Category: IT

The internet isn’t working!!

“The internet doesn’t work”

A statement heard in my home the other day as my wife tried to access an app on her mobile phone.    I am sure the very same statement may have been uttered in households across the UK and beyond.   In itself it seems like a simple enough statement.    The issue is that it is a gross over simplification.

So let’s work through some possible issues.   First of all the issue could have been with the specific app which my wife was trying to use.   The issue may instead relate to the operating system of the phone, which in this case was Android, or to the physical hardware of the phone.   Maybe Wi-Fi was turned off on the phone or it was in aeroplane mode.   If the issue isn’t in the software or hardware of the phone it could relate to a weak wireless signal due to interference or just poor reception relating from distance or from obstructions between the device and the wireless access point or router.   The issue may relate to the Wi-Fi password and/or the security settings for the wireless network.   This brings us to the wireless access point or router which may represent an issue in terms of its functionality or its configuration.    At this point there are already a large number of things which might account for the issue being so vaguely reported however this is only a small number of the overall possible causes.

Other issues could be an issue in relation to DHCP within the router, assuming we are looking at your average home network.    It may be that the router is blocking traffic possibly.  Another option is the actual connection between the router and the ISP.    This may be incorrectly setup or there could be a physical issue in the line.   Maybe I haven’t paid the bill and the ISP has cut my home off.    Issues with the Domain Name Server (DNS) are another possible issue as are issues with the actual server with which the app is trying to communicate.

And the above only represents some of the possible causes, with other options and combinations of options being possible, and yet for all the possible causes the issue is simply presented as “the internet doesn’t work”.

Technology has become a necessity rather than a luxury.       We need it for banking, accessing council services, accessing government services and communication among many other areas.    As such we expect it to work, and that is simple; it either works or it doesn’t.     So when it doesn’t we make simple statements, which I believe highlights our generally simplistic understanding of technology, and yet we bring more and more technological devices into our home.    Do we truly understand how this tech works?   Do we understanding the implications of using it?    Do we know how to use it in a safe and secure manner?

I would suggest the answer to the above questions is No and yet we worry about the lack of understanding of our students.   How can they hope to understand and be safe with technology when we adults, the ones who they are taught by, parented by and their role models generally don’t.   Lets stop using these concerns for limiting and blocking technology use, and instead lets explore technology use with our students and children, making mistakes, and learning as we go.

IT Support Issues

At the front line in the classroom the concerns around technology use have focused on issues such as phone addiction, privacy settings, screen time and fake news to name but a few of the issues reported in the press in recent months.     I decided during my presentation at King Edward VI earlier this week to try and get some input on what the concern areas are for those behind the scenes, from the IT support or IT Services leaders of a number of schools.

As such the question I asked was “What is the worst thing that could go wrong?”

During my 2 sessions two very evident themes seemed to come out from the responses I received.

Only one response indicated that IT and Safeguarding was an issue.   I found the fact that only one person gave this response despite a keynote presentation specifically on online safety earlier in the day, to be a surprise.    I have to admit that in creating my presentation on IT support issues I omitted safeguarding however on reflection it should most definitely have been included.   I believe the issue here is that support staff spend most of their time with the systems including software and hardware, plus the users.   As a result, they focus on these areas as areas where things will go wrong.   This is due to these areas coming easily to mind whereas safeguarding doesn’t quite come so easily to mind.

Two responses referred to loss of staff skills and knowledge following staff leaving.   Personally I think this issue could be expected to arise in any domain, aside from education, where there is a technical skill requirement.    Losing staff and their skills, experience, knowledge, etc. is of concern.

A lack of documentation was raised by one person.     I think this relates partially to the above either in terms of a staff member leaving or to a staff member being ill or otherwise absent where their activities have not been documented such that others cannot pick up their tasks.

The first of the two main themes among responses relates to a disaster event such as a fire which impacted on all or key systems, or a technical failure of key systems.    These represent quite significant disaster events in that they would most likely impact on a number of school activities including access to files for teaching and learning, lesson registration, finance and payroll and general communications.     I believe these responses related to people imaging the perfect storm of a number of minor issues joining to become a major issue or a major event such as a site fire, etc.    It is no wonder given the complexity of systems that such an incident with such a wide impact is of concern and commonly was raised by those who provided responses.

