Teachers Gone, Let the Work Begin!

Once the teachers vacate the building, the physical preparations for the fall begin. Floors are cleaned, lights are dusted, and other regular maintenance takes place. It is also a time where I begin installing new components for classrooms around the building where technology upgrades are taking place. Funding for these installations comes from our SAVE and PPEL dollars.

LCD Projection - This summer we are adding projection devices to several classrooms around our building. In this instance an LCD refers to a ceiling mounted projection device that will connect to a teacher's computer or other media device capable of sending a video signal. To determine who received the LCD installations we looked at our signup log for the year, who used the portable LCDs that were available, as well as teacher assignments and need for the coming school year. Each classroom that LCDs are installed in costs $1250. This includes the projector, mounting hardware, wiring, screen, and sound. It takes about a half a day to install the whole system, depending on the room and what type of ceiling is in the room. We have done this in several classrooms this summer, Ms. Smrdel (HS Speech), Ms. Michel (HS Spanish), Mr. Von Rentzell (HS Art), Ms. Mendoza (HS Science), and Mr. Harskamp (MS Science). Funds for these installations come from the technology budget (from SAVE and PPEL funds). One more room, Mr. Peterson's (HS Social Studies), has been outfitted from a PIE grant. I've pretty much finished up the installations for these machines at this point, just some tidying up in each of the classrooms.

IWB - Interactive Whiteboards will be installed in at least two more classrooms. The technology committee reviewed applications from teachers and determined that Mrs. Maiers and Mrs. Homan (Chorus and Elementary Music), Mrs. Morris (5th Grade), and Mrs. Goerend (6th Grade) would have IWB installed in their classrooms. Cost per room is $2500. This includes the board and the software, as well as projection units that are designed for this (short throw projectors). These installations will take place later in the summer, as delivery of the IWB is 2 weeks minimum.

Sound Amplification - 6 classrooms will have sound amplification systems from LightSpeed company, the RedCat. These systems have been ordered at a price of $1044 each. We already have one on hand that the teachers used this spring and found that it was user friendly, and really helped the students. These will be delivered after July 1 for installation during that month.

Preparing for Mac deployment - With 90 MacBooks arriving (hopefully in early July) preparing our network for these computers takes center stage. We have purchased a Mac Mini server that will "oversee" the Mac side of our network, while our traditional PC servers will continue to administer the PC side of our network. I hope that by the second week of July we will see the computers on site and our teachers will have them in their hands!

Board Proposal for 10-11

The Technology Committee would like to thank the school board for their support. The past 2 years the work that has been done without significant budgetary support, and to have a designated budget of $75000 for the foreseeable future has allowed this committee to operate with a different set of parameters. With that in mind the committee has prepared the following budget recommendation.

• Current Leases: Middle School Mobile lab (final payment of $9700) and Teacher HP lease from 08-09 (year 3 of 4 year lease $9800) $19500.00
• Switches and access Points $7500.00
• Professional Development $5000.00
• Teacher Laptops and portable labs
• 30 Teacher machines and 2 Admin Machines 3 Mobile labs with 20 workstations each $25930.25
• Sound Amplification (6 classrooms) $6264.00
• LCD Projectors $7000.00
• Interactive Whiteboards $3000.00
• Total $74,194.25

As you can see, a good portion of the budget is tied up in the current lease payments. These payments have been made over the past 3 years (since Rural Education Achievement Program or REAP went away) from PPEL funds rather than the grant dollars. I’ve included a quick description of each of the purchases we propose.

Switches and access points/Infrastructure - as we work to expand our technology “footprint” we have to make sure we can support the technology we implement. Our current network functions with a 1GB (gigabit) fiber “backbone” to CISCO switches that operate at 10/100 MB (megabit) speeds. We have 4 switches that are POE (power over ethernet) capable which makes adding wireless access points easy as you don’t have to wire power to the AP, just have network cable to it. As speeds continue to increase, and the demands of our network will be for more and more video content, streaming and otherwise increasing our network speed will be necessary. We will need to replace our current wireless system, as well as the switches around the building. The budgeted amount represents a portion of the project to be done each year, I am currently working with vendors for potential solutions and financing options.

