RTS is moving (don’t worry, it’s only round the corner)
Moving is always exciting. An opportunity for a complete clear out, taking in new surroundings and renewing focus. After a year in Kings Heath we were starting to outgrow our office.
What it meant, though, was that we needed to find new premises to house the RTS team. After an extensive search of Birmingham we settled on a lovely location just outside Solihull (we could be wrong but the air seems a little fresher out here).
The infrastructure is superb so the move won’t affect our ability to support our clients.
In case you need to update your records, our new address is as follows:
Central Boulevard
Blythe Valley Business Park
Solihull
West Midlands
B90 8AG
While we were at it we also updated our phone number:
0121 285 7222
How public service start-ups could transform Britain for the better
In the battlefield of IT provisions it is always good to be reminded of what we start-ups have over the public sector and large private companies. We thrive on the competition from big organisations and see the challenge they bring as a positive way to improve our business. This confidence is partly due to the knowledge of the advantages we hold.
Paul Miller, education evangelist and CEO of School of Everything, puts it well.
“Start-ups can find ways of connecting with public services by coming up with new ideas. But they are also small enough to talk directly to their users, learning how to improve their service day-by-day – something that the public sector struggles with because of the bureaucracy of change.”
“The capital efficiency [of start-ups] in creating innovation is unrivalled by anything in the public sector.”
UK’s young digital Britons want more technology in the classroom
Four out of five students in England and Wales would like to see more technology in the classroom according to fresh research by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. The research suggests that the nation’s young believe that technology can help them learn, with around 40% saying they would be interested in a greater use of interactive whiteboards. A similar number would welcome an increase in AV equipment such as DVD players.
The Ipsos MORI research questioned 2,447 11 to 16 year olds about their feelings towards technology in the classroom. Of the students questioned, over half wanted their teachers to use computers and the internet to help advance learning techniques.
NETSA’s Chief Executive Jonathan Kestenbaum was excited by the findings. “Young people will be at the heart of the digital economy so it’s promising to see school children embracing digital technologies not just as a form of entertainment, but as a way to learn. This doesn’t mean we have to rip up text books ‘California-style’, but rather look at innovative ways of learning which will best prepare children for the future.”
The research found that many students would indeed support Governor Schwarzenegger’s ‘California-style’ call to replace traditional text books with new technologies.
Young people are traditionally strong adopters of new technology. A recent study by Ofcom (The Communications Market, 2008) indicates that 81% of boys and 77% of girls aged between 12 and 15 have access to the internet. The large majority (70%) use it every day.
