Topics for K-12 CIOs

Relocating the blog...

2011-12-27T13:01:00.002-06:00

I checked back and it appears that I started blogging just over 3 years ago. I've taken to it, though I don't do a good job of tracking readership or planning out what I write. As part of a personal improvement plan, I'm going to branch out a bit and begin posting to a different site. Check it out at http://kyedtech.com/blog and see what you think. I'll be partnering up with Marty Park and maybe some others and, with any luck, we'll stay relevant and push each other to new heights as we deal with everything going on in the education technology landscape.

Take care!

Streaming, bandwidth and the "YouTube effect"

2011-12-15T07:57:00.004-06:00

This will not be a well thought-out post... more likely the general ramblings that were the basis of blogs, so let's dive in!

In K-12 technology, there's an ongoing and growing dichotomy (or it seems so) between those who want to be more open about Internet access and those who want to (choose your phrase) block, filter, lock it down, control, police access to the web. Both sides have valid points and I'll try to touch on them briefly:

Open it up, we filter too much as it is - Who are you, technician and non-educator, to say what is or is not relevant to my students' instruction? Do you not trust the teachers, degreed professionals, to properly manage their classrooms and the students' Internet browsing habits? Filters are notorious for blocking legitimate web content along with "bad sites". YouTube has tons of educational videos! I can use Pandora to teach about various cultures and their musical backgrounds! If the kids are spending their time on Facebook, why can't they use that environment in school? We can't ask them to unplug or turn off when they enter the school and expect to hold their interest! HELP!!!

Block those sites - I have a responsibility to manage the environment for everyone. Bandwidth is not unlimited. Do you know what happens when hundreds (or thousands) of simultaneous connections are made to streaming media sites? You're the ones complaining about slow Internet access and I'm trying to help. Have you seen your Internet logs? If I open up YouTube for students, bandwidth use will skyrocket and it will all be a bunch of YouTube usage! We have teachers that are not on task and that are allowing kids to play poker. Music? Let kids use their iPod because I can't have everyone streaming audio. HELP!!!

What we're talking about here are resources, utilities... and opportunities! As tech leaders, we need to run with the utility analogy and help educate our educators. As tech leaders, we need to wake up to the fact that there are TONS of educational resources on a site like YouTube. What is a flipped classroom? How do I tie a Windsor knot? How do I sharpen a lawn mower blade? Can the Oak Ridge Boys sing 'Seven Nation Army'? So, yeah... you can find pretty much anything on YouTube. It is a library. We don't keep our kids out of the library! Sure, not every book in the world in in our library and there's a time to be reading Shakespeare and a time to be reading Sports Illustrated.

As with any utility, though, there is a responsibility to promote proper use and there's a need to realize that the resource is limited. My good friend Marty has convinced me that kids can often focus better on tests with instrumental music playing. We might argue over whether hundreds of concurrent music streams or iPods are the better solution, and proper resource management is a factor. Hopefully, though, we can get past the fact that all [insert here: streaming media, social networking, etc] sites are bad. True, we have to manage utilities and everyone can't flush their toilet at the same time. Cutting peak demand can sometimes lower your electric bill.

Like your utility provider, IT staff DOES have a responsibility to help educate others and, yes, potentially help manage bandwidth as a resource. However, the school district or company as a whole needs to be involved in the conversation about the solution. The solution may be to restrict high-bandwidth content at times, and the solution may simply be to find more bandwidth for the benefit of your users. Educate and inform, but don't make that decision in a vacuum on behalf of your users.

[Image: http://www.hometoys.com/mentors/caswell/aug02/bandwidth.htm] Ironically, a post from 2002!

Data, Data, Data... and the associated pressures

2011-12-05T11:04:00.003-06:00

Just a quick thought or two on some recent conversations I had related to data quality in our student information systems. Working around K-12 education, I reflect at times on how different things are - or how different they seem - since I was in school. There's data on everything and there's a well-intentioned desire to use that data to improve learning, assess better teaching, have a healthier school environment and things of that sort.

As that data gets analyzed, we see examples all around where the knowledge that this data exists causes changes in behavior. This school security site discusses school crime reporting... and under-reporting. As the link points out, what is my incentive to report every violent incident? Unfortunately, there's quite a bit of incentive to under-report and show that violent incidents are decreasing. No one wants to look like their school is a war zone; consequently, there are whispers that violent incidents should not be reported. That can lead to teachers having their hands full in the worst of cases with students who need to be reported and know that they will not be reported.

Another example I've heard about is the confusion around "in-school suspension". I've been told that districts are to track these suspensions in their student information tool. However, I've also talked to a couple of contacts who gave me an example where a student might have been pulled out of class... not for a 'suspension', but because they're behind in another subject and need additional time for homework or tutoring. That sounds noble, but I was hearing from a teacher who pointed out that she had good students asking her why they should do their homework. Apparently, these students saw that others were - in their eyes - simply being given more time or another chance to complete an assignment. In this case, the school didn't want to flag the students as a 'suspension', nor did they want to give the child a zero on a homework assignment.

I suppose my question is 'how do we get truly accurate and useful data when the overriding concern by some is that the data simply look good'? Perhaps if we weren't so punitive in our discourse and were simply concerned with accuracy, we could get some data that could be relied upon more often.
[Image: http://teflbootcamp.com/tefl-skills/student-discipline-efl-classroom/]

Data Quality and the Responsibility Parable

2011-11-09T12:03:00.003-06:00

Our leadership and CIOs have been talking quite a bit lately about data quality. When talking to CIOs about it, the responses are all over the map. This is partially due to the varying authority and expectations placed on them by the local district's administration. One task in the effort to ensure high-quality data is to increase awareness, and there's been quite a bit of that taking place. Somewhere along the way, though, awareness has to be converted into action. The whole situation reminds me of the "responsibility parable", which you can find all over the web and is stated something like this:

Once upon a time, there were four people;
Their names were Everybody, Somebody, Nobody and Anybody.
Whenever there was an important job to be done, Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
When Nobody did it, Everybody got angry because it was Everybody's job.
Everybody thought that Somebody would do it, but Nobody realized that Nobody would do it.
So consequently Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done in the first place.

I think it's worth keeping this in mind, whether your issues relate to data quality or any technology initiative. This could be applied to proper technology planning and evaluation, open work orders that the whole department knows about or just about any task or great idea that's brought up in a group. We all have so much going on that it's easy to assume that just because everyone is "aware", then "someone" must be taking care of it. Are they?
[Image: I got it from http://fyimusic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Blaming-each-other.jpg]

If it isn't easy, it won't get done (or used)

2011-11-03T08:02:00.002-05:00

I had planned on making a blog entry describing how to map my SkyDrive to a local drive letter. As it turns out, there are many blog entries describing the same thing. Search for yourselves and you'll have no problem finding instructions. Most instructions I've found involve getting your alphanumeric ID for the folder in question and then changing the mapping text to some URL involving docs.live.com or something similar. Then, perhaps you change forward slashes to backslashes and remove https and add a ^2Documents or some similar text and are you really going to do this? THEN, I scroll down to read comments on these write-ups only to find users saying that (1) it didn't work and/or (2) it is so slow that the user gave up or removed the mapping.

All of this, mind you, to map 25GB of storage to a local drive. I'm a fairly technical user and I have chosen not to bother with it. I can only assume that most non-technical users won't bother.

So, I shifted gears and thought I'd check out the price of USB flash drive storage. Naturally, I'm working off the assumption that I want easy access to some amount of storage, which theoretically caused my need to map that drive in the first place. As of today, I can go to a big-box store and get an 8GB flash drive for $10. Personally, the bigger problem will be keeping up with the flash drive rather than finding the $10 for 8GB of storage. That's a whole other matter.

For history's sake, I wanted to see how much prices had dropped over the years. Here's a Black Friday ad from 2008 where I can get a super deal of 8GB for about $20. Mind you, this was Black Friday and the retail price ($10 on 11/4/11) was $50 about 3 years ago.

Even more interesting was a look back at a 1996 Best Buy flyer. USRobotics 33.6 modem for $160? You bet! $130 for a 16MB memory upgrade. $400 (after $30 mail-in rebate) for a 3.1 GB hard drive. $70 for a Uniden 30-message pager. I wore a pager at one time! Would kids today even get the Dr. Beeper references in Caddyshack?

Ah, I digress... but I'm not mapping my SkyDrive to a local drive - not today, anyway.

Integrating Technology: A Baseball Analogy

2011-10-28T08:07:00.003-05:00

A quick post in honor of the St. Louis Cardinals, who pulled off a miraculous win in Game 6 of the World Series last night.

I've seen several emails and web sites that rank the 100 best iDevice tips or the 50 best web sites for education. Honestly, I have no problem with those sites and I've learned about several useful web sites and apps by reading such articles. I also understand that these sites want readers and articles that 'rank' various apps or sites can get a good number of page views.

My problem, though, is that it's tempting for instructional technology leaders to present these large blocks of resources to teachers as a method of assisting them with technology integration. If you are a teacher and are already overwhelmed with the need to cover content, manage student behavior, give periodic assessments, contact parents, develop lesson plans, grade assignments, enter all of this into a student information system, (and on and on)... you may be doing them a disservice.

When I was younger, I loved baseball. I wanted to pitch but didn't have the size, arm strength or accuracy to be a good pitcher. That didn't stop me from wanting to know how to throw a curveball, slider or knuckleball. I remember goofing off while warming up for a game and our team would throw (OK, try to throw) all of those pitches to one another.

Of course, most of those pitches aren't practical for the vast majority of aspiring young pitchers. Most of what you'll read about coaching youth baseball will tell you to focus on developing a fastball and a changeup. Why is that? Part of the reason is certainly about avoiding injury to young arms while trying to throw an arm-stressing pitch like a curveball. That isn't all of it, though. Even at the major league level, there are pitchers that can have great success while having only a couple of great pitches. One of the best relief pitchers ever has dominated hitters with basically one pitch. We know why, don't we?

A young pitcher with a good fastball and changeup has some great qualities. The mechanics of the two pitches are similar, with slight adjustments to grip style, pressure and ball position. Good coaches will work with them to know how to throw those pitches properly, where to locate them and when to use each pitch. Those decisions are based on the hitter you're facing and aspects of the ongoing game like the score, any runners on base, the number of outs, who's on-deck and things of the sort.

We should be using a similar strategy when helping teachers integrate technology in the classroom. Let's find the best resources that can be used in most any situation. We won't start with 50 or 100... let's start with a few. We'll work with teachers on those few resources until they're confident that they know how to use them. Once they know how to use the resource, a good teacher should be able to determine when to use each resource based on factors like the subject area, the particular student(s) involved, the time of day and year, what other activities are taking place in the school and community, and so forth.

In baseball, good coaches teach kids the basics and ease in to the more advanced concepts. Make sure you're doing the same with your technology integration strategies. There are some great pitchers out there that only have one or two superb pitches, so let's not assume that every teacher needs to be an expert on all of the technology resources available.

Managing hype as technology gets more affordable

2011-10-14T10:50:00.004-05:00

I was thinking about dusting off the blog and making and entry and, lo and behold, one of my co-workers just posted a great blog entry about managing the hype in education technology. He makes several points that are worth stressing.

He references Moore's Law, which originally dealt with transistors on a circuit. Over time, it's been slightly altered to include power and price. The basic point is that we're regularly seeing the computing power double and the price points for technology of that power getting cut in half. Don't believe me? As of this writing, netbooks with 1GB RAM and 250GB HDD are under $300 and closer to $200-250 in some cases. Depending on how much processing power you need, a laptop with more RAM, disk space and screen size can be had for $500 (more or less, as I said, depending on processing power and some other factors).

As a matter of comparison, I found an old contract update from one of our state technology vendors. KY school districts, from state contract, could buy a Dell Latitude C840 in April, 2003. It had a P4 1.8Ghz processor and a 15" UXGA display (and also a 56k modem included, BTW). We got VERY good discounts from these contracts and this device, with 256MB RAM and a massive 30GB HDD, could be had for about $1600. Think about that for a minute.

Technology is getting more portable, more affordable and more capable. Not that many years ago, tech leaders were fretting that the device would have to have the right capabilities at the right price point before we would ever see a scenario where every student have a device for their own use. We are there.

So what do we do about it? As the originally linked article indicates, we manage the hype in a constructive fashion. We should be passionate about the possibilities and excited about what the technology can do. Rightfully so, we have to aware of the challenges and continue to lead in conversations about TCO and the need for proper staffing, professional development, infrastructure and management policies regarding the technology.

System Center Configuration Manager

2011-08-30T14:53:00.005-05:00

We've had a good bit of discussion lately about Microsoft's Enrollment for Education Solutions and the potential benefits a school district might experience if they were to choose to enroll. My mindset is that the yearly cost could be worth it if a district had full intention of utilizing many of the products for which CALs are included with this agreement. One product with great potential for school districts is System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM).

The potential benefits are listed on the linked page. With SCCM, districts could deploy operating systems (bare-metal imaging) which should lead to faster deployment. Software distribution would become completely automated. This should lead to a tool that can help you manage your IT hardware and software inventory much easier - "asset intelligence" is the buzz phrase here. In addition, the SCCM tool suite should allow for easier remote diagnosis and repair of machines. What's not to like, right?!?!

This is my slight beef and the reason for my post. I've talked to multiple districts that have deployed SCCM. I've spoken with a Microsoft contact about SCCM deployment. In virtually every case, the input I receive is that the product is wonderful but that it is a challenge to set up. One district outsourced the installation and initial setup, which may be advisable. When I asked another district if they set up SCCM themselves, here's a section of their reply:

...it is difficult. I will say I would not recommend it for an (inexperienced) district. It takes a lot of planning and it’s good to have a lot of experience with deploying Windows and applications. It’s a very big learning curve... It also takes diligent users to operate SCCM and understand how it works because it can be extremely dangerous if used improperly in an environment and I’m not using that word lightly. I do recommend it however and it makes everything extremely easy and it takes a huge load off of you after you set it up and get everything working.

All of that caution from a district that likes the product! Honestly, I get the caution about the power of such an administrative tool. I'm struggling with the difficulty of the setup. I see it as a huge barrier to adoption in my area. I'm certain I have districts that need to be using such a product. Some may even be convinced to spend the money to license the product either directly or via EES. With such cautionary tales of setup trouble and limited budgets to pay for configuration, I think some districts are being scared away from actually deploying a tool like this.

I'd like to see my districts using technology tools to make their lives easier. This seems to fit the bill, so I suppose the market is ripe for someone to come forward and bridge the gap between purchase of the tool and easy use of such a product.

TeamViewer

2011-08-16T14:54:00.003-05:00

I have a district that swears by TeamViewer for a remote desktop solution. I won't say too much about it because I haven't used it first-hand, but I'm told that it's very easy to set up and begin using. It's often nice to have software that can do other things like file transfer and a 'presentation mode' where you show an end user (or users) YOUR desktop. The TeamViewer product seems to have that as well.

Their website and various reviews talk about cross-platform functionality and accessibility through firewalls and via a browser. It also has a "lifetime license" (e.g. you buy it, you own it) rather than a yearly subscription fee. Their advertised price for a business license is $749, though I'm not sure if an educational discount is available.

If you're looking for products in this space, you might give this one a look. As I said, one of my technical "go-to" contacts is very high on this product.

If you leave tomorrow...

2011-08-03T08:19:00.003-05:00

I didn't begin this entry thinking of a way to link to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" or this version being played on a ukelele - suffice to say you can find anything on the Internet. I was actually thinking about the things you need to have available if you were to leave your technology position tomorrow. Too many of us get so caught up in our work that we haven't documented things in the event that someone else were to need to take over. What would be required?

* Passwords - Domain and/or local workstation and server admin passwords. Passwords for core network equipment, phone systems, security systems, web sites, third-party resources and the like. Think about the passwords you enter over the course of a month and make note of their purpose. Note the password and its purpose somewhere.

* Critical contacts - Who are your go-to people in terms of vendors and partners that you work with? Sure, you may leave your entire contact list behind, but who are you regularly working with to get your tasks accomplished? Who are your preferred vendors for various components that require service?

* Service contracts and agreements - What products and services are coming from your budget on a regular basis? When does the agree renew or need to be re-bid? If you left, would anyone else know about these arrangements?

* Management software - What products do you use to manage your environment? Do you have a list of basic processes along with instructions on how to perform basic tasks? We have much of that in our heads, but taking the time to document some of the basic steps might be helpful in the event that you leave on a temporary or permanent basis.

* Scripts and other automated processes - Will the next person know how to determine what you've automated? Does that script need to run for everyone or only certain users?

* Physical access - Do you have keys or codes to access data centers, outlying wiring closets, vehicles, buildings or other rooms that require restricted access?

* Access to critical files, both physical and electronic - I know that the federal E-Rate program requires documentation to be kept for several years. Is this somewhat organized and in a known location? If you're like me, you also have critical emails, documents and spreadsheets that your replacement might need. Are these organized and accessible?

I'm sure there are other items that I'm not mentioning. If you're fortunate enough to find a better opportunity, try to leave your position in a better place than you found it. Give your replacement more than you had on your first day.

Facebook or Google+ (or both or neither)

2011-07-12T09:52:00.004-05:00

As of a week or so ago, I'm a "user" (if you want to call it that) of both Facebook and Google+. I don't know which is better or if you need either or both products, but I thought I'd mention a few of the biggest things I've seen thus far:

Facebook

Well, I guess the biggest thing is that everybody's already there, so don't assume that it's going away any time soon. Will users want to convert or add a second 'primary' social networking resource to their to-do list? There are also third-party apps that integrate with Facebook and that are used to post updates and interact with the Facebook environment. As mobile as everyone is today, this is a big deal and something that any competing product will need to implement soon. There are also games... I can't STAND the concept of logging into Facebook and seeing ads or requests from friends playing FarmVille or Mafia Wars, but I can't deny the fact that lots of people apparently do play these games and they aren't (as of yet) on the Google platform.

Google+

The biggest thing I've seen at first glance is that there's an effort to make sharing easier via drag-and-drop access to 'circles' that you create to group your contacts based on interest. If you don't want your quilting updates to interrupt your discussion of whether Aquaman felt like a fish out of water amongst the Super Friends, then you can create separate circles and update each of them individually. It's easy to manage right now, but it remains to be seen if this will remain the case when there are hundreds of people that need to be moved in and out of circles. The lack of games and clutter is an attraction to me but, as noted above, that may not be the case with other users and it may not stay this way forever.

Video chatting seems to be a big deal to both players. Google+ has its 'hangouts' feature for this and the recent Facebook/Skype announcement about video calling is a move in that direction. Personally, I haven't seen the need to use a social networking site to initiate video calls with others. I've been trained for years to believe that the whole concept of social networking is to create a ton of shallow connections with people that I may not be able to pick out of a lineup and have no interest in seeing in real-time video. :) The big players are developing it, though, so let's just assume there's a need.

Facebook lets you 'like' a product or 'become a fan'. The Google option has 'sparks' that allows you to pull different interests together in a way that suits you. The concepts are similar, I suppose, and I would guess that each will evolve as the user feedback grows.

It's a quickly-changing landscape and this post will be dated about as quickly as I click 'publish'. Facebook has taken some lumps over privacy concerns and their latest competition has had its own issues over what it does with search results and privacy concerns with products like Buzz.

Final edit: I can't even get 'publish' clicked before this take becomes dated. It's all about privacy per this article as well. **Sigh**

[Image: Library of Congress, 1865, Lincoln's 2nd inauguration. Old-school social networking.]

A word on browsers, GPOs

2011-07-06T08:07:00.003-05:00

I'll give this the kiss of death and state that this should be a brief entry. Veterans will remember the days when Netscape was the browser of choice. AOL bought it for over $4B years ago! Then Internet Explorer made an appearance, was bundled with the operating system and lawsuits began. At some point, Mozilla Firefox became an open-source alternative and that's really where my search for browsers ended. I use Firefox and/or IE and they've served my purpose.

These days, there are other products on the market like Chrome and Opera. In fact, I've had one or two people tell me that one of those browsers is faster than IE or Firefox. That had me curious... not curious enough to download them and try them out myself (as of yet), but curious enough to search around for reviews. Sure enough, there's a good LifeHacker article that gives details on browser tests they performed. I'm sure there are other reviews out there as well.

Quick question, though - as an IT administrator in an enterprise, what do you need out of a browser? Here's my quick list:

* Functional (e.g. doesn't fail, renders pages properly, etc)
* Fast
* As best as possible, prevents malware/spyware from being downloaded
* Can be managed at an enterprise level

The last point is the one I'll mention. If you're interested in deploying something besides IE in an enterprise environment, you need to be searching for certain phrases. You'll likely need an MSI file, which is a Windows Installer file or Microsoft Installer file. This is basically an entire install package grouped into a single file. Admins can use MSI files in combination with Group Policy in a Microsoft environment to remotely install a product. Insuch an environment, you'll also want an ADM template or administrative template. These are used by the Group Policy editor to help you manage registry settings for a particular product.

I'm not advocating that you switch browser, but I wanted to use this as a chance to remind you that some of these popular open-source products have these features. Chrome has an MSI file available. A company named FrontMotion has customized a version of Firefox to be managed with Active Directory and Group Policy.

Just be aware of the terms to use and processes you'll want to implement if you ever consider deploying popular products in an enterprise environment. Browsers may be a dull topic, but it could be a relevant one if there's a product out there that will improve the user experience and/or cause less of a headache for you and your staff.

Tablets, tablets and more tablets

2011-06-29T13:11:00.003-05:00

It's hard to believe how the market has changed over the past few years as it relates to tablets. I took a quick glance at a couple of technology web sites and felt compelled to at least give a mention to quite a few tablet devices that are either on the market or coming soon. This isn't meant to endorse or criticize any product, but I do hope that you'll do your best to encourage users to answer some critical questions (such as what they want to do with the device) as you are asked about which one is the best one, etc.

iPad2 - Apple's offering, which is clearly the market leader and has the most acclaim. Runs their iOS, has a 9.7" screen, front- and rear-facing cameras and has the iTunes store and their apps behind it. Touts a 10-hour battery life. $499 price point for the 16GB WiFi model.

