tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19452829313656004702024-03-21T20:45:02.549-05:00CTO TechnotesCTO Technotes highlights techology in K-12 Education and other random non-employer endorsed opinions and thoughtsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-69739644198083540682015-09-23T11:43:00.003-05:002015-09-23T11:43:56.347-05:001:1 or 1:None?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There
are many great examples of one-to-one programs that have been well implemented
and have achieved their goals. Go to any Edtech conference and you will hear
presentations from folks that have done this well. Or pick up a copy of <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1936538983_85599_11" target="_blank">Project Red</a>, which offers a research-driven roadmap for
success in transforming a school, including the use of technology. There are
websites galore that cater to great articles, tutorials, and research to help
schools interested in how to implement a one-to-one program successfully, such
as the <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1936538983_85599_12" target="_blank">K-12 Blueprint</a> site, which regularly features blogs and
articles on different schools and what they are doing with technology. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TWwrjHh6Mi4/VV4ioRaucRI/AAAAAAACWNo/QpSSh2AnFEU/s1600/IMG_20150520_114952.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TWwrjHh6Mi4/VV4ioRaucRI/AAAAAAACWNo/QpSSh2AnFEU/s400/IMG_20150520_114952.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So why
should we be hesitant, or worse yet, not supportive of some proposed one-to-one
initiatives? Many of the ideas for one-to-one that principals and other K-12
leaders have can be summed up with the phrase “I want to do a one-to-one
program.” Many times this is the only idea expressed. Where is the vision and
purpose? What is the educational outcome to which the program aspires? How does
the leader see learning changing in a couple of years? These questions often
can’t be answered, since there has been no thought as to why have a one-to-one
initiative. Successful programs will have a goal, and with that a plan that
provides a roadmap to help guide the project towards its goal. Why don’t more
school leaders write a good plan? A lot of times it boils down to the desire
for the shiny <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1936538983_85599_13" target="_blank">gadgets</a>, and a lack of will and skill to write a solid plan
and implement it. In those cases, it may be better to do one to none. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-442001065763553432015-08-24T13:27:00.001-05:002015-08-24T13:27:08.270-05:00Death knell for proprietary tablet ecosystems?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This
past week has seen a lot of news on the tablet front. While it may be old news
that <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1903041018_84029_11" target="_blank">tablet sales are declining</a>, this past week two negative
major stories broke about school-focused tablet companies. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdM7ILbIbT0S4j9Sh9Pk-sVosI8lZYW0RYPD-ezqC7jhwnC4jxQzrr0TnqWlabO1zEcd69-DvXy2X1FN7219-ngwj8iRYo41qgmTMfGqoSA4Pte7P8UXP5QWSJCbPnF0vO-Wds2ynWDK5P/s1600/tablets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdM7ILbIbT0S4j9Sh9Pk-sVosI8lZYW0RYPD-ezqC7jhwnC4jxQzrr0TnqWlabO1zEcd69-DvXy2X1FN7219-ngwj8iRYo41qgmTMfGqoSA4Pte7P8UXP5QWSJCbPnF0vO-Wds2ynWDK5P/s400/tablets.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The first involved
high profile <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1903041018_84029_12" target="_blank">Amplify</a>, which created a school-only tablet with big
subscription dreams, the idea being that schools adopt a relatively low-cost
proprietary tablet system and then spend annually on a management and other
content subscriptions. Past news for Amplify had not been positive, with a <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1903041018_84029_13" target="_blank">large scale high profile mess in Guilford County schools in
North Carolina</a>, where a very high percentage of the devices suffered from
hardware issues, such as cracked screens and overheating device chargers. Now
News Corp is ready to unload Amplify, which is <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1903041018_84029_14" target="_blank">ending production of its tablets</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Then came the news that
the KUNO tablet, that had been named the <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1903041018_84029_15" target="_blank">iPad’s biggest competitor</a> in 2012, had its own problems and
that several districts were <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1903041018_84029_16" target="_blank">suing CurriculumLoft</a> over a multitude of issues with the
proprietary tablet. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Is this the tablet death knell in K-12? Probably not. But
it’s no secret that tablets (or any other device) are not the secret to
transforming learning, and that in many use scenarios students prefer having a
keyboard, which both KUNO and Amplify sold as accessories. This begs the
question, why not just buy a device with an attached keyboard? </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-88038472740967677362015-07-20T21:00:00.001-05:002015-07-20T21:00:27.554-05:00The hardest part of change<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<u style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 19.7999992370605px;"></u><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I started cleaning some items out for our annual curbside trash pickup yesterday. As I grabbed a lawn mower grass bag that had been in the garage for at least five years, never touched once during that time, I had to stop myself from the “but you might need this argument.” We are all guilty of hanging on to items that we don’t need, ideas that are outdated, systems that </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">don't</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> work, and practices that have little to no positive </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">effect. Whether it is rows in the classroom facing a teacher, textbooks sitting idly on a shelf, software that shows little instructional value, or the venerable “we have always done it this way”, the start of the school year brings the perfect opportunity for all of us to choose some items that need to be cleaned out of our instructional arsenals. Why don’t we? </span><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1865530045_82559_10" style="color: #3f51b5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; position: relative; z-index: 0;" target="_blank">Because change almost always produces some resistance in us, resistance to the uneasy feelings we get when things are different</a><span style="color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">. But like the first time we sat on a bicycle when we felt very unsure and a little bit scared, the end result is often an amazing ride, </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">bringing</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> benefits we could never have predicted. </span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-29878196138753450922015-07-10T16:41:00.001-05:002015-07-10T16:41:13.654-05:00Judson ISD Parent Center wins a Best in Texas Award from the Center for Digital Government<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eq5XunZCeg0/VY8UUV6SmlI/AAAAAAACasw/tF8N6kywhr8/s1600/2015-06-26_12-29-55_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="362" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eq5XunZCeg0/VY8UUV6SmlI/AAAAAAACasw/tF8N6kywhr8/s640/2015-06-26_12-29-55_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qOX-EW6YO2Y/VY8UUeTp7TI/AAAAAAACarA/yTWKhVgEc5A/s1600/IMG_20150626_113448.