The second of the two main themes related to data loss or data breach.   This doesn’t surprise me as schools and other UK organisations prepare for the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulations in May of next year.    The conference event itself included a session on data retention and destruction including a number of references to GDPR.      There has also be a large amount in the press as of late, on data breaches again helping to make such data loss or data breaches take centre stage in the minds of the attendees who responded during my sessions.

I would say the responses received were generally as I expected especially in relation to data.   With GDPR being implemented in May and so many data breaches reported in the press it is no surprise that this area is of concern.     A wide spread disaster is also a predictable concern as it involves considering the worst that could happen and this usually would involve multiple complex issues combining or a disaster event such as a fire.       The fact that safeguarding didn’t figure so highly however is a little of a surprise and maybe something we should consider carefully.    I suspect this is due to safeguarding not coming easily to mind.     As such we must make efforts to bring it to mind more often, to consider it more often as a concern for IT support as much as it is for teachers.    How can we make students safe without suffocating them in filters and blocks?    How can we support and guide then to make the correct choices?    How can we better educate them in relation to the technical issues especially around privacy, safety and security?

Above all staff, both IT Support and also teaching staff, should work in partnership to prepare our students to thrive in this ever technological world.

Big brother?

Big brother is truly watching us.     This week already I have read two articles in relation to devices we are now bringing into our homes to make life easier, however where there are other considerations which may be overlooked.

The first of the two article related to the Amazon Echo device (Amazon hands over Echo ‘murder’ data, BBC).   The Echo is one of a couple of voice activated devices which is designed to make life at home easier.     The idea is that you can control home internet enabled devices via voice commands and the Echo.     The recent adverts for the Echo include people using voice commands the help locate their mobile phone which has been humorously swallowed by the users dog, to turn on the lights at home and to change the volume on music which is being played as just some examples.    Google offer a similar device called the Google Home.

The issue here relates to privacy in that these devices are always listening with at least some of the data uploaded to a cloud server somewhere.    The purpose of gathering the data is to help in generating better and more accurate understanding of natural language so that the software within the devices can more accurately respond to human instructions and queries however the issue is not in the intended use, but in other possible uses.

An article on the BBC website refers to a murder case where the accused has consented to allow data gathered from an Echo device to be used in the case.    This clearly wasn’t the intended use of the data gathered by Echo.     In this case the outcome should hopefully be positive in helping to prove either guilt or innocence but other uses may be less than positive.      Would we be happy about the government, spy services, police, etc. spying on us using this data?    Would it be acceptable for this data to be used in user or home profiling by marketing companies?     Would it be acceptable to use this data in relation to identifying peoples political allegiances in the approach to an election?      These are just a couple of possible uses where the ethics are a little questionable.   There are likely to be many more possible uses with new uses continuing to emerge with new technologies.      Is the benefit of the device comparable to the risk or sacrifice?   Also, surely this data constitutes personal data so how is its sharing and processing controlled in relation to Data Protection and the soon to be implemented General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)?  Is the info in relation to this buried in difficult to understand and seldom read terms and conditions statements?

The second article related to the CIA and the recent leak of hacking tools which they had including tools designed to compromise Smart TVs (WikiLeaks says the CIA can use your TV to spy on you, Guardian).    Similar to the issue around the Echo, again we have an always listening device however in this case it is also always watching too, as it searches for gestures as part of its gesture control functionality.     Here the benefits are never losing your remote control down the side of the sofa, however the drawbacks seem to include the CIA being able to hack your system and watch what you are doing.     This also goes to show that although the purpose for the data was clear an outside actor, in this case the CIA, found a way to gain access and make use of it.   If they can do it, and given it is now public knowledge that it possible, it is highly likely others can or will also achieved this.   Again another internet enabled device brought into the home however again a risk.   Is the benefit of the device comparable to the risk or sacrifice?

