What's new at the close of June 2010

FM Pro 11 hardware and software is in - database development is ready

Digital signage (via LCD TV) at LMS is mounted and ready to broadcast photos, daily news and events

LES has Macbooks and plans for deployment are underway

New access points and filtering and routing boxes are in...so more speed and better protection and filtering is forthcoming

Spam management and file management being tweaked and resolved

All students 9 -12 have First Class accounts and Personal Learning Environments are being developed for them

Trying to plan a Tech Camp in August...or we can be available every Tues morning if you need help...

We are ready to flatten and refurbish PC's

Tech Plan being reviewed

And visit this site for Google tools tutorials

Good News Technology Updates

Students 9-12 will have FC accounts!...We will be creating a First Class experience for our students for communication and collaboration

A few of us will be visiting the Summer MLTI Conference in Castine, Me. to bring back a Digital Citizenship program for our students....

I am working with the MLTI Consultative Model of Prof Development application....Why not, it is free

We need to organize a District Technology Committee....

We need to create professional development for technology as it relates to the district's vision/mission for Professional development

Rethinking classroom management with technology in the classroom is a theme I would like to explore since it has been discussed at the conferences I have attended. Some seemingly common sense tips:

have students close laptops when talking
arrange room to adequately view laptops
disable airport when you want students to be writing or reading offline
create hot links lists when students do searches - this way they are where they are suppose to be... use safe search tools

YouTube is now offering parents and teachers more control over the content they see with the announcement of Safety Mode. When you opt in to Safety Mode, you're choosing not to see mature videos and comments that aren't against our Community Guidelines, but may not be appropriate for someone under 18. Like Google SafeSearch, Safety Mode on YouTube does not remove content from the site but rather keeps it off the page for users who opt in. No filter is 100%, so keep in mind that supervision is still the best parental control. Check out the demo!

If you have time this summer, view thse google tutorials for my wiki for the district at http://edblasting.wikispaces.com/Google+Resources

Has anybody tried Dance Mat Typing for teaching typing skills at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/levels/level1.shtml

View a school-year's worth of MLTI Webcasts at http://maine121.org/webcasts/

LES staff will have laptops