Galaxy Tab - Samsung's offering, which gets some good reviews and runs the Android OS. Android = Flash, which is important to some. Has a USB connection kit to give you access to a thumb drive. 10.1" screen, two cameras, apps via Android Market. $499 price point for 16GB WiFi model. I couldn't find much on battery life, though I read one review that guessed at the 6-7 hour range.

Xoom - Motorola's offering. It runs Android and says it's now upgradeable to 3.1 version. 10.1" display. Front and rear cameras. USB port. They tout a battery life of approximately 10 hours. $599 price point for 32GB WiFi.

Iconia Tab A500 - An Acer offering. 10.1" display, runs Android 3.0, has both cameras and a USB port. "Up to 8 hours" on battery life. $449 price point for 16GB WiFi.

TouchPad - An HP offering. Not on the market yet, but you can pre-order. Runs webOS, which I'll link their description to because I admittedly don't know that much about it. I've read that it 'refines' multitasking and a few reviews say it's very intuitive. 9.7" screen. Front-facing camera. USB port. $499 price point for 16GB WiFi. Pair it with the right HP phone and you can answer calls from it.

Blackberry Playbook - RIM's offering. It's running the Blackberry Tablet OS. 7" screen, up to 10 hours of battery life. Connect wirelessly to your Blackberry phone and access its email, calendar, etc. Dual video cameras. $499 price point for 16GB WiFi.

How exhausting! There are others like the HTC Flyer and the Toshiba Thrive, but you get the idea. They're everywhere and there's much more to it than simply picking one off the shelf and forking out some cash. There are subtle differences covered here and in the general look and feel, ease of use, etc. Please... ask yourself what you want to accomplish before choosing the device that's best for you.

TDMoIP

2011-06-27T10:11:00.004-05:00

Our tech world is full of acronyms. The title of this post is an acronym that you may already be familiar with. Depending on your telecommunications infrastructure and future plans, you may want to become familiar with it if you are not already.

TDMoIP stands for time-division multiplexing over IP. I don't want to cross everyone's eyes with a detailed description of time-division multiplexing. Let's be honest - I'd be regurgitating something I've read anyway. Suffice to say that TDM is how your phone conversations are carried over the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Voice traffic is transferred to channels and passed across the PSTN and the same concept is used to take voice traffic on some school district networks and pass it across some channels of a T1 telephone circuit (or something similar). Configuring hardware for TDM networks (think CSU/DSUs and the like) always involved settings for the type of encoding, clocking and presetting certain channels of the circuit for the type of communication desired.

Fast-forward to today, where many schools districts have installed fiber-optic high-speed connections for their networks. These faster links replaced those legacy T1 (or 56K?) data circuits and we were passing data between sites at faster rates than ever before. That's great for data, but what about the voice traffic and those channels on the T1s?

Some simply left the T1 infrastructure in place to handle voice traffic. Some were convinced that voice over IP (VoIP) was the way to go and may have replaced handsets and phone system components with a system that truly handled IP connectivihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifty end-to-end. The problem with some of our districts is that huge investments were made in the original phone systems and the price and feature sets of a VoIP system are beyond the budgets and desires of the school district. However, paying for a data infrastructure as well as the existing T1-based voice pipeline isn't an acceptable option either. This is where TDMoIP may be the answer.

As you may know or could certainly guess, there is technology available that allows you to continue to utilize a 'legacy' phone system (which uses TDM technology) to transmit voice traffic over an IP-based network. I'll link one category of products made by RADirect. I think there are other companies that make this type of product, but I've seen a few districts use this company's product in the past. Voice traffic and data traffic are completely different and have different requirements for quality of service, timing of the traffic, keeping packets synchronized, etc. If part of a web page doesn't load, that packet gets sent again. If it doesn't arrive in exact order, the end result still looks the same and the page gets rendered very quickly regardless. If you miss packets of a voice conversation or traffic isn't received in an orderly and timely fashion, calls are lost or garbled. I won't belabor the point and will assume that you have some idea why this sort of equipment is needed.

The amount and type of gear you need will vary based on many local factors, but I wanted to take a minute to point out that this can be done and is being done to extend the life of your existing PBX-based phone system and take full advantage of your high-speed data network without dealing with the redundancy of an additional infrastructure left in place for only voice traffic. Take care.
[Image: Library of Congress]

Thinking Outside the Box

2011-06-24T11:18:00.005-05:00

I suppose it's helpful to occasionally have your paradigms challenged. In that spirit, I would submit this Forbes blog from several months ago that discusses the CIO role being 'under fire.' There are several good points brought up in the posting and I thought I'd mention a few and tie them to thoughts I'm having... I know, dangerous, right?

* Consumer technology "out-innovating" enterprise technology - This has become increasingly evident in the adoption of smartphones and consumer-designed tablet-style devices. No brand names mentioned, nor do they need to be. For that matter, students and staff are no longer impressed with that full-featured desktop or laptop computer. They go to any electronics store and get technology thahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gift has comparable specifications or, at minimum, can do what they want to do.

* Technology is advancing faster than we can adopt it - We've mounted projectors and televisions in classroom, installed document cameras, installed wireless infrastructure and made other countless investments. Some, like structured cabling, could definitely be considered a long-term investment. Others... like the A/B/G wireless we had to have, is quickly replaced with N-series wireless and, soon enough, will be replaced with gigabit or multi-gigabit WiFi.

* Several shifts in thinking need to occur - Rattling through them quickly... the pace of change is accelerating. That means that expectations need to change. Lengthy technology plans are disrupted by this change. Replacing technology simply because it's dated may not be the smart move.

The success criteria should be the business value and not the adoption rate. We've fought for years to make sure that every classroom has the same tools, every teacher is trained to the same level and that we're all moving in lock-step in the same direction. Yet we teach to students of different ages about any number of different subjects and interests. Is the 'business value' the same in the high school history class as it is in a primary-grade class? Probably not, but the technology is often similar for both rooms.

We should try to move technology acquisitions from capex to opex. Some have done this via leasing of hardware and infrastructure. For districts that have convinced their boards to do this, things have seemingly gone well. The infrastructure does not have the glitz of the user device and is often tougher to get funded. Infrastructure purchases should perhaps be thought of like a utility and paid for in that fashion.

* "Learn to fail fast and move on" - Good quote from that blog post. One of our biggest struggles is to evaluate the success of an initiative. Often, we're asked to move on to the next project without really evaluating the previous one. That said, though, the changing technology landscape is forcing us to be willing to try different things. That will be an adjustment, but an equally difficult adjustment will be the discipline to jettison an initiative as it is made irrelevant by little business impact.

Things Seem Slow... Back to Basics on Troubleshooting

2011-06-16T11:06:00.005-05:00

With school out for a brief time, I've talked to several districts about various projects and have found more than one that has had concerns about network speed and throughput. Any 'tech at heart' loves this type of challenge, though getting to the bottom of the issue(s) can be a frustrating process. Perhaps for my own benefit as much as anyone else's, I am typing random thoughts and suggestions in the event that you're working through problems of a similar nature.

Get a baseline - On some of our networks, this is a challenge. For now, let's just assume that "the Internet is slow" is the gist of your issue. You need to have a feel for what the normal browsing experience should be in your environment. You need to know the bandwidth capacity of your outgoing circuit(s). You need to be aware of the network routes and devices that are traversed as Internet traffic leaves the workstation and makes its way to the Internet. Are you wireless or wired? Are you passing through gigabit ports, slower wired ports, N-series wireless versus B/G or B? Do you pass through Internet filtering solution(s)? All of this needs to be determined and you can take a few samples of Internet browsing from the problem stations or stations in a similar configuration.

Know your 'best case scenario' - When I'm helping a district with thhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifis issue, it's nice to be able to set a station to bypass any Internet filter and to connect via wire to a point as close to your Internet connection as possible. If you can take quite a few hops and devices out of the loop, you can then determine if the speed issue is related to the devices you manage or if you have a larger problem with your provider.

Pick a few reliable sites/tools and stick with them - Often, I'll browse to a news site as a test since several images, ads and banners need to load. I also use sites like Speedtest.net to get an actual bandwidth readout. Note, though, that the figures you see here can vary based on several factors, including other traffic on your own network, delays or capacity issues on the testing site's end, etc. That said, if you run a test several times from the same facility, it may give you a general idea of what throughput can be expected.

Make sure you know what you're troubleshooting - I'm writing this from the perspective of Internet access being slow. Sometimes, the user may be reporting slow Internet from their workstation that has problems like malware, limited hardware capacity or poor connectivity. Veterans of the industry can tell you that it could be any number of other problems when someone simply says that 'things are slow'. It could be one particular program that they use. They could be clicking the wrong icon. If you're chasing your tail, have the user show you their problem or perhaps at least get a screen capture of an error message. Basic stuff, I know, but how many times have technicians rushed to the super-technical layer of troubleshooting only to find that a patch cable was removed?

Know your own environment as best you can - This is a challenge if you're working with limited staff as many school district tech departments often are. Suppose that your speed issue is definitely related to your Internet filter. Do you have a support relationship with the vendor? Is there someone you can leanhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif on for suggestions or other support? Do you have a firm grasp of how the users authenticate and are processed by this device? Is there an alternate configuration that might increase speed? (I mention this because many of these devices have different installation methods that can offer better throughput, better security or other enhanced capabilities.)

Can you look at the traffic - I'll end this post on a topic that isn't basic at all, but it can be an option. A network protocol analyzer like Wireshark can be used (with appropriate port mirroring) to capture traffic on a portion of your network. I'm not an advanced user of this type of tool, but the capabilities are getting better and you may simply need to confirm if traffic is ever leaving the network or if it's entering the network in a timely fashion. Without being an expert, seeing timestamps on network packets might help you determine where a delay could be.

The ramblings will continue at a later time... take care!
[image:Library of Congress]

Can you successfully share an iPad?

2011-06-07T14:20:00.005-05:00

My parents have a vicious Dachshund that will chew appendages off of toy geese with embedded squeakers. This has nothing to do with this blog post, but this should be noted nonetheless.

I thought I'd put an item on the blog that I've been passing around via email this morning with several other leaders in the K-12 tech community, including Marty, John and John David. There has been much discussion about the adoption of the iPad recently and it presents challenges for the K12 technology leader. For all of the wonders of the touch interface, cameras in each direction and the amazing applications that developers are creating every day, the fact remains that this device is less enterprise-friendly than it is consumer-friendly. I'll paste in one portion of an email I shared today. It details one challenge that several districts are dealing with. I welcome any input into the best way to work through this dilemma:

Here’s the issue on my mind at the moment... If the iPad isn’t dedicated to one particular student (e.g. cart-based environment), how will the student best be able to transfer created content to the teacher? Here are a few things that have been suggested, along with the challenges:

• Dropbox – This could work well in a dedicated environment, but I’ve been told that you can’t easily (if at all) log out of Dropbox once the app connection is established. If you can’t log in and log out, that hinders the creation of a student-specific Dropbox and you’ll face issues with shared boxes that could lead to unauthorized viewing, creation or deletion of student work.

• Email via profile – This is another option in a dedicated environment, but will be a challenge if different students have the iPad from one period to the next. Continually deleting and recreating a mail profile doesn’t seem like a good option.

• Email via OWA – Multiple people have told me that you cannot send attachment via OWA if connected from the iPad Safari browser.

Are there other ways to do this? I’ll share one suggestion I received from our Naperville contact and one potential option that I was reading about yesterday.

• Email via ‘generic’ account – You could set up a generic account for the iPad and use it to email assignments to the student’s account and/or the teacher’s account. There are some instructional hurdles here as well, but it’s an option that @JDSCIO said they had been trying recently. Could a student access another student’s work via the ‘sent items’ in that email profile? Could that account be used to send objectionable emails? Perhaps in each case, but it is at least an option worth considering.

• Moodle and/or mBook app – I haven’t yet checked to see if this solution would allow for better logging in and out. I haven’t tested the mBook app for its feature set. I simply wanted to point out that there is a $3.99 app called mBook that is supposed to bring Moodle features to the iPad. Of course, if you aren’t using Moodle, that means that there’s an entire course management system to get installed and implemented. Moodle’s course structure might be a good way to transfer assignments, though, and that could become a standard that would be used whether or not iPads were the device of choice.

We've had some great follow-up on this topic, with Marty noting the fact that we really need to avoid the concept of "files" needing to be transferred at all. If teachers are after the students' ideas and content, are there web-based ways of capturing that? Comments on blog entries, online forms, course management systems and similar technologies are available.

It's an interesting topic and a challenge for all of us, so feel free to offer input and I'll try to follow up as solutions are attempted and evaluated.

Tech shelving - is this a good idea?

2011-05-25T08:22:00.003-05:00

Not every post has to be about a deep philosophical technology debate. Let's take a break and look at a simpler topic. Is the setup in this image a good idea?

Obviously, this district got some shelving from a home improvement store and mounted a shelf near the teacher's desk. On that shelf, you see a desktop computer, subwoofer for classroom surround sound, a laser printer and a DVD/VCR combo. One of the primary reasons for their doing this is to avoid the custodial dismantling of classroom technology in the name of floor waxing. If you've spent much time in a school district, you realize that summer vacation means that EVERYTHING gets moved into the hallways so classroom floors can be cleaned and waxed. Some districts have quite a bit of trouble with technology finding its way back to the proper classroom and being reconnected correctly in preparation for the next year. Either the tech staff does the hooking and unhooking (and who has time for that) or, more likely, the custodian unhooks everything and the teacher hooks everything back up. This district is obviously trying to avoid breakage, support calls or other points of frustration by mounting this shelf and leaving virtually everything in place.

Another advantage is that it saves some teacher desk space. One could also argue that it might lead to less dust in the CPU since it's off the floor.

What are the problems? For one, a teacher I talked to said she hit her head "weekly" on this setup. I don't have an OSHA degree and can't speak to the legalities of this, but I suppose one could argue that it isn't safe. Since you need to access the technology, the shelf must be mounted within reach of the teacher and therefore can't be too high. Naturally, the lower shelf height puts your cranium in the crosshairs for disaster if you forget about the shelf.

All of the cables are tied off for cleanliness and efficiency, but I suppose one could also speculate that when the technology fails, equipment would be more difficult to access for repair purposes. This may be a minor thing, but it's worth noting.

I'm sure there are other pros and cons that you can point out. This district thought it was a good idea that will save them time, so I provide it as an example and as 'food for thought'.

Managing iDevices in the K-12 Enterprise

2011-05-11T08:17:00.005-05:00

The iThis or iThat has been a major topic of discussion in several recent individual and group meetings. I completely understand why and this post isn't about debating the pros and cons or the reasons for all of the fuss. I do want to make a quick point and mention a few company names in this post.

First, a general point to be made here: Countless times, I've seen districts try to save money on the front end only to kill themselves in man-hours on the back end when new initiatives and technology are implemented. My opinion is always subject to change, but I see two options for a K-12 CIO facing an implementation of iDevices in their environment:

Option 1 - the 'minimalist' approach - Set the expectation from the beginning that you'll get them on the network and make sure they can access the Internet. Anything else is up to the user. By "anything", I mean anything related to behavior issues, app purchasing and deployment, repair (since they can't be repaired by your staff), etc. I know some reading this will say "there's no way that will work", but I would at least put that option on the table. Face it, others often assume that you CAN manage all of those app and behavior issues at the tech staff level, so let's at least get the thought (or the reality) out there in discussion that your staff not be responsible for these things.

Option 2 - the truly managed approach - I've been to a couple of sessions by Apple staff. They'll admit that, as it pertains to proper enterprise deployment and management, they're learning as well. These devices are being used in ways they didn't originally imagine. I heard several references to wikis and posts made by other administrators and to non-supported software and processes to perform tasks. Putting a large number of these devices into an enterprise is not an easy task. It isn't something that everyone else has figured out. There isn't a 'standard' way of doing it. I would submit that, at least for now, the 'truly managed' approach involves some third-party enterprise software to assist with iOS management.

See my point? Try to either get OUT of the business of managing these devices or fully commit and truly get IN the business and insist on some sort of third-party tool to help you work more effectively and, with any luck, keep your sanity. Here are a few companies mentioned in a session I attended yesterday:

Absolute Manage by Absolute Software - says it will help you "...manage the PC, Mac and iOS devices in your deployment from a single interface.

Casper Suite by JAMF Software - says it integrates with VPP and it's "...the only client management solution developed exclusively for the Apple platform."

AirWatch - Looks to be focused on mobile devices and also mentions the Android OS, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry.

MobileIron - I'm struggling with their web site at the moment but their site mentions a server you would install along with an app for the device. It says you can recommend apps and ensure that users can only run authorized apps.

I'm not saying any of those products are wonderful or terrible, but I am saying that all of the discussion I'm hearing makes me believe that district tech leaders either need to help set a policy that puts them in a "connect it and forget it" mode with these devices or else they should push hard for a software product like one of these mentioned that may be able to help you effectively manage these devices.
[Image - Courtesy: National Science Foundation]

Thoughts on TMG and Internet filtering in general

2011-05-03T14:11:00.002-05:00

As many of our school districts are looking at implementing Microsoft's Threat Management Gateway, now is as good a time as any to put a few thoughts together:

With the penetration of 3G handheld devices in hands of many high school students and staff, some districts are rightly questioning the effectiveness of ANY content management solution in an environment where a personal device cannot be monitored. That said, school districts are obligated by CIPA and (in our case) state law to do something in an effort to prevent access to inappropriate material.

At this point, it gets difficult for many districts. Depending on the expectations that have been set over years of content filtering and management, classroom teachers and administrators often expect the technology department to stop any inappropriate access from occurring. Technology leaders know that this is not possible. With time, opportunity and motivation, virtually any filtering solution can be defeated or bypassed. If the expectation has been set from the beginning that these matters are handled in the classroom, then the changing landscape of devices and methods of access may not have a huge impact on the prevention of inappropriate access since it would still be attempted and dealt with at the classroom level.

As our districts are considering Threat Management Gateway, I've noticed a few things that are worthy of note. First, the URL filtering is a subscription-based add-on that is referred to as the "Web Protection Service." This service provides subscriptions not only to URL-based categories but also to malware filtering. Issues with malware have become very important to our technical staff due to time spent cleaning up infected devices.

Note also that SP1 enabled certain features such as URL override and reporting enhancements, including a detailed "user activity report." My first reaction is that these enhancements should have been in the native product rather than a Service Pack, but the fact remains that they are now included and that's a positive development.

In fact, I think that generally sums up my initial thoughts about TMG. If a school district is simply trying to meet the letter of the law and wants a solution that can filter URLs based on categories and can potentially help with malware, TMG might be a fine solution. Some districts have paid for much more expensive and elaborate solutions that allow for robust reporting and real-time monitoring of particular users. I'm not trying to slander the TMG product and imply that it cannot do these things, but there's a reason that these other companies charge a premium and I can only assume that it's due to some advanced features, perhaps ease of use, etc. If you desire some of these advanced features, other products may fit your specific needs.

I'm inclined to compare this market to the old debate of VMWare and Hyper-V in the virtualization market. VMWare was earlier to market and has a strong reputation in this market. Microsoft's Hyper-V offering was later to market and, at least initially, might not have had all of the features that the VMWare suite had. At the time, one could market higher cost for higher quality while the other marketed a lower-cost product that provided all of the features that many customers might want. I think this is how I would currently categorize TMG. It provides many of the features (if not all) that many customers in this market desire.

At any rate, all of this is subject to change but it's what was on my mind at the moment. This and 50 cents would have bought you a soft drink several years ago. :)

The Art of "Walking the Line"

2011-03-24T08:20:00.002-05:00

Editor's Note - I've really got to do a better job of keeping this blog updated...

I continue to be amazed at the number of discussions I'm having or hearing about regarding iPads and their deployment in the K-12 environment. I'm not surprised that users want to deploy them, but I am surprised that discussions and purchases are taking place in a time of major budget-crunching at the district level. At a recent CIO meeting, our group had a good discussion about iPads and I wanted to take a moment and expand on one point that was stressed during the meeting. To be an effective CIO, you have to walk a fine line when topics like iPads are brought up within the district. Let's talk about the balancing act:

An effective technology leader wants to make best use of their dollars and resources. Most districts have some subset of desktop computers, laptops, netbooks, projectors, interactive boards or slates, document cameras, digital cameras, video camcorders, webcams, student response systems and probably other items that I'm forgetting. It's difficult to justify the entry of another type of device if we aren't taking full advantage of these other resources. The cost of an iPad can be debated as well, as districts might desire to add a protective cover, a mobile cart or an extended warranty to cover the iPad for the second year.

Wait... second year? Yes. This, of course, brings to light the fact that some instructors are looking to replace other devices with an iPad. Do we replace devices that have been used for 5 or 6 years (or longer) with device that cannot be warrantied for longer than two years? Well, it can't be a total replacement anyway because you'll need to synchronize the iPad with some other computer. I suppose you could argue that the iDevice craze is just a way to get more eyeballs in front of the iTunes store, but that's a debate for another time. Suffice to say that iTunes and synchronization is part of the challenge. It deserves its own paragraph, but getting these devices to pass traffic and authenticate via most K-12 networks is more than a small challenge due to most applications' inability or unwillingness to play well with a proxy server or with Microsoft-based authentication, both of which are realities in many networks.

