Electronic textbooks

One significant barrier to adopting an all-electronic curriculum is the lack of support and resources provided by the textbook companies.  I know, why would a textbook company provide online resources when their money really comes from book sales?  The fact is, they need to find a way to provide their same textbooks in an electronic format as well as add new multimedia features while still earning enough money to stay in business.  They can do this.  We know this.  Newspapers, magazines, books, movies and music are all available online as well as in physical format, and those industries are finding a way to survive and in some cases even make more money than ever.  The textbook companies fell behind the times, but the companies that make the transition first will be in better shape long-term than the others.

As a member of a large school district, my interest is in our 13,000 students and not in the profit margin of the textbook companies.  I want the best resources for the lowest prices possible.  When the textbook companies are ready to produce high-quality electronic resources then we will be ready to evaluate them and consider them for implementation.  We're finally starting to see some companies ready to make the shift; McGraw-Hill, Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt, Pearson, and Kaplan have all signed agreements to deliver their textbooks in the iPad tablet format.  We haven't seen price points, and we don't know if it will be a straight adaptation of if they will take advantage of the multimedia capabilities of a computer-like device.  There's a lot we don't know, but we do know that publishers are finally taking the digital age seriously.

To read more about the iPad story click the following link:
<http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2010/02/02/major-textbook-publishers-sign-scrollmotion-ipad/>
(This tip comes courtesy of Scott Weidig at SHS)

Copyright and the classroom: showing video tapes in class

Copyright laws are meant to protect people who create something and want to retain control over what they created.  Music and movies are often the center of many copyright lawsuits, especially when it comes to illegal file sharing.  Artists do not like it when people enjoy their work without paying for it, and I don't know anyone else who would feel differently.

Educators are allowed to use copyrighted materials for free, but only in very specific situations and within a short time frame. It's called "fair use," and according to Stanford University,

"someone other than the copyright owner may make limited use of a copyrighted work without permission for purposes such as teaching, research, scholarship, criticism, parody and news reporting."

Again, there are very strict guidelines for this. To learn more about the fair use rule, please visit Stanford University's webpage at <http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter0/0-e.html>

How are kids affected by the use of media devices?

There have been many studies about the effects of television on children, and those studies have expanded to include the use of cell phones, mp3 players, handheld video games, and other media devices.  A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows, among other things, how much time kids spend using different media devices.  You can read more about media usage studies at <http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2010/01/obvious-report-on-increased-media-use-among-kids-is-obvious.ars>

Here are two graphs from the study that I found interesting.

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Daily amount of time, in hours and minutes, kids spend using media devices when parents set limitations on their use versus those whose parents do not set limits.

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Correlation between amount of media use and grades:

What is a word cloud?

A word cloud is a bunch of words all lumped together, with the size of each word dependent on how many times it appears in the original document.  A word that appears many times within one piece of writing will be larger than a word that is only there once or twice.  For example, if you listed all the words in one of President Obama's speeches in one big jumble, then made the words that appear most often larger than the others, it would look something like this:

Word clouds are mathematical, they're visual, and  they're a different way to view information in order to gain understanding. 

Go to Wordle's website <http://www.wordle.net/> to create yours today.

Online safety

The laws regarding privacy and protection on the Internet are rapidly changing, but the overall message is clear: we will protect our children from harmful things on the Internet, and we will teach our children how to protect themselves.  Below is a link to OnGuard Online, a federal website regarding Internet safety.  Within that site is Net Cetera which has resources to help parents and teachers talk to their children about the dangers associated with using the Internet.

OnGuard Online <http://www.onguardonline.gov/>
Net Cetera <http://www.onguardonline.gov/topics/net-cetera.aspx>

Internet search results in a table format

Google has a different way to search for information.  It's called Google Squared <http://www.google.com/squared> and instead of returning a list of websites it instead presents information in a sortable table.  It's different.  For some searches it's a better way to do things, and for others it's worse.  You'll have to make that determination.  Choosing the best way to find and use information is an important skill for our students and this website is just one more way students are doing just that.