Professional Development - PD is a must for our teachers as we can’t just put the technology in the teacher’s hands and say, “Go forth and create!” We will work with outside consultants as well as AEA and local instructors to support one another through Professional Development. The committee would like to see the board revisit the 1 to 1 initiative for the 11-12 school year, so the vision in mind for teachers is that of using the 10-11 school year as preparation to teach in a 1 to 1 environment.

Teacher Laptops and Portable Labs - with an eye to increasing student access we would like to lease machines for teachers and students to use at the High School. Our current lab situation puts our student to computer ratio in the High School at roughly 3 students per 1 computer. The committee is committed to 1 to 1 as an end goal, but the reality of the constraints of the budget do not allow that initiative under our current funding streams. The committee would like to see additional computers available to students through the use of mobile labs. The three labs in this proposal would be configured as 20 workstation labs for use by the High School. 7-12 Teachers would be using machines similar in configuration to the lab machines, so they have a better understanding of what the capabilities are and problems that the students may encounter. The 30 machines used by the teachers will be distributed among the other teachers and computer lab areas. Here is a quick description of this impact.

30 New machines used for teachers

• HP computers from the teachers :
• 8 Notebook computers will be redistributed to Elementary teachers
• 22 Tower computers will update the HS lab (which will be reconfigured)
• The HS lab computers will be moved to the Library Lab
• The Library lab computers could be sold, or used for parts for the other machines like them we are using around the building.

3 Computer Mobile Labs of 20 workstations - these are new technology to the building and really are not replacing anything. Their designated building will be the high school.

Sound amplification systems - research shows that all students are impacted by a hearing loss at some point during their time at school. Audio enhancement provides an even distribution of sound throughout the classroom, not just those with a hearing deficit. The Des Moines Register ran an article about this in late April talking about the West Des Moines schools and their implementation of the Red Cat system. Promethean, Institute for Enhanced Classroom Hearing, & SMART Technologies are all companies and authors that have researched and shown this to be a way that learning can be impacted at the younger grade levels especially.

LCD Projectors and Interactive Whiteboards - With the learners in our classrooms and the emphasis of interactivity in the Iowa Core, LCD projectors will become more and more common in our classrooms. At present we have 8 classrooms with fixed mounts, and 7 LCDs on mobile carts in the building. Currently we have plans to install 3 more projectors and orders have been placed for the High School. The current budget would provide us the means to instal projectors in more classrooms for the fall. Some of these classrooms could be coupled with interactive whiteboards, but the committee feels that this is a technology that will best be suited for teachers that want to volunteer to implement in their classrooms.

Each of these proposals align with points of emphasis and vision in the Earlham Community Schools Technology plan.

Technology Meeting 5-17-10

Meeting came to order at 6:00 - In attendance; Lance Ridgely, Mike Wright, Rachel Burrow, Shane Wheeler, Kevin Curran, and Kathy Woolcott. Arriving after the meeting started were Gayle Hansen and John Coulter.

After reviewing the budget options the committee discussed the two different scenarios coming to the conclusion that the best option for the district is to lease over 4 years 92 computers and carts from Apple. As the group made this decision we looked at the following priorities:

Professional Development - teaching in a technology rich environment doesn’t just happen. Teachers need to be supported as they implement new teaching techniques.

Access - teaching in a tech rich environment isn't just about using computers. LCD projectors, audio enhancement, & wireless access are all part of the environment that make it possible to immerse our students.

Sound Amplification - this is a proven method of helping student achievement. All students are impacted by a hearing loss at some time during their time in school.

Infrastructure - expanding our technology “footprint” means that the supporting items need to be maintained.

With these items in mind the committee decided on the following itemization of the $75000 budget allotted by the board - listed in the order of priority as agreed on by the committee.

Purchase/Lease Budget amount

Current Leases: Middle School Mobile lab (final payment of $9700) and Teacher HP lease from 08-09 (year 3 of 4 year lease $9800) $19500.00

Switches and access Points $7500.00

Professional Development $5000.00

Teacher Laptops and portable labs

30 Teacher machines and 2 Admin Machines

3 Mobile labs with 20 workstations each $25930.25

Sound Amplification (6 classrooms) $6264.00

LCD Projectors $7000.00

Interactive Whiteboards $3000.00

Total $74,194.25

Another item discussed at length was the technology plan for the district. While the tech committee has talked a lot about vision and where we would like to be 3 or 4 years from now, those thoughts have not been collected and placed in a document. Mr. Ridgely agreed to work on this and have this ready for the committee and board by the end of the day on Tuesday.

