PRESIDENT'S WELCOME
Once again, we come to the end of another year; our first full year as an association. I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for the support you have given WATSSA over that time.
And WOW! Can you believe what we achieved at the recent ICT Technology update? We've all had such great feedback about how much everyone loved the event and it looks like we'll do it again in 2020. I would like to thank those of you who were lucky enough to come along and join us. I hope you had a good time and got a lot from the event. To those that missed out this year, we'd love to see you in 2020 so save some money in the PL budget for WATSSA.
I am really looking forward to what WATSSA will be able to achieve next year. We are so lucky to have been able to put funds aside after the conference to facilitate future PL opportunities for our members in 2020. I urge you to keep an eye out for our upcoming PL events. We have some more information in this newsletter so please save the dates and pop them in next year's calendar.
I would like to say a huge thank you to the committee that has supported me this year in everything we have done, it was not easy at times and plenty to worry about with our first conference. But I’d like to say extra thanks to Shaun Barnett, you have worked so tirelessly on all of the official requirements to make us an Association, you have also been my rock over these 12 months. Mike Boughton our Treasurer, you’ve been at all our meetings without fail and keeping a keen eye on finances. Wade Ninness, you came onboard and helped WATSSA stream line our meetings. Jon Stanley, your vision and passion for education are a corner stone for what WATSSA stands for and I look forward to working closely with you over the years. Ravi Bheemul, first to raise your hand and always working hard to help make WATSSA a success. Astrid Morris, our conference would not have been as smooth or successful without you. And to Kylie, Damon, Alex, Rajesh, Chris and Kelvin. Thank you for your tireless efforts during the conference it would not gone as smoothly or looked as professional without your assistance
To our new committee for 2020 I hope we can continue to grow and support one another and all of our wonderful schools across WA.
I am filled with great prospect for WATSSA and everyone is helping to make it such a remarkable association to be a part of. We have so many exciting possibilities as we work closely with DOE. I hope you all have a relaxing holiday break and enjoy the festive season, please be safe and well and I look forward to seeing you all again in the new year.
Michael Raymond - President
2020 EXECUTIVE MEMBERS
- PRESIDENT - Michael RAYMOND (Carine Senior High School)
- VICE PRESIDENT - Jonathan STANLEY (Lynwood Senior High School)
- SECRETARY - Shaun BARNETT (Joseph Banks Secondary College)
- TREASURER - Michael BOUGHTON (Gilmore College)
2020 COMMITTEE MEMBERS
- Alexander HAHN (Greenwood College)
- Astrid MORRIS (Safety Bay Primary School)
- Damon RADBURN (Joseph Banks Secondary College)
- Junaid KHAN (Karratha Senior High School)
- Kylie HARMAN (Makybe Rise Primary School)
- Luke MARSHALL (Amaroo Primary School)
- Ravi BHEEMUL (Cannington Community College)
- Ross OAKES (Mount Lawley Senior High School)
- Thekla POWER (Atwell College)
- Wade NINNESS (John Curtin College of the Arts)
ICT TECHNOLOGY UPDATE 2019
In case you missed it, presentation slides we have are available at watssa.asn.au/content
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
We've had many sponsors come on board over the last few months to help support this year's technology update. It's fantastic to see so many different vendors get behind public education and WATSSA. Without their ongoing support, we wouldn't be able to host events like these.
EDUCATION AWARDS 2019 - JOSHUA INWOOD
This year, WATSSA member Joshua Inwood from Yule Brook College was a finalist for the WA School Services Staff Member of the Year 2019 at the WA Education Awards. This award recognises the important work of school services staff in making sure schools run smoothly. By managing day-to-day financial, administrative, technical and hands-on operations, they contribute to their schools providing the best learning environments for students.
To celebrate the occasion, WATSSA's President and Vice-President attended the event to help spur Josh on. We would like to publicly congratulate him on behalf of the association for his efforts and contributions to the ICT sector. Keep it up, Josh!
TREASURER'S UPDATE
This year has been a whirlwind of a ride for all involved in WATSSA. The vast majority of time and effort being invested in organising and running the ICT Update 2019 conference. But as always, these things cannot be executed without the financial support of sponsors, attendees and members of WATSSA. We thank all of you for your financial contributions.