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qOX-EW6YO2Y/VY8UUeTp7TI/AAAAAAACarA/yTWKhVgEc5A/s320/IMG_20150626_113448.jpg" width="181" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Hind, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Technology is a growing industry with an impact in virtually every walk of our modern life. Education has certainly been affected and <a href="https://www.blogger.com/">Judson ISD's<span id="goog_843606666"></span></a> Technology Services has proven to be a leader in innovation among not just public education, but in general public sector applications as well. <a href="http://www.judsonisd.org/district/technology/" target="_blank">Judson ISD's Technology Services Department</a> recently was awarded a <a href="http://www.govtech.com/cdg/best-of-texas/Best-of-Texas-Awards-2015-Winners-Announced.html" target="_blank">Best in Texas technology award</a> by the<a href="http://www.govtech.com/cdg/" target="_blank"> Center For Digital Government</a>. It was a selection as "Best In-House Developed Application," for the district's <a href="http://www.judsonisd.org/parentcenter/" target="_blank">Parent Center</a>. The Parent Center is an application that keeps parents informed about important areas such as grades, assignments, attendance, library books, discipline, lunch accounts and more. And it's all in one place that's accessible from multiple devices. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #505050; font-family: Hind, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Hind, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">The popularity of this tool has been growing with usage up across the board for administrators, parents and especially students. All this was developed in house by the innovative folks from the JISD Technology Services Department. </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Hind, sans-serif; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">This is excerpted from the original blog post by Steve Linscomb at </span><span style="color: #505050; font-family: Hind, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">http://www.judsonisd.org/jblog/post.cfm/jisd-techies-earn-best-in-texas-award </span></span></span></i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-25860665706227538452015-06-24T19:49:00.002-05:002015-07-09T16:29:50.907-05:00CoSN 2015 Texas CTO Clinic Supports K-12 Technology Leadership Growth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Missed the 2015 CoSN Texas CTO Clinic? Check out some missed highlights at Technology & Learning Magazine's web site at <a href="http://www.techlearning.com/blogentry/9469" target="_blank">http://www.techlearning.com/blogentry/9469 </a></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-12590690230368296602015-06-24T19:43:00.002-05:002015-06-24T19:43:37.799-05:00Can Schools Become Future Ready When Families Aren’t Connected?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">One of the most vexing challenges for schools trying to convert to becoming </span><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1836658844_81425_11" style="background-color: white; color: #3f51b5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; z-index: 0;" target="_blank">Future Ready</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> by transitioning to digital learning, is the persistently large number of students from families that do not have </span><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1836658844_81425_12" style="background-color: white; color: #3f51b5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; z-index: 0;" target="_blank">Internet access</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Internet access alone will not bring about a change in learning, but it can support reshaping classrooms and schools that are embracing flipped classrooms, student-based discovery, and personalization of </span><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1836658844_81425_13" style="background-color: white; color: #3f51b5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; z-index: 0;" target="_blank">learning</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">. For schools looking to put devices in the hands of students, the lack of Internet access in many homes is a major stumbling block. Schools and some Internet service providers have tried to address this access gap with varying degrees of success and creativity. Coachella Valley Unified School District parked </span><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1836658844_81425_14" style="background-color: white; color: #3f51b5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; z-index: 0;" target="_blank">Wi-Fi equipped buses</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> in neighborhoods of greatest need, while </span><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1836658844_81425_15" style="background-color: white; color: #3f51b5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; z-index: 0;" target="_blank">Forsyth County Schools</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> partnered with local business who would offer students free Wi-Fi and a safe place to work on homework. Comcast has offered a basic Internet plan to families in its markets for $9.95 a month. Pasadena ISD near Houston, Texas is going so far as to build their own LTE broadband network, but for most school this type of build out has far too many technical and financial hurdles.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFFxZgEcKx_ElGu-t_LV_QGZ3ZyJXMenxp9IxGFhF8k2gJY6p6DVbKaw-TU9LEBOMLCpT2yXA_Ijr3dd6PHoXr8feB711fUe32KXRgP8txzzEyMXc401MmxTNhzeie2fOqv_Cu4eXLPodI/s1600/fcclogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFFxZgEcKx_ElGu-t_LV_QGZ3ZyJXMenxp9IxGFhF8k2gJY6p6DVbKaw-TU9LEBOMLCpT2yXA_Ijr3dd6PHoXr8feB711fUe32KXRgP8txzzEyMXc401MmxTNhzeie2fOqv_Cu4eXLPodI/s200/fcclogo.png" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> Will the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) come to the rescue? It very well might, as last week the FCC voted to change its </span><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1836658844_81425_16" style="background-color: white; color: #3f51b5; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; z-index: 0;" target="_blank">Lifeline program</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">, which subsidizes telephones for low income families. The change would subsidize just under $10 a month for broadband Internet for low income families. The FCC already transformed e-Rate this year. Will the Lifeline program change be another shift in policy that can really help schools bridge the access divide? This could be a huge opportunity for schools to encourage families to sign up for low- or no-cost Internet and have the same learning opportunities that other families with Internet access have.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-12436540107696905962015-05-28T11:21:00.000-05:002015-05-28T11:21:09.607-05:00The Data Privacy Fervor<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The
activity around student data privacy has reached a new level of fervor, with
state and <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1801222405_79968_12" target="_blank">federal legislators</a> locked and loaded, ready to take aim at
vendors, districts, and teachers alike. There are an amazing number of parties
and organizations weighing in on this very important topic, from parent groups,
the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), to many educational
organizations like the National School Board Association (NSBA) and the
National Education Association (NEA). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirVWdNFQm83BS_gUon4GC81ps8jSiC7_bouwrlc1ITKJbJdNjtNU-hS2SWL57CEbut_Sw0po3VFOVDZxvx5a3U3G56yrA1PDkqURZl1y17J_0sl7dT0kigGg54lGdL-A1F7Gru0bO_fwqJ/s1600/PRIVACY+DATA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirVWdNFQm83BS_gUon4GC81ps8jSiC7_bouwrlc1ITKJbJdNjtNU-hS2SWL57CEbut_Sw0po3VFOVDZxvx5a3U3G56yrA1PDkqURZl1y17J_0sl7dT0kigGg54lGdL-A1F7Gru0bO_fwqJ/s400/PRIVACY+DATA.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There are literally tens of bills pending
at the state and federal levels, with assorted rules for companies, districts,
and school staff members. California was early to the game with its landmark <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1801222405_79968_13" target="_blank">SOPIPA</a> legislation, which passed in September of last year.
