DiigoNotes - Educational Technology in Public School Districts

Notes below are taken from the newly released Educational Technology in Public School Districts: Fall 2008 report released December 2009 by Lucinda Gray, Laurie Lewis and Peter Tice from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Lots of great statistics to make graphs out of in this report!

1. This report provides national data on the availability and use of educational technology in public school districts during fall 2008. The data are the results of a national district-level survey that is one of a set that includes district, school, and teacher surveys on educational technology.
2. The set of 2008 surveys collected data on availability and use for a range of educational technology resources, such as district and school networks, computers, devices that enhance the capabilities of computers for instruction, and computer software. They also collected information on leadership and staff support for educational technology within districts and schools.
3. Questionnaires were mailed to approximately 1,600 public school districts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The unweighted survey response rate was 92 percent and the weighted response rate was 90 percent. The survey weights were adjusted for questionnaire nonresponse and the data were then weighted to yield national estimates that represent all public school districts in the United States.
4. Districts reported information on local area networks connecting computers within a school, district networks connecting schools to the district, and connections to the Internet. Ninety-seven percent of districts had a local area network in all schools and 2 percent had it in some schools (table 1). Eighty-one percent of districts provided a district network to all schools and 3 percent provided it to some schools. Of the districts surveyed, 100 percent of those with a district network were connected to the Internet.2
5. Districts reported that 92 percent of public schools were connected to a district network (table 2). Among these schools, the types of connections from schools to districts included direct fiber (55 percent), T1 or DS1 lines (26 percent), and wireless connections (16 percent).3
6. Among the 84 percent of districts with a district network, the types of connections from districts to Internet service provider(s) included T1 or DS1 lines (42 percent), direct fiber (37 percent), wireless connections (18 percent), broadband cable (13 percent), and T3 or DS3 lines (12 percent) (table 3). Direct fiber connections were reported by a larger percentage of city districts than by suburban, town, or rural districts (62 percent versus 49 percent, 46 percent, and 24 percent, respectively). Relatively more rural districts than city districts reported T1 or DS1 connections (51 percent versus 18 percent).
7. Sixty-seven percent of districts had a formal computer replacement plan reflected in long-term budget planning (table 4). An asset recovery program for computers was used by 37 percent of districts for all computers and by 22 percent for some computers. Districts treated older computers that could no longer serve their original purpose by recycling or disposing (91 percent), re-purposing for less demanding tasks (85 percent), and upgrading memory or components to extend useful life (83 percent) (table 5).
8. The percentage of districts that offered access to online district resources to all elementary or all secondary teachers was 92 percent (table 6). The percentage that offered access to electronic administrative tools to all teachers was 87 percent for elementary and 95 percent for secondary. The percentage that offered server space for posting web pages or class materials to all teachers was 82 percent for elementary and 83 percent for secondary.
9. The percentage of districts that offered online access to the library catalogue to all students was 72 percent for elementary and 82 percent for secondary (table 7). The percentage that offered electronic storage space on a server to all students was 62 percent for elementary and 83 percent for secondary.
10. Districts had written policies on acceptable student use of email (84 percent), social networking websites (76 percent), wikis and/or blogs (52 percent), and other Internet use (92 percent) (table 8).
11. Of the districts surveyed, 100 percent kept student data in an electronic data system (table 9). The percentage of districts that used an electronic system to keep each type of student data asked about in the survey ranged from 80 percent for transportation data to 100 percent for attendance data. Eighty-nine percent of districts reported keeping state standardized assessment scores, and 85 percent reported keeping district-wide assessment results in their electronic data systems.
12. Districts reported employing an individual responsible for educational technology leadership who was devoted to this role full time (51 percent) or part time (32 percent) (table 10). Seventeen percent of districts reported no one in this role; more small districts than large districts reported no one with this function (21 percent of districts with an enrollment size less than 2,500 compared to 5 percent of districts with an enrollment size of 10,000 or more).
13. Districts reported offering teacher professional development in topics such as integrating technology into instruction (95 percent), using Internet resources and communication tools for instruction (91 percent), and Internet safety (89 percent) (table 11). Fifty-five percent of districts required teachers to take professional development in Internet safety.
14. Eighty-three percent of district respondents agreed with the statement “teachers are interested in using technology in classroom instruction,” while 58 percent agreed that “teachers are sufficiently trained to integrate technology into classroom instruction” (table 12). Forty-two percent of respondents agreed that “funding for educational technology is adequate,” and 83 percent agreed that “funding for educational technology is being spent in the most appropriate ways.”

Citation:
Gray, L., and Lewis, L. (2009). Educational Technology in Public School Districts: Fall 2008 (NCES 2010–003). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.

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Moodle and Wikis - Phone Support

Note: Click image above to enlarge.

One of the challenges in having different systems in a school district involves answering the question, "How do I know which tool to use, Moodle or Wiki? What do I start with?" Any district that launches blogs, wikis and Moodles will encounter the problem if the focus is on the use of the technology rather than the instructional purpose.

This diagram doesn't get at the instructional purpose, but it is a first step at separating out the ideas. If you know of better ways of achieving that purpose, let me know!

Constructive criticism is definitely invited! This is a work in progress. Original document (in OpenOffice format) can also be made available for download.

