Fall 2007 Updates (Part 1)

This was going to be a really long post about everything we did over the summer and everything we are still working on. It was so long, it would have been Fall 2008 before I finished it. Therefore, in the interest of time and sanity, I am breaking it down into sections. Here is Part One of the Fall 2007 Updates.

District-wide Changes / Updates

Items of interest to the entire district include:

• Updated Web Site. Thanks to the tireless work of Mr. Keinath, the Web site has undergone a makeover. This is not just a change of graphics and updated schedules. No, we've rebuilt the site from the ground up with an eye on making it easier to update and easier to find information. After a couple months of making sure it is working as well as it should we'll start working on some more improvements we've dreamed up. If you have suggestions, criticisms, ideas, or dreams for the Web site make sure you tell them to Isaac or myself.
  
• Help Desk. Since I obviously have short-term memory issues, and a phobia about checking voice mail - not to mention short-term memory issues - I have installed a Help Desk application to keep track of everything that needs done around here. The idea is to 1) keep track of what needs done, 2) keep you informed of progress on the things that need done, and 3) keep a record on what has been done. This should allow us to see trends in the type of requests that are made concerning technology. With that information, we can do a better job of managing technology in the district. Plus, I have short-term memory issues that I don't think I mentioned yet.
  
  Anyway, the Help Desk app is located at http://crlxp01/helpdesk. (This only works inside the school buildings.) You can put in your own requests as well as view the status of requests you have already entered. Let me know if you have trouble using it.
• Server-related Updates. I'll discuss the new servers some in future posts, but since they affect the whole district, I will mention them here as well. We've purchased six new servers. Three servers will power the new Wyse Streaming Applications in the North and High schools. This is relatively new technology that allows students to run a full version of Windows XP and needed applications on a thin client computer. I'll try to post more info on this in the future. The remaining three servers replaced our two terminal servers. This paves the way for more thin clients in the classrooms. It also paves the way for...
• New Domain Controllers. Well, not precisely new - just newer than the current ones. The year-old terminal servers I replaced this summer will find new use as our domain controllers. The intent is twofold.
  
• One, remove the aging servers before they stop working. We've used these servers to control user logons, network security, printing, and a few other vital network functions for about two years longer than we should have. I really don't want to risk having catastrophic failure on the servers that control that much of our network.
  
• Two, the new servers are faster and have more memory than the old servers. This should decrease the amount of time it takes to log on to your computer. A related issue is our ScripLogic application that controls which printer you print to, where your My Documents folder is and numerous other functions. By moving it to one of these faster servers, we should see faster load times for it.
  
  This isn't an upgrade I am entering into lightly. If I am not comfortable with it, I am not going to risk destroying our network just to get it done. On the other hand, I strongly feel it is necessary to do this before we're forced to do it by aging hardware. Keep an eye out for updates.

I think that's the main points on the District-wide stuff. I'll discuss some building-specific updates over the next week.

Attention Crestline Teachers

I am spending the summer reviewing the way we use our servers. Since we have two very good file servers, I am removing files from some of our other servers. This will allow those servers to focus on specific tasks and simplify our backup strategy.
At the moment, I am moving files off of the old High School server. If you discover a folder called "From cresths-server" in your U:\ drive, it is files I found with your name on them. You may do with them as you wish.

teAchnology.com

I recently found teAchnology.com. It has rubric generators, worksheets, lesson plans, etc. Some of it is free and some of it requires a paid subscription. I need some feedback. Could some of you check it out and let me know if it would be worth purchasing a site license for all our teachers to use?

Either email me or send me an email to let me know what you think.

HelpDesk

I've had trouble keeping track of everything that needs done in the district. I also have no way to report on what has been done or how long it has taken to do. To rectify both situations, I am implementing help desk software.

To access the help desk, go to http://crlxp01/helpdesk. This will unfortunately only work from within the school buildings and administration offices. Once there: enter your email address, a brief summary of the problem or request, and a detailed description of exactly what is wrong or what you would like.

Please do not email your requests, leave voice mail messages with your requests, or stop me in the hall (unless you immediately follow up by submitting to the help desk). I forget verbal requests, lose notes and do not check voice mail frequently. By entering your requests in the help desk software you can be sure that they are checked frequently and that we can now account for how long it is taking to resolve requests.

Of course, you should continue to CALL MY CELL PHONE if there is an emergency.

Clip Art

In case you were looking for clip art...

Links

Mrs. Smith was nice enough to supply me with Mr. Loescher's Internet Site lists he used to send out. I'm going through and checking them:

1. To make sure they get through the filter
2. To make sure they still exist

I'm removing the dead sites and posting the rest to the side of this blog. They all get through the filter. Remember to email me if you need a site unblocked. I check them myself and then unblock them if they pose no threat.

The list of links isn't in any order other than the order I enter them. If they are useful to you, I'll try to organize them better. If they aren't useful to you, I may take them off altogether.

If We Taught English Like We Teach Mathmatics

Imagine that your only contact with "English" as a subject was through classes in school. Suppose that those classes, from elementary school right through to high school, amounted to nothing more than reading dictionaries, getting drilled in spelling and formal grammatical construction, and memorizing vast vocabulary lists -- you never read a novel, nor a poem; never had contact with anything beyond the pedantic complexity of English spelling and formal grammar, and precise definitions for an endless array of words. You would probably hate the subject.

Read the rest...

Curriki

Curriki is an open source curriculum wiki. Wow. That might need some explaining. A wiki is a website that allows anyone (or nearly anyone) to modify the content of the website. Open source is a phrase referring to making your content available to anyone else to use and modify for their own purposes. So, Curriki is a website that allows you to create curriculum for others to use/modify as well as a place for you to find curriculum created by others.