I didn't write this to bash the iPad, though, so let's inject some balance into this conversation. The most important job of a CIO in the K-12 environment is to support the instructional process as best you can. All of the items mentioned in the previous two paragraphs are legitimate concerns and will need to be addressed. However, users want these devices and there ARE some really impressive instructional uses for iPads. Do you need interactive flash cards? Do you want to learn to play the piano? Do you need help with phonics or specific sounds? Spelling? Foreign language tutorials or translations? A graphing calculator? You know the conclusion here... there's an app. As tech leaders, we also know that there are other tools that can provide any and all of these. Are the other tools as easy to use? Are they in one place? WILL they and ARE they being used? "Ah, but these won't be used effectively either." No, probably not in all cases. But they will in some. They apparently aren't going away. Three million were sold in the first 80 days and over 14.7 million in the first 3 quarters on the market. Analysts estimated that over 1 million of the iPad2 devices were sold on its opening weekend.

I'm not posting this to sell these devices either, though. The point to be made is that society in general seems to be embracing this trend. Our technology leaders research, test and rightfully point out concerns and difficulties that may arise with proper deployment. There comes a time, though, when district leadership can think that "the CIO doth protest too much" and assume that you're simply being lazy, stubborn or a general roadblock to progress. Whether or not that is fact, perception becomes reality. An effective leader must have balance and "walk the line" between being diligent about the technical concerns while also knowing when the instructional desires require that a product or initiative move forward in spite of technical hurdles (or others) that may arise.

Pew researches "Generations and Their Gadgets"

2011-02-10T10:37:00.003-06:00

The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently released a study regarding "Generations and Their Gadgets." Let's take a quick look at the overall findings and trends. They surveyed about 3,000 adults 18+ about the 'gadgets' they own:

* 85% own cell phones. It was 95% in the 18-34 demographic. For the K-12 crowd in favor of classroom cell phone usage, this echoes what you see every day, which is that nearly everyone has a phone, can we leverage it, etc. For the K-12 crowd against phone usage, I suppose we could argue that many aren't full-blown computers and that simply having an item isn't reason enough to mandate its usage as part of the educational process.

* 59% own desktops and 52% own laptops. As expected, the numbers are higher for the younger and, for the 18-34 group, we see more laptops than desktops. This could spark a discussion about desktop vs laptop deployments. If you're a 1:1 district, I could see doing away with labs. However, in the more 'traditional' setting, desktop-based labs still make sense as long as our teaching styles involve students sitting in rows and performing similar tasks. I know that we can argue that the room design is driving the instruction rather than the other way around, but most schools are wired for this setup and I don't see it changing across the board in the near future. You could use this to argue that teachers should use laptops rather than desktops. Some districts are looking into this and I do think the topic is worthy of discussion within your district.

* 74% of the 18-34 group own an iPod or MP3 player. Are we recording lectures and archiving them for download? Should we be? Would it help? I see this as one area where could really make some improvements. The ability to easily record audio and video is there. Anyone can do it. This data shows that many have devices that could be used to listen to a recording. The cost point on these is such that these could be provided to those who do not have them. I suppose loading up an MP3 player with hours of instruction (or posting it online) and having the homebound student download and listen sounds boring and tedious. It is an option, though, and I could probably find some kids who would argue that it's no less boring than their typical school day. :)

* The e-Book and iPad/tablet figures are at about 5% each. This would explain why I'm getting asked about these quite a bit. They are the latest things and bring the potential of electronic textbooks and, for the iPad/tablet category, thousands of apps for educational usage. Each have their downside as well, but the fact that these are even being included on the survey should tell you something.

To me, the generation gap is most telling when you look at the percentage surveyed who state that they have none of these devices. Overall, it was 9%. However, 43% of the age 75+ responders and only 1% of the age 18-34 responders were in this group.

It's an interesting report from an organization that has done some really good surveys over the years. Give it a look and think about what the results might mean for your district.

A Case Study - One Problem With Multiple Tech Solutions

2011-01-26T11:32:00.002-06:00

Just a quick post to think through an instructional issue and to note the various ways our minds work in the technology industry. This occurred in one of my school districts and I'm sure that others have dealt with something similar. As you read, think about alternative solutions you might come up with and compare various pros and cons.

Scenario: A district has a problematic student that disrupts class on a regular basis. The student has been sent to in-school suspension or similar settings. To complicate matters, the students has been flagged as having special needs and, as such, there are limits on the number of times the student can be sentenced to in-school suspension as a solution to the disruption. The district wants to find some way to remotely deliver instruction to this student, as the student has certainly learned that "acting out" in the traditional classroom setting is a ticket out of class. The proposal is that the district would place this student in some supervised setting but still allow for instruction to be delivered remotely to that location.

One suggestion: How about two laptops with webcams and Skype? This provides some advantages. The student could potentially see/hear the teachers and the hardware could be used in other areas once this issue is more permanently resolved. Of course, I need to be sure that the teachers are well versed in using Skype and are checking that their audio and video settings are properly configured. I'm not sure about the quality of the audio and video. Also, the student's end has to be configured and the laptop itself might provide sufficient temptation for the student to drift elsewhere on the web to avoid instruction. This could work and has worked in other cases, but this was not the route that the district chose.

Another suggestion: Could we purchase a couple of iPod touch devices and use the FaceTime application to remotely communicate? To be honest, I wanted the district to test this option, as I believe it has some promise. The potential advantages over the previous option is that the iPods would be more portable than the laptops and the FaceTime application should theoretically be easier to use than the Skype/laptop combination. There were concerns about the screen size, but we noted the fact that you could use an adapter cable to connect the iPod to a larger video source such as a television. We would have needed to test the network and learn the process for two FaceTime users to connect without either being a true phone-based connection. I wasn't sure if that connection would have been over the district LAN after the initial connection or if it would have somehow needed to go out to the web and back in, which really wouldn't make sense. It's an intriguing option, but not what this district chose.

The chosen solution in this case: The district has connected a Uniden video surveillance system and is using the cameras and monitor to serve their needs. To be very specific, they bought this system. As I understand it, the cameras are moved from room to room and do an adequate job of providing audio and video connectivity for the student to be exposed to the classroom instruction. Also, the student isn't given direct access to the surveillance monitor. Apparently, the monitor has composite A/V connections which are hooked to a television for the student to watch.

I know this could lead to any number of posts about lost interaction, cost involved and other topics, but that wasn't my point to the post. I simply found it interesting that several technology-related options surfaced to try to solve a particular business problem. It happens every day and you probably have your own examples. I'm not saying that this is even the best solution - this is just one district's approach and it seems to be working for them. They made decisions based on cost, the ease of use for all involved and based on the quality and type of content that they wanted to deliver. I found it interesting and hope you do as well. Take care!

National Education Technology Plan - Continuing the Look at Infrastructure

2011-01-03T08:53:00.003-06:00

In a previous blog post, I looked at the first two recommendations in the 'infrastructure' section of the National Education Technology Plan. I thought I'd take a moment to highlight the other items noted in this section. The third recommendation in this section is:

Support the development and use of open educational resources to promote innovative and creative opportunities for all learners and accelerate the development and adoption of new open technology-based learning tools and courses.

Note that the word "open" is mentioned twice. From what I've seen, there's a connection that needs to be made between the wealth of freely available educational resources on the Internet and the educational standards that are set at the state and national level. There's work that needs to be done to tie resources to standards. I've heard many people point out that a whole lot of "teaching to the test" takes place in our classrooms. As it pertains to this recommendation, would you argue that a whole lot of "teaching to the textbook" takes place. I'm sure it's easier to purchase a textbook and cover the content, chapter by chapter, without paying much attention to the content standards that are expected to be covered. The log is that the textbook must cover the content; otherwise, why would I be provided with this book? The free resources are out there, but most teachers aren't going to volunteer to be the ones to tie them to particular content areas and replace a textbook that they may have. It would seem that it can be done, though. Who will take that challenge? It is being done in Vail, Arizona.

The next recommendation:

Build state and local education agency capacity for evolving an infrastructure for learning.

Part of this recommendation focuses on the need to transform from in-house data centers to more powerful cloud-based centers. It makes sense that, if you followed the other recommendations and had widespread broadband, a device for everyone and open-source teaching materials that, yes, you need cloud-based data centers. One thing we've done in Kentucky is transition to Microsoft's Live@edu for email and other collaborative tools. Kentucky's standard SIS package, Infinite Campus, is externally hosted for many districts as well. Districts have also moved to subscription-based models for several pieces of instructional software. I've heard of web-based modules for HVAC software and, if it hasn't happened already, I'd say this is the direction that library management software and transportation software will head as well.

More to come as time allows...

National Education Technology Plan - A Quick Look at Changing Infrastructure

2010-12-16T07:18:00.003-06:00

I'll dust off the blog for a moment to reflect on one section of the National Education Technology Plan (linking the Executive Summary). It's an interesting document and worth more time than I'm giving it. This morning, I'm reflecting on the recommendations in the 'infrastructure' section and comparing it to past standards we've had in Kentucky over the years. The goal in the infrastructure section of the NETP is stated simply enough:

All students and educators will have access to a comprehensive infrastructure for learning when and where they need it.

One shift we can see over the years is the emphasis on access anywhere and anytime. Our devices are smaller in size and more powerful than those of a few short years ago. Remember when we had processor wars and a race to a higher and higher gigahertz rating? What processor is in your iPhone or Droid? Do you know? Do you care? Our older state technology plans called for standards on student-to-computer ratios, number of data drops and phones in the classrooms. Since that original plan - a visionary document back in 1992, by the way - we've seen wireless access grow, devices change immensely and we're surrounded by projectors, IWBs, document cameras and other teaching tools.

For the sake of time, let's skip to the recommended actions. First:

Ensure students and educators have broadband access to the Internet and adequate wireless connectivity both in and out of school.

Broadband and wireless are the words I'll key on. With "broadband", what does that mean? How fast must it be? The plan goes on to use the word 'adequate' and stresses the need for that speed in the community and at home. What the CIO can fix is the school, so let's focus there. It sounds simple, but one call to action should be that your technical staff should try to do some basic research from a few random workstations and make sure that the performance is adequate. If it isn't, that's a problem. With the word "wireless", my thinking has come around over the past few years. Originally, I would have said to hold off on wireless implementation and invest when you foresee wireless devices that would actually take advantage of the wireless infrastructure. At this point, it seems that virtually all of the growth and development surrounds wireless connectivity. If your school district doesn't have adequate wireless connectivity within its schools, now is the time to act. With the changes that need to take place in education, the mobility of the learner is key and our schools need the wireless infrastructure to support that mobility.

Ensure that every student and educator has at least one Internet access device and appropriate software and resources for research, communication, multimedia content creation, and collaboration for use in and out of school

This one is certain to generate discussion. Years ago, the talk was to get to a 6:1 student-to-computer ratio. In most area schools, we're probably in the neighborhood of 2.5:1. Statewide, we've seen a bit of movement as it pertains to 1:1 initiatives but, even in those districts, it's usually limited to high school students. I've heard nobody speak of a device for EVERY student and I think we can agree that the reasons tend to center around lack of funding, inability to support the environment and, at this point, a teaching environment that isn't ready to take advantage of a device in every K-12 student's hand. In fact, if you'll permit one more copy/paste, I like the follow-up statements to this goal, as they reference several concerns that we rightly recognize and need to address:

Only with 24/7 access to the Internet via devices and technology-based software and resources can we achieve the kind of engagement, student-centered learning, and assessments that can improve learning in the ways this plan proposes. The form of these devices, software, and resources may or may not be standardized and will evolve over time. In addition, these devices may be owned by the student or family, owned by the school, or some combination of the two. The use of devices owned by students will require advances in network filtering and improved support systems.

This paragraph hits several key points. Why a device for all? Engagement, student-centered learning, and online assessments. What type of device? It may not be standard. Who pays? It could be a mix of district-owned and personally-owned. Of course, no standardization of the device and the mention of 24/7 access causes concerns about filtering and network security, and those are mentioned as well.

Maybe I'll come back and address the others, as I'm short on time at the moment.

Change: Inevitable (and fast, it seems!)

2010-11-02T07:51:00.003-05:00

I guess anyone can be a prophet if they predict the obvious and wait for it to happen. In a previous post, I had discussed the increasing pressure to implement personal devices in the K-12 environment. Of course, I was only writing based on what I was seeing and reading elsewhere. Fast forward a few months and it seems that the pressure is increasing... and quickly.

I've talked to at least three school districts in the past week that are all getting pressure to implement some type of new device into the environment. For districts that think it's only happening to them or that it's only in our area or state, this isn't true. It's across the country and across various enterprises. Take a look at this Gartner blog post. I'm not as concerned about the market share of a particular company, but note the initial comments about consumerization affecting the enterprise and the "...increasing number of Macs being brought into the enterprise." These are the conversations I've been having, so I suppose I simply wanted to get a few thoughts down to state to the K-12 CIO that "you're not alone."

It feels that way for some, though. Administrators see these new devices (the iPad being the most common example) and demand that their IT staff get these in the classroom. I've seen some of the applications that are out there and I can certainly see the educational benefit. For the things they can do, devices like this have been built for ease of use, fast response and crisp audio/video output. Their cry is "why not?"

The local IT staff has been conditioned to look out for the district. They know that they are most likely the ones that will field the calls when things don't work as well as first imagined. Do you want to print? Does this need to hook to a projector? Do you want to use Flash-based applications? Do you want these apps to go to the web through our required proxy solution? Who's handling the iTunes synchronization? Are these being signed out and in? How are we keeping these charged? If we're in an Active Directory environment, are these devices supposed to communicate with local servers?

You get the idea. By the way, some of these hurdles can be overcome. Right now, though, this seems to be the latest example of one segment of administration pushing for implementation while the IT staff begs for time and resources to better understand and account for the business requirements. As an IT leader, you're right to ask these questions. However, be aware that there are times where the situation dictates that you implement or be viewed as a roadblock to progress.

A quick search will reveals countless articles about consumer devices entering the enterprise and the need for our security models to change. This is one blog entry discussing this trend and it's easy to find others. Without dragging out the crystal ball again, I'll simply state that we're probably all facing major change in the way we've thought about our networks and securing them. For now, take some solace - limited though it may be - in the fact that it isn't "just you". It's all of us. As that blog entry indicates, it could be more about the data than the device moving forward.

The thought of data driving it all made me think of the Web 2.0 video "The Machine is Us/ing Us".

Mission US and educational gaming in general

2010-10-05T14:46:00.005-05:00

At a recent regional meeting of integration specialists, we went through a brief tutorial of the Mission US 'game' funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The goal of Mission US is to take several historical events and create an interactive multimedia experience. Students would go through the simulations and experience the event. Lesson plans would be developed around the events to allow students to reflect and, with any luck, learn about the experience in a different way and think through his/her decisions on a higher level. The first of these games, "For Crown or Colony", is available for use right now and is based in 1770 Boston. I've gone through the simulation and I can see where it would be engaging if used in the right way.

One point to note, though, which leads to a broader thought about educational gaming in general. Even during the tutorial, the instructor noted that the pace of this game might be slower than the students would like to take. She mentioned that the temptation would be for the students to fly through the game and proper planning would be needed to be certain that the students grasped the appropriate concepts.

Is that the right approach? I'll let that question sit for a moment. Here's why ask it. I enjoyed the blog post and following comments on Scott McLeod's 'Dangerously Irrelevant' blog regarding educational games. He compared, for example, graphics on a PBS game to that of something like Madden NFL and asked rhetorically which one kids would gravitate toward. It led to a larger discussion of whether it was fair to measure graphics of 'educational' games with these big-budget entertainment games. Like it or not, those games are our competition for the eyeballs of the children. It isn't too far outside the realm to imagine that any educational gaming experience needs to be entertaining enough to be somewhat competitive with whatever else may be out there.

Back to the 'right' approach for Mission US. I don't pretend to say that playing the game straight through without pausing for reflection is the best method to learn. However, I will say that my own attempt to speed through the game left me wanting to speed through it again and purposely answer questions and confront scenarios in a different manner... just to see how my changes would impact the end result. I would contend that I'd learn something, though it may not be via the traditional learning method.

With entertainment games today, you learn by failing. Using the Madden example, I'll assume that a new player would get crushed by the computerized opponent if playing against them on the highest difficulty level. Some kids choose to start at the hardest level and get beaten repeatedly until they are competitive at that level. Others might choose the easiest level and smash the novice opponent until eventually increasing the difficult due to boredom. Some choose their favorite team, while others would try to win with the worst team or choose to play as the best team against the weakest possible opposition. In every case, you're learning something about the game (and, for that matter, those choices might tell you something about the player as well).

I think we'll see the day where self-directed learning will lead itself toward an educational environment where failure isn't seen as a bad test grade but, rather, as a necessary step to a completed objective. It happens all the time in the gaming world. Heck, when I was cramming for an industry certification, I can recall force-feeding myself sample questions from books and CD's. I missed a TON of prep questions and, along the way, memorized answers to many others in order to get certified. Somewhere in the midst of that, I learned a few things about the concepts that the questions were covering. It may not have been the intended or traditional learning style, but some type of education took place.

What are your thoughts on educational games? Do they have a role in today's classroom and will they (or should they) have a role in tomorrow's classroom?

The future of the blogging platform...

2010-09-28T14:16:00.004-05:00

While following offshoot links from linked articles (!), I ran across a couple of interesting articles from over a year ago. One is a NY Times article cleverly titled "Blogs Falling in an Empty Forest" and the other, referencing that article, is a Guardian blog entry about the future of blogging. There is some relevant insight in those articles as well as some of the comments that follow those articles.

One comment compares the state of blogging to the Gartner 'hype cycle'. I would agree with the comment that, for various reasons, blogging as a concept may have fallen into the Trough of Disillusionment. With this blog, I certainly never sought book deals or notoriety that some bloggers seem to have been seeking. This is one premise you'll find stated in the linked articles. I do agree, though, that blogging is time-consuming if done well. In some circles, it has likely been replaced with easier and more immediate tools such as Facebook and Twitter.

To me, that comparison is somewhat of an apple-to-orange comparison. When using Twitter, it's difficult to expound on anything too meaningful in 140 characters or less. Granted, when time is of the essence and you simply want to share an article you read, a tweet makes sense (unlike a forwarded email with an entire article attached, which I get my share of). For the Facebook crowd, I'm not sure how the blog comparison works, but I will say that a Facebook status update I make will likely have more readers than this blog post may have. It's apples v. oranges, though, because the purposes are different.

Blogging, to me, is a chance to share thoughts on a given topic. My topic of choice, in this case, happens to be my job. For many, the topic of choice is a hobby of theirs. Your readers - should they happen to exist - are naturally going to be those who share a common interest. Blogs specific to an interest should naturally lead to a group of people using that mechanism to share insight on that interest. It would be difficult to share many details in 140-character bites via tweets and responses. Facebook is more general in nature and, while you could certainly create a Facebook group for a particular interest, it doesn't have the same look and feel as a blog post.

I use Twitter and Facebook on occasion and it's obvious that I haven't been blogging as much lately. However, I think my reasons are due to work and personal obligations eating into my time rather than the blog being replaced by some other medium. Also, as previously stated, it requires some time and effort. I'll turn right around and tweet a link to this and it will certainly take much less time than this post took. If you have to choose between a retweet, a comment on this post or a blog entry of your own, which would you choose and why?

To complete the hype cycle thought, I feel like the blog will remain in some form and that the 'Plateau of Productivity' will be seen as common interests are found and expounded upon by writers who choose to take the time to write about what is important to them.

Pew Report on Cell Phones and American Adults

2010-09-20T15:41:00.003-05:00

While browsing around, I ran across one of the many interesting reports from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. This one is entitled "Cell Phones and American Adults" and, as is typically the case, there is quite a bit of interesting data that I can't analyze quickly enough (and isn't THAT what the Internet has become?) Just some random stats of interest from the report:

* 82% of American adults own a cell phone
* Adults who text send/receive about 10/day on average. Teens who text average 50/day
* African-Americans and English-speaking Hispanics are slightly more likely to own a phone than whites and they are also more frequent and intense users of the phone
* About 2/3 (65%) sleep with the phone nearby. It's over 90% for the 18-29 demographic
* (Only) 58% make voice calls on a cell phone for work-related purposes
* 86% think it's rude when someone regularly interrupts a conversation or meeting to check on their cell phone
* 31% of teens send more than 100 texts/day
* 39% of adults use the cell phone to entertain themselves when bored. 69% of teens do
* About 79% reported having a desktop or laptop computer - that's the same or slightly less than the percentage having a cell phone

I guess this is where I should add some level of in-depth analysis of this data. That's tough, because I can only really speak from my own perspective and it differs in a few areas. I can't imagine NOT using my cell phone for work-related purposes. I suppose the number could be artificially low due to the ages or work status of those surveyed. It's also hard for me to imagine that there are as many or more cell phone owners than computer owners, but that simply goes to show how quickly that market has grown and how necessary the cell phone is thought to be.

I confess that I'm quite surprised that a higher percentage of minorities own and use a cell phone (as compared to the white population). I see this as a potential wake-up call to those of us in education. Admittedly, I haven't traditionally been a big fan of cell phone use as part of the educational process. However, if this technology is helping to close the 'digital divide', how can we NOT embrace the use of this technology to help close achievement gaps?! There are some very interesting trends in minority use of technology brought up in this article that mirror these thoughts.

When I see the number of texts that our teens send, I'm reminder of something that David Couch brings up on occasion. I've heard him compare the depth of text conversations to the phenomenon of CB radios when they were first introduced. Many people wanted to talk on the CB but, if you read a transcript of the conversations taking place, most were fairly useless in nature. The cell phone data reveals that many text simply to say hello or chat - particularly with teens - so I can only assume that the nature of a printout of the texting conversations between many teens wouldn't necessarily be groundbreaking thought.

The data shows that most of us have a cell phone. Is there a way to use this device educationally? Should it change the way we teach? If virtually every teacher has a cell phone, is THAT how he/she should communicate with parents (rather than a phone in the school or classroom?)