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DiigoNotes - No more National Writing Project? Funding Cut

• NWP Site Leaders - working as colleagues to lead NWP sites

  • Contact your Congressional representatives TODAY to support DIRECT funding for NWP!
  • On February 1, the Obama Administration released its budget proposal. In that budget, the design for DOE funding has NWP consolidated with that of five other literacy programs, including our good colleagues at RIF, under a new competitive grants program aimed at improving literacy instruction. In order to secure the funding offered under this program, state education agencies would compete for funds, alone or in partnership with outside entities (such as a writing project site or an institution of higher education). Successful states would not be required to use the funds previously allocated to NWP to support of their writing projects or their professional development programs.
  • At the very least, this would mean zero direct funding for the National Writing Project and its national network of sites, and no funding possible for any local site in a state that chose not to compete or was unsuccessful in competing for this funding. There is no expectation that all states seeking funds for their local projects, no matter how successful they have been, would succeed. NWP has a highly successful national infrastructure that works to put the writing project experience within reach of every teacher. This infrastructure is put at risk by this funding strategy.
  • We need to contact our legislators this week, if possible, before the education budget is presented) to ask for their support for the NWP. As all of you know, the NWP network enables successful teachers in diverse communities across the country to collaborate with and learn from one another to improve student achievement. Our network serves all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands -- so each of your legislators has an interest in preserving your services for young people in your area. Write or call today to encourage your House Representatives to continue their support of direct funding to NWP!
  • Kelsey Krausen is available by e-mail at kkrausen@nwp.org to answer your questions. Or, post questions and comments here in the ning by joining the discussion below.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

DiigoNotes - Some schools rethink bans on cell phones

• Some schools rethink bans on cell phones - Tech and gadgets- msnbc.com

  • Some schools rethink bans on cell phones

    Bans don’t work, so administrators explore using mobile devices to teach

  • More than 100 students were suspended last month at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, Conn.
  • They had cell phones.
  • The school’s total ban is at one extreme of a debate under way in schools across the country. As ever more powerful cell phones come closer to mimicking the laptop computers many pupils carry each day, teachers and administrators are wrestling with whether their utility as a teaching tool outweighs the disruptions they can pose in the classroom.

  • “Cell phones aren’t going away,” said Brian Begley, principal of Millard North High School in Omaha, Neb., which loosened its ban at the beginning of the school year in August.

    Pupils can now use their phones during lunch, and, what is more significant, teachers have the discretion to allow them in class, even working them into lessons.

  • By focusing “less on the negative and more on the positive, we feel it can be a real plus for our kids,” said Aaron Bearinger, who teaches business at Millard North, where he crafted a project for his students that involved their calling area businesses from class.
  • 69 percent of American high schools have banned their use or even possession on school grounds, according to figures compiled by CommonSense Media, a nonprofit group that studies children’s use of technology. But those policies don’t work.

  • But the American Association of School Administrators itself argues the other side, promoting the use of cell phones in class as “genuine educational tools.”

    “Handheld devices like cell phones, iPhones, BlackBerrys and iTouch are beginning to offer applications that enhance classroom learning by engaging kids to use tools they are constantly using anyway,” Daniel A. Domenech, the association’s executive director, wrote in an essay last fall.

  • The evidence suggests that the bans, however well-intentioned, don’t work.

    Sixty-five percent of all students who responded to the CommonSense Media Media survey said that they use their phones at school. At schools that ban them, 63 percent use them anyway.

  • The Benenson Strategy Group (the pollster for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign) conducted the survey, interviewing more than 1,000 students in grades 7 to 12, along with more than 1,000 parents. It reported a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points among the student population
  • More than 70 percent of American high schoolers carry a cell phone, Pew reported in June. CommonSense Media found that they send about 440 text messages a week, a quarter of those — more than a hundred a week — while in class.
  • The most advanced devices, like Apple Inc.’s iPhone, are really just slimmed-down versions of full laptop computers, complete with communications and Internet suites, a library’s worth of reference software and GPS location services.

  • Some schools rethink bans on cell phones - Tech and gadgets- msnbc.com

    More than 100 students were suspended last month at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, Conn.
    They had cell phones.
    The school’s total ban is at one extreme of a debate under way in schools across the country. As ever more powerful cell phones come closer to mimicking the laptop computers many pupils carry each day, teachers and administrators are wrestling with whether their utility as a teaching tool outweighs the disruptions they can pose in the classroom.

    “Cell phones aren’t going away,” said Brian Begley, principal of Millard North High School in Omaha, Neb., which loosened its ban at the beginning of the school year in August.

    Pupils can now use their phones during lunch, and, what is more significant, teachers have the discretion to allow them in class, even working them into lessons.

    By focusing “less on the negative and more on the positive, we feel it can be a real plus for our kids,” said Aaron Bearinger, who teaches business at Millard North, where he crafted a project for his students that involved their calling area businesses from class.
    69 percent of American high schools have banned their use or even possession on school grounds, according to figures compiled by CommonSense Media, a nonprofit group that studies children’s use of technology. But those policies don’t work.

    But the American Association of School Administrators itself argues the other side, promoting the use of cell phones in class as “genuine educational tools.”

    “Handheld devices like cell phones, iPhones, BlackBerrys and iTouch are beginning to offer applications that enhance classroom learning by engaging kids to use tools they are constantly using anyway,” Daniel A. Domenech, the association’s executive director, wrote in an essay last fall.

    The evidence suggests that the bans, however well-intentioned, don’t work.

    Sixty-five percent of all students who responded to the CommonSense Media Media survey said that they use their phones at school. At schools that ban them, 63 percent use them anyway.

    The Benenson Strategy Group (the pollster for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign) conducted the survey, interviewing more than 1,000 students in grades 7 to 12, along with more than 1,000 parents. It reported a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points among the student population
    More than 70 percent of American high schoolers carry a cell phone, Pew reported in June. CommonSense Media found that they send about 440 text messages a week, a quarter of those — more than a hundred a week — while in class.
    The most advanced devices, like Apple Inc.’s iPhone, are really just slimmed-down versions of full laptop computers, complete with communications and Internet suites, a library’s worth of reference software and GPS location services.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Go Ahead...Rebel!

Image Source: Finding Nemo, http://www.solarnavigator.net/films_movies_actors/cartoons/cartoon_images/finding_nemo_dory_marlin_angler_fish.jpg

Dr. Scott McLeod (Dangerously Irrelevant) shares a quote from Seth Godin that is right on the money in describing our schools today:

People are just begging to be told what to do. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think the biggest one is: "If you tell me what to do, the responsibility for the outcome is yours, not mine. I'm safe."
Source: Seth Godin

If there's no such thing as 21st Century Learning and skills--as some have asserted--then some might argue that there's no such thing as 21st Century Leadership...there's just leadership which envisions what the right thing is, and management that gets the right things done (to some quotes that include the Blue Skunk, Doug Johnson). And, to be blunt, we have more of "Tell me what to do so I'll be safe" in school leadership than we need.