Others that joined, like Louisiana, passed laws that place teachers in the <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1801222405_79968_14" target="_blank">crosshairs,</a> with looming large fines and possible jail time
for each student data privacy violation. Yes, teachers do need to take
protecting student data much more seriously, but are fines or jail time really
the answer? We all need to start focusing on the basics, starting with
policies, procedures, and staff and student training. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Regardless of the pending
laws affecting us in each of our states, the need to inform staff and students
of the dangers of data over sharing and the responsibility to protect it have
never been greater. If you are just starting your student data privacy journey,
I suggest downloading the excellent <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1801222405_79968_15" target="_blank">Protecting Privacy</a> in Connected Learning toolkit from the
Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), which can serve as a privacy roadmap
for districts. Also try visiting the <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1801222405_79968_16" target="_blank">Student Data Principles</a> site, <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1801222405_79968_17" target="_blank">Stay Safe Online</a>, and the <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1801222405_79968_18" target="_blank">Privacy Technical Assistance Cente</a>r, which will give you
the ammo needed to start moving your school forward with becoming a student
data privacy advocate. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-47874015477022338882015-05-22T12:48:00.000-05:002015-05-22T12:48:58.019-05:00Check out - The Right Connections - how to keep school communities informed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #292f33; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Judson ISD and it's fantastic home grown Parent Center app were featured in Technology & Learning's May 2015 cover story, Now Hear This: The Right Connections - how to keep school communities informed - from </span><a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/techlearning" role="presentation" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #28358a; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none !important;"><span style="color: #7e85b8;">@</span>techlearning</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #292f33; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><a class="twitter-timeline-link" href="http://www.techlearning.com/resources/0003/the-right-connections/69286#.VV9p8jbMyTw.twitter" role="presentation" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #28358a; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none !important;">http://www.techlearning.com/resources/0003/the-right-connections/69286</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwkWV7IU9pWeDL-7BRZgJevFZq48Eok0C6tVqWHdsugCKvnx5Z63h5DqwDMsEYNgRRRMOxXIacHiMnYSrXPaddhrez3VXMABrBmskwKQpT7gmOZWuSIW04TvQGsM9NBp43LnoKT66v2WY-/s640/TL_05_15_01.jpg.jpeg" width="528" /><a href="http://www.techlearning.com/resources/0003/the-right-connections/69286" target="_blank">http://www.techlearning.com/resources/0003/the-right-connections/69286 </a></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-61043451474991212282015-05-15T12:52:00.000-05:002015-05-15T12:52:08.164-05:00What keeps CTOs up at night?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPoPb8j5plXfwXxvRxVo2zX_JHoV-c_vViJQ7Incg5HbISyzKJ6YpiO7DTahPdblbXOgjvC88OIJnBpM3QcTLakqnacUYGuTkj8DjJ5Hz4E38MO6m4lOTQWbZYL4hxjkODF-LhCB87qjBY/s1600/cto.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPoPb8j5plXfwXxvRxVo2zX_JHoV-c_vViJQ7Incg5HbISyzKJ6YpiO7DTahPdblbXOgjvC88OIJnBpM3QcTLakqnacUYGuTkj8DjJ5Hz4E38MO6m4lOTQWbZYL4hxjkODF-LhCB87qjBY/s400/cto.JPG" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Judson ISD along with two of my great counterparts at Tyler
ISD and Calcasieu Parish Public Schools are featured in the eSchoolNews May
2015 cover story, “What keeps CTOs up at night?” which I have attached and can
also be viewed online at <a href="http://www.eschoolnews.com/current-issue/">http://www.eschoolnews.com/current-issue/</a> </span></div>
<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-28961690017939555092015-04-22T15:58:00.001-05:002015-04-22T15:58:15.192-05:00The economics of 1:1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSikD6g39rSeaIpTodmg87jX3F3xV2AA5YCTsdClXAy9IL8LANc_q8KKbBK0fabawvJEFXgPsEajNc3Q7nJ_y6Essbfe-eV3rOYX0_Qmy433BpiMIRyUYJvIht0yTX7pLQXCiODe7xnzqg/s1600/money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSikD6g39rSeaIpTodmg87jX3F3xV2AA5YCTsdClXAy9IL8LANc_q8KKbBK0fabawvJEFXgPsEajNc3Q7nJ_y6Essbfe-eV3rOYX0_Qmy433BpiMIRyUYJvIht0yTX7pLQXCiODe7xnzqg/s1600/money.jpg" height="213" title="Money" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">While
a lot of us preach that it is not about the device (it’s not), devices are
obviously important to digitally transforming learning. But many school
districts still feel that 1:1 device initiatives are just not affordable. A
$300, $500, or $1000 device cost per student can seem like a lot to spend per
student. Is it? U.S. Census Bureau data show that the average cost of educating
a child to be <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1763339782_78394_12" target="_blank">$10,608 per year</a>. Ford states like my Texas spend less and
Cadillac states like Kevin Hogan’s New Jersey spend much <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1763339782_78394_13" target="_blank">more</a>. So if a “typical” district wants to fund a $300
device to be purchased once every four years, it would need to budget $75 per
year. While I may not be able to pass the fifth grade <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1763339782_78394_14" target="_blank">Common Core assessment</a>, that means a typical district would
need to spend less than .7% (point seven percent) of the cost of educating a
child per year to fund a device for learning. This is next to nothing in the
total cost of educating a child. Sure there are many other costs that need to
be incurred to fund a successful digital learning program, but device costs are
plummeting and becoming so low that they can soon no longer be used as an
excuse by schools. Then there are the budget expenditures no one wants to
discuss - one Texas district (and probably many more) was spending $1,300 a
year on its <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1763339782_78394_15" target="_blank">football program</a> per player (and $1348 for a cheerleader).
And in the last couple of weeks, Google and its partners announced $150 <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1763339782_78394_16" target="_blank">Chromebooks</a>. Can’t afford 1:1? I’m just saying... </span><!--—<strong>Kevin Hogan, Content Director</strong>--><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">(this blogger sees great value in extra-curricular activities, but wonders why their funding and expenses are never discussed)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-30875889528448748082015-03-19T20:08:00.000-05:002015-03-19T20:08:00.031-05:00 Are testing companies really "spying" on students if they monitor social media during testing?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgseEbm8dc2e0fzB9r71ojkRNM3a5zs-wWRK0zXxAuBRmrqKHlwVOg2Djkkz9Feex4KVjs6J6I5rrVr50JW73BVNyXQ1gswpef8yVgo0ydiWNAZyK5JQlT21kHkRlgHs_iTL2qkLW-cVeOM/s1600/StateLibQld_1_100348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgseEbm8dc2e0fzB9r71ojkRNM3a5zs-wWRK0zXxAuBRmrqKHlwVOg2Djkkz9Feex4KVjs6J6I5rrVr50JW73BVNyXQ1gswpef8yVgo0ydiWNAZyK5JQlT21kHkRlgHs_iTL2qkLW-cVeOM/s1600/StateLibQld_1_100348.jpg" height="286" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another day of standardized testing, another controversy. The latest being around the administration of
the <a href="http://www.parcconline.org/about-parcc">PARCC Common Core test</a>
in New Jersey. In this case the
controversy is not over the usefulness of testing, or <a href="http://www.centerdigitaled.com/k-12/Ohio-Schools-Face-Many-Glitches-with-States-New-Online-Tests-.html">current
problems with the online test administration</a>, but rather the monitoring of
social media by the testing company, Pearson, to detect test cheaters and other
irregularities. The controversy is
detailed in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/03/14/pearson-monitoring-social-media-for-security-breaches-during-parcc-testing/">this
Washington Post blog</a>, with a superintendent being upset by the perceived
big brother monitoring of their students.
