Erlanger-Elsmere Schools Technology Site

Musings after 12 Years Away from the Classroom

2016-09-16T12:16:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned in the district wide meeting on Opening Day, I am teaching a single class this year. It's a ninth grade English class, and after a little more than a month, I'm loving it.

I made the following post to my personal Facebook page a couple of weeks ago, and it occurred to me that it would be applicable for this blog as well. So I'm sharing it here. Hopefully this will kickstart my desire to write blog entries here more often.

--Bryan

So I'm teaching a class again this year for the first time since the 2003-2004 school year. Not a demotion--just missed the kids. Anyway, for the most part, things haven't changed much in 12 years. But there have been a few changes:

1) There is a lot more technology. You think I'd know that, since I'm the one that put it all in, but still, it's one thing to know it, and another thing to experience it.

2) I LOVE some aspects of it, such as having a projector in my classroom--totally changes a lot of things and how I do them.

3) I'm also glad to see that so many of my students have smart phones--BYOD is a really possible thing, at least on a small scale. I teach 23 9th graders, and 21 of them carry smart phones or some other Internet-capable devices around with them every day. And I'm not teaching in a super-affluent area. In 2004, I don't think that percentage of adults in the building had a regular cell phone, much less a smart phone.

4) I love that EVERYONE has and uses email now. When students are absent, I just email what they missed in class to them and their parents, along with how they can make up that assignment without having to take time out of their day to come after school to see me. I've only had a few absences, but this communication tool has been great! I really couldn't count on anyone to have email back in 2004.

5) In 2004, no one ever said his or her life goal was to be a professional YouTuber. But I have a student who told me that the other day.

6) It's been 12 years, but there are literally the exact same textbooks in my school. I'm teaching freshmen instead of sophomores, but if I'd been teaching sophomores, I could have read exactly the same stories as we were reading 12 years ago. The books are pretty beaten up now, but they're still here. I guess that's a testament to both the high quality of the textbooks we purchased in 1999 and the low quality of education funding in Kentucky ever since then.

7) A problem I've always had as a teacher is getting excited and losing track of time and thinking we're halfway through class and the bell rings. But I use the alarm on my cell phone (Thanks, Lisa, for the suggestion) to alert me when there are 3 minutes left in class. THAT's been a fantastic strategy for me.

8) I used to always put on the board what it was we were doing that day, mostly because I'm the kind of person who likes to check things off on an agenda so I don't go stir crazy, and I figured there had to be at least one kid in class like me who would appreciate seeing that we were making some kind of progress. But now, thanks to educational "innovation," I have on the white board what we're doing PLUS an "Essential Question" PLUS a "Learning Target" PLUS our homework PLUS my daily electronics policy. It's a good thing that I only teach one class and only teach it first thing in the morning--I don't think there is enough time in between classes to get that done from one period to the next.

9) One big change has occurred in ME. I think it's because my own children are now older than these kids, whereas before they were a decade younger, but...I LOVE these kids! I mean, I love them emotionally, and I want the best for them. I guess before I always knew that there were parents who loved the kids I was teaching, but I mostly saw them as little adults who could be treated as such. These kids are kids to me, and I care so much more about their happiness and their success than I did before.

There are other changes, too, but those are the big ones.

Research Writing Made Easier

2016-07-26T10:09:00.004-04:00

I taught high school and middle school English for 14 years before taking my current job as head of district technology (and I'm excited to say that--with the approval of district superintendent Dr. Kathy Burkhardt and Lloyd principal Mr. John Riehemann--I will be teaching a single freshmen English class again this year). And one of the things I struggled with during my years teaching was the research paper. I never liked teaching students how to do research, and the students didn't like it, either. Let's face it: Writing a lengthy research paper can be difficult for students. I struggled to make it easier for them.

That's why I read with some interest an article about the new research paper writing features built into the latest version of Microsoft Word.
Since a great deal of research is now done online, the latest version of Word allows users to do their online research directly inside of Word, and then copy and paste text directly into the program with citations and bibliography automatically created. Though I haven't tried it yet, it looks pretty slick. You can watch a video demonstration below.

The Research tool is currently only available in the Office 365 version of Microsoft Word, which is the home version that students and teachers can download for free. It is NOT yet available in Word 2016, which is the latest desktop version installed in the district. But it will most likely be included in an upcoming monthly update.

In the meantime, you can watch the video below to see how it will work.
(I can't see the video.)

