Webanywhere sponsor league champions!

Whitehill6

Webanywhere are proud to be the new shirt sponsor of the Whitehill Community Academy football team.

The team are currently on a roll – Champions of the East Calderdale League, and unbeaten in 18 months. They are also playing in the semi-final of the Calderdale Cup this afternoon, and will be wearing their new shirts with pride as they go after yet more silverware.

The team paid our offices a visit yesterday to show off the new kit, take a look around and meet some of our team. They also took full advantage of the table football and pool table in our canteen!

We would offer to play them, as several members of the Webanywhere team meetup to play football every week, but judging by recent performances Whitehill would run rings around us!

We wish the team every success, and are sure they will represent the Webanywhere logo admirably. Whitehill are an enthusiastic user of our products, including primary learning platform Learnanywhere and Student Jotter, our E-Portfolio and safe internal social network, and we are delighted to be able to show our support back.

Whitehill3

Indonesian School visits WebAnywhere

Sean+Gilligan+blog+-+Indonesian+visitors

I was delighted to host a visit today from two teachers at the Pondok Pesantren Darunnajah Islamic Boarding School in Indonesia, and show them around the WebAnywhere office.

They are in the UK visiting The Holy Family Catholic School in Keighley, where I am a governor, as part of a teaching exchange programme funded by the British Council.

It was fantastic to hear their thoughts on the British educational system, and learn more about the picture in Indonesia.  Their school boards 2200 pupils, and conducts lessons 6 days a week (with Friday the only day off), with the pupils bringing their own laptops into lessons.

As Webanywhere expands internationally it is great to speak to as many educators from around the world as possible to find out what their experience of ICT in education has been, and their thoughts on its future.

The Academies Show 2012

photo4

Today saw the return of the Webanywhere team to the Olympia in London, promoting our range of online learning solutions at The Academies Show 2012.

We were up bright and early to set up our stand and prepare for the influx of teachers, bursars, governors and educational leaders, all gathered to pick up some invaluable information on the Academies programme.

I’ve spent a busy morning chatting with those at the sharp end, meeting with educators to discuss the issues surrounding Academies, and what Webanywhere can offer.

The show has put on a fantastic programme of lectures and seminars conducted by those implementing the national education agenda and those overseeing the Academies programme, providing some extremely useful guidance.

I haven’t had chance to catch as much of it as I would have liked to so far, as it has been all hands on deck at stand 54, with the Webanywhere team fielding enquiries and providing practical demonstrations of our range of learning software.

Webanywhere have established partnerships with many Academy schools, providing market leading learning platforms, social networking & e-portfolio systems and school websites. We‘ve helped new Academies to hit the ground running and realise the potential of online technology to enhance learning, improve efficiency, and strengthen links with parents. I’m sure today will see the start of several new partnerships.

If you’re coming down this afternoon, please stop by stand 54 and say hello.

The new IMLS framework for schools

webanywhere-wide

On 26th March 2012, the Department for Education announced the introduction of the new IMLS framework for schools. The Information Management and Learning Services Framework is designed to support educators in procuringmanagement information systems (MIS) and learning services (VLEs / learning platforms, etc).

Issues with ICT provision

Back in September 2010, a report from Becta found that schools weren’t getting good value for money from their MIS systems. A lack of competition and confusion over decision making in local authorities had led to a stagnant marketplace that put pressure on school budgets.

To counter the problem, the government set up the IMLS framework. As a trusted supplier of ICT solutions, I’m proud to announce Webanywhere are part of this new framework.

The IMLS framework solution

After consulting a wide range of stakeholders, including schools, local authorities and regional broadband consortiums, the Department for Education came up with the framework to deal with a set of common key issues.

Using the framework, schools can now go through choose from a group of pre-approved ICT suppliers to get the best deal for their school.Furthermore, to ensure there’s no problems in the future, the process is legally compliant and as simple as possible.

What this means for schools

Using the new ILMS framework, schools can now select from suppliers on 2 ‘lots’ on the framework. Lot 1 covers MIS and financial systems. Lot 2 covers learning platforms. When choosing from an ICT solution from either lot schools can:

  • Get a better deal by encouraging suppliers to compete against each other
  • Choose directly from the list of reliable suppliers with little need for negotiation
  • Reference a pricing matrix for easy benchmarking and budgeting
  • Promote interoperability – the sharing of data between different suppliers

The next step

Schools wanting to use the IMLS framework can get started soon. For now though, there’s plenty of help and advice via the Department for Education website. At Webanywhere, we all want to make purchasing ICT solutions as simple as possible, so we’ll also be keeping everyone up to date with the latest important information.

If you have any further questions about the framework, please contact us.

Webanywhere are at Learning Technologies 2012

photo1

With the BETT show only just finished, I’ve dashed down to London again for another big date in our calendar; the 2012 Learning Technologies Exhibition. Held over the 25th and 26th of January in the Olympia 2, London, it’s a showcase of the best technology and innovations designed to support workplace learning.

After an early start setting up at stand 14, we’ve had loads of visitors so far, making it a busy, but exciting morning.

Delegates have been chatting with us about all aspects of workplace learning, from consultancy to support. They’ve also been interested in live demonstrations of our open source training solutions, including the fantastic Totara LMS.

Of course, me and the Workplace Learning team are still looking forward to the rest of the exhibition. Here at Webanywhere, the idea of lifetime learning is key to what we do, so I can’t wait to show off our latest innovations and find out what the other exhibitors have been getting up to.

I’m at the show with both Martin Judd and Conor Gilligan, two experts in e-learning, training and development who are ready to offer their tips, ideas and advice. So, if your at Learning Technologies, or in the area, please do come and say hello at stand 14.

Welcome to BETT 2012

sean

Yesterday I travelled all the way down to London with the team for the first day of the BETT Show 2012. We set up in the morning at Stand K49, and its been all go since then. With Wednesday traditionally meant to be a quiet day, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were rushed off our feet all the way till Saturday 14th of January when it finishes.

The show, for those of you that don’t know, is an annual event that showcases the best uses of ICT and e-learning in education. It’s a great opportunity for me and my staff to meet new customers and catch up with a few familiar faces too. The exhibition is also a big inspiration, with plenty of exciting demonstrations and eye-catching inventions.

We started the day with a Webanywhere presentation at the Google stand all about Google Apps. Then, we dived right in at our own stand with chats, coffee and demos of our software. My personal highlight was showing off the brand new version of our school website builder; School Jotter 2.

As well as a team at the stand, we also had our multimedia crew filming and snapping the event. Take a look at their BETT 2012 video round-up of the show, featured below.