The last of the carts.

Tomorrow, weather permitting of course, we should be delivering the rest of the "Bob carts". All of the elementary schools have received at least 2 carts by now, and have already put them to use. By the end of tomorrow, each school will have 5.
The main idea behind these carts was to provide the convenience of mobile computing, with the stability of a wired connection. By using an NComputing solution, on a wheeled table, we can provide 4 usable terminals, in a small portable footprint.
The computers were setup with elementary children in mind. They are loaded with reading, math, and other educational applications. Also included is a web browser, for accessing websites like BLink, as well as an office suite for word processing and spreadsheets.
I'm sure the students are going to wear the letters off of the keyboards with all the use these carts will see. Please let us know of anything that could help improve these carts for the next go-around.
Hopefully we will be able purchase more setups similar to this in the future.
P.S. Special thanks to the maintenance guys for helping with the building and delivery.

How Do I Do That? - Tuesday, February 23

The February session of How Do I Do That has been rescheduled for Tuesday, February 23. The session will be held in the Marshall Simonds Media Center located on the second floor at MSMS. The session will be open from 2-4:30pm. Teachers are invited to bring their school or personal laptop computers with them.

The February and March sessions of How Do I Do That will focus on the Burlington Public Schools BLINK system and the X2 Aspen Student Information System. These two new tools will be a vital part of teacher communication, collaboration, and access to student information.

Teachers in each school will receive specific training for Aspen in the coming months. The How Do I Do That sessions in February and March will serve as additional resources for teachers learning about the new system.

The sessions will help teachers with the transition to full time daily use of BLINK and Aspen.

As always, teachers may also join the sessions with specific questions about the use of technology in the classroom.

Please email me with any questions: villano@burlington.mec.edu

BPS BLINK SYSTEM:

BPS X2 ASPEN:

Busy Tech Day @ MSMS

Friday was the kind of day that wears me out but also reminds me why I love helping with technology at Marshall Simonds as the Media Specialist. Technology is always an important part of the school day at MSMS. Overall, this past week was one of the busiest technology weeks I have ever had at our school. Everyday I assisted teachers and students with all kinds of technology. Each day, I scrambled to get minis or cameras or LCD projectors to teachers and students who needed them for class.

On Friday, however, technology integration was more active than I had ever seen it before at our school. Technology was being used in nearly every area of MSMS. Teachers and students were using many different forms of technology in many different ways. Lessons featured SMART Boards and LCD projection of material. Collaborative projects were completed using minis, iPod Touches, and cameras. Students were focused on creating and sharing content using various forms of media and presentation. Students and teachers all over MSMS used school technology equipment along with many of their own devices from home.

I am so proud of the teachers at MSMS for what they have tried to integrate into their daily activities over the past several years. Teachers have continuously updated their curriculum to include technology and have been open to new things each year. MSMS teachers are always ready to use the technology available to them at our school.

The inclusion of technology is not always easy. It takes time to plan lessons and projects and teachers often have to learn new skills just to carry out their ideas. Technology also doesn't always behave and, at times, it can be very frustrating to use new things in your classroom, but the teachers at MSMS have continued to confront the challenges and move forward.

I am more excited than ever about the way we use technology at Marshall Simonds. I believe that the efforts of our teachers to incorporate technology into the curriculum will continue to be a powerful tool in helping our students achieve more in both their academic and professional life.

Here is list of some of the technology, including BPS, teacher, and student equipment, being used at MSMS on Friday alone:

16 SMART Boards

18 LCD Projectors

10+ Mini Laptops

10+ Digital Cameras

4 FlipVideo Cameras

2 HD Video Cameras

20+ iPod Touches

50+ Laptops

Discovery Education Streaming videos

BrainPOP videos

YouTube videos

Here is a little teaser.

We've been in the shop working on a couple of new projects. Pretty soon they will start "rolling" out.

Not tech related

But still a really cool picture. Ran into Wendy (from the science center) in the hallway, with her friend, a red tailed hawk.

kids and tech.

Thought I would share a photo of some elementary students using a reading program on the computers.

How Do I Do That? - Tuesday, January 12

The January session of How Do I Do That? will be held on Tuesday, January 12 in the B10 Computer Lab at Marshall Simonds. The session will be open from 2-4:30pm.

This month's session will feature an introduction to iTunes U. iTunes U is part of the Apple iTunes Store. iTunes U contains over 200,000 educational videos, documents, and audio from podcasts. The material is usually free to download and can be shared to iPods. Some content has been created to work with the iTouch as a tool in the classroom. iTunes U features lessons from some of the world's best colleges and universities as well as K-12 public schools throughout the US.

Web Content

As most of you have already noticed, the web filtering rules have changed in the district. Please don't be alarmed. We are evaluating a new device to see if it meets our needs. Some of the sites that you visited previously might be coming up blocked. If this is the case, please follow the instructions and send an email to Abuse. This will be the quickest way for us to unblock all necessary sites.

Google Wave

Google wave is a new way to communicate for personal and work use. Check out the link and if interested, you can request an invite. If you really can't wait, send me an email. I have a few invites that I can give, but it's first come first served.

How Do I Do That? - Tuesday, December 15

The December session of How Do I Do That? has been moved to Tuesday, December 15. The class will be held in the B10 Computer Lab at Marshall Simonds. The session is open from 2-4:30pm.

The December session will feature how to use video content in lessons and presentations. Subscription video services including Discovery Education's UnitedStreaming and BrainPOP will be used as well as free online video from YouTube and TeacherTube. Participants will learn ways to save videos and embed them into PowerPoint or class blogs for presentations. The Open Office presentation software, Impress, will also be introduced.