John Coulter brought up a potential for a computer donation to be made from his workplace. The committee was interested in the potential - could these maybe be passed on to families that don’t have computer access at home? John is gathering more information and will be reporting back to the committee.

The meeting ended at 7:40. Mr. Ridgely will prepare a presentation to share with the board at their meeting on Wednesday. He will share this with the board and tech committee before the end of the day on Tuesday, so they can review the proposal in advance of the meeting. He will also update/edit the District technology plan to reflect the vision of this committee and the goals of the currently allotted budget.

Technology Improvements for 2010 School Year

As a result of the successful passage of the adjusted revenue purpose statement for the SAVE funds (was Local Option Sales Tax), the school board and superintendent have allocated $75000 to use towards technology advancements in the building. The technology team met on Sunday night to discuss items that could help the district as we look to become a technology rich school. Over the course of the past 2 years this committee has discussed several things that we think would have the greatest impact and have settled on 4 main areas.

1. Infrastructure - as the district looks to expand the number of computers operating on the network we have to consider, is our network capable of handling the numbers we are talking about? Do we need more bandwidth? Are our switches able to handle the load? Are our switches as fast as they need to be? Does our wireless network blanket the district as well as we would like? We have some infrastructure needs, but they really are not to major. Before next year I would like to have a wireless campus. This would mean adding from 8 - 10 wireless access points around the building, mostly in elementary areas. We will be increasing our bandwidth next year again as we went from 2MBS to 10MBS this year, next year we are planning to move to 15MBS.
2. Audio Enhancement - research shows that all students are impacted by a hearing loss at some time during their time at school. Audio enhancement provides an even distribution of sound throughout the classroom, helping all students in the classroom, not just those with a hearing deficit. I've found articles from Promethean, Institute for Enhanced Classroom Hearing, SMART Technologies, Michelle Wilson; P.H.D - and all agree that the impact of this technology is positive in the classroom environment. The tech committee would like to see these installed in classrooms K - 4 at least, by the time we have completed the project.
3. Increase student access - Our current lab situation puts our student computer ratio in the High School, roughly 3 students per 1 computer. The committee is committed to 1 to 1 as an end goal, but the reality of the constraints of the budget do not allow that initiative under our current funding streams. The committee would like to see additional computers available to students through the lease of mobile labs. Best case scenario is 3 - 20 station labs to be leased for the 10-11, 11-12, 12-13, & 13-14 school year. These would be used in conjunction with the current 20 station lab and will add access for classroom projects as we work toward a technology rich curriculum.
4. Get the technology in the teachers hands. With the learners in our classrooms and the emphasis of interactivity in the Iowa Core, LCD projectors and interactive technologies will become more and more common in classrooms. Each of the next 3 years we would like to spend about $7000 installing permanently affixed LCD projectors in classrooms for teacher and student use. Interactive whiteboards are also an option, but we want to make sure the teacher is ready for that, so rather than just telling a teacher they will be installed in their classroom, the teachers will go through an application process to qualify for a board in their classrooms. High School and Middle School teachers will also be provided a MacBook for their use (the same machines that the students will have in the mobile labs).
5. Professional Development - PD is a must for our teachers as we can't just put the technology in the teacher's hands and say, "Go forth and create!"

Be looking for more info on these and other changes as they come up here!

iPad Thoughts

There was a lot of speculation leading up to the Easter weekend release of the iPad, and I think the response from folks with new iPads has been positive. When the opportunity for orders came in early March I ordered one for my wife, as she is the only person in the house without a personal computing device. My two son's and I all have an iPod touch, but Angie held off stating, "With my eyes, I can't see anything on that screen!" So, I decided to see if an iPad would fit her needs better.

