IT Ideas

I'm posting this on a rare day in Oxfordshire when it's actually snowing. On the off chance of a snow day, wherever you may be, you could always use "Google Meet" to have a virtual lesson.

Quick demo of the new Remote for Google Slides Extension . This allows you to use pretty much any device as a remote control for a Google Slides presentation.

Securly has recently allowed automated uploads of guardian contact details. This requires getting your guardians details into a csv file in a specific format. This is easy to do manually - but takes a little work to do automatically. This is the procedure that I use to extract the data from Capita SIMS and sync it to Securly on a daily basis. You can see the basic Securly guide here  - but don't believe the bit about the columns being in any order - I've found they have to be in the order specified! SIMS Report The field I use are: Note - you have to edit the names of the fields to the ones Securly want. I run this on a daily schedule and output the result to a csv file on a virtual machine that I use for lots of automated tasks. "C:\Program Files\SIMS\SIMS .net\commandreporter" /user:xxxxxxx /password:xxxxxxx /report:"securlyreport" /OUTPUT:\\Win10man\gam\parents.csv /QUIET Modifying the output to meet the Securly requirements  SIMS outputs...

Below is an approach that I use to sync data from SIMS.net (our MIS) to a Google Sheet. We do this for a fair number of things now to keep stuff up to date automatically. The script I use to pull csv data into a sheet: function copyfromcsv() {      var file = DriveApp.getFilesByName("yourcsvfile.csv").next();   var csvData = Utilities.parseCsv(file.getBlob().getDataAsString());   var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();   var sh2 = ss.getSheetByName("sheettoimportto");      sh2.clear();   sh2.getRange(1, 1, csvData.length, csvData[0].length).setValues(csvData);    }

Where would be without GAM? Paying for expensive syncing tools or doing tedious manual tasks in the admin console. GAM can automate most things you might want to do in G Suite. So these are a few of my favourite commands - one I use either as part of a batch file - or just standalone. There are loads more - but these are ones that are used daily. Classroom Create a spreadsheet of all your domains classes -  gam print courses todrive Create a spreadsheet of a teacher's classes:  gam print courses teacher fred@mydomain.com todrive Bulk create classes: gam csv classes.csv gam create course alias ~alias name ~alias section ~subject teacher ~teacher status ACTIVE where classes.csv is a list of classes you want to make. Add teachers: gam csv teachers.csv gam course ~alias add teacher ~teacher Add students: gam csv students.csv gam course ~alias add teacher ~student Sync Students (in this example to a group - but could be an ou/csv file) gam csv grou...

The Lenovo Yoga N23 is the latest touch/flip Chromebook that I've got my hands on. This device competes with the Acer R11 (4Gb/32Gb/N3060 variant) in terms of its price point. Unlike the more expensive HP 360 and Acer Spin, this does not have a stylus or second camera. Some key features Drop resistant from table height. Water resistant. 4Gb RAM 32 Gb SSD Quad core Mediatek processor - same as found in the Acer R13 - scores about 1000 points more than the N3060 and runs some Android Apps much faster. 11" IPS touch display 360 hinge - so laptop to tablet. USB C Charging Support for PlayStore Apps on the Stable Channel We are considering this device instead of the Acer R11 (which we have been deploying) for a future deployment to our new intake. Compared to the very familiar R11, the Lenovo is a little bit faster, especially using Android Apps and feels more rugged. Its also a little bit cheaper to buy. Keyboard and touchpad are very similar to other Chromebooks ...

This is a guide (or documentation for my own use!) to the provisioning of Google Classrooms across a large domain and how to achieve ongoing sync of student members. The advantages of doing this are: Teachers don't have to do anything - all their classes are just there. You can add multiple teachers to classrooms. No inviting a secondary teacher. Students have all their classes at the start of the term. Students are automatically in the correct classes. Classes have totally consistent names. You can do it for FREE - however, there are paid for options if you don't want to go the DIY approach. The following requires you to have the student, staff and optionally, guardian emails on SIMS. Step 1 - Setup up GAM - you need this to do command line processing on your domain. It's a very powerful tool to do batch commands. Step 2 - Export a list of current Classrooms and archive any you don't want. I'd recommend this as it means users will only see the ones ...

As a long time user of Hapara Teacher Dashboard, I thought I should document how you can update classes on a daily basis from Captia SIMS - the most common MIS in the UK and the one we use. Step 1 - Generate a suitable students report (same one I use for syncing Google Classroom - see another blog post...) Step 2 - Set this report to run on a schedule and output to a network share on a Virtual machine that is online all the time. You do this with the "commandreporter" on your SIMS server. An example command that lives in a batch file that runs as a scheduled task (the username and password is a SIMS user with sufficient privileges to run the report): " C:\Program Files\SIMS\SIMS .net\commandreporter" /user:USERNAME /password:PASSWORD /report:"haparastudents" /OUTPUT:\\Win10man\gam\hapara\hapara.csv /QUIET Step 3 - Write a script to reformat the csv file to an acceptable Hapara format. So key things: Convert "/"'s into "-...

I recently realised that an easy way to collect and sort Photos and Videos was to use Forms. We had to take photos of every room in the school and have them archived for easy discovery in the event of an insurance claim. So I made a simple form that had the room name as the first question and a file upload question for the next: I linked this to a spreadsheet and added the formula =split(C2,",") to an extra column. This simply splits the list of image urls into separate cells to make them clickable. On a phone, you just load up the form, add the room number, hit the upload button, select upload file and choose Camera. You can then add photos straight from your camera.    Took a couple of minutes to setup and no photo organising required at the end of the process. Quite a neat way of uploading photos and automatically organising them. Also useful as multiple people can use the form and upload photos to the same folder and have ...