Why is this at all disturbing?
Haven’t we always monitored students and schools during high stakes
testing? Test administrators and
monitors are rigorously trained, certified, and then required to monitor
schools and testing, to ensure a fair testing environment for all students. As much time and money as states and schools
spend on this massive undertaking for arguably little return, is it wrong that
Pearson monitors publicly posted social media posts? If a student, teacher, or administrator
chooses to publicly post test questions to social media during a test, then
they have made a poor choice, violated testing rules, and must face the fall
out. But <a href="http://missourieducationwatchdog.com/pearson-spying-on-student-private-social-media-accounts-to-determine-if-parcc-information-is-being-leaked/">there
are allegations detailed here</a> that the spying was in fact looking at
private student social media posts. If
those were somehow monitored or if action was taken on students’ opinions of
the test, then shame on those involved. But
come on, to call monitoring public social media posts “spying” shows a lack of
understanding of social media that is for <a href="http://www.recorder.com/news/townbytown/greenfield/11532943-95/nothing-you-put-on-social-media-is-private">all
intents is public information</a>. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-72110540699798974612015-03-12T11:51:00.004-05:002015-03-12T11:51:38.881-05:00Student Data Privacy Worries Grow<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjzymiN5SNgd50yoBsbn5pJG7bxv-evQZzJ-POFkZa5PklT_d9KaN8LMLqQMKLi6MyqYmHDA6RHvTPxXU_myEKUSUaKBP1vmGKC5BeNUQnmBon1sPHzP-KEhddPMtBFB4T2jH7p1v8rBYm/s1600/accidents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjzymiN5SNgd50yoBsbn5pJG7bxv-evQZzJ-POFkZa5PklT_d9KaN8LMLqQMKLi6MyqYmHDA6RHvTPxXU_myEKUSUaKBP1vmGKC5BeNUQnmBon1sPHzP-KEhddPMtBFB4T2jH7p1v8rBYm/s1600/accidents.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The worries and media coverage around the privacy of student data are growing as fast as the amount of funds being funneled into educational technology startups, and for good reason; The amount of apps and programs that are being used with students by teachers and schools are growing faster than ever, and often being implemented with little to no planning and oversight. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/natasha_singer/index.html" target="_blank">Natasha Singer</a>, of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/" target="_blank">New York Times</a>, who has investigated the (in)<a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/digital-learning-companies-falling-short-of-student-privacy-pledge/" target="_blank">security of educational applications</a> produced by signatories of the <a href="http://studentprivacypledge.org/" target="_blank">Student Privacy Pledge</a>, wrote a <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/technology/learning-apps-outstrip-school-oversight-and-student-privacy-is-among-the-risks.html?ref=technology&_r=0" target="_blank">new story highlighting the difficulties faced by schools in managing all the apps and related student data</a>.</b> The story features <a href="http://www.judsonisd.org/" target="_blank">Judson Independent School District</a> amongst others.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTdDH_WdYx0inO5gqlZ3hROOVOgG2K4FQ-NRQjI-nugg8yIM18uGuai4wwMHO5FAfvbL3A4z8VaN_1Igs2NksXdh8jZi42vZ8fArKPPqavuW5dw97YGkbvUE8-B6S-qHbJEFJZo6ztXcz/s1600/responsibility.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTdDH_WdYx0inO5gqlZ3hROOVOgG2K4FQ-NRQjI-nugg8yIM18uGuai4wwMHO5FAfvbL3A4z8VaN_1Igs2NksXdh8jZi42vZ8fArKPPqavuW5dw97YGkbvUE8-B6S-qHbJEFJZo6ztXcz/s1600/responsibility.png" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the same time a coalition of groups, including <a href="http://cosn.org/" target="_blank">CoSN</a>, the Consortium for School Networking, released <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://cosn.org/about/news/national-education-groups-issue-principles-guide-use-and-protection-student-data" target="_blank">10 principles for protecting and guiding the use of the personal information of America’s students</a>. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">It's great to see media coverage highlighting the issue that is also willing to recognize that there are many groups involved with trying to help schools with this issue.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-9527178492360065992015-03-11T11:19:00.004-05:002015-03-11T11:19:37.509-05:00What is keeping education CTO's up at night?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During the recent February 2015 TCEA conference in Austin, several CTOs participated in panel about their most pressing issues and worries in their roles as CTOs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.eschoolnews.com/files/2015/03/shutterstock_246703654-300x200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://www.eschoolnews.com/files/2015/03/shutterstock_246703654-300x200.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What keeps CTO's up at night? Check it out at eSchoolNews</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The panel, moderated by Kari Murphy, Chief Technology Officer at Deer Park ISD included John Orbaugh, Executive Director of Technology at Tyler ISD, Karla Burkholder, CTO at Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, Barbara Brown, Chief Technology Officer at Lewisville ISD, and myself, Steve Young, Chief Technology Officer at Judson ISD. Our dear colleague, Sheryl Abshire, Chief Technology Officer from Calcasieu Parish Schools, was unable to join the group.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">eSchoolNews did a short follow up piece and interviewed several panelists for the article.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is a quick and worthwhile read at: <a href="http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/03/11/cto-night-752/?" target="_blank">http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/03/11/cto-night-752/? </a> </span><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-54910491343867643562015-02-23T12:44:00.001-06:002015-02-23T12:44:40.773-06:00Innovation is Not About the Technology<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A reporter recently asked me, "Are any of the new
technologies being introduced into K-12 education actually causing student
test scores to increase?" While the question has been asked a lot, her
point was that with all the venture capital being poured into educational
technology now, investors and the public may start wanting products to show
actual data on how they actually improve test scores. In the case of many
products, a lot of which focus on remediating students for particular
subjects, this is certainly a valid question. But I think many times we are
hoping software, hardware, remediation systems, and other assorted
educational technology products will magically transform education, when
they will not. </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?category=Lead-the-way&article=Take-aim-at-innovation-with-students-in-the-center&articleid=213" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://www.iste.org/handlers/EdTekPhoto.ashx?id=213&use=main" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?category=Lead-the-way&article=Take-aim-at-innovation-with-students-in-the-center&articleid=213" target="_blank">Read the great article at ISTE</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the <strong><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1693537525_75315_11" target="_blank">best pieces I've read this week</a></strong> was
written by Grant Lichtman and published by <strong><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1693537525_75315_12" target="_blank">ISTE</a></strong>. The author traveled to tens of
schools across the country and visited with teachers and students and
observed the learning process at many innovative schools. The author
concludes that the innovation is really not about the technology at all,
but rather about how learning is structured where the students are the
leaders in learning. Of course this does not mean that technology can't
play a role in the process, but the critical factors include how classes
are structured, how students take charge of their learning and
investigation, and how teachers and administrators must release control of
learning to students. I urge you to read this great piece and join the
conversation by sharing your thoughts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-70870924731385789692015-01-28T13:32:00.000-06:002015-01-28T13:32:01.565-06:00FERPA & Student Data Privacy - Let the privacy tidal wave begin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8MY75m5inOBa4Us-dE6DGzkI0GijU1Vtc7kBbUFZBq_VZLFPZQPVVwBOt2JrXN6XBB5mKuXc7bVuxf5weu_C0l3465twmHJeVIXiuuNiGVlSXSwCNRM0ZbayK2Ez4mt-FbJ5oHOYWdGPD/s1600/Highway-Sign_data.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8MY75m5inOBa4Us-dE6DGzkI0GijU1Vtc7kBbUFZBq_VZLFPZQPVVwBOt2JrXN6XBB5mKuXc7bVuxf5weu_C0l3465twmHJeVIXiuuNiGVlSXSwCNRM0ZbayK2Ez4mt-FbJ5oHOYWdGPD/s1600/Highway-Sign_data.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Recently, I had an educator ask me if students
collaborating together on an assignment, through a collaborative technology
such as Google Docs, could be a violation of the Family Educational Rights
& Privacy Act, which most of us know as <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1667480598_74247_11" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">FERPA</span></strong></a>.
