Taste of Tech

I was writing an email to all of our new staff giving an overview of many of the technology services and resources we offer, and I realized that it would be helpful for all of our staff to have a refresher on some of these things. So, in an uncharacteristic BBH-centric post, I’m also putting that note here. While much of this doesn’t apply to people who don’t work for the Brecksville-Broadview Hts. Schools, it does offer a glimpse into some of the things were doing here, technologically speaking.

Here, then, are my ten tech resources for staff as we start the new year:

1. Get to know your tech people. Here’s  a list of the technology support people. Most of the buildings have a “go-to” person in the building to help with technology needs. They’re a great resource for getting help fast. There are also three of us working at the district level. You’ll see Dan, Rick, and me in the buildings quite a bit.
2. Use the help desk at http://www.bbhcsd.org/helpdesk to report tech problems. Documenting issues helps us better prioritize visits to schools, track recurring and ongoing problems, and make sure we have everything we need to solve problems as quickly as possible. In many cases, we can also solve problems remotely, saving everyone time.
3. Head over to the user management system at http://www.bbhcsd.org/user. Log in with your username and password, and use the “Edit Directory Information” link to make sure your info is up-to-date. This data is used to generate the staff directories on the web site, links to staff members’ web sites, school email lists, and the automated emergency notification system. If your information is accurate here, you’re more likely to get those critical communications in a timely manner. At the very least, you’ll need to log in and enter your phone number. You can also change your password with this system.
4. The district uses Google Apps for Education for email, calendar, and shared documents. You can access any of these tools from any Internet-connected computer by visiting http://email.bbhcsd.org, http://docs.bbhcsd.org, or http://calendar.bbhcsd.org. Students in grades 5-12 are also eligible to receive Google Apps accounts. This is the first year for this, so many of them don’t even know about this yet. I have also created a handy Getting Started Guide for Google Apps (http://bit.ly/aazJTK) that might be useful for you.
5. The district uses the WordPress blogging software, which is a great way for staff members to quickly and easily publish information online without having to learn how to be a web designer. Intended to be as easy to use as email, blogs can provide a simple way for teachers to provide timely information to students and parents. For interested staff members, they can also be configured for interactivity, facilitating online student discussions and collaborative projects. To set up a blog, visit http://staff.bbhcsd.org and log in with your network username and password. An embarrassingly out-of-date WordPress Guide is available on the same page to help you get started. Professional development classes are also occasionally offered on blogging for teachers. If you’d rather use a site someplace else, you’re more than welcome to do so. Just update your directory information (see #3) with your site’s address.
6. Interested in having an online component to your classes? We use Moodle as our learning management system (http://moodle.bbhcsd.org). You can use Moodle to facilitate online discussions, disseminate handouts, assignments, and other materials, and allow students to complete and submit work electronically. Log in and have a look around. If you decide you’d like to get started with a class of your own, let me know and I’ll get you the right permissions. Students in grades 6-12 have Moodle accounts automatically, and fifth graders get them mid-year. If you teach younger grades than that, we can also accommodate your students on a case-by-case basis.
7. The district uses the Progress Book grading and grade reporting software. Attendance and grades are reported using this system. Your username and password will be provided by the EMIS office. Parents are provided with “parent access” accounts, allowing them to check on student progress online at their convenience. Teachers may also use this system for keeping parents updated about assignments, upcoming projects, and other classroom news.
8. When you log in to your computer, you’ll notice that there are a number of network drives. While these can vary depending on your building and position, the most common drives are these:
   • H: This is your home directory. Files stored here are only accessible by you, but you can get to them from any computer where you’re logged in.
   • T: (staff) This is the staff drive for your building. All staff members in your school have access to this drive, but students do not. It’s a convenient place to share resources with your colleagues within the building.
   • M: (diststaff) Like the staff drive, this one is available to all staff members. The difference is that the “diststaff” drive is available to all staff members district-wide. So if you need to share resources with teachers in other buildings (curriculum mapping, working on verticality, grade-level resources in the elementary schools, etc), this is the place.
   • P: (public) This drive is available to anyone with a network account (including students). In some schools, student access to this drive is read-only, allowing staff to use it as a dissemination tool.
   • O: (submit) Available at the high school and middle school, this drive allows staff members to set up “drop boxes” for students to turn in assignments.
   • I: (programs) You won’t really use this drive directly. It stores shared data for applications that run on the network.
   • X: (apps) This drive contains application installers and software drivers that are mainly used by the technology department.
9. Federal law and district policy require us to provide filtered Internet access on all computers that are or may be used by students. We use the Webwasher content filter service provided to us by our ITC, Lnoca. Because web filtering is not an exact science, there are occasionally situations where needed resources are inappropriately blocked, or where content is not blocked that should not be accessed in school. The district has set up a procedure for handling these situations. Staff members may submit Internet Filter Review Requests (http://www.bbhcsd.org/tech/filter) to ask that an exception be made to the filter. These requests are reviewed by a panel of principals and media specialists. In most cases, a decision is made within a few hours.
10. This summer, the district completed the installation of a wireless network in all six school buildings. District-owned devices that have been configured to use the wireless network should be able to access all of the same resources that they use when they’re connected to the wired network. Staff and students may also use the wireless network from personally-owned devices to access the web. Just look for the Beesnet wireless network. There’s no password to connect. When you start using the web, you’ll be asked to authenticate with a valid BBHCSD network account. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to browse the web. Please note that printers, file servers, and other internal network resources are not available from the Beesnet wireless network.