Changes Coming to District Google Domain

2016-05-20T07:42:00.001-04:00

One of the district technology projects over the summer is to change the way students log into our Google Apps for Education (or “GAFE,” for short) account. Currently, students log in with “@erlanger.kyschools.us” as the suffix for their names. Beginning next year, students will log in with “@STU.erlanger.kyschools.us,” just as they do with their Office 365 accounts. This will allow us to set up a “synch” between our district computer accounts and our Google accounts. In other words, when we create a student’s Active Directory account which allows them to log onto the computer, a Google account will also be automatically created (just as it currently does for student Office 365 email accounts). That way as a teacher you’ll know that all students who have a computer account will have a GAFE account if you wish to utilize it.

There are some consequences, though, to setting up this synch between our district computer accounts and GAFE, and I wanted you to be aware of them.

IMPACT ON STUDENTS
Any students who are already using Google Docs with an address of @erlanger.kyschools.us will lose access to all of their current files when we move to the synch. You may want to let students know and instruct them to download any files they’ll need access to. The district will delete these @erlanger.kyschools.us accounts sometime this summer.

IMPACT ON ADULTS
There shouldn’t be any impact on adults exceptfor those who have a Google account with their school email address AND that account was NOT set up by the district technology department. If that’s the case, once the synch has occurred, when you go to log into your Google account, you’ll be warned that you have TWO accounts with the same address (the account YOU set up and the GAFE account that was created by our new synch tool) and that the GAFE account takes precedence and will be the account that stays with your work email address. The other account will be moved to a different email address.

Here's an example of what will happen:

· Imagine I set up a Google account with my work email address, Bryan.Sweasy@erlanger.kyschools.us. I set up that account outside of our GAFE (either I did it BEFORE we established a GAFE, or I set it up afterwards and didn’t know we had a GAFE).

· The first time I log in after the synch has started, I’ll be told that there are two Bryan.Sweasy@erlanger.kyschools.usaccounts, one that I set up and one set up by my GAFE administrator. I’ll be told to contact my GAFE administrator (i.e. someone from the district tech department) to get a password for that new GAFE account.

· In the meantime, MY old Google account will be given a temporary email address, something like Bryan.Sweasy034983743@gmail.com. I’ll be able to use that address to access any files that I need to get out of that account. If I want to move them to my new GAFE Bryan.Sweasy@erlanger.kyschools.usaccount, though, I’ll need to download them to my computer and then upload them into the new account.

Dealing with Clutter in your Inbox

2016-05-06T10:38:00.002-04:00

I had an administrator come to me the other day and complain that some very important messages were being moved by our email system into his "Clutter" folder. He was worried that he was going to miss something important. He isn't the first person to complain to me about this issue. With that in mind, I thought I'd provide a quick tutorial about Clutter.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF CLUTTER?

The first thing you might wonder is why we even have a "Clutter" folder. After all, our email system already has a "Junk" folder where email that is most likely unwanted email is being shuffled. Isn't Clutter just a second "Junk" folder?

Well, that's not its intended purpose. Clutter is an artificial intelligence intended to function as a sort of personal assistant. Junk isn't supposed to go to Clutter. What is supposed to go to Clutter are messages that you want to read but that you don't need to see immediately.

HOW DOES CLUTTER DECIDE WHAT'S LOW PRIORITY?

Clutter decides what goes into this folder in two ways:

1) You tell it directly. By taking an email that you consider "low priority" and dragging it from your inbox into Clutter, Clutter will understand to move similar messages (with similar subjects and/or from that same sender) into your Clutter folder. And the reverse works as well. If you keep getting messages placed into your Clutter folder that you want to stay in your Inbox, drag them from Clutter to Inbox and Clutter will learn to keep those types of messages in your Inbox.

2) You tell it indirectly by your Actions. This is one of the most useful parts of Clutter, but it also is what gets it in trouble sometimes. Clutter watches how you interact with your email and makes a determination about whether an email is low or high priority. Do you get a daily email from your subject-area state organization that summarizes chats on their website? Do you skip opening most of them? Once Clutter detects that pattern, it will start shuttling those messages into your Clutter folder. But what if your building principal sends 7 or 8 emails a day? If you can tell by the subject lines that 6 of those emails aren't applicable to you, you might delete those without reading them. Clutter is watching, and it's now decided you don't care about emails from that person, so it starts moving all messages from your principal into Clutter, and you might miss an important, time-sensitive email.

HOW CAN I MAKE CLUTTER WORK FOR ME?
You can "train" it using the instructions above. If you decide to to this, though, please remember that Clutter is NOT a second junk mail folder. The idea is that the messages in Clutter will be read by you--they just aren't priority messages. Knowing this, you will need to regularly (maybe once a day) check your Clutter folder for messages that have been shuffled in there.