Their concern was that as students work together, one student’s parent would be
able to see the work done by the student their child was collaborating with on
the assignment. This has never occurred to me as a concern, but it certainly
begged investigation. After reviewing many websites, I did not find anything
that would suggest a homework assignment in progress would at all be considered
an educational record (and therefore protected by FERPA), as it is not part of
a child’s permanent record at that point, nor is it in possession of the school
at that point. In fact I did not find anything definitive that would suggest
student work is FERPA protected at all. Graded work MAY be, as an individual
grade itself might be part of the student record. But from the United States
Supreme Court <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1667480598_74247_12" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">“Owasso Independent
School District v. Falvo,”</span></strong></a> it is clear that an ungraded
assignment is not an educational record, and therefore not subject to FERPA. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The above is my interpretation and not a legal opinion, but it demonstrates how
delicate the topic of student privacy is becoming. Increasingly, student data
and privacy are being looked at with a laser focus by places like the <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1667480598_74247_13" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">State of California</span></strong></a>,
<a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1667480598_74247_14" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">President Obama</span></strong></a>,
and organizations like <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1667480598_74247_15" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">Common Sense Media</span></strong></a>
and <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1667480598_74247_16" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">CoSN</span></strong></a>.
Expect to hear many more discussions and questions about what student data is
shareable to further a student’s education and what data must be protected by
schools and third parties.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-63570947576302918362015-01-01T10:38:00.002-06:002015-01-01T10:38:50.967-06:00My New Year's Wish List for Ed Tech<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><br />It's been another fast-paced year in educational technology, with nothing more certain than change. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaU3G95XFEXATKp9r_dDsbyn7AxHLMGnKFbJ4Tm4UFbrC0gFeRcb5zzY0H2JRc1Ni8qT1NPWKJVnmYOIbkihb5AkuAGikZT4dfAz8zRZB80E1WBAG4hAPq5hh-O-PI3zht_kHmmn720RZ4/s1600/2015_new_year.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaU3G95XFEXATKp9r_dDsbyn7AxHLMGnKFbJ4Tm4UFbrC0gFeRcb5zzY0H2JRc1Ni8qT1NPWKJVnmYOIbkihb5AkuAGikZT4dfAz8zRZB80E1WBAG4hAPq5hh-O-PI3zht_kHmmn720RZ4/s1600/2015_new_year.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
Yet as much as there is innovation and exciting new products and ideas, there is a lot that I keep hoping will change, ideally at a rate faster than the speed of smell. So here is my Ed-Tech New Year wish list in no particular order of urgency:<br /><br /><ul>
<li><span style="text-align: justify;">Transparent pricing: We are in education and cost IS important; if we have to use Chinese water torture to get a price for your product or service or to figure some outlandish set of options and upgrades, we may shop somewhere else.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-align: justify;">Fair contracts: Contracts need to take into account that we get funded by fickle entities. Stop writing auto-renewing contracts with no outs, or worse yet, multi-year auto renewals.</span></li>
<li><a href="https://swowa10.judsonisd.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=naVXXkmJLE24hiufxPVZUCmvup53-dEIIfgW6Uifcm2EJWvvH_h7tRFLspFgzaskP5BzdeyGxbs.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cfmediaview.com%2flp1.aspx%3fv%3d6_1636792340_73018_12" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">Learning content standards</a><span style="text-align: justify;">: Digital content is exploding everywhere, yet much of it is locked in proprietary content prison cells, inaccessible from our learning management systems. Let's all get behind a common standard, like "</span><a href="https://swowa10.judsonisd.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=naVXXkmJLE24hiufxPVZUCmvup53-dEIIfgW6Uifcm2EJWvvH_h7tRFLspFgzaskP5BzdeyGxbs.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cfmediaview.com%2flp1.aspx%3fv%3d6_1636792340_73018_13" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">Learning Tools Interoperability" or LTI</a><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="text-align: justify;">for short.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-align: justify;">Easy log in: If your company cannot support LTI, at least bless us with some sort of common authentication or single sign-on. We can't bear to have teachers or administrators waste one more second administering accounts or wasting time logging in to a web site.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-align: justify;">Old web technology: It's far past the time to layout web pages in tables, run Flash animations, and use Java to validate forms.</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><a href="https://swowa10.judsonisd.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=naVXXkmJLE24hiufxPVZUCmvup53-dEIIfgW6Uifcm2EJWvvH_h7tRFLspFgzaskP5BzdeyGxbs.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cfmediaview.com%2flp1.aspx%3fv%3d6_1636792340_73018_14" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">Join this century and leverage HTML 5</a><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="text-align: justify;">and responsive web design, so all of our devices can access</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><a href="https://swowa10.judsonisd.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=naVXXkmJLE24hiufxPVZUCmvup53-dEIIfgW6Uifcm2EJWvvH_h7tRFLspFgzaskP5BzdeyGxbs.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cfmediaview.com%2flp1.aspx%3fv%3d6_1636792340_73018_15" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">your 1999 web site</a><span style="text-align: justify;">.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-align: justify;">A common wireless video standard that actually works: Students and teachers all have different devices and all have great things to share with the class, but in most cases, most of their devices cannot share their content to a TV or projector over the same standard. There is money to be made by someone solving this!</span></li>
</ul>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvGzjl6WasIs_1UktBvf7iDltdHEdhNw8EKZXojNb3RbGjZ-dTR4KEpHLIPptIs1y9q2C1T8RE1N0lroQwWBDuOoMvAQfvGkRoDI_dtpKpjqwCaeRzERuHJKGMlVGWYeD_gzjtYxQbOYPS/s1600/minecraft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvGzjl6WasIs_1UktBvf7iDltdHEdhNw8EKZXojNb3RbGjZ-dTR4KEpHLIPptIs1y9q2C1T8RE1N0lroQwWBDuOoMvAQfvGkRoDI_dtpKpjqwCaeRzERuHJKGMlVGWYeD_gzjtYxQbOYPS/s1600/minecraft.jpg" height="190" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ed Tech - change is for certain</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-79464035513056202132014-11-14T06:51:00.000-06:002014-11-14T06:51:35.919-06:00Dell World 2014 Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvPMyH_hnXgxCEP5JNAOf6_nPfMLWTEbTmb5Wvxhf4y3Q2vcT3Zi51fB42eRrKGkIRt0lQRfohdRnAHV-EOC7Ecd4xA4QY7sHb5qEk2B18V05gwJVi5DaDFHvzOt12Tz2Pfc4p8tU2qLU/s1600/dell+pitch+slam+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvPMyH_hnXgxCEP5JNAOf6_nPfMLWTEbTmb5Wvxhf4y3Q2vcT3Zi51fB42eRrKGkIRt0lQRfohdRnAHV-EOC7Ecd4xA4QY7sHb5qEk2B18V05gwJVi5DaDFHvzOt12Tz2Pfc4p8tU2qLU/s1600/dell+pitch+slam+2014.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Dell and company judging ed tech startups at the Pitch Slam at Dell World 2014</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Last week
I had the opportunity to attend <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1583127239_70997_11">Dell World
2014</a>, an event that showcased Dell’s commitment to its education customers
and <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1583127239_70997_12">continued
support of education innovation</a>. This was especially evident in Dell’s
sponsorship of the “Pitch Slam,” where three chosen edtech startups pitched
products to the judges, headed by Michael Dell. The three products were
