Search results matching tag 'SIF uk'

BETT 2009 survey reveal significant momentum towards joined-up services

admin — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:20:00 GMT

Snippets from the article:

45% of respondents felt interoperability was the most important factor, 37% chose reporting and just 18% deciding upon administration. The survey polled 100 teaching and school staff on hot topics surrounding technology.

“Creating a network of systems that can talk to each other without manual intervention has been a goal within education for a number of years and SIF is certainly a good start to achieving this – the private sector has seen great success in similar initiatives such as SOA and education should be no different,” said Roger Plant, Education Systems Director, Pearson Phoenix. “As an MIS provider, we have worked hard to maintain open standards within e¹ and as a web-based application it is far easier to accomplish than many proprietary, on-site solutions. Many schools and local authorities are already well underway with running interoperable systems with e¹, not only alongside our sister company learning platform, Fronter, but also with systems such as cashless catering and biometric registration.”

Original Source:

http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=18705&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Edustructures Delivers the United Kingdom's First Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF®) Implementation

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:51:00 GMT

Edustructures Delivers the United Kingdom's First Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF®) Implementation ...
American Digital Networks (press release), MD - 16 minutes ago
SALT LAKE CITY-(Business Wire)-July 31, 2007 -

Leading SIF Provider Implements Successful Proof–of–concept at Birmingham LA; Results to Inform SIF Implementations Across the UK

Edustructures, the leading provider of Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF®) solutions for the pK–12 education market, today announced the company has successfully completed the United Kingdom's first schools interoperability proof–of–concept (POC) project using the SIF standard. At the core of the POC SIF implementation is the SIFWorks® Enterprise Zone Integration Server (ZIS) from Edustructures, currently the only ZIS available to support the UK SIF specification. Chosen by the British Educational Communications and Technology Authority (Becta) to implement this strategic project, Edustructures worked with key suppliers and educators in the UK to architect the SIF UK data model based on the SIF 2 Specification and customized to address the unique data management needs of the UK. Initial work was based on the UK's Common Basic Data Set (CBDS) and other specifications. Becta is the UK Government's key partner in the strategic development and delivery of its information and communications technology (ICT) and e–learning initiatives.

...

BECTA releases Final Report on Proof of Concept 1 (Birmingham)

andy — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 12:36:00 GMT

Becta has released an independant final evaluation report on their first Proof of Concept of the Schools Interoperability Framework, which was held in the Birmingham Local Authority. The report was written by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report outlays what the PoC entailed, feedback from the stakeholders, and the key findings from the PoC.

Excerpts:

True interoperability requires a paradigm shift in work practice and mindset; rather than capturing data into one place to allow access and sharing, interoperability enables different systems to communicate and work together with data flowing freely between the systems. Interoperability can facilitate the use of data across a wide range of systems where data is entered once, used many times and with minimal human intervention and can allow greater flexibility of choice in determining whether or when to use data warehouses....
Becta published a report (April 2007) that looked at interoperable solutions for MIS in the schools sector.4 The strategic case for SIF provided an outline case for the adoption of open standards and an interoperability framework in the collection and use of school and pupil data. The report recommended adopting the schools’ interoperability framework (SIF).
The strategic case for SIF recommended a full evaluation of SIF use within the UK schools sector. The Proof of Concept in Birmingham is the first step in this evaluation process.

Read Entire Report....

The strategic case for adopting SIF within the UK

andy — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:06:00 GMT

Becta have released a report that was conducted by Price Waterhouse Cooper entitled "The strategic case for adopting the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) within the UK".

In the report, they also compare SIFA to other standards bodies and SIF to other standards, such as ISO, IMS, e-GIF, and more. From the report:

Currently the only standards body that develops school specific standards is SIFA. SIFA provides a holistic approach to interoperability that includes robust governance arrangements and a transport mechanism.

The report also offers three recommendations at the end. Read More....

SIF UK Specification released for public review

andy — Thu, 03 May 2007 09:27:00 GMT

SIFA UK are currently in a 30-day consultation period on the SIF Implementation Specification (UK) 1.0/ They are accepting comments from non-members as well as SIFA members on the specification. Read More....

SIFA UK Meetings, March 2007

andy — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 23:13:00 GMT

I'm now back from the SIFA UK spring meetings near Rugby in England. The weather was actually pretty nice most of the time, although there was some local flooding due to the amount of rain received recently. I spent some time getting to know Andrew Evans, who has started contributing to this site. I met a lot of other great people as well.

During the conference we had the pleasure of running a live SIF demonstration. SIF is always hard to demo, and this was no exception. We finally got connected about 10 minutes before the demo started. Most of the demo was explaining the work that's going on in the Birmingham POC. We also were able to demonstrate a live SIF Event being sent from the Arete agent to the Serco Facility system.Of course Capita and Netmedia were there with their agents as well, as well as a number of other vendors who have either started their agents or are planning to soon.

I talked to many different suppliers who all had different interoperability needs. Areas such as attendance, assessments, Shibboleth ( as it relates to identity management), content, and pupil mobility were all areas of discussion. I also learned what a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) or learning platform is and consists of. The learning platform concept is much further advanced and formalized in definition in the UK than what I've seen in the states. There are definitely all kinds of potential interoperability needs between a VLE and other systems.

All in all, I was very pleased with the nascent SIF community that is beginning to form in the UK. They have a lot of vision and determination to succeed.

Schools Interoperability Framework

admin — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 05:00:00 GMT

From "Schools Interoperability Framework" by Andrew Evans...

Becta are running a proof of concept using the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF). The purpose of the POC is to see how SIF can be applied to education in the UK.

The Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) is a standard for defining how: -

systems communicate in schools;
data is described amongst systems;
the data is exchanged between systems.

SIFA UK launches a website

andy — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:27:00 GMT

The SIFA UK organization has launched a website with contact information and dates for upcoming events ( http://uk.sifinfo.org/ ).

Becta Promotes SIF to the Industry

andy — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:19:00 GMT

The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency or Becta "have taken SIF as one of the central strands in their multiple approaches to rationalising technology in the education sector." Becta are inviting industry suppliers to the SIFA UK quarterly meeting in March. Read More....

Serco new partnership with Edustructures

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 01:08:00 GMT

Serco is delighted to announce a new partnership with the leading schools interoperability
provider from the United States. The partnership with Edustructures is recognition of Serco’s
commitment to whole school improvement and interoperability of education systems.
Edustructures is the recognised leader in schools interoperability integration solutions for the US
education market from kindergarten to 12th grade, through its SIFWorks® integration platform.
As a result of the new association between the companies Serco will become a Certified Solution
Provider of Edustructures’ SIF-based solutions and act as a sales and support channel in the UK.