Yesterday, I was invited to our elementary building to see a 1st grade class using Glogster. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I got there. I was thinking maybe they would need some extra help. I was thinking maybe they would need some sort of technical support. What I saw was why I do what I do.
The project was to take the research the students had done on an animal and posterize it using Glogster. When I walked in the lab, what I saw was pretty amazing. The first graders had plenty of help. A third grade class who had already used Glogster had partnered with the first graders to teach them how to use it. There were plenty of adults in the room, but they weren't doing much besides providing encouragement and some general guidelines and reminders. The third graders were the true teachers in the room and good ones at that. I saw very little of the third graders doing it for the first graders. There was much pointing at the screen and saying click here. There was much instruction on what each piece of Glogster does. There was much learning going on in that room. Students were helping students create.
It was a truly inspiring site to see. I took a little bit of video and posted it to YouTube here, but I really just wanted to watch. This one simple project made all the late nights, early mornings, missed lunches, time away from my family, etc. worth it. The 'computer guy' sometimes gets bogged down with making everything work, gets stuck in the office for what seems like days, and never makes it into the classroom enough. When we see things that remind us why it is we do what we do, it is a pretty good feeling.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Expanding Our Use of Casper
Jamf Software's Casper Suite is an essential tool in an Apple Blended Learning Environment of any size. Casper allows one to do everything from imaging machines to collecting inventory information. It is the latter that we have chosen to extend.
Using Casper's Extension Attributes we have added information to the database that was previously stored in several separate spreadsheets and databases. Pulling as much data as we could into Casper has helped us to streamline our repair procedures as well as helping us to better maintain a detailed record of all issues and damage we are seeing. Casper further eases some of these processes by allowing for the easy creation of custom reports.
We have added the following Extensions Attributes: Been To AppleCare, AEA Job Number, Repair Costs, Repairs/Issues so far. The "Been To AppleCare" item is a simple yes/no, but it allows us to quickly see if a machine has been to AppleCare, and, in conjunction with GSX, lets us quickly produce a repair/issue history for a machine. Since we do not send non-warranty repairs to AppleCare, we need to track those repairs as well. The "AEA Job Number," "Repair Costs," and "Repairs/Issues" items allow us to produce custom reports very quickly showing various versions of all of that information.
Prior to expanding our use of Casper, producing a repair/damage history for a machine was a process that involved several spreadsheets, paper copies, and a database or two. Now everything we commonly need is at our fingertips and accessible within seconds of logging in to Casper along with all of the other wonderful information it already gathers.
Using Casper's Extension Attributes we have added information to the database that was previously stored in several separate spreadsheets and databases. Pulling as much data as we could into Casper has helped us to streamline our repair procedures as well as helping us to better maintain a detailed record of all issues and damage we are seeing. Casper further eases some of these processes by allowing for the easy creation of custom reports.
We have added the following Extensions Attributes: Been To AppleCare, AEA Job Number, Repair Costs, Repairs/Issues so far. The "Been To AppleCare" item is a simple yes/no, but it allows us to quickly see if a machine has been to AppleCare, and, in conjunction with GSX, lets us quickly produce a repair/issue history for a machine. Since we do not send non-warranty repairs to AppleCare, we need to track those repairs as well. The "AEA Job Number," "Repair Costs," and "Repairs/Issues" items allow us to produce custom reports very quickly showing various versions of all of that information.
Prior to expanding our use of Casper, producing a repair/damage history for a machine was a process that involved several spreadsheets, paper copies, and a database or two. Now everything we commonly need is at our fingertips and accessible within seconds of logging in to Casper along with all of the other wonderful information it already gathers.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Invisible Integration
My ultimate goal as a Director of Technology is to provide the support needed to help our teachers achieve what I like to call Invisible Integration. You might ask, "what do you mean by Invisible Integration?" Invisible Integration to me is when technology is not a thing by itself. Technology is not something our students do once or twice a week in a lab down the hall. Technology is not something teachers try to dream up new lessons for in order to integrate it. Technology is not something we use on special occasions for culminating projects. Technology is not assigning a Keynote presentation or iMovie project.
Invisible Integration is when technology becomes part of what we do everyday. Technology is the right tool to create the expected outcome for a lesson. Technology is what the kids choose to use because it is the tool that makes sense to them to complete the given task. Invisible Integration is when students are given a task and they may or may not choose a given technology to accomplish that task.
Is Invisible Integration achievable? Maybe not. Maybe Invisible Integration is one of those things we continue to strive to achieve, but it is always just out of reach. That's ok. Technology changes rapidly and there will always be some sort of learning curve for new tools. Students will always have to be taught to use those new tools at some point. Whether they teach themselves, each other, or are taught by the teacher is most likely dependent on the technology.
It makes more sense to me to do the teaching of those new tools in context and as invisibly as possible. Use the given tool because it makes sense to use it to achieve the desired outcome. Don't make using the technology the desired outcome, and then wrap content around it. Make the technology work for you; don't let the technology make work for you. Then, technology will begin to become invisible and utilized because it should be and not because we want it to be.