Financially the year started very slowly for WATSSA. From January 1st to May 31st, the association was relying totally on membership sign ups. The balance as of the end of May was $688.48. The end of the financial year saw $9,121.76 in the account as some sponsors had applied for and paid their contribution to be at the conference. From here to the end of August, the income slows again with only new members signing up. The end of October saw PLIS sales for attending the conference starting to flow in along with many sponsors honouring their application to be at the conference. By the start of November, WATSSA had accrued $67,656.78. Most of this was from sponsors with the balance made up of PLIS income to attend the conference and some new members.
By the time the conference was ready to roll, most sponsors had honoured their commitment and WATSSA had already outlaid quite a bit of our funds for insurance and to Rendezvous for both the facility and the catering. By the end of the conference our balance had dropped to a very healthy $40.941.07 with a couple of sponsors still needing to pay their commitment for being at the conference and a few outstanding bills.
As of December 4th, WATSSA had $43,898.50 with all bills paid.
Sponsorship contribution totalled $66,090 and were the major reason we could even run the conference. Again, a huge thank you to all our sponsors for participating and making possible the ICT Update 2019 Conference.
Attendee ticket sales to the conference totalled $40,900. We thank all those that attended either one or both days. Without your support and interest there would have been no conference.
Membership sales this year totalled $4,032.75. This equates to 68 members, both new and existing. In total we have 106 members on the books with many to renew their membership from last year. Please continue to support WATSSA as members and encourage others to join our association. There is more to come no matter at what level you support ICT in your school.
All in all, it’s been a hard but very successful year. Financially we came out on top and in an excellent position to improve next year. Thank you again for all who have contributed to the success of WATSSA and the ICT Update 2019 Conference.
Michael Boughton - Treasurer
PLANS FOR 2020 PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
List of currently supported wireless access points (WAPs) on the department of education supported device list. The graphic/display highlights the key differences side by side for comparison, the aim of this was to put it into perspective that 'not all WiFi is equal'. Currently there are still too many old WAPs out there in schools which are holding/slowing newer devices back from running at their full potential and optimum performance.
Feel free to contact TFX on support@tfx.com.au to discuss WiFi upgrades/expansion as well as how to make existing WiFi networks more efficient.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION UPDATE
Microsoft Teams
The Department is actively working on preparing for the release of Microsoft Teams for the department. Currently there is no release date but it is progressing with limited pilots happening within Central Office, which will progress to a pilot in schools.
Microsoft Outlook Mailbox Size
The Department recently took advantage of its Microsoft Enterprise Agreement and increased size of all Outlook mailbox’s from 2Gb to 20Gb. This was done as a silent release and not communicated to staff. Recognition to Ian Rintoul at Orelia PS who was the first to log a service call (the morning after the change) discovering the upgrade.
School Network Redesign
The Department of Education is investigating improvements for the re-design of school networks.
The current school network design was created in 2008/2009 and has been very stable for a number of years. The underlying design is now becoming dated and does not easily support the types and volume of network access required by current and future users and systems.
A project has been initiated for this body of work and is currently in the information gathering phase.
TCCCP Project
The timeframe for NBN to disconnect all copper services including PSTN and ISDN services determines when the existing analogue phone service needs to be moved to an alternate technology, NBN is planning for this to be sometime before the end of 2022.
Where PSTN services are being disconnected these may be replaced by NBN services as an interim measure until TCCCP can be deployed. Where ISDN services are being disconnected (as part of Telstra obligations to NBN) and there are site issues that cannot be resolved before the disconnection dates, a hybrid solution of PABX and SIP may be implemented, subject to the age of the PABX.
At some point in the future the hybrid solutions (currently in about 60 schools) will need to be replaced by TCCCP as the PABXs will become unmaintainable.
School Internet Gateway (SIG)
As part of the Schools Internet Gateway (SIG) stabilisation works, there is a requirement to migrate the Zone Based Firewall (ZBFW) configuration from a School's WAN Router to the SIG with an objective to resolve some ongoing issues.
This will not only allow for consistent ZBFW configuration across all sites but also address a number of outstanding problem records; this will also prepare the SIG as an Integrated Services Router replacement.
- SIG Zone Based Firewall Pilot Phase 7 - The project aims to develop and integrate improvements to School Internet Gateway (SIG) configurations at 20 pilot schools, embedding further functionality and improvements into the Zone Based Firewall (ZBFW) configuration.
- Cyberhound integration with Fortigate - The integration work for Cyberhound is being addressed in a separate body of work but is dependant of the rollout of the ZBFW, currently Shenton College is trialling this functionality.