Some might argue--after watching this video Ms. Durff posted--that Michelle Rhee (New York Chancellor) is terrible, and since I'm not there, I'll withhold judgement. However, she makes some fascinating points about conflict-averse principals that should be considered from a "risk-averse" perspective.

Scott McLeod points out that schools strongly emphasize compliance in the name of order and discipline. And, it's no surprise that such top-down control is also reflected in the lack of leadership and control that school district administrators--at both the District and campuses--have to adhere to.

We've all seen the diagram of little arrows encased within a large arrow. When the arrows move in different directions, the large arrow doesn't move. It reminds of me Finding Nemo movie when Dory, the absent-minded fish, gets caught in a net and Nemo helps all the grouper fish swim down:

Dory is caught, along with a school of grouper, in a fishing net. Despite Marlin's worries, Nemo swims to help the fish, including Dory, escape using a trick taught to him by Gill and the other aquarium fish.

Getting others to swim in the right direction is tough work, but it's made tougher when some say you can't do things because it's against the rules...rules that inhibit teaching, learning and leading at a time when communication, creativity have to be team sports involving online collaboration.

What happens when these kinds of polices and procedures--which maintain the status quo and help network technicians do their job, usurping the role of instruction for the role of tech-maintenance--become de facto?

And, what happens when someone decides to break those rules...deliberately? Robert Quinn in Deep Change shares that a leader has to break the rules to be a leader.

A colleague once told me about a group of executives in a large state government who were interested in leadership training. They were particularly interest in teaching transformational leadership. They wanted to develop public administrators who would take initiative, who would make deep change in their organizations. . .Their analysis revealed a number of cases of people who had made dramatic transformations within their various organizations.

Eventually, they decided to make a video about some of these transformational leaders. Two years later, it was a nationwide model. Teams went out to interview the leaders. They returned with bad news. The video could not be made. In every single case, the transformational leader had, at least once, broken a state law. To transform the ineffective organization into an effective one, required forms were not turned in, regulations were ignored and directives were violated. Does this mean that to be a transformational leader and make deep change in an organization, one has to break the law? No. It does always require, however, that someone must take significant risks.

Quinn goes on to point out that organization and change aren't complementary...they don't go together. Continuing with organization, locking things down into regular patterns push an organization into decay and stagnation. The only way forward is to learn something new, or die.

Our school districts are facing these same problems. As new tools become available, and these are not adopted because it's easier to use the old technology rather than the new, transformational leaders must take risks.

By example--and what inspired this post--I offer you Brian Crosby's tweeted remarks about using GoogleApps for Education in his classroom...without school district approval or knowledge.

Brian twittered:

bcrosby @mguhlin I'm probably switching to G Apps in my classroom- planned on it for awhile. My district is a whole other issue.

I tweeted at Brian:

@bcrosby how can you switch to Gapps without your district's approval and support? isn't that a bit...rogue? I mean, from THEIR P.O.V.? (POV=Point of View)

His response was as follows:

@mguhlin 1) I wouldn't be the 1st. 2) Do 1st ask for forgiveness later. 3) Rogue? Me? When we started Skyping, IT thought Skype was blocked.

then followed by:

@mguhlin When we used wiki's IT thought they were blocked. Blogs too. Hard to block award winning projects after the fact.

"Hard to block award winning projects after the fact." And, he's right. His work with Celeste and Skype is world-renown, and the wiki work is award winning! The question that must be asked, though, is how many teachers will become transformational leaders and break school district rules?

And what are the rules for becoming a rule breaker? As Bud Hunt asks below...

@bcrosby @mguhlin What other rules and policies are okay to ignore?

The answer is deceptively simple--you break the rules when your organization needs to "creatively meet the needs that exist in the present organizational environment" (Quinn, Deep Change).

Uh, so what are those needs in K-12 schools today? Wouldn't the needs make ANYTHING allowable? And, in committing anything, that is where one incurs risk.

My Advice? Go ahead and rebel. Ask for forgiveness. There are clear needs that must be met and if your status quo isn't getting it done, then THINK and DO what you do differently.

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Net Generation Education Project: Call for Classrooms

Someone asked I share this...

Net Generation Education Project: Call for Classrooms

Written by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay
http://netgened2010.flatclassroomproject.org/

Award winning author, Don Tapscott, and award winning global collaborators Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis (co founders of the Flat ClassroomTM Project) are excited to announce the 2010 NetGenEd Project, another global collaboration to envision the future of education and social action by inspiring today's students to study leading technology trends and create their vision for the future.

This is the second NetGenEd Project collaboration between the two organizations with the 2009 project announced at the Flat Classroom conference in Doha Qatar 2009. The 2009 Net Generation Education Project was the replacement for the Horizon Project and included 10 schools with more than 300 students. The application process is now open for schools who wish to participate in the project in March - May of 2010.

In this project, students will study and "mash up" the results of the 2010 Horizon Report from the New Media Consortium and Educause and Tapscott's book Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World. Students will study the current research and create wiki-reports with their student partners around the world analyzing current trends and projecting future happenings based upon this collaborative analysis. This project is managed by the students who assume roles such as project manager, assistant project manager, and editors of the various wikis.

After compiling their wiki reports based upon current research, and encouraged by "expert advisors" (subject matter experts in the industry), students will then create a video in one of two strands. Video strand I competition will be the NetGenEd Challenge where students are asked to envision the future of education based upon current global technological trends. Video Strand II Competition is the Macrowikinomics Challenge where students envision the future of global social action based upon their research in current global technological trends. The video challenge will be also be open to the public for submissions beginning March 1st.

"We are particularly excited about this year's project because we're not only asking students to envision the future of learning and the classroom but also how this media can be used to impact and improve society itself. This generation is the Net Generation and they are uniquely suited to speak for themselves in casting a vision for their own future," says project organizer, Vicki Davis.