I originally thought that the iPad would arrive on Monday, rather than Saturday, because Apple sent a message to me regarding my order, and that there wasn't Saturday delivery in our area. Qudos to the folks at UPS for making the on time delivery happen! Rather than standing in line on Saturday morning at a mall Apple store, I signed for it at my front door! Unboxing was pretty simple, as there really isn't anything in the box besides the iPad itself, a charging cord, and some Apple decals. My wife kept asking for a how to use it manual, but got her past that by encouraging her to "Play" with it before getting too caught up in the details. After plugging in to our iMac, an iTunes update, a registration, we were off and running.

Angie had used our iPods a little bit, but for the most part she was completely new to using this type of a device. We tackled how to get apps first. Walked her through the Apps store on her iPad and showed her how to get apps in iTunes as well. From there we started using the different preloaded apps that are on the iPad - Maps, Mail, Safari, etc. Each time she ran in to a spot where she wasn't sure what to do and ended up asking me, "what should I do?", I would answer with, "what do you think?" More times than not she would poke around and find what she needed next. The only thing that really stumped us was locking the screen orientation, but found that on a handy Apple training video.

Some observations both good and bad. As many of you have experienced an iPod Touch, this is very much the same, just bigger. Touching and moving things around on the screen is very intuitive and easy. The on screen keyboard will take some getting used to as there isn't any feedback if you have gotten the key "depressed" other than the letter showing up. Spacing of the keyboard in landscape mode was pretty good, but it lacks a tab key. My hands are pretty good sized and I was able to use it with relative ease. In portrait mode you can still do the two thumb method as the screen isn't too big.

Graphics are dynamite! Videos, pictures, and books show up in great quality and clarity. The screen is a greasy fingerprint grabber, even with a protective film over it, but I think there are screen protectors on the market that will take care of this. My oldest son has one on his touch that is textured, and it doesn't pick up near the fingerprints as mine does. A polishing cloth will take the fingerprints away, as they are very obvious when the display is powered down. The calendar is a feature that Angie picked up right away. You can sync it with your computer, like with your iPod, so our next two busy months are in and we know where we are headed!

iBook and Kindle both are nice versions of readers for the iPad. iBook is connected to the iTunes site, so you don't have to set up another internet account. The nice thing about Kindle for the iPad is, you can share your books within the devices you want to have registered on your account. So a book I buy to read on my iPod Touch, Angie can read on her iPad and Cole can read on his iPod Touch.

We have found that the Wi-Fi tends to "lose" it's connection and has to be manually rejoined - I'll keep an eye on this as it may be a glitch to our iPad, or Apple may have an update to fix this soon - but after showing Angie a time or two she picked up and was able to make the necessary adjustments.

To summarize - I was lucky to have a few $$ salted away for this as I knew it was on the way, and I bought the 16G version $499 plus Apple Care for 1 year at $104 brought my total to just over $600. I usually don't buy warranties for items like this, but with the new technology decided it would be worth it. I won't say you HAVE to have this, but I will say if you can afford it, or might be able to pick it up after a month or so, do it!

Tech Team Meets Again

The Earlham Technology team will meet Monday, March 22 in the High School Library. Our primary purpose will be to discuss the use of the money that will be allocated to us from the new revenue purpose statement. With this positive vote from our community, we have a new steam of money that has opened up to keep our technology up to date. Our time will be spent deciding how to allocate the money to best support/continue our efforts to make Earlham a school where technology is infused as a part of day to day learning, not just used as a tool. To do this we will need to spend money on capital items (like computers or smartboards), but we will also need to spend money on professional development. We have a great opportunity here to do this!

Email Issues

Cinderella sang "You don't know what you've got till it's gone" - you don't really realize how much you use something until you can't use it! Last week our Exchange server started to do some funny stuff - so I had to call in the "Experts". After several days of work we have finally gotten to a spot where the computer is stable and email is for the most part functional. The plan was to switch to a new email system over the summer, but we may be pressed to do that on a different timeline with this development.

Currently we can access our email through Microsoft Outlook. This allows us to send and receive email messages - while here at school. When at home we were able to access our server through Outlook Web Access, but that is no longer working. I'm not sure what is wrong, but it sounds like it is a combination of hardware and software failure. So for remote access we may be transitioning to Google Apps mail a little sooner than later. Stay tuned for more info!