very different, but all had lots of potential to be used across K-12:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1583127239_70997_13">BeeLine
Reader</a> helps readers use color grading of words to make it easy to follow
sentences. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1583127239_70997_14">EduCanon</a>
helps teachers create videos to flip their classrooms. The product includes an
embedded check for understanding, which students must complete before
continuing on with the video, giving teachers a great formative assessment
dashboard. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1583127239_70997_15">PenPal
Schools</a>, which won the <u>Dell Pitch Slam</u>, enables students from
different parts of the world to write and learn together. The students learn
new languages and cultures in a safe and secure online system, which includes
pre-made assignments that make it easy for teachers to get their classes
writing to peers across the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Overall,
this and other events at <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1583127239_70997_16">Dell World
2014</a> confirmed that the company is in the education market for the long
haul.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0Austin, TX, USA30.267153 -97.74306079999996729.828484 -98.388507799999971 30.705822 -97.097613799999962tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-35360105052304230322014-09-23T07:18:00.001-05:002014-09-23T07:18:20.994-05:00Buying buses without drivers - and computers without support<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Our local group of K-12 technology leaders shared some interesting numbers this past week about how many devices each one of their technicians usually supports. The numbers were very telling, especially when looked at in the light of the </span><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/education-technology-spend-reaches-13-billion-2014-06-11" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">increasing spend on educational technology</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;">, which topped out at over $13 billion this past year, up over 11% from the past year. Several districts shared that their technicians were now supporting between 1,100 and 1,300 devices each. By any measure, this is a daunting workload for one person. One district shared that its </span><a href="http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/101548-ratio-of-it-techs-to-computers" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">workload for each technician</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> was more than 1,900 devices. This monumental workload is only being increased as schools increasingly turn to technology for almost all back office functions and instructional use. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNGDrUv6VpgFww9ibxYicv8U60EyuqWCEIIvMKlxQwH8XIlYH9qeco56OK0-ViFf-slEUg9h_V2CDGmqepteYUsirEBj9WrURUcx9p-XSoR8Z41w_7wO4XdiM22J4tFPA2NxobAUo7r-f/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNGDrUv6VpgFww9ibxYicv8U60EyuqWCEIIvMKlxQwH8XIlYH9qeco56OK0-ViFf-slEUg9h_V2CDGmqepteYUsirEBj9WrURUcx9p-XSoR8Z41w_7wO4XdiM22J4tFPA2NxobAUo7r-f/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Can we really expect that teachers and students are getting the attention they need and work-order turnaround times they deserve, when they rely so heavily on technology? In what other industry should a professional have to wait a week to have his or her technology operational again? Yet in K-12 this happens all the time, as schools buy more software and hardware, yet fail to fund the personnel needed to ensure high availability and quick repair times. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Many technology departments have even faced personnel cuts, as budgets have been tightened. Is this really setting K-12 up for success in implementing technology, or is this a recipe for disaster? What district would add 100 buses to its fleet without more mechanics and bus drivers? Of course this would not be done, as it is plainly ridiculous. Nonetheless, districts do this with technology every day, without assessing the real impact on teachers and students of having poorly supported technology.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<b style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px; text-align: center;"> This blog entry is cross posted with the great folks at <a href="http://www.schoolcio.com/index" style="color: #b87209; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">SchoolCIO</a></b></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-76200405832707901312014-08-18T18:58:00.002-05:002014-08-18T18:58:43.742-05:00Getting out of the teaching rut!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfmRWSE94P59US_YKJVutwsHpDC6SjYv_NuPvZzGrB6tG5whBKA64wdYcCBqxOvDlQurwU9y81u0Nzc-wcXH_WrNB56UKVMZsp5jLeuX-RB9YVq0oE5dnZb3wBbY7a5ix_dbGKx_1ggAGk/s1600/8677700404_6895abb8ac_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfmRWSE94P59US_YKJVutwsHpDC6SjYv_NuPvZzGrB6tG5whBKA64wdYcCBqxOvDlQurwU9y81u0Nzc-wcXH_WrNB56UKVMZsp5jLeuX-RB9YVq0oE5dnZb3wBbY7a5ix_dbGKx_1ggAGk/s1600/8677700404_6895abb8ac_z.jpg" height="468" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">With any job it’s easy to eventually find oneself in a rut, doing things the same way over and over. I know back when I was teaching, sometimes the pressures of grading, paperwork, and the real world meant that I didn’t try to teach a lesson differently or try something new with my students. Maybe I blamed it on the fact that I had four class preps, but no matter what the reason, it was always very rewarding to take time to try a new innovative lesson and see it work very well in the classroom.</span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">As we start a new school year, there is </span><a href="http://etale.org/main/2013/09/21/5-steps-to-getting-out-of-a-teaching-rut/" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">no better time for teachers to investigate something new</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;">. And whether it is something truly transformative to teaching, or maybe just a tool to make teaching a little more efficient, any improvement is a step in the right direction.</span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Maybe a simple tool to motivate good student behavior is what is needed; then try </span><a href="http://www.classdojo.com/" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">ClassDojo</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;">. Or maybe increasing communication with students and parents is a pressing need. Tools like </span><a href="https://www.remind.com/" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Remind</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> or </span><a href="http://www.scholastic.com/classmessenger/" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Class Messenger</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> will help improve communication.</span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Want students to be more involved in class? Then give </span><a href="http://www.socrative.com/" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Socrative</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> or </span><span style="color: #0051a7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://exitticket.org/" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;">ExitTicket</a> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">a try. Is it time to find a new way to curate and synthesize web content for students or for students to do so as they learn? Then head on over and try super simple </span><a href="https://www.blendspace.com/" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Blendspace</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> or </span><a href="http://www.lessonpaths.com/splash" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">LessonPaths</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Sometimes it’s much easier to take baby steps to get out of the rut, rather than trying to climb the ladder and change everything at once. So make a new school year resolution for you or your staff to take a baby step or two on your path of improvement. For more info on these tools, </span><span style="color: #0051a7; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://ctotechnotes.blogspot.com/2014/08/some-tools-to-bring-new-life-to-your.html" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;">view my blog</a> entry and presentation about them</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">.</span></div>