This project is unique in that Tapscott will interact with students in forum posts throughout the project as they discuss Tapscott's research into NetGen and also current research as being compiled for Tapscott's forthcoming book (being written with Anthony Williams) MacroWikinomics. Additionally, he will keynote the project via a Youtube video released in March along with a student keynote to be recorded at the Flat ClassroomTM Mini-conference at ASB Unplugged in Mumbai, India in February.

Additionally, the Discovery Educator Network is going to host a series of webinars demonstrating how to tell a compelling digital story as well as leading a book club group for educators related to the NetGenEd project. The Flat Classroom Projects are global collaborative projects organized by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay and sponsored by Elluminate.

If you are ready to have your students collaborate globally and follow the best practices as used in the award winning Flat ClassroomTM, Horizon, and Digiteen projects fill out this form before February 9th and apply now!.

NetGenEd Application

2010 Timeline

• 2/1- 2/12 - Application process for classrooms
• 2/12-2/18- Selection Process (classes will be notified as soon as they are selected)
• 2/15 - Ning, wiki, and google group are "live" by this date
• 2/18 - Final announcements of Classrooms
• 3/5 - Greeting from Don posted to the Ning via video

• Weekly- discussions posted to the forum

• 2/20-3/5 - "Handshake process" - Students join Ning - post introductions

• 3/1 - Teams announce

• 3/15-4/10 Research phase of project

• 4/10 - Wikis complete

• 4/1 - Student Keynote
• Some time in March, there will be a live session with Don Tapscott
• 4/10-5/8 - Movie Artifact phase of project (note that there will be some overlap between Research and Movie Artifact)
• *Storyboarding
• *Outsourced video requests posted to the Ning by 3/10
• 5/10 - Final Deadline for All Movies to be posted
• 5/10-5/20 - Post project reflections, student summits, awards

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

GTA for Admins San Antonio - List Anyone?

Since yesterday, I've been curious as to who did get selected for the Google Teacher Academy for Administrators, to take place in San Antonio.

If you were contacted, please fill out this short form online.

View results here.

Why do I want to know? Well, don't you?

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GNU/Linux Favorite Programs

Having been a "long-time" UbuntuLinux user, I've become accustomed to a variety of applications. Many of these software programs are quickly becoming standard across the various platforms. However, there are a few that are particular to UbuntuLinux.

This blog entry is a first draft of the list and part of my series on My Favorite Apps. So, here goes....

1. AdobeAir and TweetDeck
2. AntiVirus - Sometimes, you need to clean out Windows media that are infested. Here are some of the tools. My favorites include A2Squared Anti-Malware (Windows, but installs and works on UbuntuLinux using WINE), Avast Home Edition for UbuntuLinux, AVG AntiVirus, ClamAV
   
3. DVDRip - allows you to rip a DVD, handy for getting a digital copy on your computer of your daughter's choir concert.
   sudo apt-get install dvdrip
   
4. Filezilla FTP Client - cross-platform file transfer protocol client that works.
   sudo apt-get install filezilla
   
5. KGPG - an encryption tool for GPG/PGP. Great for encrypting content
   sudo apt-get install kgpg
   
6. DVD Libraries - Lets you do something with DVDs.
   sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2
   
7. Mozilla Thunderbird
   sudo apt-get install thunderbird
8. MP3 to Ogg Converter - Convert MP3 files in bulk to OGG format
   sudo apt-get install mp32ogg
   
9. MSTCoreFonts - Get your favorite Windows fonts installed.
   sudo apt-get install mstcorefonts
   
10. Non-free-codecs
11. Sound Converter - a GUI sound converter program
    sudo apt-get install soundconverter
12. TrueCrypt - Encrypt entire drives or create encrypted drive containers to store confidential information that you can interact with on Mac and Windows, as well as GNU/Linux.
    
13. Restricted Extras
    sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
14. WINE - Allows you to run some Windows programs on your computer
    sudo apt-get install wine
    
15. VLC Media Player -
    sudo apt-get install vlc vlc-data vlc-dbg vlc-nox vlc-plugin-esd vlc-plugin-ggi vlc-plugin-jack vlc-plugin-pulse vlc-plugin-sdl vlc-plugin-svgalib

Some Useful Scripts:

1-Ubucleaner
Install Ubucleaner script to periodically clean out installation stuff you don't need...usually a lot of left-over install packages that just take up space.

• Get it online -
  wget http://www.opendesktop.org/CONTENT/content-files/71529-ubucleaner.sh
• Give it rights -
  sudo chmod +x 71529-ubucleaner.sh
• Run it -
  sudo ./71529-ubucleaner.sh

2-Nautilus Action - Wipe Files/Folders for Privacy
The purpose of this is to be able to right-click files or folders and WIPE them from your storage media. This is important when you're dealing with confidential data that you want to ensure isn't accessible if someone tries to recover data from your hard drive without your knowledge.

1. Install Nautilus Actions - sudo apt-get install nautilus-actions
2. Install Wipe - sudo apt-get install wipe
3. Go to System:Preferences, then Nautilus Actions.
4. Click ADD
5. Follow the screenshots below....
   

Step 1 - Open Nautilus Action



Step 2 -Add a New Action and Customize it to Match the following two screenshots:





Click OK, then CLOSE out of Nautilus-Actions.

Right click on a file or folder that you want to WIPE, and you'll see the WIPE option. Some suggest you do this after setting up WIPE at the command line.

nautilus -q
nautilus
press enter twice

I believe this quits, then restarts Nautilus so that changes take effect. Be warned that if you quit, the files on your Desktop will stop showing up until you reboot your computer.

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Tethering Your SmartPhone - Whatever that means

Image Source: http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/images/4/2009/03/tether-3g.jpg

Tethering...a term unknown to me. I know what it means to "tether" something but what did it mean in terms of my mobile device? Apparently, it can be defined in this way:

Using an application that allows your PC to take advantage of your Smartphone's data plan, allowing you to access the Internet on your laptop/netbook anywhere there is cellular coverage.
Source: Adapted from the Tether Blackberry site

Wow, what a neat idea! So, obviously, you can use the Tether Blackberry program to accomplish that on a Blackberry, but I have an Android and many others have iPhones. How do you tether on other machines?

