A Summary of Events

Today in class, we discussed the different electronic mediums of school management software such as:
Power School, Infinite Campus, SWIS, Sub calling systems, and electronic evaluation software.

Some of our classmembers discussed their recent preference in using SKYPE as a way to quickly get items discussed and completed around the office. 

We had a tour of the Server Room at Aurora University with a member of the IT Staff, Bob.  In detail, we were able to view the complexity of running a computer network in a school setting.

We ended the course with working on our projects/assignments 3&4 for presentation to our class next week.

Technology Today 4 16 11

Network Hardware

·         Network Control- Microsoft, Novell, Red Hat

·         DNS

·         Virtual Servers- One large server that has sub areas or virtual areas and appears to be multiple servers.

·         (Hot Swap) gives the ability to quickly replace one drive or even server due to 2 servers that clone each other and constantly update each other in the event of one going down

·         Storage-servers you can use Novell to store itself as well.

·         Communications (voice mail and voice hardware, even phone system)

·         Video Conferencing

·         Learning Platforms/Assessment/Student Records (Skyward, Power School, Infinite Campus…)

·         Personnel Records/Accounting/Lunch Program (Meal Time)

Disaster Strategy

·         Power

·         Backups

·         Redundancy (Backing up backups and cloning each other for more accurate and fool/fault proof backup)

Enterprise Filtering

·         Email Filtering-prevents virus’s/porn, etc from coming in

·         Web Filtering allows or prevents things from going or coming into /from your computer (CIPA-Children’s Internet Protection Act)- no porn  Federal Funding tied to this to keep you compliant with this law.

·         Network Attacks

o   Denial of Service

o   Worms and other nasty stuff

Disrupting Class 2

·         Standardizing Teaching Versus Customizing Learning

·         The Future Classroom/Assessment

·         The System for Student-Centric Learning-Changing Values

·         Descriptive to Prescriptive Research

Parents as Teachers

·         Schools reaching out to young parents, ones who have non school-age children and informing them on learning concepts.  Giving them pointers on what to look for in your child for indicators of on-time or delays.  This is helping significantly in reducing special education services due to catching something while they’re young.  

Professional Development

·         Technology to Support Professional Development Activities

·         Professional Development for Technology

·         Professional Development through IVS, Discovery Education(United Streaming), both host webinar’s for professional development

3 26 11

I accidentally posted to Melissa's Blog instead of mine.  This is what we accomplished on 3-26-11:

Today we reviewed "Site Hardware" such as:

• Appliances and Servers
• Telephone, Radio, and Emergency Equipment
• Wires and Wireless
• Switches and hubs-Switches are where up to 24 ports are available to hook into the Lan and manage the connection to the computers to the computers/devices attached. Also, certain IP's can be blocked from these such as adult sites, gaming, etc... held by Racks (tall cabinets that mount switches) Patch panels determine which ports you would like active.
• Routers
• Video and Videoconferencing
• School Level Support

 5 important chapters/ideas from Using Technology with Classroom Instruction.

Dr. Thomas brought his C&I students into our class for a combined lesson.  We reviewed different types of Data collection systems, discussing the uses and reliability of this data for improving student learning/achievement.  Amanda Rider presented a piece on voicethreads, a presentation software/device that allows presenters to use photos, words, and actual voice to share information on the desired subject.
It was good to collaborate with our C&I counterparts and the discussion was very engaging.

Topics of Conversation for 4 9 11

Class Activities 4 9 11

Today in class I learned of a great tool for scientific calculators by a company called vernier from http://www.vernier.com/ .  Their products truly make scientific calculators, "Scientific".  I also assisted my classmates with creating SKYPE Accounts.  Both Dennis and I shared the advantages of using this wonderful conferencing tool.  We also discussed the great advantages to implementing technology into normal lessons.  It is amazing how much more knowledge you can provide to your students by doing this.  I call it Broadening the Learning Spectrum.

We also discussed the following topics:

Memory and storage goes from 1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128-256

ASCII Storage code is 256 characters

KB, MB, TB

Transmission Speed bps

Internet uses TCP/IP- Transmission Controlled Protocol, Internet Protocol  

DNS-Domain Name Service www.aurora.edu

All in a packet.  Comes with an address to transmit packets this goes through your IP Address.  One place to another

Packet Shapers- Divides up the bandwidth amongst other people.  Guarantees you a minimum

Packeteer- a server you put in the rack that controls band width, what kind of work your people are doing.  You can prioritize what programs are first ex: 1 admin functions, 2 Google searchers, 3 general internet, 4 YouTube so YouTube doesn’t take up all your bandwidth and delay your other functions.  It will even block these sites if you program it to.

Probware. You can analyze things with your calculator or device rather than bringing it back to a lab or other testing setting.
http://www.vernier.com/

Learning Management System, Moodle, PB Works

Online course bought by district is considered a TIER 2 Intervention

Aventa private online schools

IVS –Illinois Virtual School

U-Stream is a free service to broadcast live footage or video

Skype, video conferencing H.323

Polycom V5000, VSX 5000