I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT. CAN'T I JUST TURN IT OFF?
You absolutely CAN. To do so, log into webmail at http://www.erlanger.kyschools.us/email (You can't do this from the Outlook client on your computer). Click on the "Clutter" folder and select "Clutter Settings." You can then uncheck the box that says "Separate Items identified as Clutter" and then click "Save." That's all there is to it! Your non-junk mail will all go to your Inbox.

Dell's latest Personal Purchase offer.

2016-05-05T08:48:00.002-04:00

AS ALWAYS, THIS BLOG POST IS NOT INTENDED TO ENDORSE THE PRODUCT OF ANY VENDOR. I AM SIMPLY PASSING THE INFORMATION ON AS A SERVICE.

As mentioned in the prior post, Dell offers special deals for Erlanger-Elsmere School District families. The latest deal includes a free 32 inch Samsung TV with any PC priced $699.99 and above. More information can be found at the link below.

Click here to see the flyer.

Dell added to list of vendors that provide special pricing to district staff and families

2016-04-28T09:01:00.003-04:00

AS ALWAYS, THIS BLOG POST IS NOT INTENDED TO ENDORSE THE PRODUCT OF ANY VENDOR. I AM SIMPLY PASSING THE INFORMATION ON AS A SERVICE.

Both Microsoft and Apple Computers have for several years provided special pricing for staff members and families. In Apple's case, they provide a teacher and student discount on most of their products. Microsoft only provides a single product, but they provide it absolutely free: Staff members, students, and their families can download Microsoft Office for use on up to 5 devices.

Now, Dell Computers has been added to the list of vendors who provide discounts not only for staff, but for students and their families as well. Details can be found on the "Personal Purchases" page of this website, which can be found at the top of every page on the site.

In addition, here is a flyer with the latest offer from Dell. Thank you, Dell, for allowing us to offer these deals to our families.

Click here for the latest Dell offering.

Windows 10 Introduction

2016-04-01T14:22:00.000-04:00

The district has started rolling out Windows 10 devices, mostly as replacements for staff workstations that are 6+ years old, but we have a handful of student computer labs in the district that are running Windows 10.

The good news about Windows 10 is that it's enough like Windows 7 that most people have been able to make the transition to the new operating system without much help. But that's not to say there aren't some issues. Even I had issues the first time I used Windows 10. I remember saying to myself, "How the heck to I find 'My Computer' on this thing?" It took a little stumbling around to figure it out.

Microsoft understands that a transition to a new operating system can sometimes be frustrating, so they have created a brief introduction to Windows 10. It's free and available online.

You can read the introduction by clicking this link.

District Technology Committee creates draft 2016-18 Tech Plan

2016-03-31T09:10:00.000-04:00

The District Technology Committee, with input from school and district administration, has completed a draft of the Erlanger-Elsmere Independent School District's 2016-18 District Technology Plan. The plan describes how the district intends to purchase, develop, and use technology to accomplish specific purposes within the district.

The plan is now available online for staff members and the general public to view. Any suggestions or comments about the plan can be directed to the district's technology director, Bryan Sweasy, at Bryan.Sweasy@erlanger.kyschools.us .

Click here to view the plan.

CIITS Tutorial Video

2016-03-24T10:16:00.003-04:00

I know that users in the district have had mixed success with the KDE-supplied Continuous Instructional Improvement Technology System, or CIITS. The PGES module was clunky and glitchy at first, the PD 360 module seemed like a great idea but was never used, and even the wealth of instructional resources are hard to find. But one aspect of CIITS has always worked really well, and that's been the ability to quickly look at student data.

KDE has put together a brief video that shows users how to access this information. You can watch the video by clicking this link.

Google Chrome Music Lab

2016-03-14T09:55:00.000-04:00

March is Music in Our Schools Month, and Google has created a series of web apps to allow young students to experiment with sound and music. I tried out several of them and think they could be useful in a classroom, so I'm just passing along the link.

Click here to access the Google Chrome Music Lab.

Google Docs now Supports Voice Typing

2016-03-01T10:55:00.001-05:00

If you're using a Chromebook OR if you're using a PC with a microphone and with Google Chrome installed, you can now "type" a paper using your voice. The video below shows you how!

(I can't see the video.)

Web Resources for Each Level of Bloom's Taxonomy

2016-02-29T08:20:00.002-05:00

Jonathan Jones, Erlanger-Elsmere School District's new network administrator, shared a web page with me the other day, and it's so good I thought I'd share it with you, too.

The web page, which you can access at the link below, provides a list of apps and websites that are ideal for meeting each of the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. Even if you're not looking to create an assignment that targets a specific level of Bloom's Taxonomy, the web page provides a great list of apps and websites that can be used in teaching, some of which will no doubt be new to you (a few were new to me) and that are worth a look.

Click here to access the web page.

