built specifically for education. What makes them a good option for schools? The new Education Editions are built for schools and designed for learning. They’re toughened for the school day, and they have a In association with



minimum eight-hour battery life, so they’ll last the whole school day. The tablets have a tapered, garaged stylus, so that students can learn things like handwriting or maths. Handwriting and the ability to draw are very important in primary grades, where tablets are probably most appropriate. As we move on to the notebook, really for middle and high schools, we build it with industrial rubber, which is really cool, and really similar to what you’ll find on the tyres of your car. These are definitely tough, strong machines for classroom use, and one can have up to ten hours of battery life, so it’s learn everywhere, anytime.

And is there anything on the software side?

The idea is that not only are these products physically built for the school environment, but they also have the tools for teaching and learning out of the box. We include a suite of software and tools called HP School Pack. This includes HP Classroom Manager, which enables teachers to show examples, blank all the screens and conduct quizzes. It makes sure that the teacher can keep on assisting the

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Not only are the Education Editions physically built for the school environment, they also have the tools for teaching and learning out of the box students and can also share students’ work. We also have the Oxford University Press Advanced Learner’s Dictionary preloaded on all of these. Students can go online or off for information about English language learning, and hear pronunciation. Not only is it a visual learning experience but also auditory. You can hear both British and American accents, so it’s probably fun to compare some words. We’ve partnered with Absolute Software for one year’s anti-theft. If a student device is lost or stolen, the IT administrator can completely brick the unit, so that it’s of next to no value. It keeps the unit safe, but also keeps their data safe. If they think it’s lost, they can just remotely lock it until they find it again, or they can brick the machine. We’re also partnering with Pasco, so that you can turn the Education Editions into scientific instruments, so – right

out of the box – they’re ambient noise sensors. You can run labs with noise and noise in different parts of the room, and so on. You can also attach over 70 sensors, microscopes, even a Geiger counter for radiation. All the data is uploaded to the screens of the units, and there are lesson plans around each one. And that’s part of HP School Pack. There’s no charge.

So we’re moving away from the time when classroom devices were repurposed versions of corporate or consumer devices? Absolutely, from the ground up. The way we designed them was by going to schools, talking to administrators, talking to teachers, even speaking to students. That informed the design of these products, which are built specifically for education. They’re not a retooled corporate or consumer offering.

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HP has launched a wide range of convertibles and tablets. Are these mobile devices really making their way into schools? We think so. Kinaesthetic learning – learning by touching and feeling – is so important in the primary grades. We’re seeing a large amount of primary schools use technology in ways that engage the students, where they can really interact with content. Tablets are also highly mobile. With new tablets, schools can choose between Android or Windows. The trend for tablets in education is really in primary. For middle and secondary schools we’re seeing Chromebooks, and there are lots of requirements for content creation, often including a keyboard.

When you went to schools and asked “what are you looking for in an Education notebook?”, what did they want to see in the future? They want unlimited battery life, and products that don’t break. From a physical side, we try to get as close to that as possible. And they want to get it as close to free as possible. In terms of usability, screen size, and so on, touch was really important, even on laptops. Having a pen for a handwriting experience was important to teachers, especially in the primary and late primary sector. From a software perspective, they wanted tools that were usable online and offline, and would also allow learning out of the box and make the teacher feel more comfortable. Those are some of the key findings, but we tried to aggregate all the feedback we got from the UK, Ireland, the United States, Singapore – and also countries in Africa and in the Middle East – and that informed our decisions and our process in the industrial design as well as the features.

So you’re really building something that can roll out globally? Right, and not just based on our opinion, but based on what educators’ opinions were of education technology. We really went

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to the source, and we even brought in a bunch of students as well.

Where do you see future trends going in the education technology market? We’ve been talking about one of those trends, and that’s blended reality. We’re merging the physical and digital to enhance learning outcomes. We have the zSpace monitors, which we announced at CES, and the reader application, where we work with publishers to create invisible as well as visible watermarks in books. If a student is trying to learn Pythagoras’ theorem, and they’re confused about what it means, they can take their mobile device, put it over the Pythagoras’ theorem and see a video about it and why it works. What we’re trying to do is increase the number of modalities that a student uses to learn one learning objective. In its

physical manifestation that’s known as blended learning, and in the digital it’s known as blended reality.

Do you think British schools should be embracing these new technologies to enhance STEM learning? In my opinion, it’s not STEM for STEM’s sake, but rather that every single industry, every job of the future, will somehow use ICT and STEM, and these industries are being continuously disrupted. If students learn maths, science, but also reading, the arts, the humanities and so on in the context of ICT, we’re going to create leaders of the future. For more on HP’s vision on education, products and solutions, read the UK Education Solutions Guide: visit hp.com/hpeducation In association with



The

TCO Question When budgets are tight, spiralling IT expenditure is a nightmare for schools. Understanding the true costs of ownership can help you keep it in check

I

n enterprise IT, it’s an established fact that upfront hardware and software investment is only the tip of the iceberg as far as costs are concerned. In fact, the commonly accepted wisdom is that hardware might represent less than a quarter of an IT budget, with more than 60% going on support, training, repairs, infrastructure, security, administration, consumables and repairs. It’s no different for schools. It’s tempting to look at new tablets or a new VLE or MIS solution in terms of how much it will cost to buy and set up, but any IT project has ongoing costs, some of which may be hidden. Together with the initial costs, these form the total cost of ownership, or TCO. If you don’t get to grips with TCO, and budget with it in mind, you’ll face some painful gotchas in the next school year.