ChromeOS devices that support Android Apps from the Play Store are starting to receive Android 7.1.1. One of the main features is better windows sizing. Brief video on how to enable this feature:

I've been using the Dell 3189 for a couple of weeks now and have become quite fond of it. It terms of specs, its the same as the Acer R11 and Viglen 360 so: N3060 processor 4Gb RAM 32Gb SSD IPS screen Touch flip design So don't expect amazing performance - just a solid workhorse. So the figures are: Octane (now depreciated): 8821 BrowserBench: 21.5 The Dell has a reassuringly solid feel to it. There is no case flex, the devices has a pleasing texture to it and the edges are rubberised. I've not dropped it - but I'm guessing it will survive a few knocks. The charger port is an large circular connector and looks hard to break. So no fancy USB-C. In terms of connectivity there is just two USB ports, headphone, SD card and HDMI. The screen is a pleasing IPS display and has good brightness and viewing angles. The Dell activity light is still there as on earlier Dell Chromebooks - did anyone every use it? I've been using it on ChromeOS 58 - Stable Channe...

Yesterday I received a new touch/flip Chromebook, the Asus C213N. This is a device that I first saw at BETT 2017 and its just getting to the point of release. The example I have is a pre-release sample and there is still a little work to do ChromeOS wise - but it's looking good. Specifications Intel N3350 dual core processor. A fair step up from the N3060/50 found on cheaper Chromebooks. 4Gb DDR3 32Gb SSD - some space for those Android apps. Matt 11" touchscreen Full 360 degree rotation Two cameras - one one above the screen (the normal position) and one at the top of the keyboard to use in tablet mode. 2 USB C ports - for all those fun USB C devices and charging. 2 USB2 ports SD card slot (micro) Headphone jack Power and volume control 1.25kg - about the same as an Acer R11 Aesthetics Its black (with a little grey) and plastic. However, it does have rubberised edges to absorb those student induced impacts. The screen hinge is very similar t...

We have been using Papercut to offer managed Cloud Printing for our ChromeOS users for many years now. The most recent v17 release of Papercut introduces Mobility Print  which allows direct printing to your networked devices. From the end users point of view, it's almost the same as using Cloud Print, however, there are a few important differences. Mobility Print does not require your print server to talk to the internet. For Cloud Printing, this can be tricky as for Cloud Print to work you really need to bypass any ssl inspection you do for that server. Its faster - doesn't need to send jobs to the cloud and back. Will work even if Google Cloud Printing has one of its moments - rare - but they do happen! You need to push the Mobility Print Chrome App . The printer is deployed to anyone with the app installed - not shared to groups or individuals as in Cloud Printing. You need to do a little DNS work for it to function across vlans. This is what it looks like as a...

You might want to block ads across your entire network. There are various approaches to doing this. Ad Blocking Extensions You can push these to Chrome via Chrome Management and Group Policy. While these work well, users can configure then and they do have an impact on performance. It only applies to the browsers on managed devices and one browser. You cannot easily configure what is blocked centrally. Content Filter Your content filter/firewall may have an option to configure this. Manually adding to your hosts file.  This is what we do. You can download a hosts file that will block most ads here . This can be added to your gateways hosts file and this will block ads for all devices and browsers with no configuration required on client devices. This will apply to all devices and browsers. You can also manually tweak what is blocked for everyone. Video of how to do this on a Linux gateway below:

We have been deploying Android Apps to our managed R11 Chromebooks for a while now. Every Circuit caught my eye as we have been looking for a nice way of simulating electric circuits for a while. Seems to work rather well on a Chromebook - see video below:

I've just been trying out two of the latest touch/flip 11" Chromebooks - the Acer R11 (2017 model) and the Viglen 360. On paper these are very similar devices: Processor: N3060 RAM: 4Gb Storage: 32Gb SSD Both touch/flip - IPS 1366x768 displays Keyboards - identical Both around the £200 ext VAT price range. Features that differ: Viglen 360 Has a removable battery - not convinced of the point of this in a Chromebook. 3 USB3 ports Ruggedized design - built like a tank. Heavy Screen - slight movement when touched. R11 (2107 model) Has Android Apps available now on the stable channel. Lighter Screen - little movement when touched - feels more solid. Only one USB3 + one USB2 Which would I buy? Well as a private buyer, the R11 without a doubt (the Viglen is Edu only...) - Android Apps and its a much nicer looking device. If I was looking for a trolley device, I might consider the Viglen for the warranty (3 years) and the tank like build (its weight does not ma...

If you have domain joined PCs that can be managed via group policy and you use G Suite, then you might want to restrict the use of consumer accounts on your machines. If a user can use a private account, they can do a range of things that can potentially bypass content filtering and other policies you have set in the management console in G Suite. The best way to prevent this is at the network level - see the Google help page here . This means that all devices on your network will be prevented from using consumer accounts. Many firewalls and content filter providers (e.g. Securly) have this as a setting now. However, if you are not able to use this approach, or want to set it on specific users only, then the lastest Group Policy Templates have policies to enable it. There are two policies for this. One to block signin to Chrome from non domain accounts and the other to block non domain login to things like GMail. Restrict who can sign into Chrome: Restrict who can sign i...