Digital Literacy Professional Development

The year is flying past us!  However, we still have a lot of after school digital literacy professional development opportunities available.  Please click here to see a full listing of the remaining sessions.  All of these sessions are excellent and target a tool or process that can really helpful to increase the amount and quality of digital literacy integration.  Please check them out!

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MONTHLY MICROSOFT OFFICE HINTS

EXCEL	WORD	OUTLOOK
Easy way to get a spreadsheet to print on a single page.  It used to be quite an ordeal to get all the columns of a worksheet to print on a single page.  Although the location of print options might take some getting used to in Office 2007 and Office 2010, you can find them on the appropriately named tab, Page Layout.  In the Scale to Fit group, you will find three fields that can help you lay out your page.  To get all the columns on a page, select the 1 page option from the drop-down button next to the Width field.	Change multiple line spacing in Word 2007 and 2010, for good!  Some people aren’t comfortable with the 1.15 line spacing, which Microsoft instituted to improve readability.  To change line spacing, right-click on a paragraph formatted in the Normal style and choose Paragraph.  Change the line spacing field from Multiple to Single.  You may want to keep some spacing After in the Line Spacing section to delineate between paragraphs.  Now, instead of clicking OK, click Set as Default and confirm that you want this change for all documents created with the Normal.dotx template.	Click and drag.  One of the great features of Outlook is that any item can become another just by clicking and dragging it to a different navigation button (Calendar, Tasks, Notes).  When you make an email into a calendar appointment, it defaults to today’s date.  If you have your To Do Bar showing (Outlook 2007/2010), you can click and drag an email right on top of the date you want to schedule the meeting.  It will open a single appointment for that date.  You will need to adjust the start and end times.

HELP DESK

POWERCORDS

Q My powercord is frayed and in pretty bad shape.  Can I get a new one?  Will it come out of my budget?

A There is good news for you!  The procedure to get a new powercord is extremely easy!  Simply email Angela with technology and she will inner office you a new one.  All they need from you is that you return your damaged one back to them as they do get a replacement for each damaged cord free of charge.  Please include your computers serial number with your damaged cord.  It is the number on the bottom of your computer starting with 2009-.

HELP!  MY BATTERY WON’T HOLD A CHARGE

Q My computer battery does not last very long after I unplug it.  What are my options?

A Unlike powercords, batteries DO cost the district money. It’s been two and half years since we purchased the current set of staff laptops.  Typically, laptop batteries only last about 18-24 months.  So, I know a lot of staff members are having trouble with their batteries.  We don’t have a blanked policy on replacement, but our rule of thumb is that if the battery won’t last more than 20 minutes or so, we’ll replace it.   However, if you are not significantly inconvenienced by a short battery life, keeping your current battery will save the district money and will not damage your computer in any way.  So, I ask that you only request a replacement if you truly feel the short charge time is getting in the way of your work.  Please also keep in mind that we will be replacing staff laptops this summer.  So, you’ll only have these computers for the rest of this school year.

If you need to replace your battery, please contact Angela Sleeper via email or phone – 848 5240.  She handles the process of getting the new batteries out and getting the old ones back for recycling.  Because we going to refresh staff computers with a new model next year, we don’t want to stock a ton of these batteries for the current models.  So, please be patient with us as we have to order more if we run out of stocked batteries.  

New Campus Feature and Updates

I have scheduled an update for Infinite Campus for Tuesday, December 06, 2011 at 11:00 PM.  We will go from version E. 1134.2 to E. 1146.1.  This update will give us a cool new feature that you may wish share with your students and parents.  After this update, we will be able to use the Infinite Campus Parental Portal iPhone mobile app. The app of the iPhone is available in the app store for free.  Just search for “Infinite Campus” to find it.  There's is also a link to the store at the bottom of the Portal page as well.  Unfortunately, at this time, Campus does not have an app that will work for Android or Blackberry devices.  There are several other minor changes in this update.  If you are interest in learning more about what else is in this update and about how the update process works in general, read on...

Infinite Campus provides several updates a year to their product—about two a quarter.  However, typically, I only request an update two or three times during a school year.  Campus is vital to our work, and sometimes new updates radically change the product and sometime, because it’s such a large and complex system, updates often mess up other systems that are connected to Campus.  For example, we’ve had updates that seem to work great, but several days later we discover that data is no longer flowing between Campus and Google – so student passwords and accounts don’t update.  Therefore, I’m usually pretty cautious about tinkering with Campus.  