Invisible Integration is when technology becomes part of what we do everyday. Technology is the right tool to create the expected outcome for a lesson. Technology is what the kids choose to use because it is the tool that makes sense to them to complete the given task. Invisible Integration is when students are given a task and they may or may not choose a given technology to accomplish that task.
Is Invisible Integration achievable? Maybe not. Maybe Invisible Integration is one of those things we continue to strive to achieve, but it is always just out of reach. That's ok. Technology changes rapidly and there will always be some sort of learning curve for new tools. Students will always have to be taught to use those new tools at some point. Whether they teach themselves, each other, or are taught by the teacher is most likely dependent on the technology.
It makes more sense to me to do the teaching of those new tools in context and as invisibly as possible. Use the given tool because it makes sense to use it to achieve the desired outcome. Don't make using the technology the desired outcome, and then wrap content around it. Make the technology work for you; don't let the technology make work for you. Then, technology will begin to become invisible and utilized because it should be and not because we want it to be.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
iMovie and the iPad 2
After doing my walk around last week and gathering some video clips with my new iPad 2, I was anxious to edit those clips into a 4 or 5 minute video to post to our YouTube channel. The plan was to put those clips together using iMovie on the iPad 2. I was quickly disappointed.
Putting the clips in and adjusting their length and position is easy enough. After that, the disappointment started. When trying to add captions, one can only do so based on the chosen theme for the project. There are only eight themes to choose from, and those aren't the best. If the caption is too long for the particular theme chosen, instead of multi-lining the caption the software just cuts it off. There is also no way to adjust the length the caption shows on the screen. It is stuck to the length of the clip it is applied to. So, to adjust it's length, one has to split the clip. This is not a huge deal, but still a limitation. The simple lack of choices for captions is a big negative in my opinion.
The lack of choice doesn't stop there. The transitions to choose from are also extremely limited. There are three: none, cross dissolve, and theme based. I am guessing this is due to the lack of processing power to render these on the fly.
The lack of processing power also rears it's ugly head when doing just the simplest things like clicking the project settings button. When making a change in those settings and trying to click out, there is a very noticeable delay as the project is updated to match those changes. So, be sure to close any other open apps before attempting any iMovie editing.
Something else I found to be missing was backgrounds. I like to do credits or additional comments in and at the end of videos. So the lack of backgrounds and caption choices is very limiting in this regard. I got around it in this video by covering the camera and recording a black clip to put a caption on.
I am reviewing this device as a possible alternative for a 1:1 learning environment. If the goal is to show learning through video, I would suggest buying a netbook and using Movie Maker. After using the real iMovie, the iPad version left me extremely disappointed. That being said, if the goal is to make very simple videos, very quickly, with little attention to detail, the iPad 2 and iMovie for the iPad will do just fine.
Apple has had a long and positive relationship with education. Wouldn't it be nice if they would ask people IN education what they really need in a 1:1 device and then deliver it, instead of those in education trying to make existing products work for their purposes?
You can see the video I made here.
Putting the clips in and adjusting their length and position is easy enough. After that, the disappointment started. When trying to add captions, one can only do so based on the chosen theme for the project. There are only eight themes to choose from, and those aren't the best. If the caption is too long for the particular theme chosen, instead of multi-lining the caption the software just cuts it off. There is also no way to adjust the length the caption shows on the screen. It is stuck to the length of the clip it is applied to. So, to adjust it's length, one has to split the clip. This is not a huge deal, but still a limitation. The simple lack of choices for captions is a big negative in my opinion.
The lack of choice doesn't stop there. The transitions to choose from are also extremely limited. There are three: none, cross dissolve, and theme based. I am guessing this is due to the lack of processing power to render these on the fly.
The lack of processing power also rears it's ugly head when doing just the simplest things like clicking the project settings button. When making a change in those settings and trying to click out, there is a very noticeable delay as the project is updated to match those changes. So, be sure to close any other open apps before attempting any iMovie editing.
Something else I found to be missing was backgrounds. I like to do credits or additional comments in and at the end of videos. So the lack of backgrounds and caption choices is very limiting in this regard. I got around it in this video by covering the camera and recording a black clip to put a caption on.
I am reviewing this device as a possible alternative for a 1:1 learning environment. If the goal is to show learning through video, I would suggest buying a netbook and using Movie Maker. After using the real iMovie, the iPad version left me extremely disappointed. That being said, if the goal is to make very simple videos, very quickly, with little attention to detail, the iPad 2 and iMovie for the iPad will do just fine.
Apple has had a long and positive relationship with education. Wouldn't it be nice if they would ask people IN education what they really need in a 1:1 device and then deliver it, instead of those in education trying to make existing products work for their purposes?
You can see the video I made here.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Meanderings With an iPad 2
This morning, I took my iPad 2 out for a spin. I walked around our buildings taking video of students using our technology to learn in various ways. The one thing that really stuck in my head as I walked through the halls was the 'anytime, anyplace' ability when in a 1:1 environment. I saw students in the hallways, on the floor, at tables, and, oh yah, some were still in desks of all places. They were using their laptops to do some pretty cool things. Some were using weebly.com to create websites comparing and contrasting two Latin American countries. Others were creating Keynote presentations to review vocabulary words. Still others were doing bell ringer activities on wordcentral.com. This is good stuff.
