e-techsupport


	Essex Curriculum ICT Technical Support Partnership

Essex Schools, Children and Families Service working with Support Companies

Choosing software and hardware resources
The starting point when considering the purchase of resources must be the requirements of the curriculum. It is often tempting to purchase items that are highly advertised and popular in the home market but these are often less appropriate for school use. Home printers are often very cheap but the consumables are expensive Digital cameras are often feature packed but difficult for pupils to just pick up and use Video equipment often has specialist codecs that make transfer and editing of the movies difficult on the school network Software may be very difficult to install on the school network New models often have a short life and it is difficult to make additional purchases to fulfil teaching needs In the last few years the model of software purchase is moving away from CDs that are bought and installed to systems where software applications are licensed then accessed via the internet and typically through the schools VLE. As budgets become more limited in the next few years it has been suggested that there will be greater use of Open Source software. An example could be the use of Open Office instead of the Microsoft product.
ICT Team	Support Partner	School
Research ‘What works well’ in schools and disseminate through websites. The Resources Suggestions pages of e-ictsupport list resources by ICT strand and year group. The purchasing portal lists a number of items that are appropriate for school use and at advantageous prices.	Bring new devices and teaching materials to the attention of the ICT team for evaluation and inclusion in the resources website. Similarly bring to the teams attention any problems that are arising in schools Offer the best deals to Essex schools. n by checking the items available and recommended at Share with the ICT Team any issues that may arise when installing resources.	Begin by checking the items available and recommended at purchasing portal at e-gfl.org or the curriculum related software and hardware resources suggested by the ICT team.

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