"The Cloud" and 21st Century Learning

2010-09-08T15:47:00.006-05:00

I probably have too many thoughts going on at once to make a sensible blog entry, but I've got to get with the program and keep the cobwebs dusted off of this site. An article was brought to my attention by a teammate. The article concerned student learning and cloud computing and the potential that's out there. Some of that article talks about advantages of students in a university setting creating their own 'cloud' of learning tools rather than relying on school-provided resources. It made me think of the possibilities we have in the K-12 space and, honestly, I took a detour and began to think more broadly about "21st Century Skills" and spent some time looking at the framework established by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

As I look through the details of those framework definitions, I see mention of core content subject knowledge accompanied by a huge number of necessary 'other' skills lumped into "Learning and Innovation", "Life and Career" and "Information, Media and Technology". These are the desired student outcomes and I'll rattle off several of these:

Think Creatively and Work Creatively with Others
Implement Innovations
Reason Effectively
Use Systems Thinking
Make Judgments and Decisions
Solve Problems
Communicate Clearly
Collaborate with Others
Access, Evaluate, Use and Manage Information
Analyze Media and Create Media Products
Apply Technology Effectively
Adapt to Change
Manage Goals and Time
Work Independently and Be Self-Directed Learners
Interact Effectively with Others
Manage Projects
Guide and Lead Others

I tired out and skipped a few here and there, but you get the idea. The design mentions several necessary support systems such as properly integrated standards and assessments, PD, learning environment and curriculum and instruction. Keep in mind that we're just now adopting common core standards for English and math. If we've struggled for years to adopt common standards in a few of the core subjects, how will we ever be able to properly assess how well a student applies technology effectively or reasons effectively. These skills are necessary but are also very subjective and, I think, would be difficult at best to properly assess.

Touching on the cloud-based computing article, I believe there are many readily available tools to help with some of the 21st century tasks noted above. I manage goals and time with a calendar application within my email client which, with any luck, I use to communicate clearly and collaborate with others. I can also collaborate with others using web-based productivity software from any number of providers. I can at least try to guide and lead others with blog posts such as this. And so on...

I could develop a lengthy list of conundrums we find ourselves in, only one of which being "how can teachers allow students to be self-directed learners when they are so hard-pressed to cover a list of content standards within the specified number of days/hours of instruction?" Technology alone isn't the answer, but it is a tool that can help get us there if properly leveraged. Some students are honing their 21st century skills on their own, using modern tools such as smartphones and any number of collaborative web resources. Some are undoubtedly using it for the wrong purposes, but I look forward to the day when we collectively allow more of this collaboration to take place as part of the classroom experience. With any luck, the benefits gained will far outweigh the issues that might arise.

Freeware feature: OldCMP

2010-08-11T12:40:00.004-05:00

I recently ran across a freeware tool called OldCMP that's been around for quite some time. OldCMP is a command-line tool that helps you find old user or computer accounts in your Active Directory environment.

To those outside of technology, it doesn't make sense that you could "lose" user or computer objects. However, if you regularly use scripts and imaging software to create, replace update or delete massive numbers of users and computers, then the concept of "lost" objects makes a great deal of sense. In addition, in Kentucky's environment, we leverage ePolicy Orchestrator to keep antivirus software updated and, as you might imagine, it's difficult to gather useful reports on antivirus coverage if your machine counts aren't accurate.

** A quick 'cover yourself' type of note that this is a freeware tool and it is what it is, you get what you pay for, etc. Also, it's a command-line tool that is interfacing with Active Directory, so note that you can really do some damage to your directory if you don't use this tool properly. **

With that out of the way, let's cover a few details. You can download the tool at the link provided above. You can review many of the command-line switches available here. Switches that you'd use in our particular environment would likely be:

-b basedn (to specify the directory location to begin - in our case, you'd use several "DC=" settings to establish a district domain in our forest)

-age x (to specify the minimum age for a password change - we might use 90 days or even longer to increase the likelihood that results are machines/user that are really not being used)

-llts (This allows us to use LastLogonTimeStamp for some of the age stats. Some trust this more than the password change statistic in AD and, between the two, you will likely be able to verify that machines/users are really as dated as they appear)

- format dhtml (For IE, this would allow the report to generate in dynamic HTML format, which would allow you to sort the resorts by clicking on column headings, etc. This is very useful.)

-report (simply to write a report of the objects found)

So, if I run OldCMP from a command prompt with this format:

oldcmp.exe -b DC=adams,DC=kentucky,DC=org -age 90 -llts -format dhtml -report

If I were in the adams.kentucky.org AD domain, I should generate a dynamic HTML file that shows the computers in my domain that have a LastLogonTimeStamp setting of older than 90 days. It could be that some machines haven't logged on in years and you could find that by sorting on the proper column.

Perhaps some of you have used this tool in the past or, for others, perhaps you can use this to some benefit. In our environment, this could be a very useful tool for districts to clean up their AD domain and more easily identify machines that need to be removed.

Energy Savings and Magic Packets

2010-07-23T08:57:00.005-05:00

Kentucky schools have embarked on an energy management program. This was required by law and every district is participating at some level. This energy saving initiative deals with all aspects of the school, from lighting to HVAC, food service, transportation, etc.

Technology can and should be involved at some level. As a successful CIO, it's always good to demonstrate leadership by participating and cooperating with high-level district initiatives such as these. Along those lines, I thought I'd take a moment to mention the capability of remotely shutting down and starting computers. This may seem minor but, to a lab manager that touches 30 machines in a lab to power off or power on a lab, this will save time and buy you some goodwill. These remote capabilities also could open the door to scheduled shutdowns and power-ons, which definitely falls in line with the energy management initiatives.

Shutting down computers is easy enough and can be done via command line. As most of you well know, if it can be done via command line, then it can be done via script or GUI-based tool. There are countless tools that allow for remote shutdown and I won't bother to feature one here. The point is simply that it can be done and, if you're not doing it now, you should consider implementing this and doing so as part of an energy-saving initiative.

Most are also aware that computers can be powered on remotely as well. The technology involved concerns Wake-on-LAN and the use of a "magic packet". Wake-on-LAN is available on every machine that's even relatively current. To enable this capability, a BIOS setting may need to be changed.

In addition to getting the machine ready, your switches would need to support the use of the "magic packet". As an aside, the magic packet is a special broadcast that is sent to the LAN or specific machines via the network. You'll want to test this to ensure that your switches and your particular network configuration supports proper transfer of this packet, but that packet is what triggers the machine to power on (and, not coincidentally, this is one reason that a slight amount of power still passes through a networked computer that is powered off).

Assuming your switches and computers are capable of supporting Wake-on-LAN and magic packet transfer, you should be ready to implement remote power-on. As with remote shutdown, there are many tools available to send those packets and automate the process. This post wasn't meant to highlight those tools and a few simple searches will lead you to multiple options. However, I thought it was worth a few minutes to highlight the concept of remote power-on and shutdown and ask you to consider implementing it as part of an overall energy management solution for your district.

The Crystal Ball

2010-07-06T07:38:00.005-05:00

As I look ahead to the next school year for our districts, I thought I'd take a moment to mention a few trends that we'll all likely face in the next year or two. We're already seeing some of these topics coming up in some districts, but I feel like these trends will continue and accelerate:

* $$$ and doing more with less (or withOUT) - I mentioned Title IID concerns a year ago and they have come to pass, so there will be less federal money for education technology. Kentucky's budget for 7/1/10 through 6/30/12 called for technology funding cuts and that will have a large impact from the state perspective. And then - THEN - it seems that our state may have a $200-$300M shortfall (after these passed budget cuts, mind you) if we don't receive a federal Medicaid funding match. That could mean that we face further budget cuts during this budget cycle. I don't enjoy hearing about and talking about budget cuts any more than you do, but I emphasize these to point out that the cuts are real and we're going to feel them. I have school districts that are cutting staff and hard decisions will also have to be made regarding replacement of aging technology. As one example, a district is considering replacement of some devices with the NComputing 'virtual' computers. As stated in the title for this section, there's no doubt that districts will be trying to do more with less and, with all of the fat trimmed from budgets, I feel like some will be forced to make the tougher decisions to do without resources, whether those be personnel, new hardware or new software.

* Even MORE controversy as boundaries are crossed - I could link hundreds of articles to make my point, but I'll limit myself to a single link and humbly ask that you make the time to read this New York Times article on school districts being pulled into difficult issues related to technology use and abuse. I have several districts who have noted that they're getting called weekly on Facebook-related issues. I know of staff members who have been questioned about their curious choice of Facebook profile picture and/or status, particularly when some of their 'friends' are students. I know of districts who have had to deal with their users posting very inappropriate content to sites like these. The instinct for district leadership is to call the CIO when something occurs, because it's on the Internet and a computer was used. As the article points out, what do you do when the issue didn't occur on school grounds or with school property? Some parents will demand the district to intervene while others would claim their rights have been violated if the district were to intervene in a personal situation. The lines are blurring and it's making the K-12 CIO's job more difficult.

* More personal devices in the classroom - If you think about it, the first two bullets make this one almost inevitable. In most cases, the money isn't there to buy district-owned devices for everyone. More and more high-schoolers (and younger) are carrying personally-owned devices that have tons of functionality. While we will certainly wrestle with boundaries, inappropriate use, Internet filtering and other issues, I feel like some districts will also look to take advantage of these devices. They are resources that many kids are carrying, that CAN be used in positive ways and that the kids really want to use.

I'm sure there are other things on the horizon (eBooks, for example), but these have been on my mind as of late. Agree, disagree or add topics of your own. Take care!

E-Rate: Funding Year 2011

2010-06-23T13:31:00.003-05:00

There's quite a bit going on with the federal E-Rate program this summer. There are a few critical Notices of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRM) out there and there is also a draft of the Eligible Services List for FY2011. This is the earliest I can remember seeing a draft ESL posted. Many of the NPRM suggestions are embedded in this draft ESL, so I'll take a moment and highlight a few of these:

* "Dark Fiber" would become eligible - Applicants and providers have sort of worked around this over the years by proposing that that provider 'light' the fiber by supplying the electronics on each end. In some cases, this has simply led to an additional switch for the district to power and house in their wiring closets. This could be a good development, as schools and districts seeking to connect might often find a vendor with fiber optics available for lease. It would also take away some guesswork with network proposals. Do you need 10Gb between all sites? Well, if you have the electronics to support that, go for it.

* "Web hosting" would become ineligible - This could be a big deal for a few of my districts. Some applicants have taken advantage of third-party hosting sites for the district web presence. It keeps the district from having to maintain a server and web services on that server. We've had districts who have had their web site hacked. At times, this has been due to security updates and patches not being applied. There's some level of security in having this housed by a provider specializing in web hosting.

I do see the other side of the equation, though. The program itself is about connectivity and a web site is not directly related to connectivity (or, perhaps, not as much so as in years past). Also, all parties have sought to take full advantage of what is or isn't eligible and have walked a thin line to gain every advantage possible. Any service that's eligible "to a point" lends itself to applicants or providers seeking to push the proverbial envelope. Removing this certainly prevents that, but it would put districts in a tough spot as they would be forced to consider whether to continue hosting services if forced to pay the full price themselves.

* "Web servers" would become ineligible - See above, as the logic is similar. The program has grown increasingly strict over the years as it pertains to servers eligible for purchase under Internal Connections. If web hosting is deemed ineligible, logic would dictate that web servers would be deemed ineligible as well.

There are other removals for services that were not being purchased by many (if any) applicants. T-2's, Global Service Provider fees and a Network Access Registers (related to Centrex phone service) were all crossed out of the draft ESL.

What do you do in the summer?

2010-06-10T08:38:00.003-05:00

That question gets posed from outside the education community, with the general assumption being that everyone vacations all summer long if they work in the K-12 education environment. Not true. Furthermore, I think the assumption is that the K-12 technology coordinators and staff are simply in charge of "keeping the computers running". Sure, there are computers to replace and re-image. That doesn't even scratch the surface of everything these departments are asked to deal with during the summer and throughout the year. Here's my off-the-cuff stab at a list, and I'm sure that this isn't exhaustive:

Printers
Copiers
Web site creation and maintenance
Televisions
DVD
Media distribution servers/solutions
Digital cameras
Camcorders
Handheld computers and smartphones (both district-owned and personal)
Projectors
Wireless slates/pads
Interactive whiteboards
Student response systems
Student Information System
Instructional software of various types
Food service software
Point-of-sale hardware
Asset tracking software and hardware
Library management software
Internal district finance hardware/software
Servers to run all of this and more
Software licensing compliance for all of this
Switches and electronics in the wiring closets
Running and terminating cable for all of this to connect
Wireless environments (ever-growing) to support mobility desires
Security cameras
Badge ID systems for the user base
Building security (so those badges can be used for building entry)
Automatic lighting (in some cases, yep)
A/C needs for the data center(s) (this hardware generates tons of heat)
Support for Student Technology Leadership Program
Assistive and adaptive technology (for special needs cases)
Telephone systems (voicemail, handsets, trunk line configurations, etc)
Video distribution systems (cable TV and other local media)
Wide-area network connecting all schools to one another
Antivirus software for all workstations
Ensuring proper OS updates/patching of all workstations
Web filtering hardware/software, updates and ongoing issues
Facebook and social networking issues (significant enough for separate mention)
Establishing policy on things like personal device use (cellular, computers)
Crafting and updating a district technology plan for all of this
Professional development for staff so THEY understand all of this
Managing maintenance agreements for some/all of this
Having a system to track/manage work orders that might be called in on any of this
Keeping track of grant opportunities to assist with some of this
Dealing with vendors who constantly try to sell some/all of this
Managing the E-Rate program, which ties to critical federal funds

As I said, I'm sure this isn't an exhaustive list, but it's a good start. Some of these items are a job unto themselves. Some can take up a huge amount of time when/if something goes wrong. There's plenty to do throughout the year and, if these folks are taking a bit of time off during the summer, it's well-deserved. More likely, their time away is brief due to the fact that the best time to update/replace most of these components is during the summer while school is not in session. For you IT workers out there, if you're dreaming of having your toes in the sand, I hope you don't read this and awake with a fear that you're in quicksand...

Video distribution vendors...

2010-06-03T16:58:00.004-05:00

I'm probably oversimplifying their offerings by titling this entry as simply 'video distribution', but these vendors are worth a mention nonetheless:

VBrick presented their IP video solution. They have presented to my region of school districts as well. I think we'll see the CIO role begin to encompass television and video delivery (if it isn't already for your district). The VBrick platform allows for scheduled delivery of video content and provides its own portal for delivery and searching for content. You can use the solution to capture content in multiple formats, store the content on a server for that purpose and play the video either on the desktop or on a separate dedicated display.

We also learned about Mediacast via a local reseller. This seemed to be a competitor to VBrick in many ways. With both solutions, you can encode selected channels from your cable provider. You can copy other media formats (VHS, DVD, etc) into the solution and manage copyrights more effectively by only allowing a licensed number of concurrent copies to play. With the right modules and equipment (like an "OnLocation cart", one could conduct and stream a live broadcast in HD.

Portions of these solutions (encoders, master control units, etc) are eligible for E-Rate discounts under the Internal Connections category. These solutions aren't for everyone, but these types of solutions may become a requirement as the instructional use of video from a variety of sources continues to grow.

A couple of vendor mentions...

2010-06-03T13:42:00.004-05:00

I'm at a CIO conference/retreat and thought I'd take a moment to mention several products and vendors who have presented or attended:

M86 Security - An internet security company that had its basis in web (URL) filtering, they are in several KY school districts. Apparently, their latest product offering performs the web filtering, reporting and monitoring on a single box. They also have a secure web gateway product that is used to protect against so much of the malicious code that can be found on the web today.

CIPAFilter - Interesting name and guess what they do? There's a 90-day evaluation and their pricing structure is online and easy enough to follow. It does some context-sensitive searching rather than pure URL-based filter sets.

I'll mention the video distribution vendors later...

Hosted email and praise for KY tech leaders

2010-05-14T06:55:00.003-05:00

I can tell just how buried I've been in my work. Not only have I taken less time of late for personal hobbies, but I've also apparently been very lax about blogging. All of that can be attributed to the KY K-12 education move to Microsoft's Live@edu hosted email solution.

It's difficult to digest everything taking place when you're in the middle of it all. Over the past two weeks, I've conducted several informational sessions and have now participated in some end-user training. There's so much swimming through my brain and I simply wanted to take a moment to think about a couple of things at a very high level.

First, we have many intelligent and dedicated technology leaders in this state. I feel overwhelmed at times when thinking about this project. I've had draft documentation in my hands for a while and have participated in regular conference calls about our plans. Many of our technology leaders are going into this with less information and less time to absorb that information. We've had several opportunities to communicate about the project, but things are really hitting home now that implementation is imminent. I've tried my best to communicate and assure everyone that it will be fine. At times, I'm the one that has to be reassured. Last month, many of our districts massed on a McAfee DAT update that wreaked havoc on networks around the state. Their "can do" attitude got them through the fix before they had time to completely absorb all of the details. To some extent, this project will also test our ability confidently to move forward without knowing all of the answers to every potential "what if" situation. We will get there and it will be largely because of their efforts.

Second, the solution really needed to be a cloud-based solution. There are other choices besides Live@edu. A quick scan of today's technology landscape reveals many hosted options for communication. How do we communicate today? Via mobile phone, Twitter, Facebook, blog entries, texting, Skype and - I almost forgot - email. Very little of that (soon to be none?) is hosted on a local file server. We're an increasingly mobile user base and the applications we use are mirroring that.

Along those lines, one potential concern with Live@edu is the built-in messaging components. Legitimate "what if" scenarios are brought up by districts. However, what successful communications company is developing an "email only" solution for today's users? Yahoo! has an IM client built in and desperately wants to be my collaboration portal. Facebook has the same thing. GMail has built-in chat via text, voice or video. It's where the industry is headed.

It's where we're headed. By IT, I mean "a hosted communication environment that has the potential to positively impact teaching and learning." It's fearful at times to move at this pace, but the need to be flexible and adapt to change is becoming one of the most important qualities of success. We will get there and, though there will likely be some bumps along the way, we'll be better for it.

McAfee and the 'false positive'

2010-04-23T07:32:00.006-05:00

Note: Thoughts expressed here are mine alone. They may echo the thoughts of others, but I'm not publishing this on behalf of or in representation of anyone else.

Nearly everyone is aware of the issues of this week surrounding a problematic McAfee update. I could link hundreds of articles and I'm not sure anything else can be said that hasn't already been said. However, I suppose writing is therapeutic to some extent and I've had a few thoughts running through my mind as our school districts work to correct thousands of affected computers.

* Kudos to our school districts. They probably don't get enough credit as it is, but it's amazing to see how districts have massed on this problem and developed plans to touch thousands of machines. Their work is to be commended. These are dedicated workers who have given away countless hours (no overtime pay in a school district) to fix these machines. In addition, many CIOs made a tough spur-of-the-moment call to shut down every machine in their district. I'm not sure I could have made that call that quickly, being fearful that a false alarm would infuriate my user base. It was a courageous call and a correct one given the circumstances. I'm proud to work alongside our area school district technology staff members.

* The Internet records everything. McAfee's initial response was delayed and was out of touch with the difficult realities facing a good portion of their user base.

...a number of customers have incurred a false positive error due to this release. Corporations who kept a feature called “Scan Processes on Enable” in McAfee VirusScan Enterprise disabled, as it is by default, were not affected...

McAfee went out of the way to point out that it was a false positive and not a virus. The end result was the same and no one I talked to was concerned about whether the problem was a virus or a false positive. Also, later reports indicate that the "Scan Processes on Enable" is not disabled by default in all cases. The language here implies that, had a customer not changed the default settings, they wouldn't be in this predicament. There's an implication that it wasn't McAfee's fault.

We are not aware of significant impact on consumers. We believe that this incident has impacted less than one half of one percent of our consumer base and enterprise accounts globally...

There may be some funny math going on here. If I had 199 consumers with a single copy of the software that weren't affected and I also had one corporate account with 1000 machines that were impacted, I suppose one could say that "one half of one percent of customers" were impacted. However, that doesn't accurately state the percentage of machines affected and it certainly downplays the significance. Again, the focus seemed to be that the incident wasn't a major concern. To affected customers, it was. Also, it's worth noting that a machine that constantly reboots and will not function is a "significant impact" and it's very hard to believe that, upon this press release, these symptoms weren't known.

To be fair, subsequent responses have a different tone and the company definitely took the matter seriously. Initial reports indicated that support information was hard to find. At this time, there is a link on the McAfee launch page. I'm not sure when that appeared. The bottom line is that effective crisis management, as exemplified in the Tylenol situation in the 80's, involves swift and wide-reaching action if there's even a chance of devastating impact to users.

* What if it were a virus? - My final thought is that, had SVCHOST.EXE truly been infected, was this the proper response? Should the file have been quarantined, rendering the machine useless and unable to communicate with the network? It's hard to say, but I'm sure this is one of the areas that will be investigated moving forward.

Free books and courseware

2010-04-06T10:16:00.004-05:00

I'm continually amazed at everything that can be found on the Internet. We've had discussions in the K-12 environment about shrinking textbook funds and have rhetorically asked if textbooks are needed with the wealth of materials online. Given some of these resources that are available from the higher education community and other free resources, I think it's only a matter of time before we see more K-12 entities work to deliver instruction without traditional textbooks. A list of resources:

Project Gutenberg - One of the early entries in the 'free books' genre. You can find 30,000 free books to download here (free because their copyright has expired).

MIT Open Courseware - Want to take a course at MIT? This may not get you access to the instructor, but many of the materials used in all sorts of undergraduate and graduate MIT courses can be found at this site.

Google Scholar - Ever wished your students would find and reference 'scholarly' resources when searching Google for various projects? How about trying this beta search engine that seeks to limit your searches to scholarly literature?

Good stuff!