The world loves its gadgets with people quickly adopting the next thing.    Vendors such as Google, Amazon and Samsung play to this while constantly striving to make their devices as secure and safe for their user base as possible.    The issue is that these vendors also want these devices to be easily installed and configurable by end users with limited IT abilities which limits the security options available.   It also tends to mean that a system of simplistic defaults is used meanwhile we have hackers and government sponsored agencies trying to compromise these devices.

I wonder whether as the Internet of things continues to take off we will see a growth in home infrastructure security devices.   I also wonder whether there is now a greater need to have discussions with students in schools in relation to these issues, including discussing specific incidents like the ones above.    We need the adults of the future to be able to judge and balance benefits against risks, in order to make informed decisions about the increasing number of internet enabled devices making their way into our homes.    We also need them, as they become the government officials of tomorrow, to understand the implications of technology.

 

Online safety and home infrastructure

Technology has become an important part of the life we now lead.    Social media, games consoles, smart phones and voice recognition systems like Amazon’s Echo are now all part of normal life.    This technological change has brought many benefits however there are already some indications of the implications of technology use.

We have already seen discussions about technology addiction.    We have also seen discussions around unforeseen implications arising from technology use, such as the impact of parents posting their children’s every move on social media; How do they feel when adult photos of their every childish endeavour and mishap are easily found on Facebook?

Then we have the issue around cyber or online safety.   This is an issue that I find of particular interest.  There has been a particular focus around being careful in relation to passwords in particular, and to the information shared on social media, however this seems to take for granted that the infrastructure we are using our technology to access is secure.

In the home will have a Wi-Fi network connected to which there may be a wireless printer, a laptop, a couple of phones and maybe some other internet connected devices.    But have sufficient security precautions been taken?

Maybe the Wi-Fi network was setup straight from the box it was supplied in, with little adjustment of its configuration.    As such the default Wi-Fi SSID may give away the make of the router which would help anyone wishing to compromise the network.    Has the default admin password for the router been changed and has Wi-Fi access to the administrative interface been disabled?    If not then malicious access is all the easier.      Has WPS been disabled and has the appropriate security features such as WPA rather than WEP been enabled?

The games console has fathers credit card details entered in it for purchasing and downloading games, however the password is shared with his Gmail account, Facebook account and a couple of other services.       As such should any service be compromised then all services are likely to be compromised given the common email address and password used across accounts.

A new wireless printer has been set up, but again has been left configured as it was in the box it arrived in.   As such the admin password is set as the default.    Should someone gain access to the network they can therefore easily use this device to gain a permanent foothold within the network.

The laptop doesn’t have any anti-virus software on it and the windows firewall is turned off.  Also windows updates haven’t been carried out in over a year leaving the operating system seriously out of date.

The growth of technology in modern life is very much related to its ease of use, however the technology itself is far from simple.    Although the default configurations and setups get things going, they are generally not the best solution in terms of safety and security yet the majority of users neither have the understanding or the skills necessary to make the required changes.   With this in mind I think it is important to not only teach our students about safety in relation to end client devices and apps, but also about the safety aspects of setting up and maintaining your home infrastructure.

Improving education through EdTech?

I recently read a post in the Telegraph entitled “To raise teaching standards we must first improve the use of technology in the classroom”.    As soon as I read the title I had mixed reactions.    On one hand I almost instantly wanted to agree.   As a firm supporter of Educational Technology and its potential within teaching and learning this seemed almost natural as the post outlined the importance of developing teacher educational technology and digital skills which they could then embed within their teaching practice.

I then however had a little bit of a double take as I re-examined the first part of the statement.   “To raise teaching stands we must first….”.    On second glance I thought things were not so simple.   Although I am a firm supporter of EdTech I also believe that it is a tool and vehicle for learning and therefore is not necessarily an essential.   Good or even outstanding, if I am using OFSTED speak, learning may be evident without the use of technology.  In fact, poor use of technology in a lesson may result in learning being adversely impacted upon.  Looking at the comments section following the article I wasn’t the only one thinking like this.    The first (and albeit only) comment outlined how Finland does well in standardized test despite a low technology investment whereas the US and UK do less well in spite of a high investment in EdTech.   This seems to agree with the perception that teaching is what matters and not technology use, although I will draw attention to the narrowness of standardized testing such as PISA as a measure of the success of educational efforts.    I also raise the issue that we now live in a technological world and therefore surely it must be a duty of educators to prepare students for this world by teaching about but also with technology, and by modelling how it can and should be used.   If teachers opt to avoid technology what does this model for our students?