I saw elementary students utilizing the technology a little differently. Kindergarteners were using starfall.com for some reading practice during small group time. I saw a bunch of AR testing going on. There was a lab full of students using learning.com's EasyTech to learn about safe emailing practices. Another class doing small groups was using fun4thebrain.com for additional math practice.
The point of my excursion was to gather some video to test the video editing abilities of the iPad 2, which I will do. The result of my wanderings was excitement about how far we've come and how far we are yet to go in our 1:1 journey. So often I get stuck in my office dealing with all of the problems and don't get enough chances to get out and see the good things that are going on. My trip was revitalizing. I will post a link to the edited video once it is completed.
I saw elementary students utilizing the technology a little differently. Kindergarteners were using starfall.com for some reading practice during small group time. I saw a bunch of AR testing going on. There was a lab full of students using learning.com's EasyTech to learn about safe emailing practices. Another class doing small groups was using fun4thebrain.com for additional math practice.
The point of my excursion was to gather some video to test the video editing abilities of the iPad 2, which I will do. The result of my wanderings was excitement about how far we've come and how far we are yet to go in our 1:1 journey. So often I get stuck in my office dealing with all of the problems and don't get enough chances to get out and see the good things that are going on. My trip was revitalizing. I will post a link to the edited video once it is completed.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
The Last Year
The last year has been a busy one for me full of exciting changes. Since my last post well over a year ago, I have taken a different job at a neighboring district. Spirit Lake has become one of Iowa's largest 1:1 districts. I have been extremely busy helping to make that happen. There have been some frustrating moments as well as some very satisfying moments. We are finally ironing out many of the larger issues, and I am finding time to blog again. I am hoping to do a much better job at keeping this blog much more current. My plan is to do a couple posts a week talking about my day-to-day challenges and triumphs as the Director of Technology. My hope being that someone may find my rants useful in some way.
Friday, February 19, 2010
OpenOffice.org 3.2 Deployment Issue
Okoboji Community School District uses OpenOffice.org nearly exclusively. To make it work for us, I have written scripts that install extra components such as additional clip art, a button taking users to a clipart website, OOo add-ons, templates, etc.
When we went to start the deployment of the latest version, this caused an issue. When the installer went to remove the old version it did not remove the 'extras' I had installed. It kept giving an error saying it did not have sufficient privileges to acces the OpenOffice.org 3 folder. So, I had to create a way to fix this issue to automate the install process as much as possible.
The latest OOo also wants to install the latest version of Sun Java and remove the old versions. This was also not working for us as it was packaged with the OOo installer. It kept erroring out on the uninstallation of the older versions we had. I think, I don't know for sure, that it was having issues with there being multiple old versions on some machines. We are working to get ALL old versions of Java uninstalled from our machines, but we are not there yet. So, I had to create a solution to fix this as well.
The solution I came up with has 3 parts, all GPOs. 2 startup script GPOs, 1 to remove all the 'extra' stuff and 1 to get Java installed, and 1 software installation GPO to do the install of OOo 3.2 with some needed transforms for our environment along with the 'extra' stuff, I had removed previously, pushed in another startup script.
Although, not ideal, it works. It does require 3 reboots, 1 for each GPO. I enable the first, reboot the machines. Once it is done, I disable the first, enable the second, and reboot the machines, and so forth. We will do this a group of machines at a time. It will take much longer than previously encountered with our OOo deployments, but it is doable. I am also working on combing some of the GPOs into 1 unified GPO.
When we went to start the deployment of the latest version, this caused an issue. When the installer went to remove the old version it did not remove the 'extras' I had installed. It kept giving an error saying it did not have sufficient privileges to acces the OpenOffice.org 3 folder. So, I had to create a way to fix this issue to automate the install process as much as possible.
The latest OOo also wants to install the latest version of Sun Java and remove the old versions. This was also not working for us as it was packaged with the OOo installer. It kept erroring out on the uninstallation of the older versions we had. I think, I don't know for sure, that it was having issues with there being multiple old versions on some machines. We are working to get ALL old versions of Java uninstalled from our machines, but we are not there yet. So, I had to create a solution to fix this as well.
The solution I came up with has 3 parts, all GPOs. 2 startup script GPOs, 1 to remove all the 'extra' stuff and 1 to get Java installed, and 1 software installation GPO to do the install of OOo 3.2 with some needed transforms for our environment along with the 'extra' stuff, I had removed previously, pushed in another startup script.
Although, not ideal, it works. It does require 3 reboots, 1 for each GPO. I enable the first, reboot the machines. Once it is done, I disable the first, enable the second, and reboot the machines, and so forth. We will do this a group of machines at a time. It will take much longer than previously encountered with our OOo deployments, but it is doable. I am also working on combing some of the GPOs into 1 unified GPO.
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