tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9613886171645768262024-03-13T01:25:25.522-04:00Ed Tech AdministratorReflections from a K-12 Educational Technology AdminstratorSandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-86241665810811237202011-02-11T21:10:00.001-05:002011-02-11T21:10:16.686-05:00Playing with an Android tablet for education.<div><p>For the past few days I have been playing with an Android tablet to explore the possibilities of its use as a computing device for students. The Archos 101 is an inexpensive tablet with a 10.1 inch screen, 16gb of memory, a micro sd slot for more expansion, a vga webcam, and wifi.</p>
<p>The size, shape, and weight are excellent. The device is as thin as a magazine and has a built in kickstand to keep it at good angles both for viewing content and for typing. It is unnoticed in my briefcase and is as easy to carry as a legal pad.  The screen is big enough to easily read and the virtual keyboard is adequate if not just as good as a netbook. It can be held in one hand comfortably.</p>
<p>The screen on the 101 is not the greatest. The resolution is fine but the glare on the screen is terrible and the viewing angles are poor.  It is a magnet for fingerprints. That said, it is acceptable and I will be getting a screen protector that should make these issues easier to deal with.</p>
<p>Although the typing is OK I decided to plug a keyboard into the USB port just to see what would happen. It workded flawlessly with no setup at all.  So I tried a mouse.  That workded too. So did a keyboard with a USB port and a mouse at the same time. A USB flash drive worked just as well. I could view video, office files, and pictures with no issues. One thing that impressed me was the ability to see shared network folders and open and save documents to and from the network.</p>
<p>The wifi was shaky at first and I had trouble staying connected but it settled itslef down after a couple of days. Speed online was good and the browser was as good as a desktop browser.  Yes, flash works well for video but is iffy for interactive stuff. Using Google docs, dropbox, twiiter, Flickr, all worked very well.</p>
<p>The battery life is very good and should get students through a day pretty well.  The hardware seems relatively durable although a case would be a must for students use. For $300 the device seems pretty darn good.</p>
<p>But.. we are talking about education here. What can it do? Android has advertised itself with the slogan "Android Does". It is true. I can create and edit office docs easily. I can share those docs. I can colloborate live. I can take and watch video. I can research and take notes. I can check books out of the library and read. I can listen to music on surpringly good speakers or with a headset.  I can communicate through email, chat, twitter, facebook and almost any other social tool you'd like. In some cases better than on you PC. The apps are there. The Android developer tools and Google app inventor make it easy to create apps too.</p>
<p>In the next year we will see a good number of these tablets hit the market in a range of sizes and prices. Some will have 3g or 4g, some only wifi. As a learning tool these are flexible devices with a great range of applications. As a computing device they are powerful and accessible. As a communication and social device they are top notch.</p>
<p>Overall I give Android a huge thumbs up and this particular tablet a B+.  Better screen angles and a better out of the box experience could have pushed it higher as I had to tweak a few things to get it funtioning at its best. An Android tablet is looking like an attractive option for 1:1.</p>
</div>Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-43683423084739605632011-02-10T09:40:00.002-05:002011-02-11T21:10:40.684-05:00Finding the right one to one device<div><p>One to one computing is an interesting endeavor. In heading down this road things have changed a bit in the past yar or two.  The choice of devices is broader than ever and their capabilities vary significantly. Often schools choose their devices due to grants or discounts, financial restraints, one individual's preference, or specific program requirements.</p>
<p>In considering such a significant investment the most important factor is flexibility. The cost of this type of investment means the device must be able to meet a multitude of needs. What should a mobile computing platform be able to do? </p>
<p>Mobile computing for students must be able to offer a truly mobile platform to really engage students and level the playing field for all learners. This means the batteries need to last a whole school day. The device needs to be rugged enough to handle student abuse. It needs to be portable and affordable enough to give it to the students. Yep, give it to them. Take it home, make it yours, and use it.</p>
<p>It has to be able to be loaded with appropriate applications, documents, and books for learners. It has to be kept open enough to allow learners to fnd ther own programs without putting the whole school network at risk. It must have internet access and allow that access outside and inside of school. </p>
<p>More important than all of this, the device needs to allow students to create and share. It has to allow students to come up with their own ideas of what it should do and afford the capability of students to actually write progams for it. It needs to allow teachers to create learning oppotunities that they can turn kids loose on.</p>
<p>So... what does all of that mean? First of all it eliminates the handheld as it just doesn't have the screen real estate to meet these needs. Laptops are much cheaper than they used to be, but their batteries just don't hold up in the more affordable models. What else is there?</p>
<p>Tablets and netbooks are both affordable and have incredible battery life. Netbooks run standard windows software and have keyboards that allow for easy writing.  Tablets are extremely portable and their OS's pose little threat to networks compared to windows machines. Both are tough enough for our students to handle although kids will break anything no matter how tough.</p>
<p>Netbooks come in lots of flavors but they are all pretty similar.  They are small power sipping laptops that in their early days seemed underpowered. With new chips and some optimizations in software they are now pretty capable little computers that rival low end laptops. They usually lack an optical drive which is not as big an issue as it used to be. They can run just about any software you would run on a desktop save serious film editing and autocad. The are capable but not ideal for annotating other works, note taking, and book reading.</p>
<p>Conversely tablets are great readers. They excel at Internet browsing and consuming all sorts of content ad media. The iPad lacks flash but otherwise Android, Apple, Windows, and soon WebOS all have tablets available.  They are very engaging portable devices that fit nicely into the world of texting, portable gaming, and media consumption our students thrive in. </p>
<p>What about creation? Desktops have apps to create and share work easily. Netbooks can run most of it as well. Tablets? To a lesser degree but this post is being written on one. Tablets do make data collection, taking pictures and even movies (the iPad does noy habe a camera currently) very convenient. There is software available to do it all.</p>
<p>And programming? What about actually creating applications to solve problems? Can our students design their own apps? They can. All of these platforms have development tools. Google app inventor makes programing for Android accessible for anyone. Scratch runs on netbooks and soon on Android as well. The tools are there no matter which device we choose. </p>
<p>Netbooks and tablets, both compelling platforms.  Both much cheaper than the laptops of a couple of years ago.  Some of these aren't much more expensive than the TI graphing calculators we make many of our students purchase and then barely teach them to use.  As a matter of fact there are TI emulators for just about every platform and many are free.</p>