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Support Support can be one of the biggest costs faced by ICT departments, covering demands on internal IT staff, expenses for ongoing support and consultancy, plus the hidden costs of teachers, admin staff and ICT co-ordinators who may have to spend time dealing with ICT issues. When systems go down or software has to be installed, it’s usually IT staff who will be called upon to deal with it, but smaller tasks – such as signing in students, troubleshooting connectivity issues, loading paper, ink and toner, or simply starting up machines – may involve non-IT staff, whose time could arguably be put to better use. The key thing here is monitoring, management and ease of administration. The easier it is to monitor and manage

laptops, mobile devices and back-end infrastructure – preferably remotely from a central dashboard – the easier it is for IT staff to shoulder the workload and still leave time for other tasks. On the Windows side, technologies such as Intel Active Management Technology make it easier to handle fleets of laptops or desktops remotely, as will Active Directory and Windows Server 2012 R2. However, one of the big selling points of Chromebooks is that they require next to no administration or patching, and can be managed and monitored from within Google’s management console.

Consumables Consumables can be a bigger drain on school ICT budgets than you might expect, with ink, paper and toner for In association with



printers a regular expense. The first step X Series actually cut page costs in half is always to know what you’re printing in many scenarios. and how much it’s costing, and to have Connectivity and Power policies in place to keep it under control. With tens or hundreds of laptops or Define what should and shouldn’t be desktops, and a network and servers printed, when less expensive draft to run, power consumption can have a modes can be used, and when significant impact on colour is acceptable or TCO. Making sure staff not. Encourage staff and students use sleep to make use of duplex modes effectively can printing, so that both be helpful, as can sides of a sheet are used. defining power schemes Could your school be remotely. Again, doing more with email, replacing old, poweror with electronic forms hungry equipment can and workflows? These help you cut costs – can help you cut costs. newer laptops and even Although it might desktops will be more sound counter-intuitive, power-efficient – while upgrading old laser Switching to a modern consolidating servers printers to new ones can inkjet can cut costs in half through virtualisation help you cut costs. Not can have the same effect. just because they’re Don’t forget connectivity costs when more efficient (although they should be; you calculate TCO. Every connection HP’s new LaserJets, for instance, offer up made to the internet costs you to 33% more prints per cartridge), but somewhere, so review any connectivity because they use less energy and are package regularly to ensure that you’re quicker: the number of printers you need getting the best value for money. It’s per student could be much reduced. possible that schools might be sticking Also, don’t rule out inkjets: modern with old, expensive Ethernet or ADSL business inkjets such as HP’s OfficeJet Pro

connections when they could be using low-cost, high-performance fibre or Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) solutions.

Software It’s not only new software you need to budget for; ongoing licences – even discounted educational licences – can make a mighty dent in budgets. Again, auditing can help. How much are licences costing? Are all of them absolutely necessary? Are there cheaper or opensource alternatives? What’s more, the likes of Microsoft, Google and HP have generous initiatives in place to encourage schools to embrace their hardware and software, cloud-based services or applications. Could these help your school stretch its budget that bit further?

Maintenance, replacement and repair Unmanaged maintenance, replacement and repair costs mean unpredictability, and unpredictability is never good when you need to maintain a grip on TCO. By auditing and monitoring your hardware and planning for replacements, upgrades and repairs, you can avoid costs spiralling when you least expect them, and help keep TCO under control.

Secrets of a Successful Rollout

Whether you’re deploying tablets for the first time or rolling out cloud-based apps in the classroom, the core principles of a successful rollout are the same.

1

Identify Your Aims

2

Define parameters

3

Shop around and weigh up options

Work out what you want to do, why you want to do it, and what impact you expect your project to have on teaching and learning. If your sole aim is to “buy and roll out iPads”, then you really need to take this step first.

Determine who’s going to need this new stuff, how they will use it, and what initial training and ongoing support will be required. You need to understand the full cost, not just the cost of purchase.

Take a good, hard look at the available options, and make sure you’re buying the one that will give your school best value for

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money. Then look at the deals. Are there ways to get a discount, or work together with other schools to increase your buying power? Can you get warranty extensions or software and services thrown in? Look for ways to maximise your bang for buck.

4

Test

Get hands-on with properly thought-out pilot schemes. Roll things out to a select group of users and see how they get on, then roll that information back into your planning. This is your chance to learn from small mistakes before they become big ones.

5

Plan your deployment process, then deploy

Work out what needs to happen, stage by stage, and keep an eye on the dependencies – the things that need to be in

place before other parts of the process can move on. Get the support infrastructure in place, back up and migrate any data, and plan for a rollback. Think about your timing, too: could your plans disrupt something even more crucial? Once you have your plan, implement it, and stick to it unless there’s a really good reason not to.

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Training and feedback

Training is absolutely vital to the success of each and every new project, and even more so in schools, where students and teachers might not always buy into it right away. To help that, develop avenues for feedback: social networks, intranets, forums and wikis can all help users feed back to you, and share tips and info with each other. You’ll find out what’s going right, and be able to fix anything that’s going wrong that bit faster.

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If it’s printed on HP OfficeJet X, it’ll cut costs in half.

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future of technology The

in education Classroom technology has come a long way, but there are even more radical developments on the horizon

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echnology is no longer something hidden away in the ICT suite; it’s become a core part of classroom life, as central to the way we teach and learn as the textbook or the whiteboard. In fact, you’re likely to find technology powering your textbook or whiteboard. Yet this is only the beginning. The next ten to 20 years could see technology disrupt the classroom in ways we’ve never

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seen, transforming not just what we use to teach, but how we teach as well. In some ways, these changes reflect changes in pedagogy as a whole. More and more teachers are looking seriously at modes of teaching – not simply looking at how things were taught in the past, but at how you prepare a generation of “digital natives” for life in a period of accelerated change. They’re looking

at how online resources and 1:1 device initiatives can promote learning out of the classroom, with flipped classroom strategies that deliver content through online video or presentations away from school, then bring the students back in for activities under the facilitating guidance of the teacher. There’s also new interest in using online resources to deliver learning, In association with



Click here for information on the extensive range of HP Z workstations, specifically tailored for education

Virtual reality could be the next big technology to transform education

giving students everywhere access to expert teaching, even if the expertise isn’t present at their school. Teachers are keen to mix top-down teaching modes with more collaborative modes, where students can work together to learn and solve problems. The latest wave of classroom technology – tablets, low-cost laptops, social media and services such as Skype – help to enable this kind of approach.

beyond what’s available in their school. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in the classroom on a big screen, or on a tablet at home: MOOCs have potential as a leveller, giving more schools access to the best teaching, and enabling pupils who struggle to grasp concepts on the first run a chance to take a second look. Educators can benefit from MOOCs, too, with Dublin’s Hibernia College

media providing ways to join in the discussion. New collaboration platforms will also make it easier for students in one classroom to work on projects with students in another, intuitively, simultaneously and on screens mirrored between the two. These classrooms could be in the same school or half a world away – it won’t matter. There could be huge opportunities for students to learn from each other.