Ransomware

2016-02-24T08:24:00.000-05:00

I don't know how many of you have been following news stories of the latest cyber-attacks, but I thought it very important and pertinent to make sure all of you are aware of the latest threat, digitally speaking. We have had more than one person to fall victim to this new threat. Staff in other districts have endured devastating effects because of it. Jonathan Jones and KDE have been implementing a variety of counter measures lately; however, the best defense with these types of threats is the education of end users on what they should and should not do.

WHAT IT IS:

“Ransomware” is a term that is used to categorize a particular type of computer virus/malware. There are many variants out there (just like different strains of the flu virus). Without completely educating myself, it appears that the infection is most commonly spread by visiting a web site that has been compromised. Even sites that you may trust could be a threat. Another popular method is sending a fake invoice via email. The telltale symptoms of the infection are ENCRYPTION of nearly every file on the person's local computer AND EVERY file accessible through mapped drives (like our H: drives or F: drives) and any CLOUD drive that is being actively synced.

Those that are affected (a.k.a INfected) are quickly notified (by the ransomware itself) that they have to pay money to receive the key to unlock their files.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO TO AVOID INFECTION:

Be Careful Where You Go Online. Remember that per the AUP we all signed, work computers should be used for work-related purposes only. It is very easy to start at a legitimate website and quickly end up somewhere else. An article about a legitimate school subject on the CNN.com website might have a link on the side with a title called “The Cameraman Wasn’t Expecting to Capture This!” which LOOKS like it’s going to take you to a CNN article (In CNN’s defense, there is tiny, 6 point font below the link alerting you to the fact that this will take you to a different site) but actually takes you to a slightly shadier site called “re-S,” which includes links to all kinds of sites, including truly shady ones. Thus, you could start at CNN and in two clicks put your computer and all of the data on it at risk. I’m human, too, and I want to see the photo that the cameraman wasn’t expecting, but “clickbait” is often a scam (and pretty much always a waste of time!).
Be careful clicking links in emails coming from email addresses you don’t recognize. In addition…
…Be careful clicking links in emails coming from email addresses you DO recognize. It’s possible for bad people to mimic the name of someone that you DO know (even me!).

Before clicking on any links that seem suspect to you, at the top of the email, click on the name of the sender (You may have to DOUBLE click it depending upon how you’re reading the email). You can try it on this email right now. It should show MY information and bryan.sweasy@erlanger.kyschools.us. If you see something weird, like bryan.sweasy@iscrwgxsf.ru or something like that, DON’T click on the link. Delete the email!
Before clicking on any link, hover over the link—a pop up should show you where the link will take you (You can try it on the “‘clickbait’ is often a scam” link above. You should see that it is taking you to the Better Business Bureau’s bbb.org website). Keep in mind that it’s possible to have a link’s text say “apple.com” but have the link actually take you somewhere completely different.

Instead of saving to your local computer’s “My Documents” folder, ALWAYS save your most critical files to your H: drive. While ransomware WILL target your H: drive, we can restore from back-up with a few clicks.
Know that our shared drives are not safe. Our F: or L: or K: drives have the same vulnerability if a user has a mapped drive to it (and most of our staff users do). We back up these files multiple times a day, so if there is a compromise, we will most likely be able to restore a very recent copy of network files, but just be aware that some recent work could be lost if any user of that drive gets infected.
Know that Synced Cloud Storage is Not Safe, Either. IF you use the OneDrive Sync app, Dropbox, or the Google Drive app as a way to back up your computer by syncing in real time between your computer and some cloud service storage, you are NOT protected from ransomware. The ransomware will encrypt the files on your work computer, and the sync client (which is too dumb to know that anything wrong has happened) will sync those encrypted files right up into the cloud as well. Take note: WE DO NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO BACKUP OR RESTORE CLOUD FILES. Also keep in mind that if you have the sync client installed on a personal computer at home, that the sync client on your personal computer will pull the files down to your personal computer at home and infect it at well. This has happened to at least one user in our district! She had the OneDrive client installed on both her work computer and her home computer. Her work computer was infected with ransomware, which infected every file on her work computer. The OneDrive program running on her computer sent all of the infected files, INCLUDING THE PROGRAM THAT INSTALLED THE RANSOMWARE, up into the cloud, infecting every file she had in the cloud. Her personal computer at home then synced all of the infected files from up into the cloud down onto her personal computer, INCLUDING THE PROGRAM THAT INSTALLED THE RANSOMWARE, which then installed itself onto her home computer and encrypted everything on her home computer. Everything. Including her personal files, photos, music, and movies. With all of this in mind, I’d suggest the following:

· It’s still okay to use the sync tool on your computer. But you cannot (and really, never should have) rely on a sync tool as your only means of backing up your files. You should periodically implement some other form of back up, such as a USB thumb drive (Just remember not to LEAVE the thumb drive plugged into the computer as it will be a mapped drive if left plugged and will be infected, too. Do the backup and then unplug it and keep it somewhere secure in your office).