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<b style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px; text-align: center;"> This blog entry is cross posted with the great folks at <a href="http://www.schoolcio.com/index" style="color: #b87209; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">SchoolCIO</a></b></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-34155760131656415092014-08-17T12:59:00.002-05:002014-08-17T12:59:40.536-05:00Some tools to bring new life to your classroom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your classroom is looking a bit too similar to this:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://tomfishburne.com/2009/03/idea-camouflage.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOzIL2fxbOfB7hqWNKJvOkqjYmsxqYFOz6FTYzA5-6v_5t-eOzta6760FSLanykh4lZWjuwdgWj_TxaNR153rPHny2r4ORS7S1h953odwRlzzN3r4AZbLRYsat2TUhG4q4XwgkkFnCC0Q/s1600/6a00e008c451518834011168cb6d95970c-450wi.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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Image used with blog permission from tomfishburne.com</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then it's time to try something different. Check out the recommendations in the presentation below.</span></div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="400" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/38068647" width="476"></iframe>
</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-2187421705842585062014-07-21T17:02:00.002-05:002014-07-21T17:02:23.860-05:00The e-rate overhaul<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">As I vacationed last week, I curiously watched the news to see if the </span><a href="http://www.edcentral.org/e-rate-reform-making-conversation-wi-fi-accessible/" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">overhaul of the e-rate program</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> would pass. While there was widespread agreement that the program needed to change, there was less agreement about how it should change. The FCC commissioners passed the changes with a whopping 3-2 vote. It is amazing and terrifying at the same time that five people—strike that, three people—can have so much authority to drastically change one of K-12’s largest funding sources. And even scarier is that so much of the money will be dedicated to be spent over two years, without what seems to be a clear path for long-term funding sustainability. Undoubtedly, some companies (i.e., overpriced K-12 web hosting companies, for one) are quaking in their business suits and some are rejoicing (major network equipment providers), while us in K-12 are wondering what happens in five or six years when the thousands of subsidized access points we installed in our schools need to be replaced? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">I applaud the support for technology in education and the acknowledgment that the program needed changing, while I am terrified that it is just a one-time spend with a tenuous plan for ongoing support and sustainability, making it smell more like D.C. politics than true long-term reform. And let’s be clear, many areas cut out of e-rate are costs that schools and </span><a href="http://broadbandbreakfast.com/2014/07/in-partisan-vote-fcc-passes-a-modified-e-rate-proposal-for-spending-funds-on-wi-fi-connectivity/" style="color: #0051a7; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">districts will still have to bear</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;">, so while it helps e-rate provide funding for wireless, schools will have to fund these cut services out of local budgets.</span></div>
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<b style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></b></div>
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<b style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px; text-align: center;"> This blog entry is cross posted with the great folks at <a href="http://www.schoolcio.com/index" style="color: #b87209; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">SchoolCIO</a></b></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-44262461233298127442014-06-25T11:39:00.003-05:002014-06-25T12:07:17.298-05:00Taming the password beast<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">What is my password
for </span></em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1424479225_63418_10"><em>Google Apps</em></a><em>? What is my username for </em><a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1424479225_63418_11"><em>Schoology</em></a>? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">We all
live with the pain of trying to remember usernames and passwords every day and
the problem is getting exponentially worse. Schools are adopting applications
for staff and students at a record pace, and with every adopted application the
username and password pain train grows worse. </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://clever.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://clever.com/images/sso-homepage/login-pane.png" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://clever.com/" target="_blank">The Clever Login Screen</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now picture our youngest
learners, who increasingly have to sign in to access educational resources. For
them, remembering user credentials and typing them in correctly can be a time
consuming exercise in aggravating frustration. Now multiply this times a
classroom full of students, and it’s enough to drive a teacher insane. The
amount of instructional time wasted on logging in is immense and there seems to
be no end in sight. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Schools need solutions to the login mess, so they can focus
on learning, rather than flushing expensive classroom time down the drain, as
students try to get logged in to applications. The fastest moving new entrant
to the K-12 market is <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1424479225_63418_12">Clever</a>,
which is rapidly expanding their portal based SSO to be the front-end solution
for districts to simplify username and password management. Other more complex
and versatile systems, like <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1424479225_63418_13">Stoneware
webNetwork</a>, can also help schools tame the password beast and get students
and staff focused on what really matters. I’m sure we’ll see more of these
solutions unveiled at next week’s <a href="http://www.cfmediaview.com/lp1.aspx?v=6_1424479225_63418_14" target="_blank">ISTE conference</a>!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px; text-align: center;"> This blog entry is cross posted with the great folks at <a href="http://www.schoolcio.com/index" style="color: #b87209; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">SchoolCIO</a></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-55549907317428888192014-06-08T19:49:00.000-05:002014-06-08T20:00:01.190-05:00The best purchase we have made in recent years – iSupport. Taking help desks to another level<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In <a href="http://ctotechnotes.blogspot.com/2013/09/help-us-help-our-customers-please.html">a
previous post</a> I mentioned the need for overworked school IT staff of a top
notch help desk system. I also laid out
what my staff and I felt were the <a href="http://ctotechnotes.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-requirements-list-for-solid-it-help.html">major
features we needed</a> from a system to help our staff provide better and more
efficient service to our customers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I usually shy away from writing outright product recommendations,
but given how great of a product we ended up with, I wanted to be sure and
share this with other school districts and any other growing IT department that
has needs that go beyond a basic help desk ticketing system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcXrBLaaurAvGwemuJDdMYWBPuYpkzjWh2agrqMlSWSxF6ALLbFAxmDP4AEzd5GB5HBXQ6AocPIP-1V1MHLUj30Ro1DdWXsG_AlIU8lgCegpzAiSWuIz29Mx7eWLemosWm6bSo5ni9PxMl/s1600/xlogo_header.png.pagespeed.ic.9iUuaqbw9x.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcXrBLaaurAvGwemuJDdMYWBPuYpkzjWh2agrqMlSWSxF6ALLbFAxmDP4AEzd5GB5HBXQ6AocPIP-1V1MHLUj30Ro1DdWXsG_AlIU8lgCegpzAiSWuIz29Mx7eWLemosWm6bSo5ni9PxMl/s1600/xlogo_header.png.pagespeed.ic.9iUuaqbw9x.png" height="60" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After many months of requirements gathering, web research,
and product demos, we ended up selecting our new service desk, <a href="http://www.isupport.com/">iSupport</a>.