OnGuard Online - good educational resources

2010-04-05T13:41:00.004-05:00

Just a quick note to make everyone aware of some good material available fron OnGuard Online. This is a partnership between many federal and commercial resources. One of the items that's been viewed very positively by my districts is a pamphlet called "Net Cetera: Chatting With Kids About Being Online". The link takes you to the entire pamphlet and you can order free copies from bulkorder.ftc.com.

The Federal Trade Commission has its own YouTube channel. One of their videos is embedded below:

Zenoss - Open Source IT Management

2010-03-30T08:09:00.002-05:00

One things I've told DTC/CIOs at various times is that they need a dashboard. When I reference a "dashboard", I'm thinking of some type of visual that indicates the health of the network and critical resources. At the state level, we have a map that shows every school district and depicts different colors depending on whether the district has lost connectivity or if all services are running.

Using a tool like Zenoss, districts can create their own network dashboard. I've linked to the open source version, though there is an enterprise version as well. This software has several popular open source products behind it, including RRDTool for graphing and MySQL as a database.

Zenoss uses SNMP and WMI to discover and monitor all types of network devices. With it, you can monitor services like HTTP. For critical servers, I could monitor free disk space as well as memory and processor utilization. I could use the WMI piece to allow me to monitor critical errors on servers.

There's a tutorial video on their community page. As with any monitoring tool, I'm sure that this would take some effort upon initial setup to get everything set for your particular devices and thresholds of interest. However, once you have it set up, this could be a very powerful management aid.

Note that it's Linux-based, so the pre-packaged downloads are for various flavors of Linux. If you have to run this via Windows, there is a VMWare virtual appliance that you could use in conjunction with VMWare Player to perhaps make it work for you.

Humorous PSAs on texting, feat. James Lipton

2010-03-24T15:32:00.003-05:00

I've been doing some work on Digital Citizenship lately and, along the way, I've been searching online for useful public service announcements related to technology topics. Some are very professionally done, some are created by amateurs and there's a whole subculture of faux PSAs that are humorous for completely different reasons.

Today, I stumbled across this series of PSAs involving James Lipton. He hosts Inside the Actors Studio and I've seen him lampooned on Saturday Night Live. Mr. Lipton is probably most recognizable for his beard and his speech. He has used his most famous qualities in a series of public service announcements asking kids to "give it a ponder" before texting.

You may find these useful and, if not, I'd say you'll get at least one laugh.

Privacy and user rights - a few 'horror stories'

2010-03-22T08:59:00.002-05:00

As our group discussed Acceptable Use Policies last week, someone suggested that it might be useful to have a few of the 'horror stories' to share with others. Sadly, they're very easy to find and I thought I'd take a moment to highlight three that I've heard about. Each of these highlight certain 'gray areas' surrounding a staff member's desire to gain some information. Students were put in precarious positions and, in each of these cases, lawsuits resulted. Some (if not all) of these cases are ongoing and any comments are not meant to pass judgment on any parties involved; rather, I'm simply highlighting the circumstances surrounding the situation and pointing out that today's use of technology requires us all to be knowledgeable and respectful of the rights of others...

* Quite recently, the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania was sued over the remote enabling of a webcam on a district-issued laptop computer. The case alleges that a student was disciplined at school with a webcam-based photograph (taken while the student was at home with the laptop) being used as evidence for the discipline. Privacy issues are being cited and there's some debate over who knew about the potential to remotely activate the webcams, how was this feature used, etc.

* A few years ago, cheerleaders at a high school in Pearl, MS were asked to relinquish their Facebook passwords to their cheering coach. One student did so and her private Facebook email was accessed. This information was shared with others in the district and the student was disciplined for some of the contents found. A lawsuit has been filed and this case will help determine whether school administrators have the right to request access to these private conversations.

* Closer to (my) home, a school district has been sued over the review of contents of a confiscated student cell phone. According to the suit, the phone slipped out of the student's pocket. Administrators read the content of text messages on the phone and the student was expelled. The lawsuit claims that this was an illegal search of private property.

Those are a few examples and I'm sure you can cite others as well. This shows the need we have as technology leaders to become more aware of district policies and lead be learning and educating our own staffs about what can and cannot be done as it pertains to these new technology devices and tools.

Acceptable Use Policies - Broad or Specific

2010-03-18T14:59:00.003-05:00

Our regional association of DTC/CIOs had an interesting discussion yesterday regarding Acceptable Use Policies. With the growing popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and the increasing number of personally owned electronic computing devices (smartphones as well as more traditional computers), many districts feel the need to revisit their acceptable use policies. Let's spend a moment on this and, in particular, focus on the need for a broad policy versus a very specific one.

This is a Kentucky school district example of a broad policy. You won't find specific mentions of Facebook or personal computing devices in this AUP. That doesn't mean that the district doesn't deal with these issues. I suppose that's really the point I want to make - an Acceptable Use Policy is just that... a policy... and this district likely deals with any number of technology-related behavior issues via other behavior policies rather than specific technology policies.

This policy specifically says that there will be other procedures and guidelines. To quote various areas of the linked document:

shall develop and implement appropriate procedures to provide guidance for access to electronic media. Guidelines shall address teacher supervision of student computer use, ethical use of electronic media (including, but not limited to, the Internet, e-mail, and other District technological resources), and issues of privacy versus administrative review of electronic files and communications. In addition, guidelines shall prohibit utilization of networks for prohibited or illegal activities...

In our discussion, it was pointed out that most Kentucky school districts already have policy that addresses disruption of the educational process. One such policy is linked here. There are several areas of note, but students are subject to displinary action in these specific instances:

Conduct that materially or substantially interferes with another student’s access to educational opportunities or programs, including the ability to attend, participate in and benefit from instructional and extracurricular activities; or

Conduct that materially or substantially disrupts the delivery of instructional services or interferes with the orderly administration of the school and school-related activities or district operations.

If someone posts something offensive to a web site and it "materially or substantially interferes" as stated above, the school district has some latitude to deal with it. If a personal phone is "substantially disrupting the delivery of instructional services", then the district would have some latitude to deal with it. Certainly, these are sticky areas and I don't mean to minimize the potential for concern or the proper care that needs to be taken when dealing with issues related to technology-based behavior. My point here is that districts often have existing policy that can be applied to many of these situations. Often, we spend too much time trying to document and label the method of misbehavior when the better course may be to apply existing rules and regulations.

"The Class" - a parody of "The Office"

2010-03-08T10:05:00.003-06:00

As a fan of "The Office" and someone who's involved in education technology discussions, the video created by an Innovations in Mass Communications class at the University of Denver caught my eye.

In addition, I noticed Dr. Michael Wesch's blog entry about it and the comments that followed. What strikes me is how various elements of learning are pointed at throughout the video and comments.

It appears that the students made this video as a kick-off project for their class, helping them to bond and also helping set the expectation of technology use during the class. Several of the comments (along the lines of "what was the point") spark further discussion about the role of the video itself and its effectiveness. Regardless of your opinion of the video, there's much to be said about student engagement and its role in effective instruction. Creating a video that makes a larger point doesn't necessarily have to be a technical masterpiece. I do like the concept of the kick-off project or mini-project to generate some interest in a particular topic. Good stuff!

Prezi

2010-02-16T11:29:00.004-06:00

A quick mention for Prezi, an online presentation tool that's based on zooming in and out on text and pictures.

Describing it doesn't really do it justice. I've played with this tool for a bit and, although there's an art to it that I don't really have as of yet, these presentations can be very effective. I like this Prezi that discusses the concept of these presentations and how to best deliver them.

There are free and fee-based versions, detailed here. The differences are in the amount of disk space online, privatizing content, removing the Prezi watermark and the use of an offline desktop presentation development tool. As a teacher, you could use start with the free version and could allow students to do the same. I would recommend viewing a few sample presentations, as users are aching for something that catches the eye a bit more than the standard presentation. This tool can be very effective to zoom in on ideas, walk across timelines, create online flowcharts, etc. It's definitely worth a try!

Adobe ConnectNow

2010-02-09T16:13:00.003-06:00

If you're looking for a web conferencing solution, it might be worth experimenting with Adobe ConnectNow. I tried out the 'free' version with a co-worker today and was fairly impressed with the results. Most of the details are on the page linked, but a few points of note:

* The free version is for up to 3 users, including the host. There are fee-based options for additional connections

* There's no need for attendees to register or to have any software other than Flash Player

* In a single interface, I can see the presenter's screen, hear the voice, view a webcam and participate in a chat

* Remote desktop capabilities are there as well

I'm sure there are other products available and there may be other features of this product that I didn't experiment with but, for some of the interactions that I have, I could see where this product could be quite useful. It's worth a look!

"Should I Apply for Internal Connections?"

2010-02-05T15:04:00.004-06:00

It's early February, which means "E-Rate Form 471 filing" to the K-12 CIO community. I've had several districts ask me or speculate aloud regarding whether to apply for Internal Connections (Priority 2 funding) for their schools. It's a difficult question and I'm never in a position to say "don't apply", but we can certainly look at the data to speculate on the situation.

E-Rate Central does a great job of this in a recent newsletter. In it, there's an interesting graphic that details the past three funding years, the amount of rollover funds and the Priority 2 funding threshold. Their chart states:

Funding Year 2007, $650M rolled over, P2 threshold 81%
Funding Year 2008, $600M rolled over, P2 threshold 87%
Funding Year 2009, $900M rolled over, P2 threshold will likely be 70-78%

I thought I'd look at some of the cumulative USAC data a different way - all data approximated and keep in mind FY 2009 is still being funded:

Funding Year 2007, $1.4B total P1, $482M P2 90%, $463M P2 80-89%
Funding Year 2008, $1.6B total P1, $641M P2 90%, $208M P2 80-89%
Funding Year 2009, $1.4B total P1, $432M P2 90%, $399M P2 80-89%

That same E-Rate Central note above points out that there's only about $500M available to be rolled into FY 2010 at this time. I suppose that could grow slightly, but there are other factors at play. With the economy as it is, discount levels have risen for many districts. There are more 80% and 90% schools, which is going to mean more school districts at a cumulative 81% and above.

My theory (and it's only one person's opinion) is this: School districts see that the FY2009 P2 threshold is going to go below 80%. They also see that they may have a higher discount level for the first time (or first time in years). Those factors will likely combine to produce great demand in the higher discount levels. Add that to the amount of available rollover funds (which will be similar or less than FY2007/FY2008 levels) and we could see an FY2010 P2 threshold above 80%.

This certainly doesn't mean "don't apply", but the historical numbers presented don't support another year of sub-80% P2 funding. We shall see.

Are you creating content or consuming it?

2010-02-03T07:52:00.003-06:00

As devices change and prices continue to inch downward, I'm becoming slightly more convinced each day that more and more school districts will attempt to put some type of technological devices in the hands of every student. I've been involved with several school districts as they discuss the pros and cons of such thoughts and novels could be written on the factors that should be considered as this topic is bandied about.

Make no mistake - I think the most important question that could be asked when considering a device for a 1:1 initiative is something along the lines of "what does the end result look like in your vision" or, put a bit more bluntly, "what do you want users to do with it?"

As different devices are being evaluated, that needs to be a focal question. While I may be oversimplifying the topic a bit with this post, one theme to be considered when evaluating devices is whether the device is built to create content or to consume it.

Consider, for a moment, smaller devices. Here are netbooks from Dell, HP and Lenovo. While not having a 'netbook', Apple has an iPod touch and the coming iPad that you may have heard a little about. Are these good or bad for education? Are they good or bad for 1:1 consideration? These aren't the right questions. Depending on what you want to do, these may be great or terrible devices. Apple execs might quibble with me on the iPad and who really knows since the device hasn't been released yet, but I would generally state that these devices mentioned are fine for most consumption of content. Teachers and learners need to consume vast amounts of content. We read books and articles, watch videos, review (and maybe take?) notes. All of this is well and good and, if this is what you envision your students doing with these devices, then items in this category might be worth consideration. **SIDE NOTE** Though this is another topic for another time, districts need to consider warranty and how long they expect users to carry these devices. Most devices in this category do not carry a lengthy warranty as a standard and this is well worth considering.

Your more powerful desktops and notebooks carry a higher price tag, but they are generally considered better for creation of content. I won't bother with all of the links, but devices in this category can contain many of the following features: fast processors, large displays, webcams, high-speed wired and wireless ports, multiple USB, Firewire and SD connectivity options, high-end graphics cards, long battery life, built-in DVD burners, large hard drives and/or solid-state drives and on and on and on. You may need some of this, all of this or none of this. At times, teachers and learners may be asked to create and edit videos. Manipulating large video files and keeping them in memory can be very resource-intensive. Some engineering software like AutoCAD requires powerful specifications for the computers to run the software.

This isn't to argue for or against one category of device. The point here is to ask the right questions when making a large decision like this. Districts need to have that instructional vision and determine ahead of time whether that device being carried around will be used primarily for consumption of content or creation of it.

Electronics in the wiring closet

2010-01-29T08:10:00.004-06:00

Just a few thoughts about switches and other electronics in your school wiring closets based on a district discussion I recently had:

* Check your environmental conditions - I know that some of you may not be able to immediately fix some of these problems, but it needs to be in your plans somewhere. If your wiring closet doubles as custodial storage, watch for the trend to use switches as a shelf for chemicals, etc. Some wiring racks double as a coat rack, which kills any hope of adequate ventilation. Switches today are more dense and, while it's a great space-saver, it makes proper ventilation an even more important requirement. In some cases, it isn't a coat covering the vents on a switch or server; rather, it's a thick layer of dust. Much like straightening up your patch cables, cleaning out dust on switching electronics is one of those tasks that always seems to wait until a better time. Too much dust can equal no ventilation and no ventilation can lead to equipment failure, which leads me to...

* Check your temperature - Most of these network electronics prefer a cooler temperature than would a human occupant. Nevertheless, there are countless closets where no dedicated cooling is in place. This is particularly important in data centers where racks full of network components and servers may be installed. This is the time of year where a lack of dedicated cooling can really harm a school district. Why? The school's HVAC system is heating the rest of the building and, in some cases, it's actually heating the wiring closet or data center. In some cases, the effect is seen immediately. Servers today can (and will) shut themselves down if sensors indicate that the environment is too warm. Other components like switches and routers may not fail immediately, but these components will have a shorter lifespan if regularly exposed to excessive heat. Also, don't forget about these electronics that may be left on while a cooling unit is shut down (for summer break, for example).

* Check your battery backup - Honestly, the bigger issue in many cases is that some outlying wiring closets don't even have battery backups for switches and network electronics. For those that do, I've heard many reports on UPS devices failing quite often. The UPS battery is seen as a money pit. Why do they fail so often? If the environment is too hot, the UPS can be significantly degraded. In fact, according to this APC white paper, some batteries experience a 50% reduction in life for every 14.4 degree temperature increase over optimum, which is about 77 degrees. This paper also discusses the number of discharges and the rate of charging as factors in UPS life. There's some good info in the white paper. The bottom line is to understand that proper battery backups are needed but that their life is impacted by the same factors as other network electronics.

At any rate, this was on my mind after meeting with a school district this week. Hope it's of some interest - take care!

ADManager Plus

2010-01-20T21:26:00.004-06:00

Just a quick note to mention a product called ADManager Plus. John McMillen shared this product with our regional group today and gives a detailed review of his experiences with the product in his blog.

ADManager Plus is simply a tool for Active Directory management, assisting technicians with template-based user creation and mass creation, editing, etc of accounts. It's a tool to make your technicians' lives easier.

In general, I would state that this is an area where many technology staffs could use some improvement. School districts invest in so many instructional packages for their students and teachers. Ideally, this should increase knowledge and make better use of everyone's time. The same logic needs to be applied to an IT software toolkit. Often, the tech staff is so focused on saving money and living on a shoestring budget that they may not even consider investing in a tool like this.

Products like this are a reminder to occasionally evaluate the tasks that consume the majority of your time and search the landscape for products to make those tasks easier.

Common Craft

2010-01-05T16:01:00.003-06:00

I'm not sure if you can make use of this service but, if not, you can at minimum take some of the spirit from Common Craft in your own creation of instructional content.

Common Craft is a simple and interesting concept. They take certain relatively complex subjects and create videos of roughly three minutes to explain this concept. It sounds simple enough, but it's obvious that a good bit of time and effort resulted in each of these productions. You can view their content online and can purchase individual or site licenses to use these videos in your own environment.

Their topics include technology items such as cloud computing and Twitter search. (As an aside, the cloud computing video might be a very good way to explain hosted email and other services to your teachers and staff.) There are also money concepts like borrowing and saving money and social concepts like the process of electing our President.

...and what video library would be complete without knowing how to deal with a zombie attack. :)

Cybersafety for Parents and Kids

2010-01-05T11:23:00.003-06:00

A good instructional video posted by the KY Attorney General's office. Some good overall cybersafety tips and facts in this video:

Unrelated 4-letter-words: Mint and Yelp

2009-12-29T10:53:00.003-06:00

While searching around for some highly-rated Web 2.0 tools, I ran across two that caught my eye. They are completely unrelated to one another - unless you consider that one was bought by Intuit for $170M and the other was almost purchased by Google for $500M. The sites in question are Mint and Yelp.

Let's start with Mint. Though I haven't gotten brave enough to try it yet, Mint touts itself as the "best free way to manage your money." Apparently, you plug in your banking account information (accessed via 128-bit SSL on the browser and encrypted credentials stored by 256-bit AES) and the software does the rest. It's a read-only view into your finances, whereby the software creates charts, graphs and suggestions regarding money management. The concept is pretty interesting and it seems that Intuit saw some value there as well.

Yelp appears to be a clearinghouse for local business reviews. It has compatibility with most mobile phones and allows users to search for local restaurants, dentists, entertainment, etc in various cities. Yelp users write reviews and this gives the site a very 'local' feel to it. The site appears to search your IP address and change your default search city to one nearest the location of your registered IP address. Business owners can create Yelp accounts to offer discounts and can purchase ads from the site.

I'm new to these sites and thought I'd feature them - perhaps some of you are regular users of these tools... Take care!

"Financial Football"

2009-12-28T10:58:00.003-06:00

I saw this featured in an eSchoolNews article. It's an interesting partnership between the New York Comptroller, Visa and the NFL. All of the details are in this press release.

The link to the game is here and I naturally had to try it out. It's very informative. I'm all for anything that will give our youth an increased knowledge of money management and financial skills.

Since it's licensed by the NFL, you get to choose from actual NFL teams. I tried the 'college' version, which times your answers and allows you to choose from easy, medium or difficult questions. Each correct answer earns you appropriate yardage based on the difficulty of the question. An incorrect answer allows the opposing team to attempt the same question, leading to a sack or lost yardage if they answer correctly. Four downs, extra points, kickoffs and field goals are all part of the game. Very cool, educational and it kept my attention.

The state of New York has a more general money management site here.

OET webcast equipment

2009-12-21T08:59:00.012-06:00

Each month, our staff travels to a different school district to conduct a webcast. They share information with school districts about any number of technology topics. I regularly get asked about the components used during our technology webcasts. I'll do my best to give some details in this blog entry.

We use Windows Media Services, part of W2K3 SP1, on the server side. Our folks recommend 2GB RAM on the server and plenty of disk space for video archiving. We hook our camera up to a workstation that has either a USB or firewire port, at least 1GB RAM and we use the Windows Media Encoder software on that workstation. We also use Wirecast software. This is a fee-based product, but a product like this is a worthy addition if you intend to produce or edit your webcasts after recording. This software is what we use to add the "email questions to..." banner at the bottom of the screen. We also use this for some of the "upcoming webcasts" slides and items of this nature.

As our webcast operators have told me, the audio quality requires more effort than does the video. The camera we use for the webcast is a decent camera, but no different than what you might already have in your own school district:
We use three microphones made by Audio-Technica. The model we use is the U851a. I turned one upside-down to get this photo, though I'm pretty sure they perform better right-side up. :) To the right, there is a picture of the power sources for each of the three microphones. This was during setup and each of these three feeds will eventually be plugged into an audio mixer.

The particular mixer we use is an Azden FMX-32. I'll include a few different views of this product, but we're essentially running the three microphones to each of the three channels. Each channel has its own volume, etc. I'll also include a picture of the side of this mixer. There are different sources and types of outputs and you wouldn't use them all, but this mixer would need to be connected to an audio source on your webcast workstation. Pictures below of the top, back and side of our particular audio mixer:
I'll go ahead and include on picture of the side of the workstation. In our case, we use a PCMCIA-based firewire connection. We could use the firewire port built into the workstation or we could even use a USB-based connection. The PCMCIA connection is known to work and perhaps provides a more physically stable connection, as the last thing we need is to drop that connection during the webcast.
I'll include one final shot of the camera we use, with the external microphone attached. This camera also has an internal hard drive. According to our recording staff, this would give us an absolute worst-case scenario whereby we could still maintain and save a production. The external mic is also an audio source (in case the mixer/mics fail) and the internal hard drive of the camera is also recording the webcast (in the event that we lose connectivity to the server, our stream fails, etc).
I'm not an expert on webcasts and I don't necessarily endorse any of these products over any others, but I did want to take some time to show the specific components we use for our district webcasts. I hope this is of some benefit. Take care!

Science education - effective use of video!

2009-12-07T14:18:00.004-06:00

One of the biggest challenges we have in the K-12 environment is to keep kids interested and on task. Depending on how it's used, technology can be either a great help or great hindrance in the quest to maintain interest and stay focused on learning.

Video-related sites like YouTube can be of immense value in this quest. The University of Nottingham has some really interesting science content in the form of YouTube video clips arranged around specific topics.

The first site of theirs is "The Periodic Table of Videos." Pick an element on the periodic table and you'll find a brief video explaining the element or giving facts about it. Go ahead - learn why we can't live without Molybdenum in one minute! :)

I also like their "Sixty Symbols" site. These are longer videos about various symbols related to physics or astronomy. I'll confess that I knew nothing about Schrödinger's cat (do you?)and clicked a link to a video explaining the experiment. Would you rather hear someone talking about a cat in a box or read some material on the paradox of quantum superpositioning? Exactly.