We’ve been with Campus a long time, since 2000-2001.  Campus has dramatically improved their update process over this time frame.  I can remember when they would not even tell us if there was update.  We would get the patch notes the morning after it happened.  Often in these cases their quality assurance process wasn’t perfect either.  So, sometimes after an update things within Campus would be broken: great times...  However, Campus has gotten has gotten much, much better at orchestrating updates and their QA process is vastly improved as well.  While I don’t ever look at updating as routine, it’s not the white-knuckle experience it used to be.  

As I referenced in an earlier post, the Campus Community is a wonderful new tool.   With the in the Community site, everyone has access to the latest release information.  These new releases are featured in news stories on the Community site.  I would encourage anyone who is interested to look at the release notes for each update.  There might be feature or an enhancement that would be very valuable to you listed there.   If you do happen to see a feature you would like to know more about, or you feel would be very helpful to you in your work, let me know.  I’ll do some looking, and we might initiate an update request based upon a conversation like this.  However, I need to warn you that these release notes are rather daunting to look at, so here’s a quick primmer in how to make sense of them.

Campus has divided their customer base into two groups – districts that are on the “enhancement line” and those that are on the “maintenance line.”  The enhancement line schools get new features much more quickly.  The maintenance line schools only get bug fixes and State reporting modifications.    The enhancement line is much more feature rich, while the maintenance line is much more stable and less likely to break.  We are enrolled in the enhancement line.  You can see the current version of Campus on the login page right above our school name.  You’ll need to know this in order to compare it to the available versions.  The higher the number, the newer the version.  

To see the latest releases available, login to the Community site.  Click the “Knowledgebase” link in the bar along the top of the screen.  The Knowledgebase page has the release info toward the bottom under the “Release Information” header.  Then click the “Release Notes” link.  This will display a page with all of the available releases going down the left menu.  You can compare our version, on our login page, to what’s available.  There might be one or more new versions ready to go.  If you want to see what they included, click the update link.  You’ll then need to click the knowledgebase article for the update.  Then scroll down to read the update manifest.  The manifest will have a brief description and a case number associate with it.  If the brief description does not give enough detail, you can click the case number to read a bit more.  Because we are in the enhancement line, we’ll get all of the features listed in the manifest.  At the very top of the page, there are a set of links that categorize the updates.  Sometimes it’s easier to look at those rather than to browse the complete manifest list.   You can almost always ignore any update item that starts with “Localization.”  These items refer to items need by states or other large organizations.  We will only get the Iowa localizations, and usually these are for State reporting.  Typically, about 80% the entire update manifest will be localization updates that don’t apply to us.  So, again, when I look at the list, I usually browse it by category.  Updates are inclusive. So, if there is a new feature in E. 1142.1, but the latest release is E. 1146.2, you can assume that everything in 1142 is also included in 1146.  

Again, I don’t have the constitution to update Campus every time they have new release available.  However, if you browse the update file and see something in there that you really feel would help you out, let me know.   I’m almost always willing to risk the update if there is a strong need.

Help! My Battery Won’t Hold a Charge!

It’s been two and half years since we purchased the current set of staff laptops.  Typically, regardless of make, model, or brand, laptop batteries only last about 18-24 months.  So, I know a lot of staff members are having trouble with their batteries right now.  We don’t have blanked policy on replacement, but our rule of thumb is that if the battery won’t last more than 20 minutes or so, we’ll replace it.   However, if you are not significantly inconvenienced by a short battery life, keeping your current battery will save the district money and will not damage your computer in any way.  So, I ask that you only request a replacement if you truly feel the short charge time is getting in the way of your work, too.  Please also keep in mind that we will be replacing staff laptops this summer.  So, you’ll only have these computers for the rest of this school year.

If you wish to replace you battery, please contact Angela Sleeper via email or phone – 848 5240.  She handles the process of getting the new batteries out and getting the old ones back for recycling.  Because we going to refresh staff computers with a new model next year, we don’t want to stock a ton of these batteries for the current ones.  So, please be patient with us we have to order more if we run out of stocked batteries.   As always, please don’t hesitate to drop me a note or give a call if you have further questions.

New Tool: Infinite Campus Community

I’ve recently added a new tool to the Campus Index for everyone. The Campus Community is a resource center created by Infinite Campus for all of its customers across the nation to interact.  The site contains instructional videos, print documentation, a searchable knowledge base, and a very active set of user forums.  These forums are really nice.  They are grouped by interests and moderated by Campus support personnel.  It’s a great place to ask a question and to get answers.  The video library is right below the Forum section.  You’ll need to scroll down to see it.  The News section will display release notes on new features in upcoming versions as well as other company related information.

