Technology Sign out procedures for 2011

This year the technology sign out procedure will work as such:

On the Media Center door you will find the sheet to sign up for a time for us to check your equipment back in to the tech department for summer storage, as well as check your laptop and power cords out to you for the summer. The dates available are May 19, 20, and the 23. If you are ready to turn in all the technology equipment checked out to you on one of those days, please sign up for a time on the sheet posted on the media center door. (All equipment must be checked in and returned to the technology department to complete sign out process) (laptops will not be required to check in unless it is not in full working condition then it will be kept this summer for repairs) After signing up on the sheet, the tech department will come to your class to collect your equipment.

If you do not choose or are not able to check out on the above mentioned dates the technology department will be stationed in the media center for technology equipment sign out on Tuesday and Wednesday , May 24 and May 25. On this day, you will be required to bring your equipment to the media center to check in equipment, and check out your laptops for the summer. If you are located upstairs and need to use the elevator to bring your equipment downstairs, you will need to bring your equipment to the elevator and come to the media center, where one of us will assist you in getting the equipment in and down the elevator to complete your checkout.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact one of your friendly neighborhood techs.

Things to come in 2011

As you wrap up another year I thought it would be time to share with you some of the new things to look forward to for the next school year.

(Blog post contains information on: Office 2010, Light Speed, Wireless Network, Phone System, Software/Hardware Evaluation.)

Next year we will be getting the 2010 Office suite on all of our PC's in the district.

• TLC will begin pushing the software out to all of the computers this summer, after the licenses are purchased. This means that the student computers should have the 2010 Office suite installed on it before you and your students return. Once school is in session TLC will push the software onto your teacher computers. (This may require your computers to stay over night one night to complete the installation process) The time line for all this to happen has yet to be announced but the plan is in place.


• There are several nuances that the 2010 Office Suite that differ from the 2003 version we've been using for many years. We will address these changes with two forms of PD. One is a self guided set of files and tools that will walk you through the changes to aid you in locating the tools you need while using the software. The other will be on request PD to have one on one or group sessions to familiarize yourselves with the software and it's differences. If you have been using or have used Windows Live at all this year, you many already be accustomed to the changes as Live runs a web version of the 2010 Office suite. (the software offers more options than Live)


• Benefits: Live is meant to be run along side of Office 2010 and we will hopefully see a greater ease of "saving to the cloud" so that students who choose to continue to work at home will have easy access to all of their work. Students who work in/on something within Live can then load their work onto a local machine for continue and expansive editing.


• Drawback: There will be a learning curve for all of us as we learn the new look, style and feel of  Office 2010

Next year Lightspeed will be replaced with a new filter called Sonic Wall. For those of you who have cursed the name Lightspeed, you will no longer have to next year, that is not to say that you will not curse the name Sonic Wall, but it is different and new and will hopefully run better than Light Speed.

• Biggest change with Sonic Wall is the method in which you will request a site be opened.  Currently when a blocked site is found, that you wish opened, it only takes a few clicks to request that the site be opened. With Sonic Wall you are required to fill out a digital form and paste the URL you desire unblocked into the field. In this act it will be crucial that you choose the exact link you want opened. (For example: If you click a link on NPR and the "Site blocked" message appears, you will have to actively copy the link address that the link goes to instead of just requesting NPR site be unblocked.)


• If you've added any videos to the Educational Video Library (E.V.L.) site then you will need to copy down the URL to those videos from their original site because EVL will no longer exist without Light Speed.


• Possible replacement for EVL is WebsterTube. Similar interface, with the addition of adding your own content as well as feeding from multiple video web page sources (i.e. YouTube, Hulu, etc)

To help speed things up a bit we are upgrading to wireless N as well as increasing our bandwidth. This does not mean YouTube will be open, but it should hopefully increase speed while searching the web and accessing same sites within a class. As we gain more access to computers in the district we max out our bandwidth levels, so each year we request more.

The Phone System will be getting updated this summer, some of it's new features include faster and smother transferring/processing calls, and the ability to have your messages emailed to yourself. With this upgrade, all messages that are currently saved will be lost. You will also have to redo your greeting when you return in the fall.

Software/Hardware evaluation request is now all online. This form is used to identify whether or not a piece of equipment or software is already available in the district before a purchase be made. It also ensures that the software/hardware you desire will work within our system and can be supported. The form itself has been modified to stream.

This summer will be a busy one with all the new updates, so stay tuned for more information here as the summer goes on.