I'm not a science guru, but I find these videos very interesting and I think it's a great illustration as to how well-created video clips can be used to enhance (or change instruction as we know it.

Wallwisher

2009-12-02T16:17:00.002-06:00

Sometimes the easiest tools are the most useful. I'm not sure if that's the case here, but Wallwisher is an easy tool that some school districts might find useful. It's an online Post-it note collection place. A public refrigerator door (of sorts)!

Much like a blog comment or message board, this would be a place for users to quickly give their thoughts on a topic or answer a question. I can add a note of my own to a created 'wall' and move the notes around as I see fit. When I leave and return to the wall, the notes are arranged as I left them. However, another user may have arranged the notes differently and the notes will appear to that user as he/she left them.

I could use it to take my own meeting notes or make reminders to myself. I could pose a question to a class of students and ask them to each post a note to the wall with their answer.

There are several ideas for its use and the cost - $0 - is just right for many districts.

Latest on the "internet filtering" conversation

2009-11-25T12:17:00.002-06:00

I probably write about this too much. I hear from multiple school districts about issues they're dealing with. Some district leaders are trying hard to filter as little as possible, believing that most of the underlying access issues are not related to technology. Other districts have been the victim of an unfortunate event that brings this topic to the forefront and inevitably leads to more focused filtering.

This is just a quick entry to "take the temperature" of what's out there. To get this information, I simply entered a very general phrase regarding internet filtering into a search engine and reviewed a few of the top results:

* Good blog entry by Wesley Fryer, who helps organize a free K-12 online conference. Lots of good comments and links in this blog entry. As he puts it, "...it's hard to learn to swim without getting wet." I got caught up in looking at links within links and ran across a reference to "The Death of Common Sense", which is a good book that looks at some examples of how the fear of litigation has altered our behavior.

* An EdWeek blog entry that mentions a North Dakota example where educators are pushing for less-restrictive filtering policies.

* A very telling quote/blog entry featured on Scott McLeod's "Dangerously Irrelevant" blog.

* A brief question (and lots of good discussion) on the Classroom 2.0 forum.

These were on the first page of my search. I feel like that many of my districts have learned that "the more you block, the more you will be asked to block." Some users have been conditioned to assume that the tech department is (or should be) the "Internet police." Lately, I've heard from a few who lament the number of sites they're asked to unblock.

It's interesting to see how this evolves, especially in a society where the pace of technological enhancements far exceeds that of internet filters, knowledge of users and educational policies in general.

Working with photos in Office 2007

2009-11-24T11:25:00.010-06:00

At a regional meeting, we were recently shown some of the photo editing features included with Office 2007. The entire set isn't available in 'compatibility mode', so you'd want to begin by opening a true Word 2007 document (or Powerpoint, I suppose, but you get the idea.)

I started with an image obtained from the web. I'm making best effort to credit the source correctly, etc - especially since I'm intentionally altering the original work for the purposes of displaying some color changes that can be applied to photos with Office 2007. Original photo is here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonvscanon/ / CC BY 2.0

With that out of the way, I'll now post a few photos that have been slightly altered using Office 2007 (and let's just pray that the formatting doesn't completely mess up during this):

With the first, I chose to recolor the photo in grayscale. These (and most selections) are made by selecting the photo and choosing 'format' from the 'picture tools' menu. In the second photo, I chose the 'double frame, black' option from the 'picture styles' menu. Add some text and I have my own motivational poster, I suppose. In the third photo, I chose to set a transparent color (again, from the adjust -> recolor section of the format menu) and selected part of the building as my transparency color. With any luck, you'll notice that the difference between this photo and the original is that parts of the building seem lighter in color.

At any rate, detailed photo editing capabilities is just another example of a tool that I didn't even know I had!

Kace

2009-11-23T22:30:00.004-06:00

I had never heard of Kace or a "KBOX" deployment appliance before today. I haven't seen one in person, but I watched the demo and talked to one district about the concept.

System imaging is a big deal for the K-12 community. We have hundreds (or thousands) of machines to support and many are located in labs where a single image will suffice for many machines. Apparently, the latest sales pitch for this particular device is the eventual migration to Windows 7. Districts will eventually purchase machines pre-installed with Windows 7. Along the way, there may be a need or desire to re-image some of the current install base with the new operating system. This appliance touts the ability to easily capture and deploy Windows 7 images.

Lately, several districts have lamented the fact that subtle driver differences cause an increasing number of disk images to be maintained when using a product like Ghost. This product notes an automated driver slipstreaming process as well as driver verification reporting. If a driver isn't installed that you need, you're notified on the front end and can add the driver to the appliance's library to be automatically included in deployments.

I'm sure a solution like this isn't cheap - the press release says it starts at $4,900. That's a long way from a "free" solution like FOG (previously mentioned here). However, it certainly sounds like there may be some features that could help districts save quite a bit of time.

NMap

2009-11-17T15:59:00.002-06:00

A quick mention for NMap, which is a simple but powerful tool that can be used to scan a host or network. How would a CIO use it?

* What devices on my subnet have port 80 open? There are knowns such as web servers, perhaps print servers and web interfaces to manage any number of appliances. Could something else have that port open? I could do similar scans for anything with telnet enabled, etc.

* Going the other direction, I could scan a single host and check for any open ports on it. Some would be expected, while others might not. Why do these 100 stations have port 3689 open? :)

* If I scan an entire network, a tool like NMap will let me know what responded. This might give me a list of hosts.

* Once I have that list of hosts, NMap will attempt to determine the host operating system. It uses TCP and UDP packets received to create a 'fingerprint' of a suspected OS. Any details like this can help with rogue system detection.

Be careful with a tool like this. If you scan huge IP ranges, it could be noticeable on your network. If you can the wrong device (a firewall or IDS), it might report back in its logged that you scanned it. Nonetheless, it's a good tool for the toolbelt.

Redirecting IP traffic to a web cache

2009-11-13T15:52:00.002-06:00

For ages, KY CIOs have been dealing with a state regulation relation to web filtering and caching and I've been on both sides of the fence at different times as it relates to caching. Today, I certainly see some value in caching in K-12, particularly as labs full of students access the same sites during school. The challenge has always been in how to implement it properly.

This post will be brief, as I'm short on time and don't really have all of the details at this time. CIOs might want to ask their network vendors about web cache redirection. It can be done, it seems, and it makes sense. With proper traffic redirection at the switch level, it would stand to reason that I might not even have to worry about proxy settings at a browser level on my network. That would be a huge win for school districts.

Nortel might be able to use IPFIX to redirect traffic. Enterasys could perhaps use transparent web cache.

Whatever the case, this might be worth asking your network vendor about. After reading what's out there, I feel well behind the times for not knowing about this sort of thing already. This is a prime example of an area where districts work themselves to death at the browser/workstation level when they have so much more potential to control things at the port level.

Willful Destruction of Technology

2009-11-06T14:36:00.006-06:00

This is my latest pet peeve. I've had several conversations in recent months with CIOs and technicians about this topic. It doesn't happen everywhere, but willful destruction of technology seems to occur far too often. A few examples:

* CD trays in computer labs with gum or paper inside
* CD trays in computer labs with gears stripped or missing bands, rendering them useless
* Headphone jacks with the plugs broken off
* USB ports with any number of items stuffed inside
* Pens/pencils jammed in monitors, speakers, etc
* Writings/markings/carvings on the technology

There are other examples, including outright thievery, but my point here is more about vandalism. It's wrong, but I'm getting the impression that the technology staff doesn't see this being treated as such in their buildings. It's confusing to me, which has led to this post. In most school policy manuals (everyone subscribing to KSBA's service, for example), Section 9.421 deals with "Care of School and Personal Property". Quoting, in part:

Any pupil, organization, or group of pupils participating in activities who destroys, defaces, damages or removes school property shall be subject to disciplinary action and liability for the cost of restoring the property.

In addition, when they have reasonable belief that a violation has taken place, principals shall immediately report to law enforcement officials when an act has occurred on school property or at a school-sponsored function that involves damage to school property. For the purposes of determining when to make this report, damage to school property shall refer to instances involving:

1. Intentional harm, and
2. Damage beyond minor loss or breakage, excluding normal wear and tear.

The same section notes that parents are liable for property damage caused by their minor children. That comes from KRS 405.025. I'm sure I'm asking a loaded question here but, if the policy is so straightforward, why does it not seem to be enforced? I've talked to one or two districts who are ready to install security cameras in computer labs. There would seem to be laws on the books now that would allow a district to pursue reimbursement for vandalism of technology. It may not be considered practical, but is it more or less practical than security cameras in an environment where there may or may not be penalties for such willful destruction?

One desktop technician estimated that 75% of his hardware issues were related to items that seemed tdo be purposely broken. Is that an accurate estimate? Even if it's a high estimate, what percentage of your technicians' time is spent repairing what has been purposely broken? If the child were spray-painting the school walls, would we say that it's "normal wear and tear" or "kids just being kids"?

Open questions to any readers - does this abuse occur in your district? Why or why not? If it occurs and isn't appropriately addressed, why do you think that is? I'm genuinely curious.

On that note, I'll end the rant... :)

Technology Planning

2009-11-04T13:29:00.003-06:00

This is a hot topic with school districts and it's a burdensome one to say the least. At some point, perhaps I'll address the larger debate of what a strong technology plan should look like. I have strong CIOs who believe that the technology plan should reflect the instructional goals of the district. I also have strong CIOs who insist that the technology plan should focus specifically on the technology components. I can't completely agree with one or disagree with another in this case.

Specific to this posting, I wanted to point out that Kentucky's technology planning requirements are very much in line with requirements that other states have related to their K-12 technology planning. A few quick examples:

Missouri has a tech plan approval checklist. It requires goals, strategies, action steps, funding sources, responsible parties and stakeholder communication. I would assume that all of these sound familiar to Kentucky readers.

In Oregon, I found a copy of a memo from several years ago informing school districts of the need to update their technology plans to meet criteria for E-Rate and Title II D funding.

Florida has a document detailing the essential components of a district technology plan. The titles of the sections are:

1. Mission and Vision
2. General Introduction/Background
3. Needs Assessment/Goals
4. Funding Plan
5. Technology Acquisition Plan
6. Access
7. User Support Plan
8. Staff Training Plan
9. Program Evaluation

Honestly, these are more than similar to the template supplied to Kentucky school districts. They are virtually identical.

I suppose that this was the point of this post - simply to underscore that these technology planning efforts are required and are not specific to our state. School districts across the country are dealing with similar planning efforts.

SimScience

2009-10-30T10:26:00.003-05:00

A tweet led me to this site. SimScience is a product of a National Science Federation project between departments at Cornell and Syracuse (and perhaps others). It isn't a particularly 'fancy' web site, but the information provided more than offsets any issues one might have with the presentation.

The lessons presented are physics-based, which I find fascinating because of the ability to apply lessons to real-world applications. I live near two large dams, as do many of my readers. There are a series of lessons on cracking dams, ranging from beginning to advanced.

Given my interest in sports, I couldn't resist the leading questions to the content on fluid flow. Why does a golf ball have dimples? What makes a curve ball curve? I'm not sure I would become an immediate expert on drag and lift coefficients, but I would think lessons like these would be easy to apply to our everyday lives.

There's other content as well, including a section on crackling noises and info on membranes. Some of the simulations use Java, so be sure you have that on your workstation.

A few points about "in line" filters

2009-10-23T15:18:00.003-05:00

Our region has been talking about Internet filtering/monitoring quite a bit recently. Some vendors have proposed hardware solutions that are "in line", essentially forcing all traffic through the hardware appliance. There are a few pros and cons about this and, since I've been talking about it recently, I thought I'd add it to the blog.

Pros:
The best chance you have at capturing all Internet-related activity is with an in-line filter. Other proxy-based filters rely on browsers to direct traffic to them. Savvy users have found multiple ways to alter these browser settings to route directly to the Internet. A filter with a single NIC (essentially just another device on the LAN) would never see this traffic that may have been re-routed. Remember the OSI model. With a properly configured in-line filter (e.g. the physical layer), nothing would enter or leave the LAN without passing through the appliance.

It's part of the same 'pro' really, but seeing this activity gives you insight into what's going on in order to deal with it appropriately. Knowledge is power and I deal with many strong CIOs who will admit that they don't entirely know what's passing across their networks. A solution like this would give this type of visibility.

Cons:
In our Kentucky networks, certain traffic other than Internet traffic would need to pass through this filter. For example, antivirus updates reside on a local box that would be on the outside of the appliance. Proper exceptions would have to be made to allow this traffic to pass. In addition, districts would need to ensure that the hardware is sufficient to pass all of this traffic without causing problems or becoming a bottleneck.

An in-line solution would also introduce a single point of failure. Most vendors claim that traffic will continue to pass in the event of a hardware failure, so districts would want to verify that fact. Many support issues would have this appliance as an additional factor that would need to be considered.

In-line filters are an interesting concept and may serve some districts well. We have certain state product and configuration standards that must be followed, but I have no problem with districts who want to investigate these solutions while maintaining those standards. I will say, though, that I don't think this solution fits every district. A device that sees (and potentially manipulates) all traffic is nice, but it definitely puts an additional burden on local districts that use them. These districts would now be more responsible than ever for having a keen understanding of the traffic passing across their networks.

Cell phones in school - forming an opinion

2009-10-16T09:29:00.005-05:00

Seeing recent blog posts and tweets about this topic has placed it on my mind (again). In my mind, I've been mulling around the topic of cell phones in school. I looked back to find that I have blogged about this once already. In that blog, I listed some of the pros and cons and stayed away from stating an opinion.

Let me preface my opinion by saying that this isn't an black/white, right/wrong issue. Smart cell phones ARE very powerful computing tools and can absolutely be used for countless educational purposes. They can also be a huge distraction and can be abused. So, if your school district is promoting or preventing the use of cell phones, they aren't alone on either side of the aisle. To bolster your opinion or find a differing opinion, there are many search results to be perused. I've really enjoyed reading various opinions on this issue at Helium's web site. If you're looking for a clearinghouse for well-articulated opinions on this topic, this seems like a good place to start.

At the risk of being labeled as "behind the times", I'll state that I am not a proponent of widespread cell phone instructional use in schools. I've read many articles for and against their use and, as I said, I have no problem with a school, district or CIO that promotes or is in favor of the use of these phones as part of instruction. Right now, though, I feel like this issue is one where the cart is trying to pull the horse. Most articles I read discuss the phones, their power and the countless ways one could use them. I would challenge districts and leaders to list their true educational needs first and then determine what tool best meets those needs.

A quick aside: Our state implemented student email several years ago. Every Kentucky school district has the ability to create email accounts for children 4th grade and above as needed for instruction. It was mandated. In reality, many districts chose not to implement student email or, if so, it was done on a very limited basis. When I talked to CIOs about this, I heard that the teachers weren't ready, the instructional need wasn't there and that students were creating many discipline issues with the emails that were being sent. Some principals were adamant that the best solution was to disable email for students, as the discipline issues were outweighing the benefits of an email account.

I see this as a similar debate. The biggest concern I've seen is with the ability of the teachers to effectively manage these devices in the classroom. There should be little debate that cell phones are a distraction. Many states (and I'd say Kentucky will be one soon) have laws against distracted driving. We acknowledge that cell phones are a distraction while driving. Even with proper education, are we prepared to say that they won't be a distraction to learning?

Yes, you say, but kids today are different. They can multitask. Can they? I'll admit it - I sometimes use the Internet as a diversion. I'm not alone. I'll also admit that there were times in school that I wanted every diversion I could find. I'm being cynical and will acknowledge that many students are on task and using the Internet effectively, but I've seen too many proxy logs to believe that the "diverted" population is miniscule. I suppose my point is that, if we can't keep our users on task with the tools and measures in place today, why do we believe teachers can keep a roomful of students on task when they have their own very small device in front of them.

Should we punish everyone, then, for the mistakes or opinions of a few? We've done exactly that in other areas. Why do we have dress codes? Why do we ban certain books? We block certain web pages for reasons beyond the explicit. There are debates about teaching evolution vs. creation. We have drug checks on campuses. We have security cameras on school buses and throughout many buildings. In many areas of school life, issues have bubbled up and it has led to a restrictive policy for any number of areas. Maybe we're being overprotective at times, but a few of the items above boil down to a distraction from learning. For now, I'll stay on this side of the fence on the large scale, with the understanding that certain schools and districts may find ways to keep this from being such a distraction.

More broadband talk...

2009-10-13T08:42:00.003-05:00

I blogged months ago about the $7.2B in ARRA 'stimulus' funding to expand broadband connectivity around the country. I wanted to touch on another recent development. The FCC is asking for public comment on cost estimates to connect 'anchor institutions' to fiber.

In the linked public comment notice, there's an appendix that shows a presentation that the Gates Foundation gave to FCC representatives. The Gates Foundation has several areas of focus. One of those areas has been the improvement of Internet connectivity to public libraries.

There's much to consider and I haven't had time to process it all, but it certainly isn't lost on me that the term "anchor institutions" is being floated around by different groups at the federal level, with public schools squarely in definition of this. E-Rate Central speculates the following:

This could be a hint that the FCC is focusing on the role of schools and libraries, particularly in rural areas, to support wider broadband connectivity. If so, this would probably require changes to the E-rate program.

The questions the FCC has in their notice are certainly an effort to clarify or validate some of the assumptions that are being made about the connectivity needs. There is an assumption that 80% of these anchor institutions lack fiber. I would assume this NOT to be the case in KY K-12, though E-Rate funds are heavily relied upon to subsidize the cost of fiber connectivity. Also, when thinking of that fact, I'm hopeful that comments are made related to question 7:

Should operating expenses be a consideration when calculating cost for connecting anchor institutions to fiber? What operating expenses would be associated with running these networks, and how would those vary by type of institution and geography?

Of course, these comments may be related to operating costs of the service provider. Whatever the result, the "anchor institution" will want an affordable option for fiber-based connectivity. Many of Kentucky's current options are affordable only because of the federal E-Rate program, so I'll be interested to see how all of this shakes out.

"To Fee or Not To Fee" - What Should Be Free?

2009-10-09T15:21:00.003-05:00

Granted, the title of this post isn't well thought out. I'm sure that's why I'm blogging and not publishing a novel. I did want to briefly touch on a coming debate that could impact us in education. An eSchoolNews article today mentions the topic. It's probably in the current news based on comments made at the World Media Summit. Comments from the summit by Rupert Murdoch center around the need for 'traditional' news sources to charge internet search engines and other web sites for news reports.

There's some validity to the point. I regularly read news stories from any number of popular search engine sites. I can't say with 100% certainty that they are paying for that content. I haven't been paying specifically to read those stories. However, a reporter somewhere is being paid to write much of what we consume as 'news'. We've read about it as newspapers struggle to maintain subscribers, as network news programs struggle to maintain viewers. Our methods of news consumption have changed. The medium for delivery has changed. At this point, though, many of the sources of the news have not.

How does this affect K-12? As the eSchoolNews article points out, it might leave students scrambling to access certain resources (assuming that some resources go out of business or price themselves beyond some of their customer base). The debate goes beyond newspaper sites. Tech-savvy users tend to gravitate toward free, easy-to-use products with great features. YouTube is a great example and is used by many K-12 teachers. One of the biggest questions asked since Google's purchase of YouTube (and asked here) revolves around the eventual need to generate revenue.

The same could be said for popular sites such as Facebook and Twitter. How do these sites make money? I'm not sure they do as of yet. "Advertising" is always the most common answer, but there are no ads on Twitter and only limited ads on Facebook. However, both companies have had sizeable investors. Why? Because people are gathering and communicating and this is where they're gathering. Become a part of it, we're told.

Just as newspapers are dipping their toe in the water of fee-based content (in an effort to survive), I think we'll see companies like this do the same. The ad revenue won't be there forever and these free services still require a hefty infrastructure and personnel to maintain and update.

I think the business model will be similar to the highly-profitable text messages we all send. Perhaps it will be similar to another very profitable model, iTunes. Eventually, I think we'll be asking ourselves whether it's worth a penny per tweet to use Twitter or worth some minimal fee to 'subscribe' to Facebook and keep up with others.

Can it all really be free forever?

Web 2.0 - Recommended Reading

2009-10-06T11:37:00.004-05:00

In this blog, we've spent a good bit of time highlighting tools and have also spent some time discussing some of the general difficulties with seeing technology truly integrated into instruction. I've stumbled across a couple of articles that, while nearly a year old, do a fantastic job of capturing some of the hurdles in the "Web 2.0" debate.

On the Encyclopedia Brittanica blog, Steve Hargadon discusses why Web 2.0 will be a significant factor in learning as we move forward. The reasons have been heard before, but are stated very well. They include the engagement of the student, the collaboration that Web 2.0 is built upon and the well-reasoned discussions that can often be generated in a Web 2.0 environment.

In the same blog area, Daniel Willingham posts a response on why Web 2.0 will not be a significant factor in learning moving forward. The crux of his argument is that any type of project-based learning is difficult to do well, is difficult to map to content standards and requires much more of the teacher than more direct instruction.

Wherever you find yourself in this debate, I think both articles are well worth your time. In addition, I could see where the Encyclopedia Brittanica blog site could be of great benefit as an educator, where bloggers and commentators are engaging in all sorts of lively and thought-provoking conversations.

Humbled by rootkits, a hard lesson is learned

2009-10-02T14:22:00.002-05:00

Most of my blog entries are entirely work-related. I'm going to deviate from that because (1) I can tie a personal issue to work and (2) this has been on my mind for a few days. I feel a rant of confessions coming on:

On my personal desktop, I haven't been following best practice. I have an outdated AV product that hasn't updated its virus patterns in years. I consider myself a pretty savvy user of technology and, rather than burden my desktop with resource-eating AV programs and real-time spyware tools, I run the occasional scan and avoid attachments and sites that appear to be suspect. This has served me well for quite some time.