iSupport is only in the business of selling and supporting their awesome
help desk offering. They do one thing and they do it extremely well. And lest you think they stole the name from
that other “i” company, iSupport has been in the help desk business a very long
time and focuses on making a very good product better with every release.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am not going to get into the feature set of the product –
let me just say it is robust and more configurable than almost any product I
have ever seen. There is almost always a
way to make this system fit your needs and processes. And if you can’t figure it out, the BEST tech
support I have received is just a phone call away. If you want to know about features and functions,
try visiting <a href="http://www.isupport.com/">their site</a>, <a href="http://www.isupport.com/request/trial/">requesting a trial</a>, or
perusing some of their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/iSupportSoftware">Youtube
videos</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our implementation of iSupport is not done – we have a great
start with incident management, a parts store, parts charging, knowledgebase,
end user portal, automated reporting, and several custom incident templates,
email notifications, and more. Next up
we are looking to roll out a service catalog and purchasing handbook. The great part is that we are able to move
almost all of our customer interaction right into iSupport, so that they only
have one place to go when in need of assistance. At the end of the day, proving our customers
the best service possible is our goal, and iSupport is helping us to do that
better.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">This blog entry is cross posted with the great folks at <a href="http://www.schoolcio.com/index" style="color: #b87209; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">SchoolCIO</a></b></div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-70985339763818264082014-05-15T15:08:00.002-05:002014-05-15T15:09:59.831-05:00Create Mobile iOS and Android Apps for Your District<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is an update to my mobile app creation presentation for the <span style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">The
<a href="http://www.edtech-exchange.com/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Digital Education </a></span><span style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><a href="http://www.edtech-exchange.com/Default.aspx" target="_blank">andTechnology Exchange</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/syoung2008/create-mobile-i-os-and-android-apps-for-your-school-or-district-iste-2013" target="_blank">Create Mobile iOS and Android Apps for Your District</a></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/syoung2008/create-mobile-i-os-and-android-apps-for-your-school-or-district-iste-2013" target="_blank"><img alt="Creating Mobile Apps" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjndzrk90LG900yfX86Kw9V35s5KXglY1eK0EfGuikTmnGyzBr-khC6xRmyrF4oCj3kNNjFffDAiG_gNeJEMcqb1EmYEBh720xSB6HTlefnRn7pjxcvX4btq6IUvmw6r2r3YzUFxLRU9IO/s1600/Capture.JPG" height="460" title="Creating Mobile Apps" width="640" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02091697706815414096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945282931365600470.post-44484377977834503512014-05-05T15:25:00.000-05:002014-05-05T15:28:35.999-05:00The mobile app imperative<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">It's not news that mobile device adoption continues to surge. Smart phones and tablets are everywhere and the price barriers to adoption have collapsed. Many schools have embraced mobile devices and have adopted tablets or allowed BYOD, or both. </span><br />
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One area schools are lagging behind in is putting their web content in a format that consumers prefer on those devices. A visit to most school web sites still shows that the sites themselves are not mobile friendly. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK80cbpfqH4E0p8d_7J9qmrp-felRZMcd_-_6O3y7J8LY-zCUV8b1MTFdQS4kPZcpX9QktG1K2JlFR0wVQ4BM0c8-opE_ROPB8haN6WftcUzeKj4D9ZQSFOD-Rluj2w0ya8OoNLZrSJjLE/s1600/scr_home_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK80cbpfqH4E0p8d_7J9qmrp-felRZMcd_-_6O3y7J8LY-zCUV8b1MTFdQS4kPZcpX9QktG1K2JlFR0wVQ4BM0c8-opE_ROPB8haN6WftcUzeKj4D9ZQSFOD-Rluj2w0ya8OoNLZrSJjLE/s1600/scr_home_000.png" /></a></div>
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But before jumping off the deep end and telling everyone to make a mobile friendly web site, a close look at some recent statistics is in order. <a href="http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/desktop-mobile.png">Techcrunch</a> had 2014 as the year total desktop web users were first outnumbered by mobile web users. And in K-12 we are already seeing more families where their only Internet access is via a mobile device. But before making your site mobile, consider<a href="http://www.flurry.com/bid/109749/Apps-Solidify-Leadership-Six-Years-into-the-Mobile-Revolution#.U2fwqvldWzM"> this key metric from Flurry Analytics</a>. Their recent data shows that in just once year, mobile device users spend 86 percent of their time in mobile apps daily, versus just 14% on the mobile web. Mobile web use fell 6% in just one year. </div>
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So while appeasing the voracious mobile beast, K-12 districts need to look at their strategy closely. Is a mobile web site good enough? The data says otherwise. Districts are going to need to seriously look at <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/syoung2008/developing-mobile-apps-you-can-do-it-too-feb-2013-tcea?ref=https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=7693740&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile">creating a mobile app</a>, paying a company to do it, or subscribing to one of the increasing number of K-12 mobile app providers. <br />
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px; orphans: auto; widows: auto;">This blog entry is cross posted with the great folks at <a href="http://www.schoolcio.com/index" style="color: #b87209; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">SchoolCIO</a></b></div>
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