Approved Network Devices
Testing has commenced of the 9000 series wireless access points. At this stage there is no plan to make them available to schools to purchase as they are incompatible with our network infrastructure (Wireless Lan Controller) and upgrading our WLC would result in the loss of support for the Cisco 1142 & 3502 models (approximately 13000 devices).
For now the Cisco 2802 is the department preferred device if schools are looking to purchase
What version of Windows 10 should schools be running?
More info here: https://ikon.education.wa.edu.au/-/upgrade-to-the-department-windows-10-image-in-schoo-1/
ICT SOE Fundamentals
This workshop has been developed to assist school staff responsible for maintaining the ICT network in their school.
The day is conducted in a computer lab with two participants sharing a computer. It would be advantageous for two people from one school to attend to investigate and analyse their school data.
Gives school leaders, and staff responsible for local management of the ICT network, the skills and information needed to administer their network. Provides a foundation in the ICT tools to enable the management of the school ICT environment, which includes management of internet bandwidth.
On completion of the workshop, you will be familiar with the tools used in the management of a school ICT network environment.
Including - DAM group memberships, SSS Management of network and computers, Internet filtering with the School Internet gateway (SIG), ICT Dashboard overview, Data Centre and ICT Customer Service Centre Tour, ICT Future Directions
iPad Fundamentals
This workshop has been developed to assist school staff make decisions around deploying and managing iPads in a school environment.
Module contains:
iPad Deployment & Management – Overview / Presentation of the different components - Apple School Manager, Mobile Device Management and the different deployment models.
Apple School Manager, Features & functions, Enrolling & Upgrading to Apple School Manager
Device Management, Mobile Device Management considerations, deploying school-owned shared iPads, Deploying school-owned 1:1 iPads, BYOD considerations, Content Caching
Adds, Moves, Changes and Network Diagrams
This module covers the Adds, Moves, Changes process that allows school staff to initiate and manage changes made to the school ICT network.
Staff will attain the practical application and understanding of the standards required to update school network diagrams using Microsoft Visio; attendees are requested to be familiar with this product prior to attending.
On completion of the module, staff will be authorised to modify and submit their school network diagram in conjunction with the departments AMC process.
The first session for this module is on 18/9/2019 - https://plis.det.wa.edu.au/?EventID=29078
AFFINITY
Cherri International are a Queensland owned and operated business established 27 years. We supply Industry standard Software to Printers, Graphic Designers, Advertising Agencies, Architects, Photographers and recently Universities. Educational pricing available on all software.
Affinity Software will cater for the beginner or the Professional. This multi Award winning software allows Photo, Design or Publication creation whether for Facebook, Linkedin, Newsletters, Brochures or Books. Affinity Photo works with all Photo types whether from a Mobile Phone, Digital Camera or Scanner. Affinity Software is user friendly, yet powerful; incorporating special effects features, such as moving people, animals and objects from a photograph
Affinity Photo is non subscription-based software that has been described as a Photoshop alternative. It is compatible with common file formats (including Adobe® Photoshop® PSD, PNG, TIFF, JPG, GIF, TGA, SVG, EPS, PDF, PDF/X, EXR (Open EXR), HDR (Radiance), Adobe® Illustrator® AI (containing PDF stream), Legacy Adobe® Illustrator® AI files, Adobe® FreeHand® (versions 9 to 11), and Affinity Designer native file).
Affinity Designer is the fastest, smoothest, most precise vector graphic design software available. The application can open / edit Portable Document Format (PDF), Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator files, as well as Logo creation.
Affinity Publisher (released - July 2019) is a Desktop Publishing application incorporating StudioLink technology.
https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/live/ (A great overview of the Affinity Trilogy)
Affinity Software allows the User to edit and create PDF documents, Photos, Publications, Logos and any Digital content without an expensive Subscription. Suitable for Small Business. Affinity is only limited by YOUR imagination. There are several hundred free Tutorials on our www.affinitysoftware.com.au website, as well as free tools.
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NEW YEAR SUNDOWNER
Join us for our beginning of year get-together on Saturday, 1 February at 4PM at the South Perth Foreshore for our first catch up of the year. BYO food, drink and nibbles. BBQ, toilet and playground facilities available. Partners and kids welcome!
P.S. bring a camp chair with you as seats are limited!