Image Source: http://androidguys.com/wp-content/uploads/tether_g1.png

On Android, I found one app called "EasyTether." It's also available for Mac.

EasyTether turns your BlackBerry smartphone into an Internet access point for an Apple computer. With this app you can tether your BlackBerry to a Mac. EasyTether implements Bluetooth PAN profile.

• Standard Bluetooth PAN support
• Requires only a basic data plan
• Simple setup without any custom desktop software
• Free lifetime upgrades
• 3G grade speeds with Bluetooth 2.0+EDRdevices
• USB support and Bluetooth DUN are under development

EasyTether is also available for Android phones and Windows (Vista,7,XP) users. Another alternative for Android phones is PDAnet.

PdaNet allows your computer to go online through the Android phone's data connection. Supports USB Tether and Bluetooth DUN. No root access needed. Works on ALL Android phones. Mac&PC.

Update: PDanet works great on Macintosh, but I haven't tried it on Windows yet (or on UbuntuLinux running WINE).

Be sure to read this short tutorial...or this one for Windows.

For iPhone users, you may want to read these possibilities....

• How to JailBreak and Unlock Your Phone and Tethering
• Enabling iPhone 3G or 3GS Tethering Video

What solutions are you using on your smartphone? Gizmodo has a fascinating article on tethering Android G1 and iPhone that appears to have it all worked out.

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FOSS Alternative to Stoneware and Zoho

A Texas colleague pointed out the following free, open source alternative to Stoneware is available:

While not Google-App like, the mention of Stoneware made me want to share Ulteo OVD for those that aren't familiar with it. When Dell showed a group of us Stoneware, a couple of us pointed out that it was just like Ulteo, minus the price tag. http://www.ulteo.com/.

Some of the Google-App type options currently available are interesting and I think we'll be seeing more come about.

From their web site:

• User authentication may be facilitated with Windows Active Directory and also with any LDAP server.
• CAS support has been added for authentication against CAS servers.

• Ulteo's Open Virtual Desktop delivers applications that are hosted on Linux servers or via Windows Terminal Services to any Java-enabled web browser, to any desktop (Windows, MacOS, Linux, thin client), anywhere (WAN-enable).
  Windows applications are served from Windows Server 2003 or 2008 servers.

  The provided “base” set of Linux applications include the OpenOffice productivity suite, Firefox web browser, Thunderbird email client, Pidgin instant messaging client, and more. Thousands of additional Linux applications may be installed and deployed by the system administrator.

Anyone using Ulteo out there? How does it compare?

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

DiigoNotes - Tweeting Your Own Horn

Some notes from the "Tweeting Your Own Horn" article by Kevin Butler in the February 2010 issue of District Administration.

Here are some of the take-aways from the article for me:

• Houston Independent school District Superintendent Terry Grier uses Twitter to give updates on his meetings with staff and media interviews, link to interesting education news, and share important issues and facts about the district (aside: how many superintendents get someone else to do their tweeting for them, like the resident Public Relations/Social Media expert?)
• "It's not only that I enjoy using it as a social networking piece," Grier (@tgrierhisd) says, "I like to use this to help communicate what I'm about as an instructional leader or administrative leader." (Aside: love the the use of the word "enjoy" in this quote together with "communicate")
• Salt Lake City School District shares school award announcements, events, links to articles or television news stories concerning its schools.
• In addition to informing users of upcoming school events and showing pictures from school activities, the District's Facebook site has links to local news stories about teachers, students and programs.
• "We hope that as the number of people following us on Twitter [ and Facebook] grows, this will become a more effective notification tool" (Salt Lake City school District)
• The Tempe (Arizona) Elementary School District embraced Twitter and Facebook in 2008 "because this was really becoming a way that a lot of people in the world were communicating."
• The sites--Twitter and Facebook--should be viewed as channels for "short bursts of information" with links to other web sites where viewers can learn more. Each of the district's Facebook and Twitter posts automatically include links to the District's Web site.
• 3 types of messages lend themselves to Twitter and Facebook: general district information, such as state testing dates; summaries and links to feature stories profiling student work, new technology or other developments; and helpful tips for parents.
• 31% of adults living in poverty-level households have no landline and rely solely on wireless phones for telecommunication, according to a 2009 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People in poorer households are more likely to go wireless-only than other income groups, the survey found.
• Some districts are using Twitter to communicate within the organization--with employees. "This has just given us an opportunity to share info with principals more quickly"
• "I would recommend other districts use Twitter to communicate with employees, because as our working population becomes younger, they are more in tune with using technology in the work environment...As educators we should always seek new ways to stay current."
• "One-way communication allows us to tell our story to various stakeholders...Getting feedback from this communication--both positive and negative--allows us to assess, evaluate and ultimately improve the educational services we provide."

Read Related articles:

• Reaching for the Heart - 5 Tips for School District Communication Directors
• Social Media Tools - Gathering the Loose Threads

• Schools pretend this world of publish at will media doesn’t exist (by Wes Fryer)

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Solar Power Your iPhone or Android Phone

A tweeted discussion led me to search for iPhone and/or Android solar power chargers. Links below:

• Android Motorola Cliq
• iPhone

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Crafting the Prenuptial Agreement - School Districts and GoogleApps for Education

Image Source: http://www.franceinlondon.com/media/pictures/FilUserFiles/prenuptial%20agreement.jpg

Update: 02/08/2010 - Be sure to read the update included at the end of this blog entry!

Henry Thiele (To Learn Twice) posts his comment in response to my response to Brian Crosby (Learning is Messy) what ifs regarding GoogleApps for Education.