· I’d strongly recommend against having the sync tool running on both your work computer and your home computer.If you use OneDrive, you can still access all of your work files directly at home from the OneDrive icon in Office 365, and you can even work on them directly through the online Office apps. Do you REALLY need to sync all of your work files onto your home computer? The answer is probably not, and doing do puts your personal files at risk should your work computer become infected (and vice versa, too).

WHAT YOU SHOULD TO IF YOU GET INFECTED:

If you notice that more than one file has been affected (because they won't open or all of the files in a folder have strange file names that you did not give them, or if a web page suddenly appears that tells you all of your files have been infected), SHUT DOWN your computer immediately (Just pull the power plug from the wall if that’s the quickest solution) and call the tech office. I’m going to be honest here: It MAY be too late at that point, and there is a good chance we won’t be able to help, but we MIGHT be able to recover SOME of your files if you act quickly enough.

If you suspect any compromise, just call us. We won't judge you. The integrity of our student data is much more important to us than any misstep you may make.

IN SUMMARY

· “Ransomware” is software which will make all of the files on your computer unusable until you pay a large amount of money to make them usable again. This is a very real problem that has already affected users throughout the state, including teachers in this district!

· To avoid it, be careful where you go online, and be careful about clicking links inside of emails.

· Make sure your important files are in your H: drive (because district tech staff backs up those files) or otherwise backed up. Don’t depend upon cloud storage syncing as your only means of backup.

· If you think you’ve been infected, FIRST unplug your computer (the box, not the monitor) from the wall, and THEN contact the tech office.

Digital Learning Day

2016-02-17T08:10:00.000-05:00

Today is National Digital Learning Day, at least according to the Digital Learning Day website. The day exists to encourage "instructional practice that effectively uses technology to strengthen a students' learning experience." In honor of the day, KDE's Chief Digital Officer, Marty Park, sent the email below yesterday. It includes such a wealth of resources that I felt like I simply HAD to share it on this blog. Maybe it's lazy just do a copy and paste, but hey! It works! So here goes....

-----------------------------

To All,

Join us in celebrating Digital Learning Day 2016!

Help us bring more awareness to the super powers of digital learning. We strongly believe in the advantages of digital access, digital tools, and resources to help remove barriers for increased student agency, while building new learning experiences for Kentucky public school students. Digital learning is any instructional practice that effectively uses technology to strengthen a student’s learning experience. It emphasizes high-quality instruction and provides access to challenging content, feedback through formative assessment, opportunities for learning anytime and anywhere, and individualized instruction to ensure all students reach their full potential to succeed in college and a career.

Our very own KIDS staff have put together a quick list of 30 new digital skills to try for Digital Learning Day 2016 and our flag ship and national spotlight program, STLP (Student Technology Leadership Program) is leading the charge in through our Level Up gamification activities. The Digital Learning Day badge is available for STLP groups to claim after they have submitted their DLD plans to the Digital Learning Day website. Once submitted, they will be plotted on the DLD map for the world to see. This is a Challenge badge — meaning that it is only available through a specified time window…so groups need to act/participate in order to earn the badge before it “expires.”

So, join us and try 1 new digital idea, Level Up, and build your digital super powers!

Try 1 of these ideas:

