Wocsd Tech Talk November 28, 2006

A reminder to please take the NetDay Survey! This will give our district some great information about technology in our community, plus it will keep a record over time.  http://www.netdayspeakup.org/        The password is *****       Thanks.

I just spent 2 days at the Christa McAulliffe Conference in Nashua, NH. Bob Sprankle and I presented a workshop called Hands On Podcasting, Podcasting with Purpose (Bob), http://www.nhcmtc.org/2006/Spotlight.html  and Math Links for Elementary (Cheryl)Math Links are here at  http://del.icio.us/elementarymath .  We attended many great sessions. Alan November was the keynote speaker on Tuesday, David Weinberger on Wednesday. If you are interested there are links for their online keynotes hosted at the ISTE-Christa McAulliffe site.      http://www.nhcmtc.org/2006/Keynote.html
 
There is also a live podcast with folks from the conference. If you are interested in learning how to apply podcasting to your classroom please contact Bob Sprankle or Cheryl Oakes.
To listen to the podcast you can go to  Women of the Web 2.0, and click  the link  http://womenofweb2.podomatic.com/ and select Week 5.

Highlights from Alan November:

Our journey using web tools must include making our classrooms the hub of communication. The communication needs to be worldwide. If we are not teaching our students how to communicate globally we are doing them a disservice. Our classroom tools must include blogs, wikis, podcasts and SKYPE.

See my post at TechLearning.com/blog  Go Global with GlobalSpeak!

David Weinberger talked about social learning and how our students see things differently. Our students don't see lists and taxonomies, rather, they are the product of the Internet and they see the interconnectedness of items. We digital immigrants are a product of the Dewey Decimal System and our students are a product of Amazon.com where they can find a iPod under many links: electronics, music, digital recorders, toys, mp3 players....... the list can go on. We digital immigrants need to learn more so we can teach them how to do more productive, reliable and precise searches on the Internet.

Try these 2 ways to search and  compare the process. If you want more information on how to provide you and your students with more productive web searches stay tuned!

Try a google search for Joshua Chamberlain

it provided me with 745,000 hits in .05 seconds.

However, if you go to AltaVista, type Joshua Chamberlain  + edu     in the search

this will provide you with 35 hits    and all will have something associated with a school.

If you want more information on how to provide you and your students with more productive web searches stay tuned! Is this helpful? More soon!

Over and Out

Cheryl Oakes

technorati tags:ChristaMcAulliffe, wocsd, Cheryl, Oakes

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NETDAY SPEAK UP 2006

NetDaySpeakUp is a national non-profit organization which WOCSD has partnered with to collect data from our district students, parents and teachers about technology. The survey is very comprehensive and takes about 20 minutes to complete. We will have access to this data and will be able to look at trends and patterns in our community and across the USA. At our District Technology meeting it was decided to participate in the survey. We'd like to strongly encourage the High School students, teachers and parents to participate since we are also involved in high school accreditation and this information will become part of that comprehensive plan.
Thanks in advance for participating! Tell your friends, community members and other staff members. The password is the first word in WOCSD, only because that is short!
Thanks,
Cheryl Oakes, Content Collaborative Coach for Technology and the District Technology Committee.

Promote Participation

Below is a sample email you can send to participating schools in your district. Please forward along with your personal encouragement:

Please Participate in the 2006 NetDay Speak Up Survey

NetDay Speak Up is a national initiative of Project Tomorrow, the new nonprofit organization formed with the merger of NetDay and Project Tomorrow in September 2005. The Speak Up survey invites students, parents, and teachers to take part in our fourth annual online survey. This is an opportunity for students to share their voices with their local school-decision makers and for teachers and parents to join the national dialog about science, technology, and 21st century skills.

Our district has committed to having at least 15% of our students take the online survey. Because we will have access to our school and district data, this is an opportunity for students to share their opinions and ideas about technology use. For teachers and parents, this is an opportunity to join the national dialog about technology and 21st century skills.

* Your school's secret word is: the first word in WOCSD

* The Speak Up dates are Wednesday, November 1 - Friday, December 15, 2006.

* Students, teachers, and parents will use the secret word to access the surveys at www.NetDaySpeakUp.org.

* The NetDay Speak Up website (http://www.NetDay.org/SPEAKUP) offers a How-to Guide for participants including lesson plans, helpful suggestions, and other resources for making the survey experience a success.

* Visit the NetDay Speak Up website (http://www.NetDay.org/SPEAKUP) for ideas on how to promote the Speak Up event at your school. You can print out a flier to post at your school or use our email text to send reminders to your teachers.

Thank you and we look forward to your participation.

technorati tags:netday, survey, technology, wocsd

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Latest Web 2.0 tools.