Oh, and it also allows you to create your own textbook!

Passwords

One of the things for which I'm paid is to be paranoid about our network. I imagine scenarios like a student learning a teacher's password and changing grades in ProgressBook, a student releasing a virus in our network which shuts everything down (including phones), or even someone with little to no connection with our schools being able to cause trouble on the network. Hopefully, you can help us all feel better by thinking about your passwords a little.

Passwords are the first line of defense against malicious attacks on the network. If someone meaning harm cannot even get access, then they are limited in what they can do. Or, if they cannot log in as someone with access to information - same thing. On the other hand, if they can log in as someone with access, then they can cause quite a bit of grief.

With that in mind, here are some tips I copied from a SecurityFocus article called "The Simplest Security: A Guide to Better Password Practices":

1. No Dictionary Words, Proper Nouns, or Foreign Words - There are programs freely available that can check your password against thousands of words in a few minutes. It would literally take 15 minutes for someone to crack your password if it is an actual word. These programs even try foreign and backwords words, so don't think you're any safer trying those.
2. No Personal Information - It is really easy to find your birthday, Social Security number, anniversary, family member information, pets' names, etc. You may even share that info in class or in casual conversation. Don't make your password something you share openly.
3. Length, Width and Depth - Want to know how long your password would last if a program checked every possible combination? Notice how adding one character to your password significantly lengthens the amount of time it would take someone to crack it. Notice also how much time is added if you use things like upper and lower case, numbers, punctuation, etc. Microsoft recommends the following:
1. Not contain significant portions of the user's account name or full name
2. Be at least six characters in length
3. Contain characters from three of the following four categories:
1. English uppercase characters (A through Z)
2. English lowercase characters (a through z)
3. Base 10 digits (0 through 9)
4. Non-alphabetic characters (for example, !, $, #, %)

Here's a few final suggestions. Don't share your password with anyone! Don't use regular words. Don't write your passwords down (the oldest trick for stealing passwords is to look for it under the keyboard or in a drawer). Change your password frequently.

One way to create a secure password is to combine numbers with words. For example, take a year like "1999" and a word or name like "Prince!" and combine them like this: "P1r9i9n9ce!" You now have a 10-digit password that isn't a word, uses upper and lower case with numbers and punctuation, isn't personal information, and is easy to remember without writing it down.

March Tech Coordinator Meeting

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of area technology coordinators at NCOCC. I wanted to pass along a few items from the meeting.

• If you are interested in learning about how to use blogs/wikis/podcasts for your class, let me know or talk to Cheryl Cronbaugh. NCOCC is considering offering classes in these subjects but they need to see (an educational) need first.
• There should be no major changes this year in ProgressBook. The company that makes it is concentrating on fixing minor, buggy things. Cheryl Cronbaugh is on the committee to recommend enhancements for future releases. Contact her if you have any suggestions.
• On April 1st, the old (a year ago) email addresses will be permanently disabled. If you still receive email on those old addresses, you need to pass along your new address. Apparently, the old system is allowing spam email through. Removing that system will (hopefully) reduce the spam we receive.

That's the highlights. Feel free to contact me with questions.

PBS Starts Web Site for Teachers

"PBS Teachers is PBS' national web destination for high-quality preK-12 educational resources. Here you'll find classroom materials suitable for a wide range of subjects and grade levels. We provide thousands of lesson plans, teaching activities, on-demand video assets, and interactive games and simulations. These resources are correlated to state and national educational standards and are tied to PBS' award-winning on-air and online programming like NOVA, Nature, Cyberchase, Between the Lions and more."

They also have professional development opportunities and an online store.

Fun With Maps

Here's some interesting map-related links I've found recently:

• "If you dig straight down, where will you end up?" -- The age-old question, finally answered! (And no, it isn't China.) This is an interesting use for Google Maps. Pick a point in the world, and it will show you where the exact opposite side of the world is.
• Worldmapper is creating maps that change the size of territories based on statistical data. For example, the USA is huge on the defense spending map, and smaller on the population map.
• WIKISKY is an interactive sky map. Click on a celestial object and get pictures and lots of info.
• Social Explorer has hundreds of maps showing historical demographic data for the United States.
  

That's all I have for now. I'll post more as I find them.

Blogging

It occurred to me that maybe blogs are a good way for teachers to communicate with their classes or with parents. They could also be a way for administrators to reach out to the community. Blogs are free to set up and easy to maintain. We can link to them from the school's Web site.

If anyone is interested in getting started in blogging, let me know!

Homework

This certainly isn't what I had in mind for one of my first posts here, but I came across this article tonight while doing my nightly reading. I hope I'm not stirring up anything here, on the other hand, I like to question the status quo. If you ever think that there is a better way for us to run our network or use technology, let me know!

Returning to the article (I didn't forget!) -- what do you think? Is homework always necessary? If so, are there better ways to do it? Is there anything that the lowly tech coordinator can do to help?

Let me know in the comments!

Welcome

This is the beginning of an experiment. I frequently come across new technologies or old technologies used in new ways and wish to share them with all of you. I also find articles on the Web that discuss issues in education. Sometimes I want to let everyone know about the projects in the works or the things I'm thinking about trying for the district. This is a way for me to let you know about these things. More importantly, it's a way for you to give me your feedback on them.

So, feel free to use the comments area below to tell me what you think about these posts. You can also respond to other peoples' comments and share opinions and experiences with each other through this blog. Hopefully, I can fill this with enough interesting material that it will be worth your time to check once in a while!