The Telegraph article goes on to cite a lack of confidence in using technology as a key factor impacting technology use.   I can see how this might either stop teachers from using technology or might have a negative impact where they do use it.     As a teacher myself I have often been using new technology, such as new software in a lesson where the technology has gone wrong or not worked as expected.   The key here is confidence to work around this and model dealing with such issues for our students.    Where a lack of confidence exists this isn’t as easy to achieve plus may result in the modelling of the wrong attitudes and approaches such as avoidance of technology or a “it doesn’t work” as opposed to a problem solving approach.

I also wonder about wider society.   I have previous written about addiction to mobile phones as something not just affecting children but adults as well.    The Telegraph picks out the confidence of teachers in using EdTech however could it be that this is just a small part of a wider issue.   Could it be that teachers are just a sub-set of the adult population and therefore the issue with technology confidence lies not just with teachers but with adults in general?    Does this signal an issue in terms of use of technology without confidence or understanding in relation to the implications of its use?    I have written on this also in the past in terms of the terms and conditions attached to social media sites we all use;  we use the technology but don’t understand the implications and rules of their use.

My thoughts on the article have left me with more questions than answers.   Going back to the title of the telegraph article, “To raise teaching standards we must first improve the use of technology in the classroom” I have one closing thought.   We are using technology in our classrooms either to a lesser or greater extent.   Finland may be spending less but they are still spending.    Surely we want to “improve” current practice in using technology?    By doing so we are doing things better than before which surely is a more acceptable option than doing it the same or doing it worse.  So really my initial reaction to the articles was correct as improving technology skills and confidence can only end with a positive outcome.   What we want anything less?

 

G-suite, MS or Apple: Consistency or Variety?

At my school we have recently been working towards the implementation and roll out of Office 365 across the school and in doing so it has raised some interesting questions in relation to the various platforms and solutions which are available for use in the classroom.

Take for example this post, “Battle of the classrooms” which focuses on the Google, Apple and Microsoft Classroom solutions.    Each does something different although there are also similarities with quite clear similarities existing between Google and Microsoft’s offering.

Teachers may have a preference for one or other based on their previous experience or skills.   As such it seems sensible to allow them to make use of this experience and their associated skills in their teaching.    Some teachers may be adventurous, innovative and striving to try new things and therefore may identify new solutions and apps outside of the more common ones, then wanting to make use of these in their lessons.     The above is critical in terms of seeking innovative practice and learning experiences as it taps into teacher motivation, existing experience and skills.   This works from a micro, individual teacher and lesson viewpoint.

Taking the macro viewpoint however the above is problematic.    The students, who we are here to serve, experience the lessons from a number of different teachers and subjects during the week as they move around the school following their timetable.   They therefore expect to experience consistency as they move from lesson to lesson.   Thinking about it the education system is awash with requests for consistency including standardized testing and inspections.   The idea of different teachers using different technology solutions in their lessons seems to be at odds with this need for consistency.    Should individual teachers all be using differing platforms this could lead to confusion among students and could negatively impact on learning.

Compromise seems to be the only solution.   To adopt a core set of apps such as solutions for sharing revision content, which are consistently used by teachers across the school, while allowing teachers to experiment with different apps within their teaching.     Considering the compromise as a point on a continuum between a totally standardized environment, where a strict set of apps are allowed, and an environment where anything goes and any app can be used, I think I lean to the right of centre, towards encouraging and allowing flexibility in trying new apps.

Relecting on the above I realise that my starting point was that of the teacher and teaching.   I wonder if my end point may have been different if I had started by looking at the student side of things.   I will however leave that for a future post.

For now my belief in relation to edTech use continues to be in the need for flexibility and innovation albeit with some aspects of consistency if that contradiction is even possible?

A solution to phone addiction?