Mobile and wearable tech

With prices crashing, 1:1 device and Bring Your Own Device initiatives will soon be within the reach of almost every UK school and college Telepresence and Online Teaching One trend we expect to continue is online courses. Massive open online courses (MOOCs), in the style of Codecademy or Khan Academy, aren’t likely to take over from traditional teaching any time soon. However, they could have a role to play both inside and outside flipped learning strategies, giving students access to tried, tested and effective teaching from expert educators, which may go above and

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providing a short course (in association with HP) that examines the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Combine IP communications with tablets or versatile big-screen interactive displays, and telepresence comes into play as well. Suddenly, students are enjoying live guest lessons from the best and brightest minds around the world, with sessions shared across multiple schools and school-appropriate social

Mobile technology is already transforming the classroom, and with prices crashing, 1:1 device and Bring Your Own Device initiatives will soon be within the reach of almost every UK school and college. The big change here might not be how things are taught, but where. Why stay chained to the classroom when there may be better opportunities to learn elsewhere? With built-in cameras, microphones and sensors, there’s also potential to gather data and materials, then bring them back to the classroom for discussion or coursework. Wearable technology might be trickier to integrate, but built-in biometrics have clear applications in sports and biology, and could help teachers track students outside of the classroom, or deliver quick bursts of knowledge or notifications in real-time. In association with



Gamification and Analytics Gamification is already a big trend in classrooms: taking the kind of scores, achievements and progression systems that make video games so compelling, and applying them to teaching and learning. Teachers can already use web-based apps such as Kahoot to set game-like quizzes for their classes and engage students in creating their own, while services such as ClassDojo use avatars and feedback scores to encourage positive behaviour and discourage the opposite. We can expect this to continue in the future classroom. The great thing about gamification is how neatly it ties into analytics, giving teachers data they can use to track who’s learning what, where they’re doing well and how they’re struggling. This is information they can use for setting future priorities and learning objectives. Automated grading systems are a controversial subject, inevitably encouraging tests with strict right/wrong answers over coursework with more room for complex analysis, but future cloudbased services might see these become more flexible and intelligent, producing data teachers can work with.

At this year’s Bett, HP was showcasing its vision for blended reality, combining the best of the physical and digital worlds to create experiences that enhance learning New Realities Having seen interactive whiteboards, then laptops, then tablets hit the classroom, the next big technology could well be augmented or virtual reality. At this year’s Bett 2015 trade show, HP was showcasing its vision for blended reality, combining the best of the physical and digital worlds to create experiences that enhance teaching and learning. At the simplest level, this might involve HP’s LinkReader app; an augmentedreality app for smartphones and tablets. Here, content-makers embed printed content with watermarks, which trigger digital content when viewed through the LinkReader app. For example, an explanation of Pythagoras’ theorem might trigger video or

HP’s Zvr monitors enable interaction with digital 3D objects

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interactive demonstrations of what it means and how it works. On another level, this might mean new hardware. HP has already demonstrated how its Zvr 3D monitors could be combined with motion-tracking cameras and a pen controller to enable students to interact with digital 3D objects, pulling them in and out of the screen, so that students can examine and even look inside, say, the workings of the human heart. Meanwhile, HP’s innovative sprout computer encourages students to combine real-world objects with digital materials, through 2D and 3D scans and a touchpad that doubles as a second screen. Microsoft, meanwhile, has revealed its HoloLens: an augmented-reality headset that places holographic imagery within real-world spaces. Microsoft’s demonstrations might show Minecraft on the coffee table or fancy holographic GUIs, but it’s not hard to see the educational value in technology that can overlay information while you’re looking at a real-world object, show you how a present-day location might have looked like in the past, or bring a world of digital content into the room and let you interact with it in simple, intuitive ways. And there’s likely to be just as much utility in virtual reality. From the Facebook-owned Oculus Rift, to Valve and HTC’s Vive kit, to Sony’s Project Morpheus, we’re about to see a new generation of devices, capable of harnessing the power of modern PCs and games consoles to create immersive worlds for us to explore or reproduce experiences we missed in the flesh. While the first applications will be in gaming and entertainment, expect to see VR hit the classroom too, with virtual field trips that take us to distant countries or back in time, or simulations that give us a closer look at the effects of lower gravity on the moon. VR could even work in tandem with telepresence, so that rather than watch a video of a great teacher, we can attend a virtual lecture and feel like we’re really there. In association with



thoughts Closing

Technology can help transform student outcomes, but great teachers still make all the difference

