Newsletter No.48
Online Workshop
Quite a few people expressed an interest in the 'Online Workshop' that we mentioned in the last newsletter. The date for the event is 22nd September and the venue is The Lady St Mary First School in Wareham.The workshop will take place from 1 pm until 4 pm. We have not yet managed to finalise the programme but it will consist of some (if not all) of the following:
1) Merlin
2) Music Online
3) Just 2 Easy
4) Online books
5) Incerts (assessment)
This event is free to Lifeline Subscribers (up to 2 people per school). To book a place please fill in this form or contact Jan on 01202 657252 - email office@lexiconlifeline.co.uk
www.lexiconlifeline.co.uk
Our website has had a major overhaul and can now be found at www.lexiconlifeline.org.uk as well as the normal address.
This is the first stage of a move to put a lot more information on-line. Each school will (eventually) have their own login and be able to view visit records, support time remaining and request visits.
We invite you to take a look and would be grateful for any comments that you have.
Just 2 Easy news
Our last newsletter was noteworthy in that it did NOT have any j2e news. The reason was that 2 major upgrades were being developed. These are now complete and if you logon to j2e with a school account you should find that the text can speak.
There are various options including 'talk as you type', selecting words and making them speak, adding a talk button to a webpage or creating 'talking' objects. For further information click here.
Try it out by clicking on this text.
Additionally j2e can now use symbols - a real boon for schools that use 'Writing with Symbols'. This is a chargeable upgrade, even for Lifeline schools, although we can supply it at a discount. Examples are here.
Quite a few people expressed an interest in the 'Online Workshop' that we mentioned in the last newsletter. The date for the event is 22nd September and the venue is The Lady St Mary First School in Wareham.The workshop will take place from 1 pm until 4 pm. We have not yet managed to finalise the programme but it will consist of some (if not all) of the following:
1) Merlin
2) Music Online
3) Just 2 Easy
4) Online books
5) Incerts (assessment)
This event is free to Lifeline Subscribers (up to 2 people per school). To book a place please fill in this form or contact Jan on 01202 657252 - email office@lexiconlifeline.co.uk
www.lexiconlifeline.co.uk
Our website has had a major overhaul and can now be found at www.lexiconlifeline.org.uk as well as the normal address.
This is the first stage of a move to put a lot more information on-line. Each school will (eventually) have their own login and be able to view visit records, support time remaining and request visits.
We invite you to take a look and would be grateful for any comments that you have.
Just 2 Easy news
Our last newsletter was noteworthy in that it did NOT have any j2e news. The reason was that 2 major upgrades were being developed. These are now complete and if you logon to j2e with a school account you should find that the text can speak.
There are various options including 'talk as you type', selecting words and making them speak, adding a talk button to a webpage or creating 'talking' objects. For further information click here.
Try it out by clicking on this text.
Additionally j2e can now use symbols - a real boon for schools that use 'Writing with Symbols'. This is a chargeable upgrade, even for Lifeline schools, although we can supply it at a discount. Examples are here.
Summer Holiday Edition
Windows 7
Microsoft have announced that the new version of Windows -simply titled Windows 7 - will be released on October 22nd. Whereas Windows Vista had issues that meant it has not been widely adopted in schools, Windows 7 seems to have addressed those problems.
In particular some older software did not run on Windows Vista. This has been solved in Windows 7 by enabling older software to run in a virtual copy of Windows XP. According to a Microsoft presentation this should be transparent to the user once it is setup.
Windows 7 is also supposed to be faster and less memory hungry than Vista - some people have even reported that it is faster than XP.
It is designed to sleep and resume quicker, and spot USB devices faster. It should also use less power so that laptops running on battery should be able to be used for longer.
Added support for touchscreens has been added which will be of particular interest to some special schools but also opens up possibilities for younger children in schools.
Schools will need the 'Professional' version to enable computers to connect to their networks. There is also a 'Starter' version for netbooks (mini laptops).
The minimum memory requirement is 1gigabyte but we would recommend that computers running Windows 7 have at least 2 gigabytes of memory. Consequently all our quotations for new computers will have at least 2 gigabytes of memory.
Fujitsu have announced that all new computers purchased that have been manufactured after 30th June 2009 will have a voucher for a free upgrade to Windows 7.
This means that all our special build PCs and laptops will be able to be upgraded to Windows 7 free of charge.
The only concern we have is over the licencing. This is fairly complex and we are investigating the most effective way to deal with this.
If you can't wait until October then you can download a copy that will work until June 2010 from here.
And just to put the cat among the pigeons, Google have announced the release (in 2010) of their own Chrome operating system which is designed (initially) for netbooks.
Microsoft have announced that the new version of Windows -simply titled Windows 7 - will be released on October 22nd. Whereas Windows Vista had issues that meant it has not been widely adopted in schools, Windows 7 seems to have addressed those problems.
In particular some older software did not run on Windows Vista. This has been solved in Windows 7 by enabling older software to run in a virtual copy of Windows XP. According to a Microsoft presentation this should be transparent to the user once it is setup.
Windows 7 is also supposed to be faster and less memory hungry than Vista - some people have even reported that it is faster than XP.
It is designed to sleep and resume quicker, and spot USB devices faster. It should also use less power so that laptops running on battery should be able to be used for longer.
Added support for touchscreens has been added which will be of particular interest to some special schools but also opens up possibilities for younger children in schools.
Schools will need the 'Professional' version to enable computers to connect to their networks. There is also a 'Starter' version for netbooks (mini laptops).
The minimum memory requirement is 1gigabyte but we would recommend that computers running Windows 7 have at least 2 gigabytes of memory. Consequently all our quotations for new computers will have at least 2 gigabytes of memory.
Fujitsu have announced that all new computers purchased that have been manufactured after 30th June 2009 will have a voucher for a free upgrade to Windows 7.
This means that all our special build PCs and laptops will be able to be upgraded to Windows 7 free of charge.
The only concern we have is over the licencing. This is fairly complex and we are investigating the most effective way to deal with this.
If you can't wait until October then you can download a copy that will work until June 2010 from here.
And just to put the cat among the pigeons, Google have announced the release (in 2010) of their own Chrome operating system which is designed (initially) for netbooks.
Summer Holiday Edition
Summer Holiday Edition