Look at the two images below to see the difference between a regular Google search and the new Google Squared search.

GOOGLE SQUARED

GOOGLE

Office 2010 beta

We're going to see two different versions of Microsoft Office 2010 next year.  One will be a free online version with limited features, and the other will be the standard full-blown version with many new additions.  I think both will offer new ways to connect with people and share information and data. 

There are no plans right now to use either one next year in D211, but we will continue to monitor the situation as Office 2010 gets closer to its release date.  For now, feel free to get a closer look at Office 2010.  You can download the Office 2010 beta or read about the Top 10 benefits of using Office 2010.

Life expectancy of a laptop computer

A recent study by a company that sells extended warranties on electronic items found that approximately 1/3 of all laptops will no longer function after three years due to either mechanical failure or accidental damage.  D211 often buys 3 or 4 year warranties with all computers.  However, it might be to our advantage to purchase computers that have a better chance of survival even if it means paying more for the product.

Below is one of many charts found in the report.  I've included links to the blog written by Christopher Null as well as a link to the entire report by SquareTrade.

Free anti-virus software for home use

Microsoft has released a free version of their security software called Security Essentials. It protects your computer from viruses, spyware, and mal-ware. While there are several different free anti-virus software titles available today, our tests have shown that Security Essentials is easy to use and offers very good protection for individual users.

Download the software from Microsoft's website:
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/?mkt=en-us

Virtualization saves us money

Server virtualization, in a nutshell, is when several different servers are combined onto one machine. Combining servers and clustering them together is great for our users; it makes the network safer and more reliable. It also saves us money. Lots of money. Each high school used to have 14 servers. We have reduced that number to eight, and by next summer there will only be four. Eliminating 10 servers at each building saves us more than $50,000 annually just in electricity costs. On top of that, it costs less money to cool the server rooms and it will cost us less money in the future when we need to replace 4 servers instead of 14.

We began virtualizing servers to provide a better experience for our students and our staff members. We didn't realize how much money we would save each year in electricity costs until our energy consultant sat down with us and worked on the numbers.


For more information on virtualization please visit Microsoft's website: http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization/en/us/products-server.aspx

Next generation tablets

At some point in the future we will see all students (yes, all students) with some kind of computing device in their hands. Smart phones, netbooks, laptops, eReaders and iTouch devices are already visible in our classrooms and hallways, but what will the landscape look like in the next five years?

With the Amazon Kindle being seen more as an electronic reader and not the all-around textbook we had hoped for (read the Daily Princetonian article), we may need to look back at a more powerful computer-like device. Here's a blog article from CrunchGear about Microsoft's latest tablet PC, the Courier, which shows a lot of promise.

Connecting to online storage

D211 uses Microsoft's Unified Access Gateway (UAG) to allow students and teachers to access their files remotely from any location with Internet access. It is similar to last year's NetStorage but with more security and more features.

Here are your directions for logging in to UAG and accessing your files.

1.Go to the district Online Storage web page which can be found on the web page of every D211 school. The direct link is https://xtier.d211.org/

2.Click on the LOG IN button.

3.You will get an error message stating that there is a problem with the security certificate on this web page. Click on CONTINUE TO THIS WEB SITE.

4.A box will pop up that states the web site is already in your trusted sites list and ask if you want to allow opening the site. Click YES.

5.An add-on needs to be installed onto your computer to make the software work. Click on the INSTALL button if this box pops up. You will only have to do this the first time you use the Online Storage.

6.The software is being installed onto your computer and needs access to the district Online Storage page for it to work. When you get the security alert asking if you trust the certificate, click on TRUST THIS SITE and then choose ALWAYS. Then click on the TRUST button at the bottom. Again, you will only have to do this the first time you use the Online Storage.

7.You can now log in . Add the phrase d211\ to the beginning of your username. Without adding d211\ you will not be able to access your files. It is required! Enter your password and then click on LOG ON.

For more information on UAG please visit Microsoft's website.