Building+Tech+Updates+11-12

Building Tech Updates  2011-2012  ||
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There's always lots of technology news and updates to share throughout the year. My goal this year is to post all updates to the wiki so you can look back and have all the tech news in one location. You can read it, and reread at your leisure.

So with that said, here we go ~

May 23, 2012




 * iPad Updates: **
 * Letter School ~ I have loaded the full version of Letter School onto each ipad and deleted the "lite" version. I also changed the setting for the app to HWT. I hoping it sticks and doesn't revert back to Zaner-Bloser. If it does, just tap on the wheel in the upper right hand corner to change the setting back to HWT.
 * Headphones ~ Brian was able to use some end of the year money to purchase headphones for the ipads. Once they arrive, I will switch them out.



**Desktop in Room 6** - To order to make more space in Room 6, I have moved the desktop computer up to the computer lab, thus allowing for the desk to be removed.

**Computer Links** ~ I have added a link for [|Raz-Kids] to the computer links page. Thanks Deb for letting me know it was missing. It can also be found under the "For Staff" section under "Staff Curriculum Resources". I have moved a lot of the links under that to decrease the size of the drop down menu.

May 9, 2012

====**Copier as Scanner** ~ The office copier has been setup to scan to your computer and for printing from your computer. Christine and I have been trained. Here is a link to a [|google doc] with directions. Please see Christine or myself for hands-on training. ====

====**iPads** ~ Anne and I have modified the cart so that we can keep the covers on the ipads for storage. However, we would like everyone to just pop-out the end where you plug in the power cord so that attaching the power cord is easier. Also, so that when you detach the power cord, we aren't pulling on the wires. As over time, this could break the power cords. ====

====**Teacher Laptop Updates** ~ Before we leave for the summer, the technicians would like to update sofware on all teacher laptops. This is a district wide project. We have scheduled this to happen at Loker School from Tuesday, May 29th - Friday, June 1st. I will share a google doc with you (which is a district wide doc) for sign-ups. Make sure you select Loker School at the bottom of the page to sign-up for the correct day. Please sign up for a day/time that is convenient for you. You will be without your laptops for several hours. Also, please make sure that your files are backed up to the server. If you need help with this, please let me know. ====

====**YouTube and [|Quiet Tube]** ~ have you ever wanted to show a YouTube video but hesitate because of all the other distracting and sometime inappropriate information on the page. Well give [|Quiet Tube] a try. Follow the steps on the quiet tube website to add a quiet tube link to your browsers toolbar. ====

**February 28, 2012**

**Computer Lab** ~ Over the break, the technicians were able to have the computers restart every morning and automatically log in. So you should now see the correct desktop on each machine when you arrive to the lab! I will monitor this activity on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but if you notice any problems on other mornings, please let me know.


 * External DVD players ** ~ They have arrived. Sorry for the delay. Again, these players are for teachers who have the smaller Latitude 13 laptops (as these machines do not have a CD-Rom drive). Since I wasn't sure how often these would be used, I ordered a few and we will share them. So I have one for Gail/RoseMarie, Deb/Lindsay and Annie/Kay. Please schedule a time to see me for training. It should only take about 5-10 minutes.

**Help** ~ Please include me on any emails you send to the help desk. This way I can follow-up on your requests. Thanks.

**iPads ~** I haven't heard any news so I guess no news is good news?? If you have any questions or problems, please let me know. As you find apps, please remember to add them to the [|Loker iPad App Review google doc]. Way to go Math group ~ they've added 7 apps!!! I look forward to hearing your feedback.

**Student Laptops** ~ All student laptops received updates over the break. Hopefully things will run a little smoother. **Please use Internet Explore or Chrome as your web browsers. These are our two preferred browsers. (FireFox was not updated.)**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">January 25, 2012 **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**Computer Lab Printer**: This printer is currently out of order. The toner has leaked out of the cartridge. Also, I've noticed over the past several weeks, that someone is printing a document to this printer and it's not printing correctly, causing a tone of pages to come out. If you are having trouble printing, please contact the Help Desk or myself. It's possible that it's someone from another Wayland school and they don't even know they are printing to Loker School :(

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**iPads:** The ipads have arrived and they will distributed during the February staff meeting! We will provide you with training at that time as well. Yeah!!!