The tone of Henry's post is, "Well, duh, it's obvious you have to have an exit strategy!" And, of course, that is a point I make myself in the original blog entry. Yes, you have to have an exit strategy regardless of what vendor you begin an association with...but you also need to have both parties agree to the exit strategy. And, it's worth emphasizing again:

One of the hard lessons of using an outsourced system--whether for student information systems, ePortfolios--districts should learn vicariously is that they should never, ever move their data into a system unless they have a clearly articulated exit strategy.

That exit strategy should not only involve control of the data, but also how to make that data work on their own systems.

Some have suggested--perhaps, in ignorance that waits for the light of enlightenment--that you use GoogleApps for Education on Google's terms. Those terms are generous but there is little contact, no 1-800 number (UPDATE: Read comments; you do get a contact to call) available to call, no face to face meeting with the "shadowy chief executive officer" that runs Google. Should any school district decide to do business with an organization that isn't willing to send a representative to speak and make decisions, shake your hand?

In many ways, This is reminiscent of the prenuptial agreement people sign before getting married. What would such a prenuptial agreement look like?

In the past, I've shared two letters that are signed by both parties--the School District and the Vendor. They are agreements of a sort:

Letter to Vendor from Superintendent: As an authorized agent of the board of trustees for SCHOOL DISTRICT NAME, I authorize release of all current school district data to the VENDOR NAME. VENDORNAME warrants that the confidentiality of data from the school district will be maintained according to all Federal and State laws, and any local policies that are communicated to the responsible parties. VENDORNAME will act as an agent and representative for the school district in the translation, import, and/or use of data. Access to personally identifiable data will not be allowed for anyone other than the staff and sub-contractors directly responsible for the translation, import, and/or use of the data. Data will be provided only to persons or entities authorized by the school district. The data will be physically stored and backed up on servers located at VENDORNAME'S subcontractor's offices or on servers located at Internet Service provider secured sites. If the agreement between SCHOOL DISTRICT and VENDORNAME is terminated, data will be copied to storage media and returned to the district or destroyed upon the request of the District. No backup or other copies of the data will be maintained by VENDORNAME or its sub-contractors. Sincerely,

SUPERINTENDENT

Letter from Vendor to Superintendent

Dear Superintendent: VENDORNAME warrants the confidentiality of student data received from the SCHOOL DISTRICT will be maintained according to all federal and Texas laws, and according to any local policies provided that such local policies are communicated to VENDOR NAME Chief Technology Officer by SCHOOL DISTRICT in written or electronic form. VENDORNAME will act as SCHOOL DISTRICT'S agent and representative in the translation, import, and/or analysis of certain student data. Access to personally identifiable student data will not be granted to anyone other than persons or entities authorized by SCHOOL DISTRICT representatives and VENDORNAME staff and contractors directly responsible for the translation, import, and/or analysis of the data. VENDORNAME will only use student data received from SCHOOL DISTRICT according to the terms of our agreements or addenda. The student data received from SCHOOL DISTRICT will be physically stored and backed up on servers located at a secure site. When the project ends, student data received from SCHOOL DISTRICT will be copied to storage media and delivered to SCHOOL DISTRICT or destroyed upon SCHOOL DISTRICT'S request. No backup or other copies will be maintained by VENDORNAME. Please call either the Chief Technology Officer or I at your convenience with any questions. We look forward to working with SCHOOL DISTRICT. Sincerely, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, VENDORNAME

This has only to do with confidential student data, though. Another question I have to consider is, how do you enter into a contractual agreement with GoogleApps for Education? Just because you decide to establish a GoogleApps for Education, does that automatically get you an agreement that covers FERPA?

Simply put, who at GoogleApps for Education would sign off on a letter like the one below? And, should any school district bother to use GoogleApps for Education until the CEO at Google is going to step up and sign?

As an authorized agent of the board of trustees for the NAME OF SCHOOL DISTRICT, I authorize release of all current school district data to the NAME OF VENDOR. NAME OF VENDOR warrants that the confidentiality of data from the school district will be maintained according to all Federal and State laws, and any local policies that are communicated to the responsible parties.

NAME OF VENDOR will act as an agent and representative for the school district in the translation, import, and/or use of data. Access to personally identifiable data will not be allowed for anyone other than the staff and sub-contractors directly responsible for the translation, import, and/or use of the data. Data will be provided only to persons or entities authorized by the school district.

The data will be physically stored and backed up on servers located at NAME OF VENDOR's subcontractor's offices or on servers located at Internet Service provider secured sites. If the agreement between the San Antonio ISD and NAME OF VENDOR is terminated, data will be copied to storage media and returned to the district or destroyed upon the request of the District. No backup or other copies of the data will be maintained by NAME OF VENDOR or its sub-contractors.

Furthermore, NAME OF VENDOR agrees to adhere to the following:

Data Encryption

Confidential data sent outside the District and received from NAME OF VENDOR will be encrypted using industry standard encryption algorithms and technology.

Adherence to FERPA Guidelines

Data requested by NAME OF VENDOR is subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 USC § 1232g, which generally applies to student records.

All NAME OF VENDOR must make every effort to safeguard confidential staff and student information. Transmission of confidential data, including e-mail, must be done with all due protection.

FERPA standards for students should also be applied to staff data.

Unencrypted confidential staff or student data should not be carried on a laptop, desktop, or hand-held computer, travel drive, or other electronic device outside of the NAME OF VENDOR system(s) or buildings or off their property.

When unattended, data should be left in a locked location.

If a breach of security occurs, SCHOOL DISTRICT must be notified of the incident, and updated when/if the breach is resolved.

Reports and other documents must be shredded or otherwise completely destroyed when no longer needed for educational purposes. Do not discard documents with names and Social Security numbers in wastebaskets or recycle bins.

Obsolete electronic devices must have all confidential data files completely deleted before removal or transport.

Identifiable information to anyone other than representatives of that organization and the information is destroyed when it is no longer needed for the study.

NAME OF VENDOR will act as the NAME OF SCHOOL DISTRICT agent and representative in the translation, import, and/or analysis of certain data.