A short and sweet, or as the kids say    schweeeet blog of the latest.

National Geographic podcasts tell world stories.

New copyright guide answers your frequent questions right here!

Google for Educators just keep bringing on more great stuff. Here is the literacy portal.

You will need to sign up and register, free, for goggle for educators. Coming Sunday Nov. 12, 2006

Nov 12 -18 is Geography Awareness Week. This year, explore Africa in Google Earth and learn about its rich wildlife, culture, landscapes, and history.

Okay, one more

NovaScienceNOW

technorati tags:web2.0

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DTC October 19, 2006 Minutes

Hello, this is a summary of the District Technology Committee meeting of October 19, 2006.

Submitted by Cheryl Oakes

Minutes from DTC meeting October 19, 2006

Members present: Laura Subilia-Bell(parent/community member), Marty Cryer(parent/community member), Ira Waltz (Asst. Superintendent), Bob Sprankle (Technology Integrator-WES), Cheryl Oakes (Collaborative Content Coach for Technology), Cheryl Mills (Adult Ed Director)
Members not present:
John Osterday (Computer Technician/Network-WHS), Jamie Reynolds (Computer Technician-WES),
Mike Griffin (community member), Megan Sullivan ((parent/community member)),Saul Lindauer (Technology Integrator-WJHS on Sabbatical until 12/1/06)

There are 2 other community members who may be interested in joining the group. They will be invited prior to the next meeting with is set for November 16, 2006 at 3:20 at Central Office.

Cheryl O presented the slide show that was shown to the staff prior to the start of school. The slide show will be added to the district page.

Cheryl O presented a diagram of district technology. A suggestion was made to add the names of the people who represent the targets on the diagram. After looking at the chart and identifying people who represent the job descriptions on the chart it was noted that there is not a tech integrator at WHS. This was/is a concern to the committee. Laura wanted to know how students get direction about working in the field of technology, or where they get direction about taking courses at YCCC. Does the district provide the kinds of education options for technology for the 21st Century?

Marty reported that there are limited offerings for students to use their laptops. Most of the kinds of work done is on the laptops is about word processing. Kids do not understand virus', cookies, pdf? How can this be taught without a tech integrator at WHS?

Netsmartzkids.org curriculum has been used at WES and at WJHS for students enrolled in computer classes. How can we be sure all students get the message about Internet Safety in WJHS and WHS? Cheryl  O mentioned that Nancy Cotty was in charge of a safety presentation. The members offered to help with this endeavor.

There was a discussion about Linux operating system and open source software. Cheryl O will try and arrange a speaker in the future about this new software and operating system. Is this an area the district should be looking at adopting? Linux doesn't have a lot of proprietary code so it is easier to run on  machines that we currently have. What will happen with Microsoft comes out with Vista operating system? Where will that leave the district with functioning equipment?

Laura mentioned that we should look at the community resources for training opportunities on software.


The district should look at how we manage staff development and how we can transform education. Ira Waltz has a 2 year survey of the 9th graders and what and how much they used their laptops in school. The Collaborative Content Coach position was created to help move teachers and students along using technology in more innovative and comprehensive ways K-12+.

Cheryl O reported about HomeworkNow.com has been purchased for each school as a way for teachers to have a quick way to share what is happening in their class, make the email address available and as a way to communicate with parents and the community was a discussion about Web2school as well.  It was decided that we have some good technology options which are being under utilized at the present time. Maybe we need easier ways for parents to connect with these options, more training, more information. We should be aiming for less paper going home with the students, we should be less of a clearing house for all the community agencies and make information available digitally, where we can.

The  main ideas from the meeting:

Better utilize the technology options we have in the district for parents, Web2school, HomeworkNow.com, Internet Safety information, . The comprehensive Wocsd Web site is an example of how this can be accomplished.

Better utilize staff development opportunities in order to transform the kinds of activities we expect teachers and students to be involved with at all buildings and program levels. The Collaborative Content Coach for Technology will be involved in setting this up.

Look at the equipment replacement schedule and determine how best to meet the district needs based on the Technology Plan. Set up a presentation about Linux and open source software.

Look at the personnel need at WHS for a technology integrator for 07-08. How will the gap be filled this year?




Thanks for all who were able to attend.
Meeting adjourned at 4:40 pm.

News Flash!!!
Jamie Cox, a young man who recently graduated from UMO, has been hired at the Computer Technician at WJHS. Jamie will begin work October 24, 2006. You will get to meet Jamie Cox at our next DTC meeting. Jamie C comes with much experience with networks and with ibook and mac computers. We are looking forward to welcoming Jamie C to WOCSD.

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