T

here’s a lot of exciting technology on the horizon, and while huge interactive displays, tabletop computers and VR headsets are expensive novelties today, they have the potential to transform the classrooms of the future. Of course, there’s a concern that not every school will be able to benefit. At the moment, the digital divide between wealthy, well-funded schools and schools in deprived areas is slowly disappearing. It’s becoming possible for schools to invest in more computers: good budget tablets; bargain-basement Windows laptops and Chromebooks; small, affordable desktop PCs; and ultra-cheap computers, such as the Raspberry Pi, Google’s Chromebit and the Intel Computer Stick. Cloud-based services mean schools can enjoy email, storage and apps for free, while reducing the costs of administration. Even infrastructure is tumbling in price. Once, a half-decent server would have cost you anywhere between £700 and £1,500. Now, you can pick up a microserver for less than £200 and – with the right skills – install Linux and open-source applications on it for nothing. The worry is that a new wave of technology could refuel the digital divide, allowing wealthy schools to invest in VR suites, advanced displays, collaborative learning and augmented-reality hardware and software, while less fortunate schools are stuck with technology that will seem as dated as an old interactive whiteboard in a decade’s time. It doesn’t have to be this way, though. Headteachers, enthusiastic computing teachers and ICT

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co-ordinators can be a smart, innovative bunch, while the success of free massive open online courses, open-source software and web-based applications proves that you can do amazing things within tight budgets. Maybe not all schools will have access to HoloLens headsets and VR applications, but smartphones and tablets will give them a way into blended reality learning, collaborative learning and the best online resources. But perhaps it’s here where the next digital divide will appear. I spoke to Microsoft’s UK Education Director, Steve Beswick, at Bett this year, and he spoke of a divide emerging “between the teachers who get it, in terms of how to teach using technology, and want to drive that forward, and those who don’t.” He saw part of Microsoft’s job being to help those who don’t get it but want to. There’s a lot of sense to that. We’ve all heard about unsuccessful tablet deployments, where the hardware is handed out but there’s no training or rationale in place to make it work. The next wave of education tech has immense potential, but only if teachers have the expertise and enthusiasm to make the most of it. That might seem a little gloomy, but it’s not. Education shows, web-based forums, social networks, seminars and TeachMeets are bursting with the enthusiasm of educators with ideas about harnessing technology and a drive to innovate, and that’s being matched by the enthusiasm of teachers who want to learn. It will take great teachers to turn technological benefits into tangible outcomes, but the energy and interest is out there to do it.

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Case Studies

Find out how schools and universities have cut costs and transformed lessons with HP

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d great rug er relia TP Group e and top l b i x “Thbisility e, fle nal desk c v i t c e io educa omplete H st-eff s a tradit .” P o c a r n givin tional env solution d is our use locatio a g P i has t r e p o n me t u i g ir pil ra seam HP El f the givin lessly s and teac nt and im nsforme “The e that is ardless o d our m p h f rov e r o o r c r s m e eng devi ience reg aging class to alike the ed produc ds a P r e f e c tiv t r a l i p a e nd in y ex P El terac ss while m edom to w ity, ctivit ing H ility u y d t o o l i a r e v p k e.” ing le ork de ob ienc nd p Flexib s s on s sity is vity and m station a top exper r e v l i e and ssly king nal desk y Un roducti c r c e o r l t e o r n e l d m i e ab de Cov reased p 00 with traditio ilo. It sea s to all learn livers imp le IT envir 9 s c a k ing ex o r for in ElitePad sers with ss than a give accers perien oved prod nment wit Norwo P o u e ffe u h c ctivit o e d The H provides t weighs l truPcrtourXe St eries o ces ageing and Cres y and HP ElitePa st t e offi c a ds h IT e infcreaje t more n jacke device tha, thideeOr ffi n t in e P s tw laptop r s fit engag at its s that ork that su imary Scho itmh caoncsetrontehde wryrsvticyeliss. h and g and produce ing w ols we quickly were s ffered vese nin as I’ nnectes: it’s r . lo e r T e “As far vcaon g data andt when it’s run w f h g a a e t u c t o boo lar ou ed wit schoo and tu d itical ry quie tu ta h ls r many a carls o ve recom ned to educ wanted to p and ran o ges as well an ’s It . ll r m u a e t t we f e io r o .” n e n f ly s d batter as dated al tech h the ed a n laptop uick “ Th e y life n e ere’ss,le n o w t prints q lo s ir en er e g s reactiv ssvetrescahn’dsnueppvironment y specialist IT infrastruc ewed it n e r s a e b M o t ture ly with worrkt cneed ased a edhur ol h able to p ar Scho pgrade concen rinter probolempoende.nRtsatrhoeunr dthHaP E st, who Gramm pe Group to u h t u o t li m m a . m n r at s ts e sc wte s edical t The Por ract with Land eries range ,g eds whil eaching e on IT projec on a daily bas oPrakdin t S zing spe is, I’m n ts whic .” MPS con Officejet Pro X quality at ama lumes by half. – Harvinder Singh Pan h o w d ir e ctly ben o esar, te P t chnical efit to the H rs boast grea l reduce print v s well as services offi te a il ce in s w r, Univers it y of Bra printer New pr plex printing chool Fit-for-pu dford le the s X Series r du default P Officejet Pro P printers enab ints per year Universit pose print r y H F p provide of Bradford is Now 85 r duty HP A3 M ur and mono a g ie olo profess modern teach rowing and inv 18 heav e millions of c ional wo ing env uc d o r p ironmen esting. It want to rkplace School ively. t c o f e for stud with s to o f ff r H Intassociation e staff. ealth costestate. e An MPS Studies facility A move to a ne nts, and a w £10m solution prompt costs an ed a from d de

Case study

The Portsmouth Grammar School embraces Managed Print Services New HP Officejet Pro X fleet helps reduce paper use, control costs and minimise environmental impact Industry Education Objective The Portsmouth Grammar School wanted to renew its Managed Print Service with HP Gold partner Landscape Group and upgrade its fleet of printers to reduce costs and paper use Approach Comparison of various tailored data centre integration solutions on the market IT matters • FollowMe® print solution reduces the volume of unnecessary and wasted prints • Quieter operation makes the printers less disruptive in class • Default duplex printing will reduce print volumes by 50 per cent Business matters • Fixed monthly costs make budgeting simple • Great quality finish and high speed production improve results for users • Reduced environmental impact lessens the school’s carbon footprint

“As far as I’m concerned, the Officejet Pro X Series offers many advantages: it’s very stylish and fits in the offices well. It’s also very quiet when it’s running and produces prints quickly.” – Tim Howlett, head of ICT services, The Portsmouth Grammar School

The Portsmouth Grammar School has renewed its MPS contract with Landscape Group to upgrade to the HP Officejet Pro X Series range New printers boast great quality at amazing speeds while default duplex printing will reduce print volumes by half. Now 85 HP Officejet Pro X Series printers as well as 18 heavier duty HP A3 MFP printers enable the school to produce millions of colour and mono prints per year cost-effectively.