Access to personally identifiable data will not be granted to anyone other than persons or entities authorized by the NAME OF SCHOOL DISTRICT representatives and NAME OF VENDOR staff and contractors directly responsible for the translation, import, and/or analysis of the data.

NAME OF VENDOR will only use data received from the NAME OF SCHOOL DISTRICT according to the terms of our agreements or addenda. The data received from the

NAME OF SCHOOL DISTRICT will be physically stored and backed up on servers located at a secure site. When the project ends, any data received from the NAME OF SCHOOL DISTRICT will be copied to storage media and delivered to the NAME OF SCHOOL DISTRICT or destroyed upon the NAME OF SCHOOL DISTRICT request. No backup or other copies will be maintained by NAME OF VENDOR.

NAME OF VENDOR will sign and return this letter indicating its acknowledgement and agreement of the terms outlined here.

Please call either the Chief Technology Officer or I with any questions.

Sincerely,

SUPERINTENDENT

___________________________________________________

NAME OF VENDOR Chief Executive Officer Signature

Thoughts?

Update: Comments Via Facebook

• Barbara Bray
  Interesting! I so agree with what you are writing. I suggest reading the Terms of Use of any company you work with including Google before you invest people, time, or valuable protected information. Having a real person to talk to is important.

Update 02/08/2010 from Henry Thiele:

Google does have a "Migration Checklist" - I have a copy of it here http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AgNjr58arj7ndEl2T3g1dktrcG9LMjBBeTV4YV96Qnc&hl=en

Anyone thinking of moving to Google Apps for Education should read the agreement you are entering into with them here: http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/education_terms.html

Section 6 talks about confidential information which is defined as:
“Confidential Information” means information disclosed by a party to the other party under this Agreement that is marked as confidential or would normally be considered confidential under the circumstances. Customer Data is Customer’s Confidential Information.
“Customer Data” means data, including email, provided, generated, transmitted or displayed via the Services by Customer or End Users.

and 11.2 talks about how confidential information will be handled if you decide to leave Google.

This is the prenuptial agreement and (IMO) it is as fair as any agreement you will get from any company - especially one that is providing so many services at no cost.

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What IF...The Google Cloud Evaporates?

One of my least favorite books--and conversations--is "What if?" I like to deal in reality, which is why I write non-fiction, but love to indulge in sci-fi and fantasy. Like other human beings, I am a mess of contradictions and learning can get messy as I work through those (or learn to reconcile them).

Brian Crosby (Learning is Messy) asks a challenging WHAT IF question about GoogleApps for Education that is well worth our time to consider:

Brian said...

Hi Miguel - I have heard some question the move to Google Apps because you have then invested a lot of time making the change and what if for any number of reasons Google Apps goes away or starts to charge$? What is your take on that concern?

Thanks,

Brian
JANUARY 31, 2010 11:55 AM

His comment appears in response to a blog entry about the 18th largest public school district in the United States switching from MS Exchange to GoogleApps for Education. What's so powerful about the Prince Georges Schools journey in Maryland is not just their size, but the documentation they made of the transition to share with others. Simply, looking at their documentation provides insights of what they had to accomplish to transition from in-house MS Exchange solution to GoogleApps for Education.

Although others have spoken to the issue of cost savings--Doug Johnson most notably in a recent blog entry--I'm going to make some statements now about it.

1. We should be asking this question and getting some assurances from Google or whatever vendor we decide to use to host data in the cloud, public or private. One of the hard lessons of using an outsourced system--whether for student information systems, ePortfolios--districts should learn vicariously is that they should never, ever move their data into a system unless they have a clearly articulated exit strategy.
   
   That exit strategy should not only involve control of the data, but also how to make that data work on their own systems. One obvious solution would be for GoogleApps for Education to make a "standalone" version that works on school district servers, OR provide migration tools to other systems that exist. Data and the structures that house that data should be as portable as possible.
2. What if Google turns out to be evil? That is, they make public your private documents? While this would be a terrible thing, let's not forget Google is a for-profit company. What if?
3. What if Google goes bankrupt? Well, this is true of any company. Who makes more money, Microsoft or Google? Consider the graph below reflecting revenue from 2008...has this changed significantly?
   

Based on the information, questions, what would you do? Well, let's end with Doug Johnson's approach:

These are rough and admittedly optimistic estimates, but I think you can see the general trend. Even if only 50% of my estimated nearly $2M in savings is realized, that averages out to close to $200,000 per year. (Out of a $1.2M budget.) I am not suggesting reducing tech budgets by this amount, but I can sure think of a lot more interesting things (like kids' computers, a more robust wireless network, and more bandwidth) to spend tech dollars on.

Is it worthwhile? Hmm...5 Temptations of a CEO:

Temptation #3: Ensure that your decisions are correct.

Advice: Make clarity more important than accuracy...your people will learn more if you take decisive action than if you always wait for more info. It is your job (as CEO) to risk being wrong.

Avoid the temptation. You can save your District LOTS of money now and build up your infrastructure, bandwidth. To work in technology, you have to be willing to be mobile and change. I know what I'd do if I were CTO of a school district. Do you?

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Feature Request - View All Comments on Blogger

Reflecting on the death of Haloscan, and losing track of the great comments that come in every day, I realized what feature I would like to see in Blogger's Dashboard or Panel--a list of ALL comments that are submitted to the blog.

Right now, we see the following options:

Wouldn't it be neat to have the VIEW ALL COMMENTS option available? Brian Crosby (Learning is Messy blog) points out I haven't responded to his comment from earlier...finding it is a mess of having to dig through multiple blog posts (over 15 per week sometimes) and then click on the comments and try to figure out, which one is Brian's?

How about it, Blogger? Could you add View All Comments as a feature?

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Google Pages Eats My Work-Twice!

Apparently, the new Blogger Pages feature doesn't like titles with the word "Google" starting the title off or Firefox is acting weird (I should have used Chrome, right?).

I lost some time and effort with Pages entitled:

• GoogleApps for Education
• GoogleApps Reflections

I verified the problem by clicking on VIEW in the screenshot above for the GoogleApps for Education page and received the error.