I have been thinking a little bit further with regards societies addiction to our mobile devices and in particular mobile phones, a subject I only recently posted on (read my earlier post here).   My thoughts were initially focused on my need to address this issue as an individual.   I have two main mobile devices in a mobile phone and a tablet device with the tablet device being equipped with 4G.    The issue at hand was the fact that my evenings and weekends are often interspersed with the stereo chirps from my devices as tweets and other social media contributions are received.   Upon hearing the chirps I am quite often drawn to pick up my tablet in particular to check what exciting new information has been shared.   The sense of anticipation of exciting information draws me to my device however the repeated disappointment upon reading the information appears insufficient in convincing me of the real nature of the information a chirp is likely to signal.   Equipped with the knowledge of this addiction towards checking my mobile devices I sought to change my own practice and quickly found the solution in “do not disturb” mode on my android devices with exceptions setup to allow for phone calls and alarms.   This now means I check my device when I want to as opposed to when notifications draw me to my devices.  I am more in control.

It was at this point that I again gave thought to society as a whole as clearly this solution might work for others, however most people are likely to leave their devices with default settings.    In Thaler and Sunstein’s (2008) book, Nudge, reference is made to the tendency for people to adopt the default state even when other options may be better.    They suggest that we can help people make a better choice, we can nudge them, by changing the default option.    With this in mind I wonder what the impact would be if Android and Apple phones all came with “do not disturb” or similar enabled for the hours from 10pm to 6am or a similar time period as a default.    Would this nudge people towards being less addicted to their devices?    Users could always disable this feature if they want, as they can enable it currently however the default setting would no longer result in a chirp or other audible signal to draw us to our devices at all hours of the night.

I wonder if Google or Apple would be willing to consider this minor change in the interests of society, at least as a pilot study?

 

References:

Thaler and C. Sunstein, 2008, Yale University Press.

Phone addiction.

Over the last year or so I have became more and more aware of as issue in relation to new reports and articles focusing on issues which schools need to address.  The issue in question is the narrow framing of issues as being education or youth related issues.   This implies that the issue is either confined to schools or confined to the young, when in fact the issue in hand is often observable in wider society.

Another recent example came from The Times (Read the full article here) towards the end of January which reported that one third of children check their phone every few minutes.   This seems to suggest a youth related issue and begs the question: what can we do to address children’s use of smartphones?

An article from the BBC from September 2016 (Read the full article here), some 4 months early, suggests that one third of adults admit to having arguments with their partners due to overuse of smart phones.    Considering the two reports it would appear that they both reported the same issue, perceived over use of smart phones, but focussed on two different age ranges.    Taken together the two reports suggest the issue is prevalent across all ages and therefore could be considered an issue of current society at large.  The question now at hand is therefore how can we address the issue of smartphone use within our current society?

Sat writing this as my wife flicks through the TV and on-demand programme lists I can’t help but think that this relates to the always on and on-demand nature of communications.    I no longer have to sit down at a particular time on a particular date to watch a TV programme.  I can watch it as and when I want.   I no longer have to wait until after 6pm to contact friends, waiting for them to finish work and arrive home.   I can now just send them a Facebook message or Whatsapp message at any time of day, which they can access and reply to independent of if they are working, travelling, etc.    Having lived outside of the UK for a period this technology allows me to contact my friends and ex-colleagues who now lives all over the world in different time zones.    So their messages may be sent in mid-afternoon but arrive with me in the early hours.

I think the hyper connectedness of current society is inevitable given the technology and the opportunities it has opened up.  The key is in making all people, including children, mindful of it.   And on that note I will put my laptop down and join my wife in the social activity of watching Saturday evening TV.

 

 

Body Cameras in Schools

I found this mornings discussion on BBC with regards the use of body cameras by teachers in 2 pilot schools an unexpected turn of events in the use of technology in schools.    This story was also reported in The Guardian

Within the pilot teachers within the schools concerned will apparently make use of the cameras when there is a “perceived threat”.   I find this statement interesting when it is reported that the purpose of the cameras is related to teachers who are “fed up with low-level background disorder”.   I am not sure how low level behaviour issues are likely to amount to a perceived threat?