To access the Campus Community, you’ll need to login to Campus.  The link to the site is located near the bottom of the Index next to the Account Settings and Log Out links.  When you hit that link, you’ll be redirect to the Campus Community site where you’ll be prompted to login.  If you haven’t been there before, you’ll need to set up your account the first time.  Just follow the onscreen instructions.  It’s very easy.  Just provide them with an email address and a password and you’ll be set. I strongly encourage every staff member to create a Campus Community account.  It is really a wonderful tool for learning more about Infinite Campus.  As always, don’t hesitate to drop me a note or give a call if you have any questions.

Help! The Internet Filter Is Blocking Me!

We put in a new filter last summer. For the most part it has worked really, really well. However, it works differently than what we had last year. The first major difference is that we’ve set it up so it gives out filtering policies based upon who you are. In other words, staff members get less filtering than students. When you login to your Byte Speed laptop at start up, the filter automatically knows you are a staff member and gives you the staff filtering policy. For, staff, very little is filtered. The only categories we block for staff are pornography, gambling, dating, and virus/malware. If you can think back to last year, we only had two filtering levels: it was on (everything filtered) or it was off (nothing was filtered). If you were out surfing and got blocked, you had to login to bypass the filter. However, what I’ve discovered this year is that with the new, more permissive filtering policy staff are forgetting they still have this as an option. This is very understandable.

One of the things that any filter has trouble with are keywords. There are a lot of searches and websites that are just fine and even educational, but might have some keywords that would be a red flag. My screenshot example is not very educational, but it’s also certainly not pornography either. Again, because so much is not filtered for staff, it can be jarring when you get a block for a keyword. But, it’s really no big deal. When this happens, just click the “Login as Different User” button on the block page. A popup window will appear. Enter your email username (not your full email address) and your email password. Be sure to keep this popup window open as it is what keeps you logged in and bypassed. When you do this, all filtering is removed for 20 minutes or until the popup window is closed. One thing you will notice is that unlike or old filter, you will not be automatically redirected to the site you blocked from. So, you will manually need to go back to the blocked site to access it.

  Here is a brief screen cast that shows a "how to" on bypassing the filter.

Another common thing that happens is that when staff encounter a blocked site, they create an exception request. This a form at the bottom of the block page. All of these request come directly to my email. So, if there is a site you regularly access that’s blocked and really shouldn’t be, please do fill out this form. However, if it’s a site that you only plan to visit periodically, please just by pass the filter. One of the best things about our new filter is that it really does allow us a ton of flexibility. We’ve set it up so kids in grades K-4, 5-6, 7-9, and 10-12 have their own differentiated filtering policies. So, we can have kids access the content on the internet that is appropriate for their age. We are also looking forward to deploying the mobile filter and using scheduling for filtering as we look at giving students in grades 9-12 laptops. As always, please let me know if you have any questions on anything related to the filter.

Spam Tips: The Good,the Bad, and the Ugly

One of the necessary evils in today's world is email filtering.  I'm sure all of you have noticed that you get a message from Spam Blocker Services each day.  The folks at Spam Blocker are the service we use for our email domain -- PrairiePride.org -- for spam.  This keeps them pretty busy.  Spam is still a huge problem today. We typically block just over half of all the incoming email.  However, I've even seen te block percentage go as high as 90%.  So, the Spam Blocker guys do a reasonably good job of getting the spam before it gets to us.  Without them, we'd be swamped.

However, they also give us some pretty cool tools that I'm guessing not a lot of people know about.  Besides getting that email each day which shows you what's been blocked, they also include the following features:

• Setting up your own white list (accounts that you don't ever want blocked)
• Viewing your quarantined emails in real time in Outlook
• Search and retrieval of 10 days worth of quarantined email

Here's how you use these features.   Adding an address to a white list is a really good feature.  This allows you to ensure that the white listed address will never be filtered when sending to your account.  This white list just works for your account.  So, this address may get quarantined when sending to other Prairie accounts.  I would recommend using a personal white list for personal or professional contacts.  If it is a parent's address or someone else who might send to a lot of other people at Prairie, you'll probably want to send that on to me so I can white list it for everyone.  Here's how you setup a white list.  The first thing you need to do is to get you account credentials (password) from them.  

1. Go to Spam Blocker
2. Locate the login area -- enter your full email address, i.e. cbarnum@prairiepride.org, in the username
3. Click the "forgot password" button.  They will have you verify your email and send your password to your email
4. Once you get the password (it should only take a minute or two to arrive) login to the site. Once you are in, you can change your password.  I would strongly recommend changing it to the same one you use for Campus, email, etc...
5. Click the button on the left side of the page that says "Your White List." 
6. Enter the address you wish to not be filtered and click the "Add To White List" button.