Case study | The Portsmouth Grammar School

Challenge Embracing Managed Print Services Founded in 1732, The Portsmouth Grammar School (PGS) is a leading co-educational day school renowned for excellent teaching, superb pastoral care and co-curricular opportunities. The support and challenges encountered by the 1,600 pupils at PGS share a purpose: that each individual be happy and successful, in that order. The school seeks to provide excellence in all areas of school life and is one of the consistently highest performing independent schools in the UK. As far as IT is concerned, PGS strives to invest in the latest technology and be ahead of the curve when it comes to innovation. However, it is also keen on efficiency and working within limited budgets. “We need to be an efficient school so we’ve always got our eye on the purse strings and we’re always looking to make savings on administration by using technology,” explains Tim Howlett, head of ICT services, PGS. “I’m very conscious that parents are paying a considerable amount of money to send their children here and expect to see the latest models of PCs, for example. We also have a digital council and I listen to their suggestions on models, monitors and operating systems.”

Beyond cost control, sustainability is another crucial factor when Howlett is considering new investments. So when it came to renewing its Managed Print Services (MPS) contract with HP Gold Partner Landscape Group, the environmental impact as well as the budget were at the top of the agenda. PGS has embraced the MPS approach for multiple reasons. “When I started in late 2005, the school had a mixture of printers and every office and classroom had a little inkjet printer which was being thrashed to death, making it very expensive on ink,” says Howlett. “We were spending £30,000 a year on printer ink alone so we replaced the printer fleet with the latest generations of HP LaserJet printers on a managed contract and, of course, the costs went down.”

Solution Next generation smart printing PGS signed up to its latest print contract for the HP Officejet Pro X Series following a trial of a prototype HP Officejet Pro X576dw, which prints at up to twice the speed and half the cost per page of colour lasers. Its intuitive 4.3-inch colour touchscreen makes it simple to print, copy, scan, fax, and send digital files. “Landscape lent me a prototype 576 which is still in our office. We put it through its paces and did some testing to make sure that the cost figures that Landscape was giving me were going to hold up,” comments Howlett.

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“Most organisations have very little understanding of their real total cost of ownership where print and copy is concerned. So we help customers to control and manage their fleet, and ultimately reduce the cost of ownership, making their business more effective,” adds Toby Carter-Hall, MPS architect, Landscape Group. “After auditing PGS we established that in classroom environments and in areas where they needed a low cost, high speed colour product with smaller print volumes of under 5,000 pages a month, it was much more cost- effective for the school to embrace the new Officejet technology.” The fleet arrived asset tagged with IP addresses and a room destination on the box. All PGS had to do, with the help of engineers, was get them to the right part of the school, unpack them and plug the printers in. Landscape Group removed the old printers and PGS turned the printers on. The entire process took only three days. The new fleet is comprised of 85 HP Officejet printers with 18 carefully deployed, heavier duty colour A3 Multifunction Printers (MFP), incorporating flow technology. PGS has also invested in a FollowMe® print solution, which means that pupils and teachers must swipe an ID card to activate a print job. This reduces print waste considerably.

“I calculated that 80 per cent of the stuff that was being printed in the IT suites went straight in the bin. Since we have installed FollowMe® print solution, the pupils have to actually go and swipe to get their jobs otherwise they get deleted,” says Howlett. “We’ve also imposed a 20 page rule and no printing emails in colour so that they can’t run a printer to death. If they want to print thousands of pages eventually the printer will notify them to: ‘Take your job to the reprographic centre’.” PGS is now printing approximately five million pages per year, split evenly between colour and mono. The school expects this number to drop by 20 per cent as a result of the new printer fleet.

Benefits Speed, quality, cost PGS has already noted multiple benefits from its new HP Officejet Pro X fleet. Not only are they more cost-effective and environmentally friendly, they’re also quicker and boast impressive quality print results. “In terms of the environmental benefit, the HP Officejet Pro X Series use far less power. They’re also very quiet, so you don’t actually know they’re running half the time. In addition, they’re faster than the LaserJet printers that we had and most people are impressed with the speed,” says Howlett. “The print quality is also excellent. They’re not photo printers as such but they do produce a very good copy if you put photo paper in them. That’s the best way to get optimal quality out of them. But we’ve settled on a semi-gloss paper, which gives good colour quality.”

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Customer solution at a glance Hardware • HP Officejet Pro X Series

In budgetary terms, the bursar knows exactly how much he’s paying out every month as it’s a standard monthly contract for three years. This includes service which guarantees Landscape will respond within two to three hours in the event of any incidents. “The HP printers are well built and very durable. They withstand a lot of drawer slamming and people aren’t gentle when they fill them up with paper, but so far they’re proving robust,” adds Howlett. “And because the default print setting is duplex, I’m hoping we can cut paper use by 50 per cent.” With the new HP Officejet printer fleet in place, PGS is keen to explore other ways in which it can partner with HP and showcase its technology. The school is proud of how it is leading the field in education technology.

“The reputation of the ICT department in this school is actually very important. We’re a member of a group of schools that confer on all academic and technical manners. The headmasters and heads of department meet to discuss problems and opportunities,” concludes Howlett. “We recommend good equipment to each other and I am fortunate because I get a lot of people ringing me up, and a lot of bursars coming to see how we use HP kit, how we use technology, how we use the printers. And I’m very pleased to let anybody in to have a look at the site.”