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**External DVD players:** For teachers with the slim PC laptops, the external DVD players were ordered but on backorder. Estimated ship date is January 31st. I hope to have them to you soon. Thank you for your patience.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**Student Laptops:** I will be meeting with Augusto and Susan next week to iron out many of the pop-ups that the children have experienced when using the laptops. We also hope to minimize the pop-ups happening with EDM games as well. If you are experiencing any issues with the laptops, EDM or anything else with regard to the laptops, please let me know so I can bring the information to their attention.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">January 3, 2012 **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Welcome back everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful vacation and start to the new year.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Okta's Rescue - Here is a link to another math game that I found on the NCTM- Illuminations website. (The same site where the 5 frames and 10 frames games were found.) Not sure if it's useful or not. If you think it's a good one, then I'll add it to our collection on the student links page.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">If anyone finds other games that they think would work, please let me know and I will add them to the student links page.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">November 29, 2011 **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**Network Access:** The technology department is beginning to take steps to move the computer network out of the old HS and into the new HS. Below are a list of dates and activities which could affect our access to the network from the elementary buildings. Please note the dates carefully and plan accordingly.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**11/30** - Schools may loose network connectivity (Internet and files) __on and off after the school day__. **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">(Albie believes his work will begin at 3:00 pm) **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**12/15** - No access to ipass from within or outside of school buildings until 12/17 (or 12/18?). Access will be from within school only until 12/28. (This will only affect the office secretaries at the elementary level.) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #500050; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**12/17** - Entire network down for the day while servers are moved. (This is a Saturday.) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #500050; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> //**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #500050; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Lastly, the network move is a huge endeavor. We hope that the move goes smoothly but please be prepared for changes to this schedule as events may arise that our out of our control. **//
 * 12/28** - Access to ipass from outside the buildings is restored. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #500050; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">November 23, 2011 ~ **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**Laptop Cart Sign-up Sheets** - In order to make signing up for the carts a little easier, you will find that I put all the calendar pages for the laptop carts on one clipboard. This way you can see what is available all in one place! Just to be clear - you will find the sheets just for the carts in that location. So the bookroom has a clipboard with the sign-ups for the bookroom carts. The storage room has a clipboard with the sign-ups for the storage room carts. You will find calendars for both November and December. I hope this is helpful.

**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">November 22, 2011 ~ **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**Student Laptop Carts** ~ I have distributed 2 more laptops carts (one to each wing). Each cart has 5 latitude laptops plus a teacher headset with headphone splitter. The space in the bookroom and Room 12 is limiting. So feel free to reorganize the carts as necessary.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**Website** - I have added some new images to the Loker home page. I'm still learning how to crop the images to best capture our students. When taking your pictures it's best if the you keep the camera in landscape (ie - don't rotate the camera to capture a tall portrait shot) and have the children relatively close to the object that you are trying to capture in the picture. Basically, I crop the picture in the shape of a long narrow rectangle from the actual picture. If you have some pictures you'd like to post on the website, please email them to me (only a few at time please). Lastly, please only send me pictures of students who have permission for their picture to be posted on the Internet. If you are not sure, please check with Christine in the office.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Happy Thanksgiving :)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**November 9, 2011 ~**

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">1. **Digital Cameras** - The two new digital cameras arrived. I have set up a digital camera station in the back of the book room on an empty cart. We have a total of four digital cameras to share (I have retired the very old original cameras). You will see one sign-out sheet for all four cameras. When borrowing a camera, I'm asking you to fill out the following information on the sign-out sheet ~ red tag number of the camera, your name, date taken, and date returned. //Prior to returning the camera, please delete your pictures from the memory card after you have uploaded them to your computer.// Since we are sharing resources, it makes it easier for the next person to not have to wade through tons of pictures to locate the pictures that they've taken. This is a shared resource, so please return the camera to the cart when you are finished.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">2. **EDM for Students** ~ I'm about half-way through creating the EDM accounts for your students. I should be done early next week. So by next Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest, you should have the EDM login information for your students.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">3. **Student Laptops** ~ I'm still working on getting two more student laptop carts ready. Remember we received 15 of the Dell Latitude laptops from the HS; 2 went to Deb; which leaves 13. I will create two carts of 5 laptops. Which leaves us with 3 latitude laptops. What should we do with them? See the teacher laptop option below.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">4. **Option ~** **Teacher Laptops** ~ I know that many of you have asked to swap your large heavy laptop with the slimmer latitude laptop. Who would be interested in swapping their larger Dell for a smaller latitude this year. Right now we could use the 3 latitude laptops as teacher laptops. Are three teachers interested in this option now? If so, please let me know. If more than 3 of you would like to do this, I can see if there are more in the district that we could have. If you would prefer to have another cart for students we could use the larger teacher laptops as student laptops on a cart. Give it some thought and let me know.