<p>Connectivity is another consideration in 1:1.  Schools are kind of strapped for bandwidth.  Most have about the same as you do at home with a cable Internet provider.  And wireless, well that's another issue entirely.  Think about the last time you went to a conference.  When hundreds of people are on the wireless network at once, how reliable is it?  Can schools provide enough to keep 400 students running at once- reliably?  They CAN, but it is expensive and short term.  </p>
<p>Wifi is a standard that is about to move to its next phase, wireless AC. Should we be investing hundreds of thousands into an infrastructure that will be outdated within a few years?  It is a tough call because we can't afford to wait.  How else can we get all of these devices the Internet access essential to make these devices reach their potential as learning tools?</p>
<p>Cellular IS an option although many discount it because of the cost.  Looking at it carefully, the costs are not as outrageous as you might think though.  Verizon will give a school a netbook for free with a $40 per month data package. 10 months of school is $400 per student.  Yes, it is a bit pricey, but the bandwidth, the device, the connectivity, are all the carriers responsibility.  They can provide filtering (required by CIPA). This has the added benefit of providing that Internet access at home, regardless of a family income and in most cases even the most rural locations with no high speed home access still get cellular coverage.  Talk about leveling the playing field, this does it very effectively! </p>
<p>Where does all of this leave us?  The answer is simple, there is no single solution.  The only question that needs to be asked though is "what do I want students to do?"  Once that is established the advantages and disadvantages presented here can be weighed.  Good Luck to those brave enough to make the decision and the commitment.</p>
</div>Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-86060932342627026132011-01-31T08:14:00.000-05:002011-01-31T08:14:17.394-05:00Arguing for the RetweetLately I have seen a number of admonishments toward the retweet, discouraging the practice and encouraging everyone to create original thoughts, ideas, and resources to tweet. This is contradictory in my opinion to how Twitter actually works.<br />
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I am not one of the "cool kids" in education, or ed tech for that matter. I don't have thousands of followers or readers. I don't keynote at conferences or write for the Huffington Post every few weeks. Very few people in the education community have heard me speak or read my few published pieces.<br />
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Let's say I post an excellent, but not well known resource or a really profound statement. Who will read it? How do I share it? I post it to twitter, so what. If by chance however it is retweeted by someone with a greater following the audience for that comment increases dramatically. The response increases as well. Possibly my audience increases as many who may not have followed me in the past decide now that they should.<br />
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This is how I follow new people on Twitter most of the time. I do not read every Twiiter post that hits my feed. I am pretty selective. When someone whose ideas and thoughts I respect posts something, I usually read it. When they retweet someone else's idea, link, blog post, etc. I often find a new resource for good information. If I find the information of value I add people to the list of those I follow. <br />
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So please, if you see something posted that you truly feel adds to the conversation, retweet it. There may be people following you that would otherwise miss it.Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-60192919420068519092010-09-04T07:10:00.005-04:002010-09-04T08:17:59.155-04:00The Real Gap in EducationThis week was the first week back for teachers in my new home district. Our Superintendent delivered the big welcome back speech in the auditorium just as happened in countless other small school districts across the country. She showed a video clip of Yong Zhao, an education professor, whose point was that there are important parts in education we are forgetting about because all of the focus is on test scores. ( <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNpZ60IJ42o">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNpZ60IJ42o</a> ).<div><br /></div><div>Her speech and this video inspired me to write on a blog I have ignored for some time. It inspired me because almost everything negative I hear about schools today is related to test scores, achievement gaps, dropout rates, and schools not meeting the needs of kids. It also inspired me because I have grown a bit weary and frustrated, feeling I listen to and speak in an echo chamber of educational technology proponents who "get it" but work in an environment where most do not.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have begun to realize it really isn't an echo chamber. The message that the educational technology community so passionately speaks of everyday is heard. Boards of Education, school leaders, and teachers hear it and get it. Unfortunately it is our policy makers and decision makers that do not.</div><div><br /></div><div>Herein lies the true gap in education. It is a gap of knowing and doing. Practicing educators- and many educational experts, bloggers, writers, and professors- know that education needs to focus on better teaching and learning with broader and deeper paths for our students to explore. The practitioners also know that they are only funded for the things that the government puts assessments on. They are also aware that only what is measured has any bearing on the perception of the job they and their students are doing.</div><div><br /></div><div>We are faced with a gap between knowing what is the right thing to do in education vs. doing what the federal and state governments insist we do based on standardized tests that measure a very narrow scope of what is taught and learned in schools. Most of us do what we are forced to. We design "curriculum" and teach what is going to be measured.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some of us realize, my Superintendent included, that we can go beyond this. We can teach art and music, be creative and passionate, use modern tools to design engaging and collaborative learning models, and think past the test scores.</div><div><br /></div><div>The gap between most of us knowing what we need to do and change in education versus what we actually do is caused (IMHO) by a few possible problems. Maybe Arne Duncan and the rest of the "educational leadership" that make policy decisions that effect our funding and national perceptions really don't get it Maybe they simply can't back it because the testing companies, textbook writers, and even the unions are blocking it because they don't know how to measure it. Could it be possible that those in power don't back it because the media can't sell it the way they sell how our schools are failing?</div><div><br /></div><div>I don't have a lot of answers. I do have an endless number of questions. I know that my own Superintendent encourages our teachers to be innovative, creative, passionate, and inspiring and she is not ready to judge any teacher based on standardized test scores alone. I know that when I introduced myself to the staff at our high school staff and said to them that my goal as Director of Technology was not to control the network but to leverage our technology to improve the learning environment for all and that the first thing I did was open Youtube for all teachers, our teachers actually cheered at me.