Learn more at hp.com/officejetprox

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© Copyright 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA5-5014EEW, October 2014

Case study

University of Bradford takes control of print to cut costs Managed Print Services from HP and DTP Group ensures less waste and greater reliability Industry Higher Education Objective Consolidate 200-plus printers under one management contract to reduce cost, cut waste and improve efficiency Approach Built a test environment that then went through a vendor selection process to find suitable test software IT matters • Improved reliability of print devices means fewer breakdowns, saving IT team involvement • Created an appropriate Managed Print Services solution, ‘right-sizing’ the print environment Business matters • Reduced the number of printers from over 200 to 11, cutting costs and improving efficiency • Created a print management system, requiring users to ‘activate’ print jobs, cutting paper use by 40 per cent • Met University’s green policy, with more efficient printers and less paper wastage helping halve carbon footprint • Ensured a single line of responsibility for print function, cutting management time

“There’s less tech’ support needed. Rather than working reactively with printer problems on a daily basis, I’m now able to concentrate on IT projects which directly benefit medical teaching.” – Harvinder Singh Panesar, technical services officer, University of Bradford

Fit-for-purpose print University of Bradford is growing and investing. It wants to provide a modern teaching environment for students, and a professional workplace for staff. A move to a new £10m School of Health Studies facility prompted a review of its print estate. An MPS solution from HP and The DTP Group lowers costs and delivers a more efficient print environment.

Case study | University of Bradford

Challenge Need to protect sales and growth University of Bradford is a mid-sized university in the north of England. Founded in 1966, it has created a reputation for innovation and practical relevance: it was the first UK university outside of London to offer part-time courses, it is home to the first Modern Business School, and the first to offer a degree in Peace Studies. Like many higher education providers in the UK, University of Bradford has grown significantly over the past 10 years. It currently numbers 17,000 students across two campus sites in the city. This growth has been accompanied by investment in new facilities. “Bradford is a research-intensive technology university,” says Graham Hill, director of IT Services, University of Bradford. “In terms of technology, our key objective is to enhance the quality of the campus and its facilities, in particular the IT infrastructure. Bradford has a 50-year heritage as a technology university, and we want to be known worldwide as The Technology University of the North.” The School of Health Studies moved to a new £10m facility in 2011. The building provides students with the closest possible ‘real-life’ practical experience, including two fully equipped clinical wards, two physiotherapy rooms, a movement laboratory, and a practical room for student midwives. It is fully BREEAM certified, the recognised standard for environmentallyfriendly building design – and in line with the University’s ‘Ecoversity’ green policy.

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Ahead of the move, the School of Health Studies wanted to rethink its approach to print. Previously, the faculty’s 150 staff each had their own printer. This resulted in a mixed estate of 200-plus desktop laser printers; this proved inefficient to run, hard to maintain and difficult to monitor. “There was a lot of technical support,” says Harvinder Singh Panesar, technical services officer. “We were replacing toners nearly every day and constantly having to deal with paper jams or lost connectivity. It was a mess. “Because there was no management on the system, there was no control. There was a lot of wastage. People were printing from the internet, private information and we had no control over it. There were piles and piles of paper on every floor.”

Solution Consolidate and control The University had already implemented a new Managed Print Services (MPS) solution in its library building. Panesar says this would be the model for the School of Health Studies. DTP Group, HP’s partner specialising in higher education, was responsible for introducing the MPS solution to the library. It was brought in to help plan the appropriate solution.


“I was impressed by the speed, reliability, confidentiality and the number of services provided with the library solution,” says Panesar. The DTP solution is to rationalise the print count from over 200 to 11 networked printers, with a single line of management and complete transparency across the print function. It sees two HP laser printers and two HP MFP (multifunction printers) on each floor of the new Health Studies building, plus SafeCom Pull Printing software to provide management control. Instead of a printer on each desk, users activate a print job and go to the nearest printer. Each print job is held on a virtual server, users then scan their ID and ‘pull’ the print from the printer. If a user doesn’t activate the print job within two weeks, the print is cancelled. “The higher education sector is looking for outcome-based investments,” says Howard Hall, group managing director, DTP Group. “In other words, they want to spend money but they need a return on that investment in cash. Failing that, they want to see improvements in students’ perception of the University or in efficiencies or productivity gains.” DTP Group provides a full end-to-end solution, including staff training, remote monitoring of devices, maintenance and consumable replenishment.

Benefits Lower costs, less waste, greater reliability The benefits are immediate and obvious. Fewer printers means more space, more efficient printers means fewer breakdowns and less waste. “Previously we were putting in cartridges nearly every day,” says Panesar. “Some cartridges were costing about £100 each. Now we’re only replacing cartridges once a month, some of them every couple of months.” There are no piles of paper stock and toner as DTP Group replenishes consumables as and when required. DTP says more efficient devices has seen the carbon footprint halved, meeting the University’s green aspirations. “There’s less tech support needed,” says Panesar. “Rather than working reactively with printer problems on a daily basis, I’m now able to concentrate on IT projects which directly benefit medical teaching.” Panesar admits there were initial concerns from staff (having to get up from their desks to walk to the printer was not immediately popular) but they were soon won over by the performance and reliability of the new printers. SafeCom print management means users print less indiscriminately, making more efficient use of paper stocks; the pull-print feature has improved document security and cut waste. Panesar estimates 40 per cent fewer pages are being printed.

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He says the next step is to introduce a cost management system to monitor usage across departments: “It might help to see who is printing in colour, who is printing too much. We’ll be able to show examples of print best practice.” Graham Hill says the HP MPS solution satisfies user requirements and corporate strategy: “Social networking and mobile technologies with pervasive access are now familiar tools to many students and staff. Today’s university enables collaboration and communication without barriers, to deliver services and information in a learning and research context.

