ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2 the IT coordinator was clearly identified as the member of staff who need to be prepared to offer ‘first aid’ technical help to teachers. Some understanding of the various functions of the machines and their connectivity is implied and hence this chapter is meant to be of assistance in sorting out the basics. Moreover your advice will (or should) be sought when new purchases are planned and in the best run schools you should be able to develop a short-, medium-, and long-term view when budgeting the resources devoted to this area. Hence information on computer hardware is presented here as an overview — it will be too little for some readers and too complex for others. Those of you faced with the prospect of advising the headteacher and governors on highly technical
Much of the technical advice below is taken directly from a series of leaflets published as Choosing and Using IT Equipment by NCET. With permission of NCET the leaflets used include: Computer Security; Evaluating CDROM titles; Local Area Networks; Using the Internet; Making Multimedia; Modems; Portable Computers; Printers; Cd-ROM drives; Data Logging; and Desktop, Computers. Other sources are acknowledged within the text.