Earlier this week, I'm virtually positive that I got some kind of rootkit infection on my personal desktop. I clicked a link on a web page and my browser acted strange. I saw the word 'updating' and I think the browser shut down. For minutes thereafter, my hard drive began to churn. After a few minutes of horror, I disconnected the network port.

Since then, my evenings have been a blur of Google searches and attempts to run various removal tools. Having an IT background, these sorts of issues become a consuming challenge and I'm not quick to admit defeat with the wealth of tools available. Some of these tools ran to completion, finding nothing or next-to-nothing. Other tools didn't run to completion. How do I know something's up? Aside from the hard drive and browser behavior at the moment, I've found suspect entries in my Event Viewer that correspond to the proper date/time. Warnings from Windows Defender, a couple of 'services' with long registry key alphanumeric patterns starting, a login by the HelpAssistant account (which I've learned is related to Remote Assistance). Let's face it... SOMETHING is on this machine.

Ah, but what to do? School district support staff would have a new image installed after very minimal troubleshooting. In fact, the wikipedia entry on rootkits spells out this recommendation in very clear terms:

Direct removal of a rootkit may be impractical. Even if the type and nature of the rootkit are known, the required time and effort by a system administrator with the necessary skills or experience may exceed the required time to re-install the operating system.

Well, that's where I am. I've told myself for the past three evenings that I have the "necessary skills and experience" to beat this. At this point, I'm low on sleep and I suppose I'll swallow hard, back up important data and reformat.

I suppose a few good things may have come of this. A few notes and recommendations:

* This is why end users in school districts should save important data to a network share. It would be completely impractical for a technician to spend the number of hours I've spent on a problem like this.

* Even if I had 'solved' the problem, how safe would I feel? A rootkit, by design, hides itself. At any moment, my machine could be compromised. Was a keystroke logger installed? Did it capture critical users/passwords? How do I know it's completely gone? Again, the only certain solution at this point is a fresh installation.

* Have a backup of your critical data. I have a dated copy and, thankfully in this case, my machine can still function well enough to make a copy of critical data.

* There are tools like the Windows Ultimate Boot CD and BartPE that can be used to create a CD with a bootable OS. I'm sure there are Linux tools available as well. In my journeys, I've learned that one way to attempt to find these rootkits are via an external OS. Smart ones can hide from these as well, but these resources are good nonetheless.

* Even though they have provided limited help to me in this case, there are many good tools available to help detect viruses, spyware and (I'm told) some rootkits. Sophos has a tool for rootkits. McAfee's Stinger tool is also worth a shot.

My home machine is a mess, but maybe someone else can benefit from my tale of woe. **sigh**

Kentucky Center for School Safety

2009-09-28T09:52:00.004-05:00

After my recent post on digital citizenship, I've been thinking about resources available to help CIOs get the message out. We do a great job of analyzing the problem and we all know that there are probably good resources out there, but who has time to find them? I can't find them all, but I'll help where I can. Thus, I thought I'd feature the web site for the Kentucky Center for School Safety.

KCSS is a partnership of several contract agencies: Eastern Kentucky University, the University of Kentucky, Murray State University and the Kentucky School Boards Association. They work to distribute relevant information to our school districts. I'm struck by the number of safe school issues that are technology-related. Cyberbullying, sexting and internet safety are all featured on the KCSS home page.

I can't do the site justice in a quick blog entry, but here are a few things worth noting:

* There is contact information to coordinate cyberbullying and internet safety training

* There's a whole section of useful handouts related to internet safety

* A wealth of statistics, information and handouts related to cyberbullying

* An interesting article by Jon Akers on school cell phone policy

This is just one site with quite a bit of information available to help us educate others on these important issues. Hope it helps!

Free science and math simulations

2009-09-24T07:34:00.005-05:00

I ran across this site from the University of Colorado containing interactive simulations. It's difficult to find good examples of technology integration in some subjects and at some grade levels. This site provides some good simulations for physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics.

There are over 400 teacher contributions of lessons related to these simulations. Though you may not be able to attend their workshops, it appears that a good bit of the material used at these workshops is shared on their site. The workshop content I scanned went into some discussion on how best to use a particular simulation and how the proper introduction of a simulation can make significant differences in how it's used for learning.

This looks to be quite appealing for teachers in these particular content areas. As a general rule, we get pretty bothered when the kids are playing games on the computers instead of learning. Some of these simulations are so open-ended that they could be constructed as an effective learning "game".

Seriously, am I the only one that can't resist shooting a Buick out of a cannon?

Digital Citizenship

2009-09-22T10:11:00.005-05:00

I feel like this is one of the most important concepts for today's K-12 CIOs, so I'll spend a minute on digital citizenship.

K-12 CIOs are placed in a unique situation as it concerns technology adoption. There is a flood of information and resources available, free of charge in many cases, that can be used to completely revolutionize the educational experience and engage young learners and teachers in ways never before thought possible. Any technology conference will feature these tools and resources and examples of their successful use. As technology leaders in an instructional environment, we have a responsibility to be knowledgeable about what's out there and look for ways to see these tools effectively integrated into instruction.

K-12 CIOs are also district administrators. Superintendents and other leaders assume that you and your office are keeping the district legal and "out of trouble" as it pertains to technology use. They assume that you're legally licensing products and that you have a service plan in place for failure of critical components. In addition, many assume that you're the resident guru on all things technology. If there's a new web resource available, it's probably assumed that you know all about it. In our own circle, we know that this isn't realistic. It isn't realistic to expect that you can block every sexually explicit web site and it isn't realistic that you're able to prevent all inappropriate behavior with technology throughout the district from a single cubicle or office. However, these are all assumptions that others often make.

So this is the dilemma. We don't feel like we're doing service to our teachers and students if we don't encourage the use of some wonderful technology tools. At the same time, we wonder if we're doing proper service to our administrators if we're not properly informing them of any risks the district may be incurring by the use of some of these same tools.

There's no easy answer, but teaching concepts like the nine elements of digital citizenship is a key component. The quick definition supplied on that page is that digital citizenship is "the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regards to technology use." I won't spell out the nine elements here, but they're in the link and well worth your time.

The next question might be "where can I get information that will help me educate users?" This same site has some good tools and resources. I really like the lesson plans and activities at the bottom of this page. Also, the ISTE publication of "Digital Citizenship in Schools" and other articles and books can be found here.

I suspect we'll all hear more about it and, as technology leaders, you'll be expected to lead the charge to educate others about appropriate use of technology.

Screenr

2009-09-17T07:49:00.002-05:00

It seems that the most effective Web 2.0 tools are those that allow you to accomplish something quickly and easily. Twitter is a good example. At a most basic level, you blog in 140-character increments. Type and submit. No manual required.

Screenr definitely fits the 'ease of use' description. It is a quick and easy way to create screencasts. When I visited the site, I looked for an "about" section. Prominently featured on the site is a "one-minute tour". I watched the tour and, though I haven't tried to create a screencast yet, I feel like I could create one after watching that one-minute video.

I think screencasts could be very effective in the K-12 environment. Technology integration staff could create a library of "how-to" screencasts and direct teachers to them when faced with repetitive questions. Teachers could create screencasts for any number of reasons and show them to students as part of their lessons. Students could create screencasts as part of a "show and tell" to demonstrate knowledge on a particular subject.

I'm not saying all of this would happen immediately but, if it doesn't, it shouldn't be because there wasn't an easy way to do it. Give it a shot!

Silence, Patience and Privacy - Where Have You Gone?

2009-09-11T09:36:00.002-05:00

In today's web world, there's no need to be silent and little tolerance for delay. Twitter asks "what are you doing" and Facebook asks "what's on your mind". I can use third-party apps to aggregate those and, in one post, update my Twitter feed, Facebook status and my blog. Anyone can have a voice, and it seems that more of us are trying to do just that. We can become the center of our own world and send/receive information immediately. It's one of the most powerful aspects of this "Web 2.0" world in which we live. As some are learning, it isn't without its perils.

Have you heard of Michael Beasley? He's a talented, young NBA player who, like many of his peers, created a Twitter feed for his fans. In August, he created quite a stir with a few of his updates. One said "feelin’ like it’s not worth livin!!!!!!! I’m done". He posted a Twitpic showing off a new tattoo that received acclaim for another reason.

Alice Hoffman is an author that used her Twitter feed to comment on a book reviewer's reaction to her novel. She later had to apologize for her comments.

Tiger Woods is known for many things. Maybe he has a Twitter feed - I don't know. He's been criticized for not being vocal enough about social issues, so there's certainly a segment of the population that wants him to comment on matters outside of golf. He's also (in)famous for his immediate responses to a bad golf shot and has received criticism on that as well. I don't need a Twitter feed to know what he's thinking about an errant drive... the cameras and microphones catch it all. To my knowledge, cameras and microphones haven't followed me on a golf course. There are a few occasions where I'm certainly glad that's the case.

Long story short, there are times when we all need to be silent, need to be patient and need to have privacy. This era of constant communication encourages us to be vocal, do it now, record all of it with pictures or video and be ready to blog and comment about any of it. Here's a question for you... When you get a text message, do you feel a need to respond immediately? Most people I've talked to indicate that they do. Kids certainly do, and it's a 24/7 experience for them. Is that text really that important? Most of the time, no.

As we strive to teach digital citizenship and proper technology behavior, CIOs will be asked to lead by example. My advice, as it was with email several years ago, would be to think before you post a Twitter update, Facebook status update, blog post, picture or video. We can post at lightning speed and judgments on those posts are being made just as quickly.

Closing with a few quotes:

“Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.” – Dalai Lama

"Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." attributed to Abraham Lincoln

"When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber." – Winston Churchill

Plinky (and my efforts at asking 'why not' instead of 'why')

2009-09-10T10:02:00.006-05:00

Cryptic title perhaps, but I do find myself often staring at web sites in amazement, wondering why such a site exists. I usually follow up by asking something like "...how in the world would anyone attempt to use this site educationally?" With this thought in mind, here's a brief word about Plinky.

Plinky. Even the name sounds a bit... well, strange. First, what is this site? I read where one site referred to it as a cure for "blogger's block". Each day, Plinky prompts visitors with a question or challenge and registered users can respond. On the day of this post, the question is "what celebrity do you look like" and "who do you wish you looked like." My first reaction, as is too often the case, was "who cares?!?!" At first glance, a skeptic like me might consider this to be nothing more than a time-wasting attempt to get self-centered people to share information that others care nothing about. I'm not 100% sure that this is not partially true, but I'll try to open my mind a bit.

My readers may not care that someone once told me I looked like John Stockton. However, if I were a student and needed a writing prompt, my teacher might well use today's question to get me to write. Many kids claim that they hate to write when, in fact, they may hate to write about a topic that doesn't interest them. Celebrity look-alikes may interest them. If you look at some of the recent daily prompts, you'll see prompts for students to describe their favorite teacher, asking if you think alien life will be discovered in your lifetime, and "what would you ask your great-great grandparents if you could chat with them today?"

If framed properly as part of a lesson or simply as part of a creative writing class, these could be used as excellent writing prompts. I'm sure you could come up with other great uses as well. I thought the site was worth a mention. Check it out and respond with the nicest place you've stayed, what you want to do on your next birthday, what you would have your personal chef cook you tonight, etc, etc, etc...

Vyew

2009-09-08T12:43:00.004-05:00

That isn't a typo. Vyew (pronounced "view") is a tool that I ran across recently. I'm throwing together a very brief entry and wondering if others have tried it. It appears to be a FREE (or low cost for the fee-based versions) tool similar to WebEx. You could share a presentation, whiteboard with other users or even share your desktop. For administrators or trainers, this could be an extremely useful tool. My understanding is that it will provide you a phone number whereby you could connect up to 100 users via voice.

For K-12, I would say that you could put content online with annotations and it would be there for absent students to access later. I don't have much time at the moment to research this further, but this appears to be a really nice tool. I do see that it was named by PC World as one of their "25 best business software tools and web services." Could be worth a further look!

Wordle

2009-09-02T16:33:00.005-05:00

I thought I'd take a minute to mention Wordle. What is it? You've probably seen them... it's an artistic jumble of words that appear in a block of text, with frequently-used words or concepts appearing in larger type. This is a wordle (that I created using their site) of the text of the Declaration of Independence:

Neat? I think so. I can be a bit pessimistic sometimes, so I immediately began asking "...but how would you USE this?!?!" I have been educated, as there are several uses that have been mentioned.

* Use it on your own writing or someone else's, simply to learn more about your writing style. Do you use certain words often? Perhaps TOO often?

* Paste in a news article or famous text - this would quickly give you an interpretation of the concepts presented in the text. You could ask students to then read the actual article or text. Does the Wordle accurately represent the concepts you took from the article? If so, how so? If not, what did you take from the article?

* Have all students write a few sentences to summarize a chapter of a book. Paste all of the responses into the Wordle and see if the appropriate concepts are highlighted in the Wordle representation of the students' writings.

Very interesting indeed. I took a couple of these ideas from this blog, which also features many other potential uses for Wordle.

Who's KATE?

2009-08-31T10:33:00.004-05:00

If you're not familiar with KATE and you work in technology in Kentucky K-12 (or elsewhere, perhaps), then let's take a minute to familiarize everyone with their organization. KATE is the Kentucky Academy of Technology Education. It's housed on the campus of Murray State University and provides resources to educators throughout Kentucky, working to enhance the use of technology as an instructional tool.

There are quite a few resources on the site that may be of interest. They speak often of the TICK database. That database holds many effective lesson plans and activities that are aligned to KY's curriculum standards. You can search for a topic and then refine those results based on grade level or subject. Look closely and you'll find potential ways to win prizes by submitting valid and useful content!

The site features a monthly "In Your Classroom" article, written by area educators. It's always nice to read about what's going on in our own classrooms and there are a couple of really good articles featured there now.

There are links to help with student teaching and the struggles of a new teacher. You can also find information related to Kentucky's Core Content as well as national and state teaching standards.

Brenda Nix, the director at KATE, has her own list of top technology tools and this list, along with many other great professional development resources, are featured on the site as well.

For Kentucky K-12 CIOs, we can't praise the usefulness of the KATE site enough! Make sure your teachers are aware of what's out there. For other readers outside of Kentucky, I encourage you to give this site a look. There are wonderful educational resources available - Brenda and her staff have done an excellent job of turning this site into one of the best instructional resources around!

Quick mention - Animoto for Education

2009-08-25T09:37:00.004-05:00

Animoto is certainly not a new tool - it's been around for several years. What they've done more recently is release "Animoto for Education", essentially providing some of their premium features for free to registered education users.

What is Animoto? It's a program to create videos where many of the "cool factor" animations are done for you. You provide the pictures and audio and the software mixes it into a video with effects and transitions.

How would I use it? I could see where it would be a relatively easy way to engage students as a new topic is introduced. I could also see where a brief video could be used as a writing prompt. Students could also create their own videos as part of a presentation for an assignment. Promotional videos for school events and student-created public service announcements could be created as well.

Some might argue that Animoto is taking all of the creativity out of the hands of the end-user. That's true to some extent, which is why this tool may not be best utilized in a course where students are being taught the intricate details of video editing. In most cases, however, the focus should be on the content of a presentation. Students could focus on the inclusion of the most appropriate pictures, audio and accompanying text.

I would compare it to the evolution of "teacher web pages". Years ago, teachers were instructed on specific web-editing tools. We thought that every teacher would need to become a web author and expert in HTML. There's still a place for that in specialized cases and coursework, but most teachers want the simplest way to share information quickly. As a result, WYSIWYG editors and content management solutions with built-in editors have become common.

I've heard districts discuss the use of Animoto in limited cases. At the very least, it belongs somewhere on that list of tools that districts might at least consider adopting to accentuate the classroom experience.

Google Calendars and bragging on a district

2009-08-18T10:25:00.004-05:00

I'm sure there are a million other people who have blogged, tweeted and written articles about the wonders of Google tools such as Google Calendar. Maybe I hadn't considered just how useful an online calendar would be to teachers, but I now definitely see this as a springboard to generate interest in web-based tools for your teachers.

Share your schedule - whether it be assignments, reminders for students/parents on field trips, fund-raisers, school events, the all-important lunch menu, etc. The uses are limitless. For administrators, you schedule access to computer labs and use of district-owned vehicles, just to name a couple of examples.

Let's take the next step, though. I'll brag on Rusty Back for a moment. During a district PD for his teachers, he customized a Google Calendar session to work in conjunction with his Contribute web software. By showing his teachers how to embed a Google Calendar into their teacher web page, he's now seeing more interest in the use of web-based tools and doors are opening to keep students, parents and the community informed. The process has been made easier, moving from only updating within the district and using Contribute to an environment where a teacher can update his/her calendar via any Internet connection, whether at home or via mobile phone. Teachers are not only editing calendars, but also embedding Picasa slideshows into their web page and publishing newsletters via blog.

We spend so much time introducing an endless stream of Web 2.0 tools to our users. It's so overwhelming for most users. Think about it - if WE as technology leaders feel overwhelmed with all that's out there, most users can't help but feel very intimidated with all that's out there. My advice would be to do what this district has done - choose a few tools that can be customized to work with your environment and train your users with step-by-step instructions on the proper use of these tools. If the staff member can see the benefit in the end result, then you should see some adoption of the tools you selected. The reward of seeing technology effectively integrated is well worth the effort...

An Internet User's License?

2009-08-17T15:39:00.002-05:00

For some strange reason, a comparison popped into my head. Are our student Internet use policies similar to the concept of teens obtaining driver's licenses? Should they be? Random points:

* When trying to obtain a driver's license, you're required to study some content and take aptitude tests (both of the written variety and 'road' variety) before obtaining a license. Is it that way with Internet usage in schools? We DO require children to have signed Acceptable Use Policies. We are starting to hear more about cyberbullying (plug for the KY Center for School Safety) and the need to teach the elements of 'digital citizenship'. Should certain instruction be a prerequisite for Internet access?

* Nowadays, most states have a 'graduated' driver's license program. The teen gets his/her license and then can drive under certain restrictions (certain hours of the day, only one passenger, must be an adult with driver's license, etc). With time and no violations, these restrictions are lifted. I suppose it's similar to various filtering policies that districts implement at certain grade levels. Whether that's right or wrong is a debate for another time. Should there be some kind of 'graduated' Internet use policies based on age, 'good behavior', etc?

* Along those lines, repeat traffic offenders are given progressively worse punishments. Occasionally, the police let someone go with a warning. Often, this is not the case. Traffic school can be an option to erase some violations from a bad driving record. If you've been caught speeding twice and get pulled over again, you're not getting a warning. Ideally, the punishment is dictated in part by the pattern of behavior that the user demonstrates. In some schools, everyone gets the proverbial 'slap on the wrist' every time. Then we wonder why constant attempts are made to bypass Internet filters, abuse computer hardware, etc. Likewise, some policies are quite stern and seek to take away access to sites that may well be used for effective instruction. Shouldn't the punishment for Internet abuse be related to the type of violation and the history of the user? This data should be there. Do we use it?

* Lastly, driving is a privilege and it can be taken away. You lose your license for driving under the influence, and the penalties and rules differ when minors are involved. A judge can offer some type of work release, but it certainly isn't a requirement. Suffice to say that, if the violations are severe enough or frequent enough, a driver can have his/her license revoked. Need to get to work? Find a ride. You can't function without a car? You should have thought of that before committing the crime.

It certainly isn't a necessary punishment in every situation, but Internet access and computer access is also a privilege. We've come to believe that it's a right and I've heard many well-intentioned people get very frustrated when they see technology 'taken away' in the name of discipline. I would agree that, if done in the wrong situations for the wrong reasons, removal of the technology can be excessive. However, I think we need to acknowledge that there comes a time where, if a user has signed off on an AUP and knowingly engages in destructive and/or highly inappropriate behavior, removal of access is the proper punishment. Need a computer and don't have one at home? Go to the library or a friend's house. Unable to complete the assignment without a computer? Work something out with your teacher and find another way. That's hopefully an extreme and rare example, but I don't think it can be taken completely off the table simply because users "have to have it".

/end rant

Cool tool (and free) - SolarWinds IP address tracker

2009-08-13T10:56:00.002-05:00

I had a district show me a free IP tracking tool from SolarWinds. This tool would be good for any district who uses spreadsheets to track used and available IP addresses. The tool scans a particular subnet and reports on which IP's are used or free, how long it has been since it was used (which I think it gets from DNS), and it can also query devices using SNMP.

At minimum, I'd say that most of us have a small block of static addresses used for servers, printers, switches and countless other devices. This might be an easier way of keeping track of that info. There are additional features in a paid version of the tool, such as scheduling IP scans to take place at certain times and also assigning groups.

This may be a good tool for many of you. Here's a three-minute video from their company that discusses this tool:

Libraries and today's technology

2009-08-11T11:12:00.002-05:00

One of my followers on here is known to have said to his users that, if and when technology resources were down, "...go read a book". My boss sent an article around for our thoughts and it's had me thinking about libraries. The article is titled "The Changing Library" and was published in the American School Board Journal.

If you follow that link, you'll find the first few paragraphs followed by another link to purchase the article. As luck would have it, you CAN find that article via the Kentucky Virtual Library, and maybe that's one of the points of this blog post. Do we realize the resource we have? KY CIOs, does your district actively utilize this resource? This topic surfaced during a recent webcast when, during a discussion of potential sources for funding cuts, KyVL was mentioned as one potential resource that might have to be cut. I believe that has been avoided, but the whole discussion made me think about that resource. Along with the content of the article, it has caused me to think about our libraries in general.