“The University of Bradford has already demonstrated leadership in the sector through significant investment programmes in IT. We’re currently working with specific technologies such as Computer Aided Assessment, Mobile Apps development and shared virtual data centres in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region. “Our ambition is to provide levels of IT performance across all key services which surprise and delight as well as provision of utility and ‘always on’ capabilities.”

Learn more at hp.com/go/mps




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© Copyright 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA5-5324EEW, October 2014

Case study

Norwood and Crescent Primary Schools transform lessons HP ElitePads and laptops are bringing learning to life with enhanced mobility and interactivity Industry Education Objective Norwood and Crescent Primary Schools wanted to replace its ageing laptops and wireless access points with a more reliable and flexible alternative that would enable true mobility Approach After inviting four companies to propose a solution, the schools selected educational technology specialist Medhurst to deploy a complete HP infrastructure consisting of tablets, laptops, servers and wireless access points and switches IT matters • The HP laptops, tablets and servers are proving reliable, freeing up IT resources and reducing user frustration • Ergonomically designed switches and access points fit in with the schools’ aesthetic, and come with a lifetime guarantee for peace of mind Business matters • Teachers and pupils can now boot up and log in near instantly, increasing productivity • The seamless wireless network allows them to travel between classes without losing connectivity • Anyone can connect to interactive whiteboards to share their screen, making lessons fun and engaging • A three year lease with fixed instalments makes costs predictable and simplifies budgets

“This complete HP solution has transformed our educational environment and improved productivity, giving pupils and teachers alike the freedom to work seamlessly from class to class while making lessons more engaging and interactive.” – Brian Jukes, ICT manager, Crescent Primary School

Flexible and reliable IT environment with HP ElitePads at its core delivers improved productivity and a more engaging learning experience Norwood and Crescent Primary Schools were faced with an ageing IT network that suffered regular outages as well as dated laptops that were slow to boot up and ran out of battery life quickly. The schools wanted to refresh the entire IT infrastructure and turned to educational technology specialist Medhurst, who recommended a new environment based around HP ElitePads, laptops, servers and network components.

Case study | Norwood and Crescent Primary Schools

Challenge

Solution

Refreshing an ageing infrastructure Norwood Primary School, founded in 1977, federated with Crescent Primary School in 2007, an arrangement whereby both schools work closely together through shared leadership and governance. It also allows both schools to share an IT infrastructure to produce economies of scale.

A complete and seamless HP approach The schools approached four local companies for advice on how best to build a new infrastructure. The one with the proposal best suited to the schools’ needs was Medhurst, an HP Gold Partner and IT Education specialist that has successfully equipped over 100 schools with HP solutions.

Following the federation, the schools invested in 120 laptops for students and 34 laptops for teachers, however, after five years of use, these had become practically unusable. In addition, the patchwork of wireless networks that had been built up over the years was unwieldy and difficult to administer and manage. The schools wanted to refresh the entire IT infrastructure to take advantage of the latest technology.

“Medhurst understood what we wanted to achieve and demonstrated it could provide the necessary experience and support,” adds Jukes. “Using HP technology for laptops, tablets, network switches, access points and servers made it a consistent, coherent and cost-effective choice.”

“We had created an ad hoc Wi-Fi network made up of lots of different brands of access point which simply couldn’t cope with the volume of traffic while the old server was struggling to manage the network effectively,” explains Brian Jukes, ICT manager, Crescent Primary School. “Furthermore, our existing laptops had reached end of life, took an age to boot up and regularly crashed. It was time for a fresh approach to our IT environment.”

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Medhurst proposed a cost-effective package consisting of 150 laptops, two HP ProLiant ML350 Gen8 servers and an HP Networking solution based on eight fully-managed HP switches. In addition, dual HP MSM720 Access Controllers and 26 HP MSM460 Dual Radio 802.11n Wireless Access Points provide flexible, seamless access to applications and services throughout both sites. The most innovative aspect of the overall solution however was the inclusion of 60 HP ElitePads.


“Medhurst brought us a complete solution with components that integrated together perfectly but we really wanted to extend the mobility of the technology,” says Jukes. “The ElitePads are the perfect way to equip teachers and pupils with a truly mobile device that can bring learning to life.” The new equipment was installed during the Easter holidays after which, pupils and teachers began to explore the new opportunities on offer. After years of failing hardware and unreliable Wi-Fi, the new infrastructure reinvigorated interest in technology. “It had got to the point where the kids and the teachers had given up on the old laptops and so were not getting the most out of the interactive whiteboards so this new infrastructure brought it all back to life,” continues Jukes. “Coming in after the Easter break, it was a joy to see their reactions, particularly to the ElitePads.”

Benefits An engaging and interactive classroom Teachers and pupils can now boot up and log in near instantly, while the seamless wireless network allows them to travel between classes without losing connectivity. This increases productivity and makes the learning experience more interactive. Using Medhurst’s web-based dashboard cloud solution, staff can also send resources to any device including tablets and smartphones, enabling staff and students to access school programmes securely from anywhere at any time. Teachers can also connect their HP ElitePad 900 Tablets to interactive whiteboards, making for a more collaborative learning environment.

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Customer solution at a glance Hardware • 120 HP 650 Notebook Intel® Core i3™ • 34 HP ProBook AMD A6-3430MX • 63 HP ElitePads • 2 HP ProLiant ML350 Gen8 servers • Dual HP MSM720 Access Controllers • 26 HP MSM460 dual radio 802.11n wireless access points • HP SN6000 stackable 8GB 24 port Switches HP services • Lifetime warranty • Three years’ Next Business Day on-site service

“Anyone can now connect to the whiteboards and share their screen with the class, which really makes the lessons fun and engaging. The laptops and tablets need only one charge to keep them going all day and they never crash so there is no frustration,” comments Jukes. “The ElitePads in particular are proving popular with special needs pupils who tend to react better to interactive stimulus so it is helping provide an inclusive experience for all.”