</div><div><br /></div><div>The gap is simple. Most of us know what to do. Most know what needs to change. Many of us are not doing it. Many either don't have the support, don't have the tools, or don't have enough know how to do it. Some of us are actually blocked from doing it by a system where most of us get it, but our policy makers either don't get it or refuse to back it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yep, what many highly regarded bloggers and speakers say can frustrate our teachers. It can discourage them because they can't do what is suggested, what they know is right for kids. (This is a must read on the subject- <a href="http://weblogg-ed.com/2010/how-hard-is-too-hard/">http://weblogg-ed.com/2010/how-hard-is-too-hard/</a> ). More and more of those that are blocking educational change are "getting it". Maybe soon those that control policy, funding, and assessment will get it too.</div><div><br /></div><div>Stay passionate about what you know is right, do what you know you can do, and keep shouting it- even if some are frustrated or discouraged it. The more of us who practice what we preach there are, the more likely it is that those discouraged by it will take the stand and make their own changes as well. Close the gap between what you know and you do-please.</div>Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-73470414739420492022010-04-29T20:57:00.001-04:002010-04-29T20:57:14.951-04:00Test post<img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XCc3skGJo7Y/S9oq5yP0ckI/AAAAAAAAADY/7eE1gIuLRMI/Test%20post%20_img_1.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left cursor: pointer; width: 320px height: 240px; " height="240px" width="320px" /><br><br>Android test post<br />Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-82065839950137276932008-01-28T11:07:00.000-05:002008-01-28T12:11:41.328-05:00Educon Part 1 -Student Voice<a href="http://educon20.wikispaces.com/Agenda">Educon 2.0</a> is an event that will take a number of posts for me to truly express what I learned and experienced. I absolutely must begin by thanking Chris Lehman, Principal of the Science Leadership Academy for his hospitality and vision in hosting this conference and allowing us to see the incredible school that he leads.<br /><br />One of the initial differences I noticed at this conference was the "student voice". I attended an excellent session by <a href="http://blog.genyes.com/">Sylvia Martinez</a> of GenYes on the subject. We spent a good amount of time talking about how student voice is tokenized in many of our schools and what truly allowing students to have voice means in terms of integrating them into the decision making processes in schools.<br /><br />The Science Leadership Academy served as an excellent place to have this discussion. Students in this school sit on the hiring committees that interview new teachers. This is an amazing amount of "voice" to give students. One of the teachers (I apologize for not remembering your name) at SLA expressed his concern and asked the group if it was appropriate to allow a 15 year old high school student to make decisions that will effect a teacher's career and life. I found him afterward to continue the discussion.<br /><br />More and more, adulthood has been delayed. Responsibility, maturity, discretion, and professionalism have been put off until "kids" are in their mid-twenties. My argument was that we need to give kids the opportunities to learn these adult skills. I think the teacher began to agree. We cannot expect kids to use their "voice" maturely if we do not teach them how in REAL situations. This is an incredible way to do that. Much more powerful than letting them decide if they can have french fries during lunch, don't you think?<br /><br />"We're All Student Teachers" was another presentation that illustrated the power of student voice. It was conducted by <a href="http://myfla.ws/">Arthus Erea</a>, an amazing young man of 15, an edublogger instrumental in the creation of <a href="http://students2oh.org/">Students2.0</a>, and a learner. He led a discussion around the following 5 questions:<br /><ol><li>How can a wrinkled model of education be created</li><li>How can students be authentic leaders?</li><li>How can students direct their own learning?</li><li>How can students become teachers?</li><li>How will our perceptions of students and teachers change?<br /></li></ol>The last question was the one that seemed to spark the most discussion and we were all talking about it before we even "got to it" in the sequence of the questions. What became apparent to me is that teacher and student are poor terms. We are all learners in the classroom. Although usually it is the teacher that should be facilitating the learning, it does not always need to be. <br /><br />This realization came from a discussion led by a 15 year old "student". Arthus, you are truly a learner and a teacher. I would also like to thank the SLA students and Meg Peters (daughter of <a href="http://www.mtl-peters.net/blog/">Sharon Peters</a>) for sharing your voices with the rest of us during the session. If Megan has a blog someone please let me know! This was truly an example of a group of learners in a room, not students and teachers.<br /><br />As powerful as student voice was here, I am sad to say that the incredible panel of Sylvia Martinez, <a href="http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334.html">Joyce Valenza</a>, <a href="http://www.stager.org/">Dr. Gary Stager</a>, <a href="http://www.jakesonline.org/">David Jakes</a>, <a href="http://www.practicaltheory.org/serendipity/">Chris Lehmann</a>, and <a href="http://weblogg-ed.com/">Will Richardson. </a>Although I agree there is a place for experts and research, this particular discussion could have used that voice.<br /><br /><br />Students at this conference were not showpieces. They were not tokens. They had voices. People were listening to them. They were participants in the conversation. It is amazing to me that this is unusual in education. Thanks for reminding me that school is where we learn together, not where we just teach kids stuff.<br /><br />More to come on Educon soon........Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-4566567744259002632007-12-22T21:52:00.001-05:002008-12-13T02:13:27.789-05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwWxDRBRuwmqxQNJ2JbWdffUJvXZ0jlmwbhSCx2teuYs3qMeM32Lko2_zCbHOLFZm8OXuoWVTmZrEgW7LiPY146J6S_IDoOKYLAhDi_BG6yu3UQIB18TJJ_vs6uyx98nXvyeYG3dgJl5w/s1600-h/PICT3295.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 298px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwWxDRBRuwmqxQNJ2JbWdffUJvXZ0jlmwbhSCx2teuYs3qMeM32Lko2_zCbHOLFZm8OXuoWVTmZrEgW7LiPY146J6S_IDoOKYLAhDi_BG6yu3UQIB18TJJ_vs6uyx98nXvyeYG3dgJl5w/s320/PICT3295.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5146996167438423618" border="0" /></a>Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-70131521089441232052007-12-14T21:01:00.000-05:002008-12-13T02:13:27.924-05:00Social Networking - Is there a place in school?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCjjoOesUQZNavQxX0T4rofd2UCYfcFjrv1vcIOKhyphenhyphencJOsixQFzAlgwCD8ogbtKfbKBnIEqg0843UJOj0Nlqf2R6C0Mfv4dnnSB2dmhhw8H2jF2gNaiwS0Sx4pdjMBdS5cmEkQk_lOzO8/s1600-h/students-socialnet.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 166px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCjjoOesUQZNavQxX0T4rofd2UCYfcFjrv1vcIOKhyphenhyphencJOsixQFzAlgwCD8ogbtKfbKBnIEqg0843UJOj0Nlqf2R6C0Mfv4dnnSB2dmhhw8H2jF2gNaiwS0Sx4pdjMBdS5cmEkQk_lOzO8/s320/students-socialnet.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144015034933237298" border="0" /></a><br />Written for our school district newsletter, 12/15/7<br /><br />The National School Boards Association released a report this past summer urging schools to re-examine policies regarding social networking. The media, for the most part, has portrayed these tools as dangerous and unsafe for kids. Statistics however, do not support this perception. There are dangers, but they may not be as prominent as many of us think.