ICT Services 4 Education

School ICT News Bulletin No. 298 - 11/03/2022

Published by ICT Solutions

eBulletin Items

  1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Norfolk County Council procurement system upgrade - 28th March onwards
  2. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Changes to Google Chat and classic Hangouts interoperability in Spaces
  3. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Google Education Workspace upgrade licences - Free trial available
  4. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: SLA Online contract cancellations
  5. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Cyber Security Information Session - 17th March 2022 at 15:30
  6. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Input required - Future network connectivity requirements
  7. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Google sign-in will soon require JavaScript - Changes from 24th March 2022
  8. SMART technologies - Little and often webinars during March and April
  9. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Changes to Google Workspace applications search - March 29th 2022
  10. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Phishing/Scam emails - please remain vigilant

1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Norfolk County Council procurement system upgrade - 28th March onwards

Commencing 28th March, the procurement system currently used by Norfolk County Council will be upgraded. This will impact our ability to place orders for equipment etc. so please could we ask that any orders are placed by mid-day on Friday, 25th March at the very latest.

 

Whilst we do have a contingency plan to purchase items during the upgrade period, it will be used for emergency situations only. It’s anticipated the new system will be live week commencing April 18th, in time for when schools/academies return.

 

We apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.

 

2. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Changes to Google Chat and classic Hangouts interoperability in Spaces

We have received notification that Google are introducing changes to Chat and classic Hangouts message interoperability for Spaces.

 

Starting mid-March 2022, any newly created spaces in Google Chat within your institution’s domain will not appear in classic Hangouts. This means that messages sent in these spaces will only appear in Google Chat.

 

The message interoperability changes do not impact how Google Chat messages appear in classic Hangouts for:

 

  • 1:1 direct messages.
  • Group conversations created from classic Hangouts.
  • Group conversations created from Google Chat.
  • Spaces upgraded from group conversations.
  • Any spaces created in Google Chat that allow external contacts to join

 

Details regarding Spaces and Group conversations can be found here

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 

3. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Google Education Workspace upgrade licences - Free trial available

Google Workspace for Education have introduced upgrade licences to add additional features to the current Education Fundamentals licences, used with the NSIX accounts. As a Google Education partner, we are able to offer free trial licences to enable you to try the upgrade features before committing to purchase. 

 

Education Fundamentals already includes:

Email, Calendar, Meet (for 100 participants), Cloud Storage, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Form, Classroom, Assignments, Sites, Groups and Tasks

 

Google Workspace for Education Standard

As per Education Fundamentals plus additional security features (Prevention of threats, remediate phishing and spam etc.)

 

Teaching and Learning Upgrade

As per Education Fundamentals plus Google Meet up to 250 participants, Additional features in Meet (interactive Q&A, polls, breakout rooms)

 

 

For more information or to arrange a demo, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 

4. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: SLA Online contract cancellations

Cancelling an annual contract for Google NSIX emails, Chromebook Management or Microsoft O365 email accounts

 

If you do not wish to renew an annual contract for email/chromebook management services, please email details of the contracts you wish to cancel to ict@norfolk.gov.uk and we will remove the relevant item from SLA Online. Please ensure that you notify us in writing or email of any cancellation by 31st March 2022 before the contract renewal is rolled forward into the next 12 months. 

 

Please note that unticking any items under 'Annual order', will not cancel the contract renewal.

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 

5. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Cyber Security Information Session - 17th March 2022 at 15:30

Further to MI Sheet 37/22 we are pleased to extend our Cyber Security Information session on Thursday 17th March to include sessions from the Police on their Cyber Security initiatives available to Schools, as well as the Cyber Resilience Programme offer from Secure Schools.

 

The session will be with ICT Solutions, Secure Schools and Norfolk Police and an agenda can be found here

 

Register your interest:

If you would like to attend this session, please register your interest via this form so we can send the invitation out to you.

 

The session will be recorded and made available for anyone who is unable to attend on the day.

6. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Input required - Future network connectivity requirements

The current Updata infrastructure contract, which provides broadband connectivity to over 250 schools and academies, is due to expire on 31st March 2024.

 

Due to infrastructure changes, it will not be possible to continue with the Capita Updata service in its current format after this date. Although this seems a long way away, Norfolk County Council (NCC) ICT Solutions are already beginning to review options for providing connectivity to schools and academies post April 2024.

 

To enable us to produce a Statement of Requirements (SOR) we are looking for feedback on the following to help shape the future contract(s):

 

  • Your future connectivity requirements for education
  • Your future upload and or download requirements
  • Safety and security requirements, such as filtering
  • Additional features as part of the package, such as remote access products
  • Your support requirements
  • Contract length
  • Any other feedback

 

Please can you complete the following form, which can be found here by 1st April 2022. 

 

 

7. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Google sign-in will soon require JavaScript - Changes from 24th March 2022

Starting on March 24, 2022 users who try to sign in to their Google account from a browser that doesn’t have JavaScript enabled will receive an error message along the lines of:

 

Your browser you’re using doesn’t support JavaScript, or has JavaScript turned off.

To keep your Google Account secure try signing in on a browser that has JavaScript turned on.

 

The above message may differ slightly, depending on the browser being used.

 

The way to resolve the issue is to switch on JavaScript in your browser or use an alternative one. Further details can be found here

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 

8. SMART technologies - Little and often webinars during March and April

The below may be of interest to those schools/academies who use SMART interactive products.

 

We have been notified that SMART’s Professional Development Specialist and former teacher, Mark Hartwright, will be holding 20 minute sessions, every 2 weeks, to show staff how to get more out of your interactive technology.

 

For more details and how to register, please visit the link here

 

9. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Changes to Google Workspace applications search - March 29th 2022

Please note: The following only applies to staff members

 

We have received notification that Google are introducing changes to the Google Workspace apps search experience.

 

A new end user setting on the ‘My Activity’ page called Google Workspace search history will be implemented. This means end users will be able to control the storage of their core Google Workspace services search history data after March 29th, 2022.

 

To get to My Activity, within your Google account go to - Data and Privacy > History > My Activity

 

Users who have Google Workspace search history enabled and perform searches in Google Workspace apps like Gmail and Drive - will see their search history shown as suggestions before or as they type their searches in these products. These apps will show a message letting users know that search history is enabled.

 

In addition to the new Google Workspace search history setting, the end user Web & App Activity setting will continue to exist. However, Web & App Activity will control storage of search data from Additional Google services only and will remain disabled by default for new users.

 

Important details about the new search history setting

 

  • The new Google Workspace search history setting will be on by default but all users will have the option to turn it off.
  • Users will be able to control how long their Google Workspace search history is stored.
  • Users will have any existing data retention settings in Web & App Activity applied to Google Workspace search history. The default time period for the data retention setting is 18 months.

 

Users with Google Workspace search history enabled will also be able to see and delete their search data, and to opt out of collecting this data altogether.

 

Note: Google Workspace does not use Customer Data for advertising purposes.

 

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

 

10. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Phishing/Scam emails - please remain vigilant

As the end of the financial year approaches, we are seeing the level of phishing/scam emails increase, with items such as tax ‘refunds’, invoices urgently needing to be paid etc. Please can we remind people to remain especially vigilant and not click any links or divulge passwords etc.

 

A guide to help staff can be found here

 

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk 

 

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