Digital Learning Day Live - learn more about the celebration (Go Now!)
Follow KDE on Facebook (Go Now!) and on Twitter (Go Now!)
Download the KDE News Mobile Application to your mobile (Go Now!)
Download the KDE Notify App on your mobile device (Go Now!)
Learn more about Project-based learning through STLP (Student Technology Leadership Program) and see how students are “Leveling UP.” (Go Now!)
Check out our current survey, results, and digital learning readiness from ALL public school districts (Go Now!) and see the top digital trends. (Go Now!)
Watch some of the latest videos or Create a Desktop shortcut to the KDE Media Portal (Go Now!)
Watch a KETS Tech Tip, or two, or three (Go Now!)
Learn what our districts are doing with Google Apps for Education (Go Now!)
Start work towards your Digital Driver’s License for Digital Citizenship (Go Now! )
Take a Microsoft Image Academy online course (formerly IT Academy) (Go Now!)
Self Service update your password and make it stronger! (Tap Ctrl + Alt + Delete or Go Now!)
Check out the latest devices districts are buying (Go Now!)
Join Wi-Fi at Starbucks or McDonalds securely with our VPN services for ANY device (See #29 if needed) (Go Now!)
When stepping away from your laptop, lock it: LOCK your Windows computer: Press Windows Key + L - An easy way to remember, think “Windows LOCK” as in locking your computer. LOCK your Mac: Press the Control Key, Shift Key, and Power button at the same time. Control + Shift + Power.
Complete your “About Me” profile and Upload your Photo in Office 365 (click “Profile” then “edit”) (Go Now!)
Worried about viruses? Search the virus threat library. Or did you get a Phishing email? (Go Now!) Or have you recently received a phishing email and want to help protect others! Report it here (Go Now!)
Try OneNote as a new tool for your daily tasks and meeting notes. (Go Now!)
Learn how the Internet actually works (Go Now!)
See how collaboration throughout the state is working inside of SharePoint Online (Go Now!)
Learn more about the Infinite Campus Parent and Student Portal Mobile apps (Go Now!)
YouTube a “How To” video and learn something new (Go Now!)
Log In to Office365 on the web and use it for your email for the next week. Check out the App Waffle (little boxes in the upper left hand corner) and while you are there, share a file or folder with someone. (Go Now!)
When creating a calendar event for a KDE meeting, add the meeting room as an invitee AND add the Skype for Business Meeting Space as an option.
Join a Skype Meeting from your mobile device, download or learn more (Go Now!)
One Stop, Shop for searchable School District info (Go Now!)
Hungry for more data? Visit the award winning Open House (Go Now!)
Need quick Feedback? Create a web accessible SharePoint or Excel Survey (Go Now!)
Need Help? Take a visit to the 14^th floor or Call the KETS Service Desk for 1 on 1 help: (502) 564-2002
Learn more about the ISTE digital standards for students, teachers, & leaders. (Go Now!)

Thanks you!

Marty Park | Chief Digital Officer, Kentucky Department of Education (KDE)

And the odometer turned over!...

2016-01-13T12:24:00.002-05:00

On January 1 of this year, a momentous event occurred. Okay, maybe it's not a momentous event, but it was a HUGE event!

Okay, maybe it wasn't a huge event, either. It's not even slightly important. In fact, it's so unimportant that I didn't even notice it until today, even though I knew it was coming.

And that event? At 12:48 PM on New Year's Day, a teacher from Howell Elementary School made the 10,000th work order in our district work order system.

That's right. Since our current help desk system was implemented in April of 2005, the district technology staff has handled more than 10,000 work orders (not to mention the countless little things that we took care of without creating a work order). Here are a few facts about those work orders:

WORK ORDER NUMBER 1 was submitted on April 19, 2005 by Bryan Sweasy on behalf of V. Rowland at Arnett Elementary School, and it was a request to install a new video card in her computer (which was necessary to allow her to connect to the projector in her classroom, which was, by the way, one of the first projectors in the district, and which she had purchased with her own money).
WORK ORDER 100 was submitted on August 15, 2005 (one of 8 work orders submitted that day) on behalf of a teacher at Lloyd High School who no longer works in the district, and it was a request to give a user administrator access on her machine so that she could install an update to STI Classroom (which was the state-mandated gradebook program prior to Infinite Campus).
WORK ORDER 1,000 was submitted on April 27, 2006 on behalf of G. Johnson at Tichenor Middle School, and it was a request to fix a problem she was having with her email, which had occurred after the district had migrated from Microsoft Exchange 2000 to Microsoft Exchange 2003 (note that it took 3 years of planning before KDE made that move).
WORK ORDER 5,000 was submitted on September 5, 2011 by a Tichenor teacher who no longer works in the district. A neighboring teacher was having issues with Infinite Campus.
WORK ORDER 10,000, as I mentioned earlier, was submitted on January 1 of this year by K. Wharff and was a request for help to reconnect all of her technology after it was pulled out of her room over the Winter Break in order to remove her carpet and replace it with tile.

And now is as good a time as any to give you some stats about all of the work orders in 2015:

From January 1, 2015 until December 31, 2015, there were 1,277 work orders submitted.
Lloyd High School (as you might expect, considering it's the largest school in the district), had the most work orders submitted: 399 (31.2%), followed by Tichenor with 311 (24.4%), Miles Elementary with 158, Lindeman Elementary with 135, Howell Elementary with 114, and Arnett elementary with 92. The fewest work orders went to the Howell Family Resource Building, which had just two work orders (It helps that on a day to day basis there's only one person--occasionally two--in the building).
The largest category of work orders were "workstation" work orders (That is, something's wrong with the computer itself). There were 394 of these work orders, making up 30.9% of all problems.
219 work orders were listed under the category of "OTHER." That's 17.1% of all work orders, and that's not helpful. This year I'll work to categorize more of these appropriately.