<br /><br />Recently, Auburn Enlarged City School District has been engaged in conversations regarding social networking tools and whether or not there is a place for them in our schools. The technology planning team has been discussing the pros and cons to allowing students to access tools such as email, instant messaging, and other tools that, although relatively new to most adults, are central to how our students communicate.<br /><br />After initial discussions, the technology planning team felt it needed a student perspective and conducted a panel interview of students from Auburn High School. Our goal was to learn what students how our students were using social networks. Five students were asked a series of questions on social networking using video conferencing tools connecting the High School to the Harriet Tubman Administration Building where the Technology Planning Team meets.<br /><br />Some of the responses from our students came as a surprise to the group. We found our students had anywhere from 60 to 600 contacts on their “friends” lists. They are spending upwards of two hours a day communicating using these tools. More importantly, students said they would like to be able to contact teachers using these tools.<br /><br />Cyberbullying and harassment online are serious concerns of social networking tools. Students responded to these concerns, telling the group of the precautions they take to protect their online identities. They keep their profiles hidden and are very cautious with personal information. These are skills they have learned on their own. They deny access to anyone who is not on their contact lists and delete those they no longer wish to communicate with.<br /><br />The NSBA Report suggests students may learn online safety lessons better while they are actually using these tools. Most of these tools are currently blocked in our schools and teachers know little about them. The report asks schools to consider using social networks for staff communication and professional development. Increasing teachers’ comfort level and understanding of these types of tools will help them to understand the educational possibilities associated with these tools.<br /><br />No, AECSD is not allowing access to MySpace just yet. The district is exploring the tools that our current generation students are using and looking at how we may use them to an educational advantage while keeping our students safe and teaching them to keep themselves safe outside of school. We will continue to explore these tools, pilot small projects, and re-examine our policies in order to use the best tools we can to prepare our students to live and learn in the 21st Century.Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-13106916959111030762007-11-21T07:52:00.000-05:002007-11-21T08:34:26.185-05:00A night to settle.After talking with others and spending some more time thinking instead of just blathering out loud I have more questions than answers as usual. Gary Stager has done what he intended. He has made me question what our curriculum is and challenge my beliefs about learning. Question what school is in America today and what it should be tomorrow. Still however, I have no answers. All that I do know is that our current system is not great. It is not awful, but it is not great.<br /><br />I am still not sure what needs to be done to create a better system. How do you create a system of learning when you do not know what you want everyone to learn? We cannot predict the world of tomorrow well enough to know exactly what needs to be learned. So we must do more to teach the learning process to our kids. If we can create learners that can thrive well beyond any content we offer, then we are successful.<br /><br />How to do this in the confine of our current system of accountability and high stakes testing? I have no idea. How to do it in an age when students are using tools to communicate and learn that teachers do not understand? That one I can work on.<br /><br />Overall I have come to the realization that I have to stop looking to others for all the answers and just start listening to them to make sure the right questions are being asked. I have to make sure I keep learning. Gary is doing the right thing by not spitting out what he thinks the answer "might be". He is also not regurgitating information we all have already. He is thinking. He is forcing me to challenge my beliefs. I cannot thank Dr. Stager enough for that.<br /><br />I am not sure that those who I feel understand this big picture thinking have the right audience though. The ed-tech community in general is its own audience right now. Others need to hear it. The educational policy makers are the people who need to understand. Again the question, how do we begin to get them to challenge their thinking? One thing is for sure, the future can and will be a learning experience for all of us, if we are willing to learn.Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-24577734410144565592007-11-20T20:29:00.000-05:002007-11-20T20:34:32.299-05:00NYSCATE Closing KeynoteNYSCATE’s closing keynote this year featured two very well know speakers on Educational Technology. I was a fan of both coming into the keynote. I am not coming out, although I do still highly respect them both and will continue to follow both online.<br /><a href="http://www.weblogg-ed.com/"><br />Will Richardson</a> and <a href="http://www.stager.org/blog/">Gary Stager</a> took to the stage with a moderator and a series of questions. Will is well known for his blog and book on Blogs and Wikis. Gary is a nationally recognized speaker and has been a visionary in ed-tech for some time.<br /><br />The questions were designed to put them at odds, focusing on issues that the two were known to disagree on. Everyone was expecting a bit of rough and tumble in the conversation. <br /><br />It was played by both, although I heard “I agree with… but” way too many times from both of these gentlemen. Gary is very passionate and was compelling to listen to. Will was reflective and appeared a very good listener.<br /><br />I can’t help but express that I disagree with Gary on a number of his points. He stated that “all curriculum is bad”, suggesting we operate our schools without curriculum. He was clear in his belief that we should give all kids computers without any consideration to the readiness of the teacher. I cannot state how strongly I feel that we cannot provide any guaranteed quality of education without a core curriculum. I do feel that curriculum contains too much content and should be more skill based, but to suggest that teachers work with no curriculum and teach what kids might be interested in, might be current, might work, or what might spark the teacher’s passion with no clear path is irresponsible.<br /><br />Will talked about teachers effectively modeling good use of technology and be comfortable in an understanding of how a particular technology works before implementing it in a classroom. Gary doesn’t care if the teacher even has a computer. Gary’s thinking can only lead to inconsistent education for our kids, lack of alignment, and the schools with the most money and resources getting the best teachers and giving kids more opportunities.<br /><br />Will’s approach is more cautious. I agree with him that school needs to expand beyond the when and where we have kids in front of us and that time may even be able to shrink. Yet we still need to be their guide. Teachers need to know a clear path of what it is they want their students to be capable of accomplishing and guide them in the process to learn the skills they need. Teachers need to create the opportunities for learning and discovery and a place where they can make “safe mistakes”. If teachers do not understand the way students are doing their work, they cannot teach them safe, effective, ethical, enjoyable ways to learn. We need to stop worrying about the content, and allow students to discover and create the content while learning skills. Teachers cannot do this if they cannot model and guide the students. They cannot come close if they have no clue as to the environment they expect kids to do accomplish things in.