“HP and Medhurst have together devised a robust and reliable IT infrastructure which meets our needs exactly and, because it is a fixed three year lease, costs are predictable, helping us to budget effectively.”

Jukes is also impressed with the wireless access points and switches which come with a lifetime guarantee and are ergonomically designed to fit in with the local surroundings without a proliferation of aerials and wires. And because the schools have a three year lease contract with HP, costs are fixed and predictable. “Administration is simple, the equipment is reliable and there are no surprise costs to account for,” concludes Jukes. “Thanks to HP and Medhurst, we have a robust, flexible and mobile IT infrastructure that is transforming how teachers teach and how pupils learn.”

Learn more at hp.co.uk/elitepad

– Brian Jukes, ICT manager, Crescent Primary School




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© Copyright 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. Intel Core is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. AMD is a trademark of Advanced micro Devices Inc. 4AA4-8385EEW, October 2013

Case study

Coventry University turns to the ElitePad for productivity on the move HP ElitePads enable users to work effectively at home and on campus Industry Education Objective Coventry University wanted to introduce tablet devices that could easily integrate with its wider Windows® architecture Approach As an existing HP customer, it piloted the HP ElitePad 900 before deploying 80 units to staff across multiple departments IT matters • The HP ElitePads seamlessly integrate with the existing IT architecture so connecting them to the network is simple • Each device can be installed and configured in a matter of minutes • Users can enjoy a full working day on one single battery charge and get up to an additional 12 hours by using the productivity jacket Business matters • Users can be ten per cent more productive because they can now work effectively from anywhere • By removing the need for multiple devices, the university is saving money • The inherent mobility of the ElitePad is a distinct advantage for users who move from office to lecture hall to library to home

“The HP ElitePad is a cost-effective, flexible and rugged device that is giving our users a traditional desktop experience regardless of their location.” – Neil Shorthouse, head of local delivery, Coventry University

Coventry University is deploying HP ElitePads for increased productivity and mobility The HP ElitePad 900 with docking station and productivity jacket provides users with a traditional desktop experience with a device that weighs less than a kilo. It seamlessly connects to the wider infrastructure to give access to all critical data and services.

Case study | Coventry University

Challenge

Solution

Introducing more flexible tablets on campus Coventry University is a public research university in the city of Coventry, England. It has over 30,000 students and two campuses: one in the city centre of Coventry where a large majority of the university operates and one in London. The university comprises three faculties and one school and manages a number of commercial subsidiaries that provide business services to local and national organisations.

Flexible, seamless mobility Following a successful pilot which saw the initial ElitePads seamlessly integrated into the wider architecture, different departments heard about the new devices and expressed interest in deploying them. The Faculty of Health and Life Sciences in particular has people on placements in the medical field for whom tablets are especially useful. It purchased 50 ElitePads, complete with docking stations and productivity jackets.

The university began equipping staff with tablets several years ago but was frustrated that the leading model on the market could not be integrated with its Microsoft® infrastructure. It wanted to find a flexible, portable device that could be easily connected to its servers by running on a Windows® platform.

“The accessories are what make the ElitePad so flexible and allow us to tick more boxes without investing in multiple devices, thus keeping costs under control,” adds Shorthouse. “Our Director of IT uses it as his sole device and for a standard office user, the ElitePad with docking station meets all their needs without the necessity of a desktop or laptop.”

“Our existing tablets simply could not communicate with the back-end architecture, which limited their usefulness. We were waiting for a tablet that would run on ‘Windows 8®’ to address the challenges we were facing,” explains Neil Shorthouse, head of Local Delivery, Coventry University. “We moved to HP desktops three years ago and were happy with the products and service provided so it was natural for us to turn to HP for advice on tablets.” With the introduction of the Windows 8 HP ElitePad 900, the university knew it could be a potentially ideal solution. It bought eight units in order to test their functionality.

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Shorthouse is also impressed by the ease with which the ElitePads can be deployed: “They work out of the box. I simply install Office, connect to the domain and that’s it. The whole process takes less than an hour and with the standardised image we are now using, it can be done in minutes.”

Case study | Coventry University

Customer solution at a glance Hardware • 80 x HP ElitePad 900 16GB Tablet • Docking Stations • Productivity Jackets

For departments where higher levels of processing are required, such as engineering and design, the university is looking at the HP ElitePad Revolve 810, an ultra-thin, full-performance Windows 8 notebook that transforms into a tablet. Shorthouse himself uses such a device and has found he can run graphics-intensive applications including Adobe® Premier and perform real-time video editing without a problem.

Benefits Productivity and flexibility The university has so far bought 80 ElitePads and has been impressed by their durability and quality. A single battery charge will last a full working day, while the expansion pack provides up to a further 12 hours of continual use. The device is also rugged enough to withstand being dropped – important when you’re working on a busy campus. “The ElitePad makes people work more effectively, giving them the ability to work anywhere, anytime. By my calculations, people are up to ten per cent more productive thanks to the device,” says Shorthouse. “We’re giving them a desktop experience regardless of location, which is ideal in an educational environment where people are always on the move around campus.”

The organisation is also seeing cost savings as a result of deploying the ElitePads: “Overall, it will definitely save us money because each user now needs only one device. Also, because we already have plenty of monitors, mice and keyboards, it makes using the docking station very cost-effective.” As each user’s primary device reaches end-of-life, they will have the option of switching to the HP ElitePad so Shorthouse envisions that in the coming years, their use will spread across the university. He is also looking at other HP solutions such as Managed Print Services and ultra-small desktops for students. “I recently returned from the HP Discover event in Barcelona and saw many exciting developments that we can hopefully introduce to the university,” concludes Shorthouse. “I’m particularly keen to see the new version of the ElitePad. HP is constantly trying to improve its products, which means deploying and using the tablet will only get even easier.”

Learn more at hp.com/go/elitepad

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