Have a great year.

Posted on August 19th, 2010 by Elizabeth DeGirolamo
Filed under: Front Page, bbhcsd | 1 Comment »

I’ve been whining about ebooks for years. We’ve moved well beyond the place where information was a scarce resource. With its abundance, though, its value has diminished.  If I want to learn about hydrolysis, I don’t need to buy a book. I don’t even need to go to the library and look in a book that they’ve bought. I don’t need to subscribe to some online database. I can simply Google it. Chances are, I’ll find a wiki article somewhere in the first few hits, and I’ll find the information I need. If I dig a little deeper, I’ll find some outstanding resources on the subject from extremely reputable sources. Information is cheap.

That’s why it makes me ill when I consider how much money schools spend on textbooks. In extremely rough numbers, we spend about $100 per high school student per year on textbooks. That varies from year to year, and from student to student. We also spend less in the lower grades than the upper ones (AP Calculus and Physics books are expensive).  But the point is, we spend a lot of money for information.

Over the last couple years, we’ve seen the proliferation of new devices to read electronic books. We could read ebooks on a netbook, or on a Kindle, or the Sony e-reader, or the Nook. Lots of people are talking about the iPad as an e-reader. And the Android devices should be along any day now.

But none of these devices really make sense for K-12 education, because they’re not designed for K-12 education. Want to make a fortune exploiting this need? Here’s what I want:

A device that has

• a price tag of $200 or less and lasts 3 years or more.
• decent performance in both bright light and low light conditions.
• a prayer of lasting all day without needing to be recharged.

A management tool that will

• allow the school to push content to the device. I want to send out a document to all of Mrs. Jones’ students. Or I want to send a book out to all of the Freshmen. And I want to be able to pull those resources back when they’re no longer needed.
• let the school push its own content to the devices, without paying fees to do it. Maybe I want to send out a student handbook. Or maybe we’ve developed a K-12 Flexbook. I shouldn’t have to pay or go through a hassle to get that on my own devices.
• allow students to “check out” materials from a virtual library that is based on simultaneous use licenses. Maybe we have 50 copies of Catcher in the Rye. That means that 50 people can sign it out and read it on their readers. When someone’s done with it (or when their time is up), that copy is made available to someone else.
• allow the school to license content without going through the device itself. Buying iTunes gift cards to put content on student devices is stupid. Amazon, you don’t make it much easier.

Content that

• isn’t more expensive than the books we’re buying now. I don’t care that it has audio and video. I don’t care that it’s updated once a week. We have to spend less money on this, not more. And remember, we have to pay for the device itself. So you get about $30-40 per year for all of the content a high school student needs.
• isn’t licensed on a per-student-per-year basis. Give us a number of licenses and let us pass them out, re-collect them, and use them again. Think along the model of the textbook. Students don’t go out an buy their own. And the school doesn’t buy new ones every year. We re-use things. And, with textbooks, it’s legal for us to do that.
• allows me to put it on any device. If I buy a Kindle today, and buy content for it, I should be able to move that content to an iPad in the future. Or a Nook. Or whatever. I shouldn’t have to buy it again to read it on another device.
• can be purchased from anywhere and loaded onto the device. This model of “you have to buy the content from us” is a bad deal for consumers. If a single device ever does emerge as the de facto standard, that content company is going to make a killing.
• doesn’t make me buy the printed book to get the digital copy. Some publishers do that. It’s bad policy.

It would also be nice to have

• this device replace our graphing calculators. Honestly, I don’t know why we’re still buying those 15-20 year old devices and paying the same amount we paid for them 15-20 years ago.
• web browsing capabilities. Wifi good (maybe good enough). G3/G4 better. And despite what Apple is trying to tell you, everyone does use Flash. Or they would, if they were allowed.
• a media player. Show videos. Play audio. Maybe record audio and video, too.

So who’s making this? Can you let me know when it’s going to be available?

Photo credit: Gaspi ‘yg on Flickr

Posted on July 1st, 2010 by admin
Filed under: 21:Information, 21:Innovation, Front Page, Opinions, Students, Web 2.0 | 1 Comment »

If you’re a BBH user and you’re having trouble getting to some of the network services (like the new email or Google Apps accounts), it’s possible that your passwords are out of sync. Fortunately, it is very easy to reset your password with the BBH User Management System. This will make sure that your network, email, Google Apps, and blog passwords are all the same.

If this is too difficult to see, there is also a larger version available.

Posted on June 22nd, 2010 by John Schinker
Filed under: Front Page, bbhcsd, email | No Comments »