None of this matters. I just found it interesting. And I wonder what the next 10,000 work orders will bring!

News Story about District Web Filter

2015-12-01T11:00:00.002-05:00

First things first: I haven't made a blog post in exactly two months. Wow. I'm embarrassed. I'll endeavor to do better. (On another embarrassing note, thanks to spell checker, I just realized that I don't know how to spell "embarrassed." I'll work on that, too).

Anyway, the reason for my post today concerns that post I made two months ago, when we moved to our new web filter. Below is a news story from Louisville's WAVE TV 3 about the statewide move to the new filtering system. I'm pretty sure it's just a press release, but it's well written. I thought some of you might enjoy reading it.

Click here to read the article.

Post Web-Filter Migration

2015-10-01T07:22:00.000-04:00

Good morning. Dan Klaber and I survived the web filter migration. That alone is cause for celebration!

Things mostly went well. I sent a separate email to elementary staff about a change we had to make for them.

There will be some issues this morning, though, especially with websites that staff need available that are now blocked, and vice versa. If you encounter difficulties this morning, please create a work order at http://www.erlanger.kyschools.us/helprather than calling or emailing one of us. I expect a crush of requests, and we’ll need to prioritize them, and an email sent to a single one of us may get lost in the shuffle.

Reminder: Network Outage on 9/30/15 at 3:30 PM

2015-09-24T08:14:00.000-04:00

This is a reminder that on Wednesday, September 30, at 3:30 PM, the district will be migrating to a new, KDE-supplied web filtering solution. This move will have the following impacts on Internet service in the district:

On September 30^th:

· Internet access will be unavailable from 3:30 PM on Wednesday the 30^th until approximately 5:30 PM on the 30^th, and if difficulties crop up, Internet downtime could be even longer. Best advice: Plan for zero Internet access within the district on the evening of the 30^th.

· During the outage—since our web server sits inside of our network and our Internet access will be down—you will not have access to the district website from your home or from anywhere else outside of the district network. All parts of the web site will be unavailable, including the “Links for Teachers” and “Links for Students” page, eStub, and technology and maintenance work order systems. If on that day you need access to the links on the “Links for Teachers” page, an emergency version of that page can be found on the district technology blog at http://www.erlanger.kyschools.us/technology. It is about halfway down in the thin, right-hand column and is labeled “Emergency Links.”

On October 1^st:When you return to school on October 1, Internet access should be restored to the district. But there will be several issues with which to contend.

· If you attempt to utilize a district owned device that is a full-fledged PC, you SHOULD be able to use it without issue. That’s because a small program is being pushed out to every PC in the district. This program reads the login information of the person logged into the computer and passes that information on to the web filter so that you don’t need to log in twice (once to the computer and once to the web filter). However, please note that the key word here is “should.” Whenever a program is pushed out to users, there are inevitably a few machines that don’t receive the program. We may have to troubleshoot those machines. If that happens, your machine may behave like the machines described in the next bullet.

· If you are utilizing a personally owned device or a district-owned device that is not a full PC (Chromebooks, iPads, etc.), a login window will appear the first time that you attempt to access the Internet. You’ll need to log in with your district username and password in order to access the Internet. As an adult employee of the district, once you login, that device will recognize you for several hours (we haven’t set the duration just yet) after which you’ll need to log in again. Your students will need to log in much more frequently (probably every 45 minutes).

· Despite our best efforts, there WILL be some devices that are unable to connect to the Internet at the start of school on Thursday the 1st. Desktops will be more likely to work than laptops, which will be more likely to work than consumer mobile devices (iPads, Chromebooks), but there will be some of each device that won’t work.

· When we begin the day on Thursday, we will have a minimal, KDE-supplied list of blocked sites. The filtering rules will be different from what we’ve had in the past. Some sites that are currently blocked may be unblocked on Thursday, while some that were not blocked may now be blocked. It may take several days or even weeks before we fine tune the KDE setup (something we’re not allowed to do in advance) to more closely resemble what we have now.

· Speaking of which, as we fine-tune our setup and troubleshoot issues, it may be necessary over the course of the day on Thursday and Friday to reboot something in our network, which may mean a network or Internet downtime of a few minutes. Be prepared for interruptions to network/Internet access on the 1^st and 2^ndof October. Don’t plan for mission-critical or lesson-critical Internet usage on those days. That would include MAP testing (which should be finished by then anyway).

"Just in Time" PD for Science Teachers?