<br /><br />I also did not agree with Gary that all kids need to learn more about how the computers they use work. He made it clear that he feels they all need to understand how the computers were programmed. Personally, I do not think this is at all essential. Just as many of us have no idea why our cars run when we turn the key, why our televisions show us pictures, or why our refrigerators keep our food cold; we do not all need to understand how to create a word processor that will allow us to move text the way we want.<br /><br />The conversation between Gary, Will and the moderator was civil and ended peacefully. It did what it needed to do, and that was to make me think. This was a great end to a conference and the fact that I am home writing this less than 3 hours after arriving home is testament to that. Thanks to both Gary and Will and the NYSCATE organizers as well.<br /><br />See the Keynote at:<br /><a href="http://weblogged-tv.wikispaces.com/NYSCATE">http://weblogged-tv.wikispaces.com/NYSCATE</a>Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-85632179798815481842007-11-20T20:16:00.000-05:002007-11-20T20:28:54.657-05:00NYSCATEAnother NYSCATE and as usual I still cannot believe how badly PowerPoint is used. Gary Marx, one of the Keynote speakers had one of the worst presentations I have seen in a long time. Slide after slide of bullet after bullet. He presented his “Sixteen Trends” which is more than can be absorbed in an hour and I could have read the book more easily than trying to keep up with his slides. His talk was good, just his use of multimedia slideshows was awful.<br /><br />There were many sessions on the use of MUVE’s (Multi-User Virtual Environments) and a playground featuring Twitter, Ning, and Second Life to expose teachers to some of these cutting edge uses of technology. These social networking tools are enabling teachers to explore and get comfortable with Social Networking. I believe they need to be comfortable before they can even explore how they might use them in schools.<br /><br />I had the great pleasure of meeting a number of people I have been networking with online and spent a good deal of time with <a href="http://www.victoriagloucester.com">Catherine Parsons (Victoria Gloucester)</a> and Nancy Sharoff (Laelia Laval), as well as going to sessions presented by <a href="http://blog.genyes.com/">Sylvia Martinez</a>, <a href="http://www.jakesonline.org/">David Jakes</a>, and <a href="http://www.weblogg-ed.com/">Will Richardson</a>. <a href="http://bcsmith.edublogs.org/">Brian Smith</a> and Andrew Wheelock were both involved with the conference organization and found the time to chat with me as well. I had the opportunity to chat with David in person for a bit as opposed to online, which is a rare treat. He is a real gentleman, a very smart guy, and great to chat with. His sessions along with Will’s Q and A session were the highlights. Thanks for the conversations David!Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-50834215344281320612007-11-06T11:00:00.000-05:002007-11-06T11:32:56.855-05:00Keyloggers?A school nearby has just uncovered the use of keyloggers to record passwords that they suspect has been going on for a long time. Students have used the passwords to access grades and change them.<br /><br />This is not anything shockingly new, but the newspapers have made it highly public and printed a full page article on what keyloggers are, how they work, and even where to get them. Brilliant!<br /><br />It looks like I need to get a memo out to everyone and possibly have my tech staff do some physical inspections. What a great use of our time and resources. *sigh*Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-60047894354003372102007-11-02T08:31:00.000-04:002007-11-02T08:44:24.695-04:00Forget the filter - The kids do!I needed to monitor an entire lab remotely the other day. The teacher was reporting problems and I needed to watch was happening to diagnose things. The kids have been warned in the past that this happens. I watched as computers booted up, students signed in and class began.<br /><br />About half way through the class, many of the students were no longer on task. Classroom management is not my job, although I did take some screenshots to let the teacher know what was happening. Then I noticed something strange.<br /><br />Three students were on MySpace, which is blocked by our filter. I began to look more closely. They were using two different proxies which is EXPRESSLY a violation of our acceptable use policy. I am not a big advocate of filtering to begin with. I am an advocate of teaching our kids to use technology responsibly. Circumventing school filtering is NOT responsible, ethical use.<br /><br />The kids were given a day of in school suspension. The teacher was talked to and some arrangements are being made to allow her to monitor the computers more closely. The proxies were blocked. The message got around school quickly and I have noticed an immediate change in how the kids are using their time online. They are learning their are consequences, which is good.<br /><br />Once all of that was settled, I looked a bit further into the use of proxies. A quick search, WITHIN our firewall, found a number of other proxies that worked. We cannot block them all. Our content filter is constantly updated, but so are the proxies. I want our filter to allow kids to get to as much valid content as they can. I want the kids to learn to use the Internet in an appropriate manner.<br /><br />Complex compromises and good teaching strategies can make it all work. I just need to be sure teachers, staff developers, administrators, librarians, techs, and students are all on the same page.Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-78309937847265544622007-10-23T08:30:00.000-04:002007-10-23T08:45:34.592-04:00Stop teaching the steps!Why does so much technology training focus on the steps? I figured out a while back that one of the key pieces of technology staff development is to stop teaching applications. I'm not saying we abandon teaching the steps to make something happen. But it should not be the focus of what we are teaching.<br /><br />Are teachers interested in advanced word processing skills? Are secretaries interested in databases and merges? Are students interested in spreadsheets? <br /><br />Teachers are interested in created more effective digital documents. Secretaries are interested in pulling information together quickly and easily. Students are interested in how many kids like Oreos more than chocolate chip cookies. That is what we need to teach them! Identify a problem or a question for them. One they want to know the answer to. If they really want to know the answer, if teachers really want to know how to create a digital quiz, they will learn the form tools in Word. If kids really want to see which cookie is more popular, they will learn the spreadsheet. They will ask you for the steps instead of you force feeding them. <br /><br />Why is it so hard, even for teachers, to realize that adults as much as students need to see meaning in what they learn? <br /><br />Why the rant here... Simple. I need to get my staff developers to stop teaching just the steps to do things. They work hard. They believe in what they are doing. They see the power of what they are teaching for their students (the teachers). They need to deliver it differently when they do formal workshops.<br /><br />In their day to day job, where they help teachers get things done using technology, this always happens. One on one, the teachers come to them with ideas of HOW to use technology for TEACHING and LEARNING. They don't know they need advanced Word skills to do it. They don't know they will need to use a spreadsheet, or Inspiration. But they want to. That is when they are ready for the steps. These steps may change when software or hardware changes. But once they get the concept of how they can use that type of software or hardware, it is so much easier to teach and to learn the steps!Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-49024798700702484602007-10-23T08:18:00.000-04:002007-10-23T08:30:13.244-04:00STOP TALKING!I need to figure out how to get people to stop talking. It is difficult to provide constructive feedback to someone when they are talking instead of listening. At least she was talking about what she would have done differently!<br /><br />Any advice?Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-80911186638743158052007-10-22T13:20:00.000-04:002007-10-22T15:59:54.534-04:00The Power of Technology???Last Wednesday afternoon we were told by our power conservation contractor that we were going to have to cut power consumption in the district by 500kwh between the hours of 1 and 2 on Thursday. This type of less than 24 hour notice cut back can save the district a good amount of money if we can meet the mark.<br /><br />Still, with less than 24 hours to plan, this was bound to be a challenge. Add to that the communication challenge of making it happen and you get a mess. Let's start with how the communication went.<br /><br />The Secretary to the Superintendent sent out an email to all administrators stating a MANDATORY power conservation period from 1 to 2pm. This message went out at 3pm on Wednesday. The message stated that all steps were to be taken to conserve power including shutting down ALL computer systems. The tech department was instructed by our network coordinator to remotely shut down all computers and building level servers at 12:55pm.<br /><br />As Thursday morning hit, the tech dept. was going over the procedures to shut down the servers as well as restart them so this could go off without a hitch. This is a complicated process when you are talking about 8 authentication and data servers, as well as 8 application servers. Luckily, we would not have to shut down the servers in the administration center. <br /><br />At 8:30, I decided to call each principal personally to ensure their staff had been notified. The High School Principal, the first I called, had autonomously decided not to notify his staff. He felt that because the marking period had ended on Wednesday and grades were due Monday, it just wasn't a good idea. I tried to stand firm and told him it was a mandatory situation and he should call the Assistant Superintendent for Buildings and Grounds who then referred him to the Superintendent of Schools when he would not give in.<br /><br />The Superintendent agreed with the HS principal and allowed him to keep the HS functional and instruct the staff to turn things off manually unless they were used for grading. When I was made aware of this, I notified the Superintendent that the grading issue was not isolated at the HS as our Middle Schools had grades due at the same time. At 10:30am the Middle Schools were informed that they could stay up for grading as well. <br /><br />The Elementary Schools shut down and came back up as planned. We will not know for e few weeks if we met the required minimum reduction to receive our rebate of a few THOUSAND dollars. I do know that our desktop computers district wide use 675kw/h. Thats right.. just the desktops, no servers, switches, routers, or printers.<br /><br />Yes 24 hours notice is very short. However, communication here should have been much clearer. Our buildings and grounds people should have immediately gotten together with the superintendent, principals, and tech department so that all of this could have been cleared the night before and those of us who were running around all morning Thursday could have avoided the expenditure of all the Advil! Report cards being due was no surprise. <br /><br />All in all though, as we monitored things from the central office, we only had 21 computers on at the HS during that 1 hour period. I think the principal may have over reacted at the down time, but I am sure he didn't want to have 21 teachers arguing with him that they couldn't get their grades in on time. If we had gotten the message out earlier that any use other than report cards needed to be curtailed, my day would have been a whole lot more sane!Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-61695727756607293872007-10-22T11:33:00.000-04:002007-10-22T12:15:34.341-04:00Staff Development and non-instructional staffWe had a staff development day last week and had decided a long time ago to provide some technology training for our secretaries. We have been having issues with them and the sharing of data between different types of software and wanted to help them in this area. In addition, there are some new features of our email system we wanted to show them. Sounds great, right? Well...<br /><br />I had my new staff developer delivering one session with the support of another staff developer in the room. I reviewed her outline, talked to her about her plan, asked if she was comfortable enough with all of the software and gave her tons of lead time. I gave her the opportunity to work with another staff developer who would be teaching the same session in another room. I thought everything should be in place and all should be ready.<br /><br />Problem #1 was NOT the fault of the staff developer. It was me. The labs they were teaching in all had Office 2003. All of the secretaries have Office 2000. The documentation for them was created using 2003. This created some confusion when the secretaries got back to their desks and the steps were a bit different and buttons were in other places.<br /><br />This was my mistake and should not have happened. This is one of the reasons standardization of software is so important. I was under the impression they all had 2003 because the secretary across the hall from me does. NEVER ASSUME!!!!!<br /><br />I guess the next issue was my fault as well. Overconfidence in my staff developer led me to allowing her to go in without me really looking at every step of her plan. I spent an hour observing the session. The staff developer has experience in presentation. She is a former teacher, literacy coach, and has a CAS in administration. I had high expectations from her first formal session in our district.<br /><br />She walked people through the steps of each of the skills we were hoping to teach. Period. She slowed down and helped each one when they had trouble to the best of her ability. If they had questions on how they could use a particular skill to do something a bit different, she could not always answer. She did not know the software well enough. She had assured both myself and the other staff developer that she did. Often times, her supporting staff developer had to jump in and eventually took over once of twice.<br /><br />This led the secretaries to a lack of confidence in the expertise of the presenter, NEVER a good thing. Where some were comfortable with the pacing, others thought it was slow. This is a challenge for all in tech staff development and we should know how to handle it.<br /><br />What disappointed me the most was the instruction itself. There were no Anticipatory Sets, no meaning was provided for the learning. There was no closure. If she was teaching to an objective, I wasn't sure what it was. Although the lesson was at the appropriate level of difficulty for the group, there was no differentiation. <br /><br />Our post observation conference s coming up. I will post how that goes. It is sure to be interesting.<br /><br />Now the big trick will be how to get the secretaries to go into the next staff development day in the spring with a positive attitude. The last thing I want to do is waste their time. I sent out a feedback for asking for suggestions for our next opportunity. I also re-wrote and sent specific instructions for some of the skills they had learned the other day. Of course, I wrote them and used screenshots for Office2000. My direction were VERY specific. The ones they received in the session were bullet points and would not have been clear to the staff if they did not use them immediately following the session. Hopefully, their confidence in the whole tech department in terms of PD is not destroyed.Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-35225166680277802072007-10-11T11:57:00.000-04:002007-10-23T09:44:57.100-04:00Library ReduxThe Library Task Force finally met. The frustrations in procedure were clearly expressed by many of the teachers and the Library Aide.<br /><br />I would rather not get into all of the details in such a public forum, but I can express the outcome and my reflection on my place within this situation. The procedural issues were cleared up rather quickly as the rationale behind the procedural changes are very clearly stated in the task force's goals. Make the library a more friendly environment.<br /><br />The personnel issues were handled by myself and the High School Principal. We both made it clear what we felt was not being done. We set out very clear steps we felt needed to be taken immediately. The librarian will perform certain tasks over the next few weeks that are usually handled by the aide in order to be sure she is capable of running the library in the event the aide is not there.Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-55543912534095335772007-10-09T18:39:00.001-04:002007-10-10T08:30:22.589-04:00Too much testing?I found this interesting. I will add my thoughts as I have time.<br /><a href="http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2007/10/backlash-agains.html">Dangerously Irrelevant - Backlash against progress monitoring</a>Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-66806328285192088282007-10-03T19:54:00.000-04:002007-10-04T10:58:00.288-04:00The Dreaded FilterA teacher emailed me yesterday trying to use a Youtube video, which is blocked in our district. I was able to pull down the video and convert it to a format she can use. The issue of what is and is not blocked once again came to the forefront of my day. We are relatively open. We do not block all social networking (although we do block myspace). We do not block blogs or wikis.<br /><br />Our filter has its limitations. What is in each category is defined by the company although we can choose which ones to block. The problem is our custom whitelist and blacklist is limited to 255 entries. Overall, our settings are pretty good. Most web 2.0 tools are accessible. I can use twitter, post to this blog, use google docs, etc. Sometimes I forget how open we are.<br /><br />After getting the video this teacher needed, which was of excellent quality and directly relevant to her course content, I asked the teacher if she thought we should open youtube.<br />Here was her response:<span class="on" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"hmmmm that is a loaded question. I think that there are so many great videos on utube, but they are far outweighed by the ridiculously inappropriate ones. Searches turn up videos that are of no use to a classroom teacher. It can be very dangerous. I guess that about sums it up. With a very HIGH level of guidance utube can be a great resource, but without that guidance it could be disastrous."<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">I couldn't agree with her more. If we had the ability to open it just for teachers I would. Our filter does not distinguish between users. I wish it did.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/10/03/content-filtering-in-schools-striving-to-control-user-behavior/">Here is an interesting post I noticed today on this very issue:</a><br /><br /><a href="http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/its-called-intellectual-freedom.html">And another:</a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span></span></span>Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-28330945294610766322007-10-03T14:48:00.000-04:002007-10-03T15:11:12.112-04:00From the Roundtable to the BoardInforming the roundtable group (Assistant Superintendents and the Superintendent) of what an emergency notification system can do for us (and can't) was a pleasure to do. It is a system I believe can help our district in a few ways.<br /><br />Apparently they agreed as the moment they finished asking their questions, they invited me to present my findings to the Board next week. I am excited at the opportunity as this is a great way to use technology to increase our communication with the community.<br /><br />It also gets another competency for my internship done!Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-45515005806756881542007-10-03T08:27:00.000-04:002007-10-03T08:29:54.643-04:00PD -- not just for teachersI am currently supervising the development of a 1/2 day of professional development for our clerical staff. Yes, clerical staff. If they cannot use technology effectively, it makes everyone's job more difficult, including the kids!Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-3314833882071875352007-10-03T08:19:00.000-04:002007-10-03T08:26:52.260-04:00Emergency NotificationsToday I am presenting to our district level administration on Emergency Notification Systems. They have been in the news a bunch lately at the university level because of recent tragedies. But they can do more.<br /><br />I am trying to maintain my focus on students and instruction. How do these systems help in that respect? The systems can notify parents of ANYTHING. Food service balances, attendance, special events, school closings, and emergencies. Research shows a 2% increase in attendance when the systems are used. Keeping parents and kids involved in school in every possible way is a gain in my book!<br /><br />The notifications can go out by phone, SMS, and email and are relatively instant. This means not having someone making 75 phone calls all day long. That translates to more time and resources focused on helping students and teachers do a better job. My hope is that we can implement something like this by the end of the year.Sandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961388617164576826.post-67610383441841628882007-09-28T14:35:00.000-04:002007-09-28T15:42:39.888-04:00Catching up -- Imported from old blogSeptember 27, 2007<br />More people pleasing By SandyWagner<br />Another people issue reared its head this week. It was a simple issue and really was just a teacher who needed to feel like someone was hearing her frustration, but was not communicating it clearly. The techs were not even sure what the problem was.<br /><br />Add to that the typical issue of techs sometimes seeming abrupt in their communications and you get an unhappy teacher sending email to administrators. Conversations with both the teacher and the tech staff, along with observing a class to try to diagnose the cause of the teacher's frustrations led to a very quick resolution and a teacher who is happy and confident that our tech staff is paying attention to her needs.<br /><br />The teacher is happy, the techs are glad to have the teacher off their backs, and the emails have settled down. Add to that that our students are spending more time on task and less trying to get computers to work and everybody wins!<br /><br /> Posted on: Thu, Sep 27 2007 6:35 PM <br />People problems By SandyWagner<br />I knew coming in that one of the biggest challenges in administration is managing people. Personality conflicts, differences of opinion, and addressing poor performance are part of the job. Still, it is one of the big challenges of leadership.<br /><br />Our library, particularly at our high school, has been slightly dysfunctional. A library task force was put together to attempt to make some changes. Some of these changes are not be implemented as anticipated.