New Creation

Due to some Wireless coverage issues that we have been dealing with at some schools, I decided to create a wired mobile cart "Prototype". The cart uses 1 computer tower and 3 Virtual Terminals to provide 4 working stations. This unit has been delivered to Pine Glen for testing. If all goes as planned, then we'll hopefully see alot more of these wheeling around your schools.

Trade a Proposal for a Flip Video

Give us a proposal explaining how you would use a Flip Video in your classroom. If we pick yours then we'll give you a Flip Video. There are 8 up for grabs. All entries must be in by November 30th, and submitted to Cindy M.

How Do I Do That? - Tuesday, November 10

The November session of the How Do I Do That? program will be held on Tuesday, November 10 in the B10 Computer Lab at Marshall Simonds. The session will be open from 2:00 to 4:30pm.

The November session will feature the new Burlington Public Schools BLINK system. BLINK is a new web based network system for all BPS teachers, staff, and students. The cloud system will allow staff and students access to important software programs, documents, and email from any computer or mobile device that has an internet connection.

Participants in the November session of How Do I Do That? will be introduced to BLINK, learn about the log in process, and learn how to access software and documents. Open Office programs will also be introduced.

Click on the following link to read a blog post from Dr. Conti regarding BLINK:

ericconti.wordpress.com - BLINK Network

How Do I Do That? - Tuesday, October 13

The October session of the How Do I Do That? program will be held on Tuesday, October 13 in the B10 Computer Lab at Marshall Simonds. The session will be open from 2:00 to 4:30pm.

This month's session will feature information on blogs for educators. We will discuss the positive uses of blogs as an extension of the classroom. We will also look at the concerns that can potentially be faced using a class blog and how to be prepared for them. Teachers will have the chance to set up a blog for themselves.

Wordpress, Blogger / Blogspot, and Edublogs will be featured.

Please email me with any questions about the session: villano@burlington.mec.edu

Minis

As of this week all of the HP Minis have been delivered. The minis are available for sign out in BHS and MSMS Libraries, and in the 4 Computer Labs in the elementary schools. All of the mini's have 3 USBs, a multifunction card reader, wireless, webcam, and a monitor out. The front of the laptop has 2 buttons. 1 of the buttons is the power button (yellow circle), the other button is for the wireless (red circle).

SMART Board Tools Quick Reference

SMART Board usage is growing fast in Burlington this year. These interactive boards give teachers many options for classroom instruction and student participation. Teachers can use the SMART Notebook, interactive websites, Microsoft Office docs, Open Office docs, videos, images, and just about anything else that runs on a computer.

The SMART Board is most powerful when you use the SMART Board Tools. These adjustable tools can be used in any program and give you the power of many of the features of SMART Notebook anytime you want them. The SMART Board Tools can be kept open at all times. You can usually open the SMART Board Tools by going to the START menu and clicking on the list for SMART Board Drivers.

Click on the following link to view information on many of the items located in the SMART Notebook Toolbar and Desktop Tools:

SMART Board Toolbar Quick Reference Guide

Friendly Reminder: U: Drives

Every employee in the school district has access to a network folder, or U: Drive. This network folder is backed up frequently in an effort to preserve precious data. Desktops and laptops are NOT backed up on the network, so any data saved locally (c: drive, My Documents, etc.), could be lost in the event of a hard drive failure.

Each user’s U: drive is mapped automatically at login and can be accessed by opening up my computer. For further assistance or any questions, contact your building technology rep.

Interactive Resource Websites

If you are trying to incorporate more technology into your classroom, the resources available can be overwhelming. One of the best ways to find these resources is a simple Google or Bing search but we rarely have the time to look through thousands of pages of results.

Over the past few years I have made a list of some great free content available online. I have linked 4 pages of interactive technology resources below. Many of the pages have content perfect for using with a SMART Board. Some of the pages include games for play and learning.

If you are starting to use a SMART Board in your classroom, there are many different ways to make the educational experience more interactive. Along with the SMART Notebook and its Essentials for Educators Gallery, SMART Boards are perfect for using interactive resources such as simulations, educational games, images, and videos. Many of the links included in the following pages include these kinds of resources.

One of the links is to the Fox Hill Elementary School website where Mr. Donoff has created several excellent lists of interactive pages.

Please click on the links below to open the pages:

Interactive Technology 1

Interactive Technology 2

Interactive Technology 3

Interactive Technology 4

Here is a cool Site I found with lots of uses for Ipods in schools

http://learninginhand.com/ipod/index.html

How Do I Do That?

A new BPS educational technology program begins on Tuesday, September 15.

The How Do I Do That? program will help BPS teachers explore the extensive technology available for our classrooms. The program will include monthly workshop sessions featuring specific technology topics. Teachers will be able to get individualized instruction and assistance with technology needs during each session.

Teachers may attend any session they wish. Participants do not need to "sign up" for the sessions. Each Tuesday will serve as an "open house" for educational technology.

The program begins with one session per month meeting in the B10 computer lab at Marshall Simonds Middle School. (The lab is located upstairs in the 8th grade hallway near the library) We hope to see other sessions available at each school during the year.

The first session is scheduled for Tuesday, September 15. The featured topic will be SMART Board set up and the SMART Notebook software. The session will be open from 2-4:30pm.

Click here for more information about the program

Please email Dennis Villano, MSMS Media Specialist, with any questions about the program: villano@burlington.mec.edu