One thing to remember about the SpamBlocker Services password, however, is that it is a completely stand-alone system.  So, if you update your email password, this change will not automatically.   If you want to keep your passwords consistent, you'll need to update it manually.

Another cool feature is that you can check your quarantine at anytime, without logging in by setting up a folder in Outlook.  This is a real time saver.  Here are the steps for that. I gleaned most of these instructions right from the Spam blocker site.

1. Login to the Spam Blocker site
2. Click the "My Preferences" button
3. Scroll down until you see the instructions labeled "Add Quarantine Folder to Outlook.
4. The following are instructions from that site:

1. Copy the Outlook URL above (this will be shown right above these instructions once you are logged in) by highlighting the entire entry and then copying to clipboard.In Outlook, create a new folder. Choose "Mail and Post Items" as the folder type when asked, and give it a name like "Spam Blocker" or "Quarantine
2. Once created, Right-click on the new folder and choose "Properties"
3. Select the "Home Page" tab, and paste the URL above.
4. Check the box on that same tab marked "Show Home Page by default"Click OK to save changes. Then open the folder.

Hopefully, this will help you better use some of the tools in the spam filter.  As always, drop me a note with any questions you might have.
 
 
 

Memory, Tech Tools, and New Work

As I came around and did my talk at each building this year, I referenced a research study done about recall of factual information and how it relates to technology.  Here’s the source article.  This reinforced the idea for me that the value of information is deteriorating rapidly.  It’s really the same phenomenon that we see happening in our everyday lives.  How many of us bother to remember phone numbers of addresses anymore?  I can only speak for myself, but I find that I do a lot less of this.  My iPhone does all of this work for me now.  I just enter the number once, look through my recent calls, or look up the address.   When I admit this, my initial inclination is to feel somewhat guilty about this fact that I’m relying so heavily upon a machine.  It feels lazy.  Of course, this is a function of my age more than anything.  I’m pretty sure younger people who have always had devices to store and access this information have no qualms about it.  When I really reflect upon it, it seems like a pretty silly thing to feel bad about.  After all, technology has been doing this in human society throughout our entire history.  While there are tons of examples, the one that always strikes me is alphabet.  Really, that’s just a technological invention, too.  Before we could capture language in written format, we had to rely upon the oral tradition to relate ideas across time.  Reflect for a moment how much richer and sophisticated our thinking and ideas are now that we can capture them in a timeless state.  Before written language, all knowledge had to be rigorously standardized so it would not be forgotten or changed.  A great deal of effort was exerted to commit the full, standard version to memory as well.  Individuals could add very value in this process.  Deviance from the standard was noise in the system.  With the advent of the written word, individuals had a method to quickly expand upon knowledge.  What was once noise was suddenly of great value.  This is essential premise of all academic pursuits – adding to existing knowledge.  Of course, all of the effort to memorize was no longer necessary either.  We could use those thought cycles for new and different things.

It sure looks to me that we are in the middle of another tremendous change.  The Columbia study just reinforces it for me.  It’s not lazy to utilize a tool.  It really makes me wonder what will be next in an era when static information will be so devalued.  What’s also interesting is that, like invention of written language empowered the individual, we are also clearly moving that direction again.  Everyone can now publish to the world.  And, while there is a lot of noise being created.  We’ve also seen concretely how this new individualism can be used for good and ill.  The Arab Spring and recent violence and chaos in Britain are examples.  But, putting all of the big picture stuff aside, what I really wonder about is how this next phase of things this impact teaching and learning.  What does effective instruction look like when information is essentially worthless?  It’s easy to bandy about terms like critical thinking, collaboration, problem solving, etc...  Of course, the conundrum is, as any good teacher will tell you, that it’s impossible to teach processes like critical thought without high quality content.  And, content requires context.  The kids need to know something about the content and have certain depth of knowledge before the learning will be meaningful and rich.  So, of course, as common sense would dictate, a balanced approach is necessary.  But, the devil is in the details.  This takes a different approach to instructional design.  And, to me this would be the real, new work of the 21^st century educator: creating learning experiences that are simultaneously rich in content and process skills.  Project, problem, or challenged based learning designs are one of the ways to do this.  Of course, that it’s not the only design that will do this.  But, I think it’s pretty clear that using the same models for designing learning experiences for kids that we did even ten years ago are now very out dated.  With every change like this, there’s also a significant opportunity as well.  I’m so excited by the prospect of working with our 21^st Century Learning Institute and Total Instructional Alignment groups on creating some of these new experiences for kids this year.  We had some great successes last year.  I’m sure we can keep that momentum up this year as well.  I’m looking forward to sharing some of our successes.