<br /><br />In reaction to this some teachers emailed the librarian, ELA Supervisor, and Assistant Superintendent for Instruction. There are some aspects of this that apply to technology integration and instruction so I got involved in the mix. The ASI and ELA Supervisor were both previously engaged, as was the building Principal. The task force, through emails, had decided to meet that very afternoon. Allowing this meeting to take place without any administrative facilitation would not have been productive to say the least.<br /><br />I was fortunate in that a few other parties could not meet that afternoon either, and the meeting was postponed until Friday. I will be at that meeting, along with the ELA Supervisor. I took the opportunity to assess the situation by talking to a few of the teachers involved and the library aide. I will at least head into this meeting with a bit more information.<br /><br />The most interesting information that I have gotten is that students are not permitted to use study hall time in the library to browse the internet freely without a specific written assignment from a teacher. I am shocked that a librarian would take this approach. Many of the teachers assignments are osted online, but the librarian is insiting on an assignment on paper. Am I missing a piece of this logic?<br /><br />Information Literacy is still literacy and reading online is still reading. It is the place to read the most up to date information on international news, presidential candidates, as well as any other area of interest. Would a librarian tell a student not to read the newspaper? This must be addressed.<br /><br /> Posted on: Thu, Sep 27 2007 6:09 PM<br />Policy and progress By SandyWagner<br />When I first decided to take the position as Coordinator of Technology in this district, I thought one of my biggest challenges would be policy related. Policy here is that students will not be given access to individual email, newsgroups, or chat. OUCH!<br />How do I promote the use of new tools when district policy says we are not supposed to allow students to access them? It was clear coming in that I would need to promote some changes and I thought I would face opposition from administration and the tech staff. To my surprise, the tech staff is 100% behind me. Administration is a bit worried about how it will be used (as they should be). They are worried students will misuse the tools (as if they are not already doing this with the tools at home).<br />My argument is simple. If we are to teach students how to use these tools ethically and responsibly (as our standards tell us to), how can we justify blocking them?<br />The tech committee appointed a subcommittee to look at the policy. This committee agreed the policies need to change. The next step is to review the proposed changes with the superintendent (scheduled for tomorrow morning). If he agrees with the changes, he will then run the proposed changes to our legal representatives and bring them to the board for approval. We are on our way!<br /><br /><br /> Posted on: Thu, Sep 27 2007 5:16 PM September 18, 2007<br />Frustrating, but fun. By SandyWagner<br /><br />Our superintendent approached me this morning with an interesting concept. Design the ultimate classroom. He gave me a $150,000 budget for it. Of course the first reaction is to jump for joy.<br /><br />I am disappointed in the assignment though. The way funding works, capital money cannot be spent on existing classrooms unless they are being completely redone. This means I can' ttake the money and just get a projector in every room. Putting 25 great machines in a room with smartboards, great sound, video conferencing, etc will be nice. The impact on teaching and student engagement would be bigger if I could put a little into every classroom.<br /><br />Frustrating!<br /><br /> Posted on: Tue, Sep 18 2007 10:51 AM September 12, 2007<br />What were the issues? By SandyWagner <br /><br />In my previous post, I failed to mention what the big issues were. As I begin this journal/blog/reflection I have to remember I may not be the only one reading it.<br /><br />One big issue identified was simply a lack of a clear plan to integrate new staff into the systems we have in place. It can be rather complex as they need to be entered into student information systems, payroll systems, email systems, general logins to the network, and access to specific databases depending upon the users position. The outcome... a group of all of the stakeholders will get together to formalize a process. It has been done in a very piecemeal fashion in the past and this is inefficient and leads to confusion as to who is doing what.<br /><br />The other big issue is one that carries through education today across the country. Currently our students do not have email, are prohibited from online chats, newsgroups, etc. We are already in violation of our own policy in some of our uses of Moodle and our web pages. There is also a concern about linking to other pages that do not comply with our policies.<br /><br />In looking at the issue, the group was unanimous in that our policy needs to change. Of they do not all agree on how it should change. A committee will be convened to work on the issue and make recommendations to the team.<br /><br />I think I handled this well. It can be a sensitive issue with varied opinions and can have profound effects on what our teachers and students are permitted to do with technology. With changes coming to NCLB as well as a bill that asks us to teach "appropriate interactions on social networking websites and in chat rooms" (Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act, S. 1965) we will clearly need to make changes.<br /><br /><br /> Posted on: Wed, Sep 12 2007 11:23 AM September 11, 2007<br />The Technology Planning Team By SandyWagner<br /><br />I just held my first District Technology Planning Team meeting. I was a bit apprehensive. It is early in the school year and like most districts, some things have started smoothly, some have not.<br /><br />The meeting went well. I didn’t do anything fancy. No cookies, not cute videos. I began with our district goals and made clear to the group that this was why we were together.<br /><br />Obviously, the hot issues took the most time. I am impressed with the level of understanding and even research that some of our administrators come to a meeting with. Some came in with their own research and articles on issues of social networking. I had volunteers to work on a committee to review district technology policy. Volunteers!<br /><br />This group was clearly together to tackle issues, not complain. I was relieved and impressed. There is a good possibility I came to the right place. They just need someone to put it all together. I hope I am the one.<br /><br /> Posted on: Tue, Sep 11 2007 3:13 PM September 5, 2007<br />First Days of School By SandyWagner<br /><br />So, school has begun. Teachers started yesterday and students came back today. It is almost lunchtime and I am feeling very disconnected. In the past I have always been with students or helping techers get technology up and running. So far, I have spent the day in the office chasing around gremlins in logins to our systems. This does not feel like it has much to do with our kids.<br /><br />The importance here is to remember why all of this needs to be done at every minute. I am making sure our teachers can accurately record attendance information quickly and effectively. I am ensuring that the district can then get this data back. Tracking this information reliably will help our school identify those at risk. It will tell us which parents we need to communicate with, and which students need our attention.<br /><br />Sure... this part of the job is not directly related to student performance... or is it? Can more accurate monitoring of attendance allow usto identify our at-risk students earlier? Can earlier intervention with these students keep them in school and improve their academics? I believe it can, so I continue to make sure the data can be recorded accurately by all. Not a very exciting day, but an important one.<br /> Posted on: Wed, Sep 5 2007 11:29 AMSandy Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862351425430091458noreply@blogger.com0