ICT Helpdesk

The Guest Editor of this page is Douglas Harre.  Douglas is a Senior ICT consultant in the Ministry of Education's ICT Strategy Unit. He has particular responsibility for the ICT Helpdesk.

Prior to coming to the MoE Douglas worked in a variety of occupations as an ICT advisor, geography and outdoor education teacher, and tree planter.

What is the ICT Helpdesk for Schools?

The ICT Helpdesk is part of the Ministry of Education's official Digital Strategy for ICT in Schools.

We provide unbiased advice and guidance to teachers, principals and Board members. This can be everything from the instant request - "'my printer is not working" through to the more long term "I have $60,000 to spend on a new network - what should I buy?"

The Helpdesk was launched in early 2002 and by the end of the year had handled nearly 5000 calls from schools throughout the country.

What do people call about?

Every topic you can imagine!! The most popular single group so far has been help with the Microsoft range of products. The rollout in 2002 of this suite of products meant that many people were looking for assistance. Other popular areas are advice on printers and other hardware, the best choice for anti-virus software and Internet pricing plans.

What are the best methods for filtering and monitoring internet use?

This has been a common question!! However there is no one easy answer. There are quite few products on the market, and it is not always possible to compare them. A search on Google for "Internet filtering software" will turn up thousands of hits, mostly from companies advertising a wide range of products, services and approaches. There is an ongoing debate over the value and efficacy of such software. Most software based products need to be installed onto a server within the school. This is more efficient than installing programs onto individual computers. However smaller schools without a server can still use such software.

Monitoring software is used to track where users go, but does not block or filter sites. A popular one in local schools is Netmaster Office. This is available for free from the ICT Helpdesk. This product will track Internet use by computer, rather than by user. Upgrading the product gives more functionality. If you only require basic monitoring (and for many primary schools that is sufficient) then Netmaster will do the job very well.

Filtering software is available from a number of suppliers. Popular ones include Cyber Patrol (primarily for use on standalone computers) and Surf Control (which can also filter email). Products that run on the increasingly popular Linux platform include Squidguard, and Dans Guardian. These are both free products, but will require some specialized knowledge to install.

Some larger high schools have opted for solutions such as Web Marshal from Marshal Software, which provide a more sophisticated level of functionality, at a substantially higher cost.

What about a managed service?

This is another popular approach. In this case the school pays a monthly fee to a provider who does the Internet filtering on their behalf. All Internet traffic to and from the school is routed through the provider. One of the main advantages of this approach is that no software needs updating on your local computers - all the work is done by the provider!! Companies such as these usually provide other complementary services.  Examples of these products are LinkEd  and Watchdog.

The Helpdesk is a free service to New Zealand schools. We can be contacted by calling toll free on 0800 CallICT (22 55 42) or by emailing us at callict@tki.org.nz. Further information about the Helpdesk can be found here.