I am also thinking back to my own teaching career and quite often the incidents I might have wanted to capture on video as evidence are those which came unexpectedly.   I can’t really see it working where the teacher has to ask the pupils to “stop for a minute while I turn my camera on”.

I can understand why body camera might work for the police and other services where the role involves a significant amount of control and potential conflict however this is not something I would expect of our classrooms.   Within our classrooms our focus is on teaching and learning which is a social endeavour and therefore conflict should not be a regular expectation although I will acknowledge that as with any interactions between people with different views, etc. the occasional conflict is always possible.

I also wonder about what the inclusion of body cameras in schools might come to symbolize.   For some it might be seen as a symbol for safety and security however for others, and I would speculate for the majority within schools, it would be seen to indicate a lack of trust, openness and care.    Teachers have to carry body cameras to capture evidence of misbehaviour so by extension this means that teachers expect misbehaviour and teachers don’t trust students to behave correctly.   What impact would a culture a mistrust have on a school and is it worth the cost when weighed against the limited benefits of body cameras which have to be turned on to record specific incidents.

My overall feeling on this is not positive however I welcome any pilot as a way to test a potential new approach.   I do hope that the pilot includes a control group of schools and that the review of its impact is done using an appropriately scientific approach.    If I was looking to use technology I would be more positive towards CCTV in classrooms with a clear statement as to what the footage can be used for.   The reason my preference is towards this is that it captures what all, including teachers and other staff are doing, plus it serves as an excellent tool for teachers to review their lessons, work in peer groups, etc. and therefore serves as an excellent CPD tool.    CCTV can therefore be seen as something with a focus on improvement and working for the good whereas body cameras are purely for evidence collection and as a deterrent, a force for what I would consider the bad.

 

 

 

 

Free (or not!) Wi-Fi

When out and about we consider Wi-Fi to be an essential and as a result of this businesses are seeking to meet the need.    Cafes, hotels, shops and shopping centres, as well as conference venues to name but a few are now generally providing free Wi-Fi.       It’s not a difficult process for them; pay a service provider and buy a few wireless access points and you are up and running, and the general public will connect and use without a thought.

And herein lies the issue as I became aware during a recent visit to a hotel.    During the visit I was provided with a Wi-Fi key in my hotel room so I could access the free Wi-Fi however for some reason something did not quite feel right.   After a few minutes of basic checking I found that the routers management console was accessible via the Wi-Fi connection as opposed to requiring a wired connection.   A rather basic security precaution had not been taken in disabling Wi-Fi access to the console however the worst part was yet to come.    It turned out that the default username and password for the router was still enabled and as such anyone could gain access and reconfigure the router and Wi-Fi network to meet their needs.  For me this represents a grave and serious lapse in the security setup.     Although it had been easy for the hotel to set up its free Wi-Fi provision, they had failed to set it up securely, in a way which I would have considered to have been “properly” set up.

The above highlights the risks associated with free Wi-Fi.    Someone could easily setup a man in the middle attack using the lax security of this Wi-Fi network.   People would then access and use the Wi-Fi unaware of the fact that a threat actor was gathering or monitoring their data.     Truly nothing is free in this world, and in this case the free Wi-Fi may be free of cost but it certainly isn’t free of risk.     And in this risk there may be a future financial cost in fraud or identify theft based on the data harvested.

I do not think this one hotel is unique in its poor Wi-Fi network security.   I suspect that among the many establishments offering free Wi-Fi there will be many where the security is equally poor and that this will be especially common among smaller organisations where an IT department is likely to either be limited or not to exist.

As end users it is our responsibility to look after our own data security when out and about.   We cannot assume that others such as the providers of free Wi-Fi are doing this for us, especially where there is no is financial contribution paid to them towards the costs associated with doing so.    And for those providing free Wi-Fi I would ask that they engage a suitable professional in order to ensure their setup is at least provided with the basic security precautions.   If you aren’t willing to do this then you shouldn’t provide the service!

I also think there is an educational aspect to all this;  Are we adequately discussing the risks and required precautions with the students in our schools.   I would suggest we need to do so with some urgency.