The number and location of computers in our libraries today varies WIDELY. As you know, some schools have full-time library/media specialists and some have had to do away with full-time positions due to budget cuts. The article I read suggests a strong correlation between the strength of a school library and the aptitude shown on testing, overall reading skills, etc.

Maybe I'll simply ask several questions and come back to this topic at a later time. Right now, I find myself asking:

* If I walked into your school's library and wanted to research a topic, would I be able to do so effectively? Where would I go to get the most current and accurate information?

* If I could remodel the school's library, how much technology would I have? Where would I place it? Do I need mobile access?

* Are my computer labs today serving as research centers? If so, should they be part of (or adjacent to) the library?

* Is my library/media specialist a strong technology user? Should he/she be? (At this point, my thoughts are that this person or department could hold the key to technology integration, since we often lament the fact that students have difficulty validating the accuracy of information found on the Internet)

* What role does my library play in the overall instruction taking place in our schools? Could (or should) that role be increased? How?

If you do decide to comment, keep it civil and acknowledge that both groups (tech leaders and librarians) struggle with the pace of change, the lack of funding, etc.

Cell Phones in School? The debate goes on...

2009-08-03T15:22:00.003-05:00

I guess it's a 'feeling' I have. Maybe it's some articles I've read lately about recent updates to cell phone policies in Jessamine and Henderson counties. I see friends and co-workers blog and tweet about their devices or the latest apps for their devices. I have blogged and tweeted about cell phone signal boosters as well as the federal laws against jamming cell phone signals. If you found your way here searching for the answer, I'll report that I don't have it. I will say this, though. We need to have a healthy respect for both sides of the debate, no matter which side on which we find ourselves.

Why on Earth should we allow this? Vicki Davis does a good job of making the case in her blog. Before reading her thoughts, I hadn't considered the comparison between scissors (not allowed on airplanes but allowed in school) and cell phones (allowed, at some level, almost everywhere while being discouraged or denied in most schools). She also mentions safety, ease of information access and makes the assumption that we're "fighting a losing battle" because of the demands of parents.

I think we're all familiar with the concerns about cell phone use in class. Equity of access should be very high on that list. As a frame of reference, my personal cellular phone has no data plan and only the most basic of texting plans. My work cellular phone has a data plan, but no texting plan. Not every student would have a cell phone and I can only assume that this would hinder their educational use in some of the same ways that we've seen with computers for some (versus ALL) of the students. We've seen news articles related to cheating on exams, videoing or photographing inappropriate things, and any number of text-related issues, including but not limited to student/staff relationships and boundaries being crossed (find your own link here, they're all too common).

As I stated earlier, one thought running through my mind is that both sides have valid points. I've read several articles, along with comments following those articles. Many writers and comment posters argue their point without at least acknowledging the validity of the opposing viewpoint. State law requires that districts have a policy on the possession and use of personal telecommunications devices, so school districts have a right and responsibility to address this in some fashion.

It's a complex issue and I don't want to pretend to oversimplify the matter, but I keep coming back to one theme when I think about issues such as this one or Internet filtering. Much of the controversy centers around what I'm going to call "time on task".

I was a good student, but I wasn't particularly interested throughout Algebra II class. If I had possessed a cell phone with Internet access or some similar technology, I would have been very tempted to avoid focusing on the class. Was this due to the content? Was it due to an ineffective teacher? Was I a poor student for being so easily distracted? Whatever the case, students today are often going to drift off-task if given the chance. They did it in my day as well, perhaps with note-passing or games of paper football.

I'd say teachers today have it tougher than in times past, due in large part to the increased number and types of distractions available. Students have grown up multi-tasking, absorbing information in soundbytes and with a constant need to be entertained (since they're being marketed to in the same constant fashion and via all sorts of media). There's pressure on schools to change and to embrace this world where knowledge is at our fingertips and learning may need a focus on the ability to properly discern and apply the knowledge available.

I'll avoid that rant for now, but suffice to say that this is a very timely topic and worthy of consideration. We should take an honest look at where our stakeholders are: students, teachers, administration, parents and community. Keeping our content relevant and keeping our classrooms on the task of learning is a challenge made (easier or tougher or both, insert word here as needed) by the access we're afforded to current technology.

Allway Sync: Free File Synchronization

2009-07-30T14:57:00.004-05:00

Ever heard of this product? Allway Sync touts free file and folder synchronization for Windows. A district today was nice enough to show me this product and what seemed to be a very clean, easy-to-use interface. Need to back up that Exchange database, a PST or the 'My Documents' folder of that user that will find a way to accidentally delete it? This may do the trick. It states that it is free "for moderate personal use only". Of course, the 'pro' license is all of $19.95 for a device.

I believe you can also copy from a single source to multiple destinations (at least that's what the screen shot seems to indicate).
I've seen what several districts are trying to do with low-cost backup solutions and this might be a viable option for those who don't want to hold their breath and rely on a manual copy/paste or scripting a copy operation and wondering if it was successful.

Hyena - product mention

2009-07-24T14:06:00.004-05:00

I have a school district using Hyena for systems management. It's a little different than some other tools I've seen. In this case, the district uses the Hyena interface in place of AD Users and Computers and performs all tasks from that interface. Additionally, the tool gives them an easy way to stop/start services and remote into machines. It apparently uses VNC and installs/uninstalls that product as the administrator enters/exits the remote machine.

Also of note is the fact that this product is licensed based on the number of administrators using the product (rather than the number of machines to be managed). In our environments, we certainly have a large computer/admin ratio and licensing models like this can be of some benefit. They noted that they paid a few hundred dollars for a license for 3 (I think) admins.

At any rate, I thought it worth a mention in case any of you are looking for a new administrative tool.

Cooling the data center

2009-07-23T10:16:00.005-05:00

This is a challenge for all school districts, particularly since many have upgraded their internal WAN links and are consolidating servers and services into a single data center. I see both ends of the spectrum in my visits with districts. Some are doing the best they can with residential wall units, fans and cutting vents into data center doors. Others have upgraded their facilities and have nice room-based units specifically designed for computer data centers. Those in a pinch may consider decent-sized portable units that can be picked up at most local supply stores, such as these examples.

If you get serious about this, it's not a bad idea to engage a partner who can inspect your data center. A knowledgeable partner will check wattages and heat output on all equipment to be cooled, will check existing cooling equipment and ventilation and may also have some good suggestions on proper layout for racks and cabinets. It's surprising how the proper ventilation and orientation of a rack can make a difference in the overall cooling needs.

Two big players in this market are Liebert and APC. Traditioally, I always thought of Liebert as a cooling company and APC as a power/UPS company. Each company works in both markets, meaning that you can get Liebert UPS devices and APC cooling systems.

One district I work with has installed a few units by a company called Daikin and they are quite pleased with the results. Their data center stays at about 60 degrees and they have 3 or 4 racks full of servers and storage. They started with a center unit that I believe is an FXHQ model. They eventually had to supplement with two of the FTXS24 units. These are attached to pumps to remove water that accumulates during condensation and proper drainage installation is definitely a consideration. Ask one of my districts that dumps their water buckets daily. :)

I would caution against a wall unit built for a home. Remember that the heat being generated by servers and these types of electronics is a very dry heat, which is quite different from the type of cooling required in residential zones, where humidity is a good bit higher.

I've talked to enough districts over the years to say with some certainty that excessive heat, over time, will cause hardware to fail more rapidly.

Broadband funding and ARRA

2009-07-20T11:09:00.003-05:00

After several mentions by school districts and by our leadership on today's webcast, I've decided to take a few minutes to sift through the details of a $7.2B program that is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The biggest question I get from school districts is "can I apply" or "how can this money help me". Maybe we'll get to the bottom of this as I hit some highlights:

Of the $7.2B, $2.5B is related to RUS and BIP and $4.7B is related to NTIA and BTOP. Now, let's dissect the alphabet soup - RUS is the Rural Utilities Service, BIP is the Broadband Initiatives Program, NTIA is the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and BTOP is the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. Clear as mud? Well, it's a bit easier to think of these acronyms in pairs. RUS and BIP go together, as do NTIA and BTOP.

The document with all of the details is the formal notice of funds availability. Any info below will come from this document...

RUS and BIP - To quote from this document directly

The Recovery Act appropriates $2.5 billion of budget authority for RUS to extend loans, loan/ grant combinations, and grants to projects where at least 75 percent of an RUS-funded area is in a rural area that lacks sufficient access to high speed broadband service to facilitate rural economic development. RUS has developed BIP to fund broadband infrastructure in qualifying areas.

This might explain why our state webcast today discussed working with qualifying entities. These funds are targeted at entities to build out the infrastructure. Obviously, school districts could take advantage of this. It's probably in more of an indirect fashion than some have visualized.

NTIA and BTOP - Again, quoting the funds availability document

The Recovery Act also appropriates $4.7 billion to NTIA to provide grants for broadband initiatives throughout the United States, including unserved and underserved areas.12 NTIA is tasked to spur job creation, stimulate long-term economic growth and opportunity, and narrow gaps in broadband deployment and adoption. The NTIA program is titled BTOP. Consistent with its appropriation, BTOP is divided into three categories of projects: Broadband Infrastructure, Public Computer Centers, and Sustainable Broadband Adoption.

This seems a bit more interesting, but we need to know more about the categories of BTOP and any other qualifiers. One of BTOP's stated objectives is of particular interest to school districts:

To provide broadband access, education, awareness, training, equipment, and support to community anchor institutions (e.g., schools, libraries, medical facilities), or organizations and agencies serving vulnerable populations (e.g., low-income, unemployed, aged), or job-creating strategic facilities located in state- or federally designated economic development areas

This is where, again, school districts are encouraged to work with providers to make them aware of their need of being connected. Without making this blog entry much longer, other facts in the funds document about BTOP are (1) all applicants must propose to offer broadband service, (2) awardees under BTOP must provide matching funds of at least 20 percent of the total project cost and (3) grant recipients are expected to present projects that will sustain long-term growth and viability.

Suffice to say that these applications appear to be geared toward service providers, though our school districts need to be aware of the opportunity that this may present by touching base with local providers to discuss your needs, etc.

Title IID, EETT, ARRA, etc.

2009-07-14T15:10:00.002-05:00

I'm sure I've posted about this in the past, but I thought I'd take a fresh look at what's being stated regarding EETT (Title II Part D) funding for Kentucky, particularly as it relates to ARRA (or 'stimulus') funding. I have no inside knowledge of any relevance and I'm simply going to use Kentucky's state table posted on the USDOE web site (KY is page 43) for my analysis:

First, note that the FY2008 actual figure is $3,886,884. There's a certain small amount held back at the state level for administrative purposes, but let's assume that this is the grand total. This is the amount that Kentucky divides into a 50% formula-based distribution, with the other 50% being distributed via competitive grant application.

When looking at the "Recovery Act Estimate" column, I see a value of $9,899,923. That's a 254.7% increase of the actual FY2008 amounts and this is exactly why I tell school district to expect a one-time Title IID amount of roughly 2.5 times their FY2008 allocation. Again, I'll stress that I have no official information that states this - it simply makes sense based on the federal estimates. It's fair to assume that there will be roughly half of that larger amount distributed via competitive grant. With 250% of the funds available, we would certainly hope that more districts would be awarded and the awarded amounts would be larger than before.

Looking ahead to the "FY2009 Estimate", I see $4,029,567. This is similar to the FY2008 actual amount. Accordingly, my advice to districts is to expect a 'traditional' FY2009 amount similar to the FY2008 figure in addition to the one-time ARRA fund injection. For the short term, this is a wonderful development!

Lastly, pay attention to the "FY2010 Estimate". The figure is $1,501,732! I hadn't noticed this before and this is strictly an estimate at this time, but I think it's important to point out that current documentation suggests a significant drop-off in Title II Part D funding after the coming stimulus funding and FY2009 allocation. A 62.7% decrease from FY2009 to FY2010 is worth pointing out as you consider long-term plans for Title II Part D funding (or lack thereof).

Flip-ping out

2009-07-09T16:42:00.002-05:00

Any reader who knows John would not be surprised if I said he "flipped out" at a regional CIO meeting. :) On a few occasions recently, he's mentioned the Flip video recorders, their popularity with teachers and why CIOs should be aware and prepared for their entry into the educational environment. FLIPping out about it, if you will...

From a user's perspective, what's not to like? These recorders are very portable, relatively affordable and can easily capture some very good video. It doesn't take long to imagine educational uses for evaluation of instruction, introduction of video clips to teach a concept or engage discussion, student use as part of an assignment, etc. When finished, you 'flip' the USB connector out and attach to your computer, where automated uploads to sites like YouTube can occur.

There are other brands and products out there, but I'll focus on the Flip brand for now. The Flip product line as of today consists of the Ultra and the Mino, both of which come in a 'standard' and 'HD' version. They retail anywhere from $150 to $230, but you can probably find a better deal and the prices seem to drop regularly as new versions and features are introduced. The Ultra model holds about two hours of video and the Mino holds one hour.

What's the problem, then? From a CIOs perspective, it's the data storage requirements. I feel like the typical user sees all files as equal in terms of size. It's only one spreadsheet or one picture or one slideshow or, in this case, one video. How large is a one-page document, simply text with no special add-ons? Maybe 2 or 3KB. Save hundreds of them and your network staff probably won't say a word. The pictures of the grandchildren and the hundreds of MP3 files cause some heartburn. A single picture can be about 1MB in size, and that number may be (or become) dated with the increasingly detailed digital cameras. Maybe a standard song is 3-4MB in size. Hundreds of these can cause grief from a storage perspective.

Now, mix in the constant audio with 30 frames-per-second (or pictures per second, if you want to think of it that way) and you see why John and others might be very concerned. Check the specs on the Flip family for further evidence. The standard Flip Mino advertises 60 minutes of video on its 2GB of internal memory. The Flip Ultra has twice the capacity and twice the video storage. Let's assume, then, that we can get about 30 minutes of 'standard' video on 1GB (roughly 1,000MB or 1,000,000KB) of storage. High-definition video cuts this in half, with the MinoHD holding 60 minutes on 4GB of storage and the UltraHD holding 120 minutes on 8GB of storage. That's 15 minutes of HD video weighing in at 1 gigabyte! Just for a frame of reference, a CD-ROM typically holds 650-700MB and a DVD is somewhere around 4.7GB.

I could go on about the battery life of the Flip series, etc but it's all in the spec page linked above and I was really focused on the disk storage aspect of all of this. None of this is meant to disparage the Flip or discourage its use - this is strictly meant to point out why CIOs and network admins will have to really do some planning if users intend to store large amounts of video on the local network.

TransACT

2009-07-09T13:54:00.002-05:00

I don't normally post anything about a fee-based service, but TransACT was brought up at our regional CIO meeting. They provide standard forms that have been reviewed from a legal perspective. As it turns out, the Kentucky Department of Education has some level of statewide subscription to TransACT services. There's even a case study!

In our meeting, Linda had mentioned that she searched TransACT to find some language related to procedures for Acceptable Use Policy updates. I thought I'd give this a shot until I realized that I needed an account to access the TransACT resources. As it turns out, this isn't a problem. If I choose 'subscribe' and then choose the option to register for access to my personal account, I'm prompted for state, county and district and am allowed to create my own account.

Once the account is created, there are a few databases to search that contain forms. I chose to search for 'acceptable use' in the GenEd database and found the KDE "Electronic Information Systems" Acceptable Use Procedures and Guidelines. I'll link it here, but this link should be invalid until a login is established.

At any rate, I thought I'd make mention of the service in case others were also unaware of KDE's agreement with TransACT.

More on copyrighting

2009-07-05T17:54:00.002-05:00

I'll elaborate a bit on Bryan's KySTE presentation I previously mentioned. The session made me think about critical copyright concepts such as 'public performance' and 'derivative work'. Granted, the copyright law linked is a fine cure for insomnia, but not exactly light reading. In general, these two concepts are worth considering when working on a project. Does the project lead to a "public performance" or does the creation result in a "derivative work"?

If I create a video and use copyrighted music in the background (without permission, which is often the case), my video is a derivative work. If I load that video to Youtube or to the district website, wouldn't that also be classified as a public performance of that work? These are the types of issues that were discussed in Bryan's session.

Bryan mentioned freeplaymusic.com, which is known to have a 'student use' agreement. Upon inspection of their terms of use agreement, notice this:

The assignment must be part of student curriculum, must only be viewed or heard within the classroom, campus, on a school’s closed circuit television and/or public announcement system and shall be free from any charge or admission fee. Free Student Educational Use excludes the use by any school in extra-curricular activities including, without limitation, the use in clubs and the use of any kind in performance, non-broadcast multimedia, DVD duplication, distribution and/or broadcast on a public or educational access TV, cable or radio channel, web, blog, and podcast.

Soundzabound was mentioned as well. They proclaim 'royalty-free music for education', which is true if you purchase the music and follow their licensing terms.

This led to a discussion of Creative Commons, along with a great overview of the various types of Creative Commons licenses. He also mentioned several good alternative sources of Creative Commons music, including ccMixter, Jamendo and Jamglue.

Lots of info and links here. Thanks, Bryan Sweasy, for putting it together for an informative KySTE session.

Creative Commons - copyrights, etc

2009-06-24T12:34:00.003-05:00

I attended an interesting session at the KySTE conference this summer. Bryan Sweasy (CIO, Erlanger/Elsmere School District) discussed Creative Commons and several issues surrounding the legal use of copyrighted material. I've been meaning to spend some more time on this topic and I may eventually do that but, for now, I want to include a video that he showed our group during the session. It does a good job of giving a broad overview of the copyright dilemma.

Why Wireshark?

2009-06-16T11:09:00.004-05:00

Some of you that know me know that, at one time, I had played around with Ethereal (now known as Wireshark) for a while. I readily admit that I don't know that much about protocol analyzers, but I know enough about this product to explain why it might be helpful to school districts.

At some point, most network administrators want to determine why things are "slow", what's passing across their network, etc. There are bandwidth monitoring tools for our district internet connection (our KETSVIEW graphs, created (I believe) with something like Cacti. MRTG and PRTG are also popular graphing tools that districts have used over the years. These tools are great at graphing traffic across particular ports. If you haven't implemented something like this, I recommend it as a great first step. If you don't have some way of visualizing your Internet traffic in this manner, that's a good place to start. Districts might also want to graph high-traffic ports such as those for critical servers and for connections to outlying schools and/or wiring closets. Having that visual is usually the easiest way to determine if a traffic issue is emanating from a particular school or IDF.

At some point, though, the admin usually wants to determine which workstation (or IP address) is the source of a great deal of traffic. This is where you can use a protocol analyzer such as Wireshark. For the purposes of this discussion, let's assume that the traffic concern indeed involves something going to/from the Internet connection. We want to use a station running Wireshark to help us determine the source of the problem. This would require our workstation to 'see' the traffic coming to/from the port of the Internet connection, which would require us to mirror the Internet port to some port where we can plug in our monitoring station running Wireshark. You'll need to consult your network documentation to determine how to mirror the port(s) appropriately.

Assuming the port is mirrored, you'd start a network capture with Wireshark and 'see' the traffic going across that port. I'm glossing over this, but most ambitious network admins can figure out how to at least capture some data once the proper ports are mirrored. If you stop that capture, I'll attempt to add a screen shot of a sample capture (downloaded from the Wireshark site) that you might see.

THIS is where I often hear of people giving up. How can I determine what I'm looking at? All of the techno-info is a blinding series of letters and numbers!

It needn't be this confusing. You can simply select 'Statistics' and then choose 'Conversations' from the menu area to be given a report of all of the conversations that took place during your traffic capture. Choose the "IPV4" tab and the resulting data can be sorted by the number of bytes in decreasing order.

This isn't an answer to everything but, if you are curious about the top talkers during a period of time, this tool might help you find them. This is simply meant to show an easy way to find the offending IP address for you to investigate. The packet details are there to lead you to the program or type of traffic being generated, but I'll save that for another time.

Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act

2009-06-11T08:56:00.003-05:00

I've received questions from districts about federal legislation that passed last Fall regarding the requirement to educate minors about online safety, etc. This is based on the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act that passed last October.

One of the sections of the Act amends the law to state:

as part of its Internet safety policy is educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response.

There is speculation that this will lead to a new certification on an E-Rate form. I think the KSBA's recommended AUP now has been edited to include a statement saying that this education is occurring. A really good question I've received is "HOW are districts going to incorporate this instruction?" Do we have an assembly with a speaker? Do we create some kind of video or document that students are required to view or read before being given Internet access? Do we leave it to the individual teachers to address as part of other instruction? Does this instruction occur every year? Does it occur for all grades?

As you can see, I have received many questions and I don't know that I have the answers to offer, but I wanted to put this out there to perhaps generate some thought on the topic. Many of us can find sources and information on the types of education that need to occur, examples that can be used, etc. Understanding how best to incorporate this training is the next challenge, and I suppose it's a similar debate as the more general topic of whether "technology" training should be encompassed in its own course or if it should be thought of as only a 'tool' and incorporated into other areas of instruction.

Others who blog, Twitter, etc.

2009-06-09T13:59:00.003-05:00

I saw a press release today that talked about the establishment of Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear's blog. Of course, he has a Twitter account as well. It caused me to think about this phenomenon and the various folks in the public eye that are creating blogs, Twitter accounts, etc to get their 'message' out:

UK President Lee Todd addressed our STLP state championship event. Apparently he has a blog. I believe he mentioned during his speech that he had a Twitter account, but it may have been deleted.

KY Attorney General Jack Conway has a Twitter account and a blog. He's been at the forefront of many cybersafety discussions and his office is part of the CyberSafeKY initiative.

Of course, most people in Kentucky have heard of John Calipari's Twitter account, at over 160,000 followers as of this posting. That's in the top 300, per this site.

What does it all mean? It does NOT mean that you're some kind of failure if you aren't blogging or Twittering. I think it DOES mean that you need some basic awareness of what a blog or Twitter account can do and why others might choose to engage in the use of these tools.