2015-09-21T08:30:00.000-04:00

If you're a science teacher hoping to improve your teaching, the Smithsonian Science Education Center has created a website called "Good Thinking," It contains several YouTube videos centered around best practices for teaching science. I've watched a couple and--though I'm not a science teacher--I found them useful. Together they add up to about an hour of video, so it would make sense that teachers interested who watched the videos outside of the contract day could possible earn an hour of professional development credit (Check with your principal to see if you need the credit and is he/she will allow the videos to count as credit).

Click here to go to the "Good Thinking" web page.

A Poster for Your Lesson Planning Area?

2015-09-17T08:17:00.001-04:00

Okay, this post doesn't have anything to do with technology, other than that at the bottom of it there is a link to a webpage. But I thought I'd share this with you anyway because it's relevant for teachers....

The link below will take you to a JPG image file on the teachthought.com website. It's an attractive graphic that lists that 6 levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and sample words and questions that go along with each level. It wouldn't be a bad thing to print out and place inside your lesson planning book (if you still use a paper planner) or maybe post somewhere visible from the computer where you create your lesson plans. It might help you ensure you hit those higher level critical thinking skills.

Click here for the graphic.

Great Tech Article with Implications for Education

2015-09-11T08:55:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week I read the article I linked to below. It's from the Washington Post, and it's a description of how quickly technology is changing. It's a good read, and there are some serious implications for education.

I think everyone I've ever talked to about the philosophy of education has agreed that our current educational system--which is based on a factory system and was originally designed for a world where most students would themselves work in factories upon graduation--is not preparing students for the modern world. This article gives some insight into WHY that is the case.

After reading this article, I'm more sure than ever that our schools need to move away from our current, cookie-cutter style educational system that does a great job of teaching rote learning to a system that will focus on students learning to see patterns by doing real-world tasks.

Click here to read the article.

Microsoft Office 365 Issues

2015-09-02T09:00:00.001-04:00

Good morning. Some users this morning are experiencing issues with Office 365. Specifically, nothing but the email icons (That is, Outlook, Calendar, People, and Tasks) show up when the affected user is in the email side of Office 365. All of the other programs (OneDrive, OneNote, Word Online, etc.) are still there, but the users just don’t have the links to them.

I’ve contacted KDE and they are contacting Microsoft as this appears to be a Microsoft issue. In the meantime, students and staff can both still access those other parts of Office 365 by clicking on the “District OneDrive” link on either the “Links for Students” page or the “Links for Teachers” page on the district website.

Advanced Notice: Network Outages in September

2015-09-01T08:49:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday, September 9, beginning at 7 PM, KDE and Infinite Campus will run their monthly, scheduled update on our Infinite Campus servers in Frankfort. The update typically takes several hours, and during that time Infinite Campus will be unavailable. Service should be restored by the start of school on Thursday.

On Tuesday, September 30, beginning at 3:30 PM, Internet access inside of the district will be unavailable as the district migrates to the new KDE-supplied web filtering system. The outage could last up to two hours. Internet access should be restored by the start of school on Thursday, October 1, but users should be prepared for significant issues that need to be worked through for several days, especially with 1) the ability of consumer-grade mobile devices (iPads, Chromebooks, etc.) and their ability to connect to the Internet, and 2) some desirable sites being blocked that weren’t blocked before, and some undesirable sites being open that were blocked before.

Changes coming to MAP

2015-05-27T10:47:00.001-04:00

For the 2015-16 school year, the Erlanger-Elsmere School District will be moving from an older, client-based MAP program to a newer, online, "cloud-based" version of MAP. This change will bring some significant improvements, including

MAP tests can be completed on iPads or Chromebooks.
No more uploading of test results, as results will be instantly available on the NWEA reporting website.

In addition, there will be some improvements to the teacher and administrator reports. More information about these improvements can be found in the video below.

Click here to watch the video.

District AUP Updates

2015-04-20T09:07:00.000-04:00

At the Board of Education meeting on Thursday, April 16, board members approved a revised district Acceptable Use Policy. The major changes to the policy are as follows:

It's Shorter. The old policy was redundant in many places (For instance, there were multiple directives against spreading viruses and multiple places where sharing passwords was listed as unacceptable). By removing the redundant language, the AUP was cut from 14 pages down to 6.
It's Been Updated to Reflect the Changing Times. "Facebook" has replaced "MySpace" as an example of a social networking site, and "Gmail" replaces "AOL Mail."
It includes additional guidelines concerning Personally Identifiable Information. The old AUP mentioned that adults shouldn't share students' Personally Identifiable Information (PII) online, but the new policy provides additional details, including a statement that staff members should seek permission before uploading any PII into a cloud-based service. The new policy also cautions staff to "use discretion" when making copies of sensitive student data, especially if that data will be on a mobile device.

You can view the entire new AUP online here: http://www.erlanger.kyschools.us/technology/AUP2015.pdf .