Education and Technology

As I start back to work Monday, I look forward to new horizons, challenges and a better Edutechation.com. The items in this look back are items that did well, FCAT posts, and items that show the direction I have started to take as the New Year begins in earnest.

• New Baby is Here – The birth of my son.
• Twitter and Facebook – Are the useful in Education? – Social Media in schools?
• Delicious as a Tool for Teachers – Social Media in schools?
• The 5 Things To Do before Calling Tech Support – You can help youself, really!
• FCAT 2009 Underway – Prediction on Scores – One of my biggest posts of the year.
• Service Desks Need Real Techs – Real people that have actual tech experience, not someone reading a script.
• Bleeding Edge Technology in the Public Sector – It takes longer than most people realize to migrate to new software.
• Stimulus Money Getting to the Right People? – We got money, but did the government get it to the right people?
• Reading Under the Stars – This is what Elementary School and teaching is all about.
• Technology Can Hinder Education – Technology, yes but is it adequate?
• Students Are Affected by Teachers – Teacher can make a difference and the students can see that.
• I’d Rather Have A Root Canal – Our personal experiences shape our lives.
• Budget Cuts Mean Layoffs – Being shortsighted leads to problems.
• Family Before Anything Else – If you don’t take care of the family, everything else has no balance.
• Manatee School District Hurting or Helping Students? – A case where common sense is absent.
• Teamwork is Nice, But Do It Yourself is More Reliable – Sometimes you need to step to the plate and win the game.
• FoxNews Clueless on Education and Safety – Media and their one sided, uneducated view of education.
• Technology Doesn’t Help Without Parent Support – You can’t do it all, parents have to be involved.
• Set a Goal and Reach It – Singapore Marathon 2009 – A friend shows us what you can do if you try.
• Runas Command for Elevated Privileges – You don’t have to run as an administrator all the time.
• A Date Which Will Live In Infamy – My birthday and no one teaches about Pearl Harbor. Lest we forget our history.
• When Outlook Express Won’t Delete Emails – This is the direction I am taking Edutechation.com. Tech Support.
• Rain Man, Kim Peek Passes Away – We are all different, we all need someone to teach us at our level with respect.
• Happy New Year – Goals, not Resolutions. If we set goals we are more apt to complete them.

The last 5 or 6 links are the direction of Edutechation.com. Real life, how does it affect me, education and technology. Straight from the hip, all connected in one way or another, but all different.

Technology, Society, Education, School, Personal Development

School started for us on Monday. It was a busy day with new laptops and docking stations connected to the ActivBoards. It went quite well for the first time having teachers use them in the wild world of a realtime classroom.

Some of the new technology advancements that we start the year with are:

• New teacher and student laptops
• Wireless campus
• New assessment labs (3)
• New web based technology service request option
• New email and collaboration systems

It was a pretty smooth transition to Sharepoint and Outlook 2007. We actually rolled them out the last 2 weeks of the school year in May, but with a summer of non use I did a technology institute on both for 2 1/2 hours on Friday with great turnout. As we move forward I have created a tutorial course in our Angel Web learning system for the teachers and staff to get help when they need it. I will also use it to teach different initiatives that we put in place during the year.

The wireless install went very well and the testing also went better than I had hoped as I was able to work with our best network technician at the main school offices to troubleshoot any issues. Along with the wireless we had 3 rooms revamped to become assessment labs, intensive learning labs and a graphic design lab. These labs are getting up to speed as we work through the first week of school.

The new laptops and desktops for the labs are part of our equitable learning, technology refresh program that is replacing old technology every 4 to 5 years. As a school with older technology we were part of Phase 1. You can see the difference in the students using laptops at their desks versus a limited amount of desktops at a fixed location. This is going to make the learning process more fluid and interesting. It opens the teaching possibilities for a classroom immensely.

Lastly, we have another option for getting service requests to me to help the teachers. This method is web based, does not require the teacher to go to the phone to call a service desk and is faster in response from their input to me receiving the request. I look forward to seeing improved service from Help!

And away we go into a new school year!

Technology, Outlook, Collaboration, Education