Fortunately, the 2nd time, I took the precaution of copy-n-paste and then named the page "Reflections:Google," which is a listing of all my GoogleDocs/Apps blog related posts (well, almost all of them...there may be some I didn't link because I couldn't find them easily due to a missing tag, which is the whole point of the page).

Reflections on GoogleApps

I'll be posting content from the GTA for Admin on the blog and linking it from the page above.

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Adding ClipArt to OpenOffice

Image: OpenClipArt displayed in Mac installation of OpenOffice 3.x

One of the complaints users have with OpenOffice is what a pain it is to download an Office suite to find it's missing clipart. Sure, you can go out on the Web and pull images from a variety of sources, but...what if you want something simple, quick, and not breathtakingly beautiful? Sometimes, "breathtakingly beautiful" can slow you down (smile).

Thanks to this tweet from GardenGlen for his link to How to Add Clipart to OpenOffice. The Clipart being added is the collection available at Open Clip Art Library. Some more information on the Open Clip Art Library:

...individual images are in the public domain. This is what it means for images to be clip-art. People have to be able to use the images in their presentations, signs, fliers, greeting cards, bulletins, and other documents without giving attribution. They can do this with images from traditional hard-copy clip-art books, and they can do it with commercial CD-ROM clip-art collections. They have to be able to do it with our clip-art as well. If you are not willing to allow people to use your images with no strings attached, then you must not contribute them to a clip-art collection, because that is what clip-art is all about....

Source: FAQ - Open Clip Art Library

This is about 1.17 gigs of ClipArt!

After you've downloaded the OpenClipArt library, placed the unzipped folder wherever you plan to store it permanently, go to OpenOffice....

Note that my first attempt to do this on a Macbook Pro failed after it appeared to work. I'm trying it again and will report back on success for different platforms.

Update: It didn't fail, I wasn't looking in the right place. Sigh. I hope the screenshot at the top of this blog entry clears it up for folks.

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Word Clouds, Student Writing and Ownership

A recent tweet by ShellTerrell (Shelly S. Terrell) in Germany alerted me to WordItOut, a similar service to Wordle.net. For fun, I decided to drop Control is an Absolute Good into both of them and see what happened. That particular blog entry came to mind after a Texas educator shared this story:

We have a teacher who just started a literature circles blog where her 5th graders will discuss various novels. She mentioned that she is in the process of figuring out how to edit (correct) what they have written before she posts their comments. What do you all think about this? She has encouraged her students - and stated in the rules for the blog - that they are to use correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. If they do not, should the teacher make corrections before she publishes their comments? I'd appreciate any input that you can offer. Thanks.

My response is contained in an April, 2009 blog entry, Control is an Absolute Good. What would such a response look like?

Then, here are the Wordle versions possible....

It's obvious which is the winner. With one buttom--Randomize--I'm able to adjust colors and more on Wordle, but I have to hit two buttons on WordItOut and the results are as varied as Wordle.

For fun, though, compare my blog entry word clouds above with the word cloud created by the question by the Texas educator at the top of this blog entry...it forces one to ask, Who OWNS the writing done by the student? Student or teacher?

Based on the Word Clouds, it's the teacher, which highlights a point that Scott Floyd makes in his response to the Texas educator:

Like Miguel, I'm a literacy teacher (but I'm not old ;) ). I have extensive training in both New Jersey Writing and National Writing Project. I've studied just about every aspect of the writing process you can. While I can care less about state tests, I recall maybe one failure in the 7th grade writing test in my classes over a 10+ year career at that level.

All of that to say this: mistakes are an important part of the writing (learning) process. If we cannot let our kids make mistakes safely and learn from them, then we are not doing it correctly. Yes, spelling, grammar, and punctuation are important. No, they should not be the deciding factor between publishing or not. Mini lessons are meant to help in these such events. How do you fix the errors unless the kids recognize them themselves and buy-in to fixing them.

Agreed, we do not publish the street lingo stuff (unless it directly pertains to the final product for a reason, see this for example: http://sites.google.com/site/bchscivics/unit/2-3-birth-of-a-nation/john-adams---4 ).

Consider that textbook companies publish and sell (with your tax dollars footing the bill) textbooks that are loaded with mistakes. They make it a multi-billion dollar industry. We teach our kids from mistake laden books.

So, remind your teacher that it is okay to let the "kids run with scissors" (credit to Gretchen Bernabei on the quote). Our students publish all of the time. The great thing about a blog is that it allows for editing. We all love to think we are perfect the first time, but we're not. If it is a genuine effort to reach the publishing stage, then we publish. Anything less is cheating the child out of a learning experience.

Quick anecdote. One of the first collaborative literacy tools we used in class was a wiki. The kids grouped up and studied certain topics to present to the class via the wiki. I subscribed to the wiki so that I would know what was happening on it. One Saturday night, my email box begins loading up with "edit" emails. Someone was messing around on the wiki and changing things left and right. My first thought was a kid was thinking they could mess stuff up without getting caught. So, I went to the wiki to check it all out. It ended up being an Asian ESL student who was correcting spelling and such for my American students...ON A SATURDAY NIGHT. You cannot get them to do it on command, but they'll do it if they OWN it. He owned it. He realized the errors in the group's ork. He edited it. We all learned from it (including the students who had their work corrected).

So, let them run with scissors.

Well-said, Scott! I am going to add the following:

If the emphasis is on teacher control of what gets published, then students don't have ownership of their writing. This is wrong in so many ways according to recognized names in writing instruction, such as Donald Graves, Nanci Atwell, Luci Calkins. It's why writing is a "dangerous" and "subversive" activity...and probably why some focus on grammar instruction rather than delving into the heart of student writing.

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Blogger Adds Static Pages

One of the disappointments of Blogger/Blogspot vs Wordpress was the lack of static pages. Static pages are great for adding information that does not change--such as your Full Disclosure page, your About You page, your favorite blog posts--and I've been waiting for this feature for a long time!

When I logged in this morning, I was surprised (pleasantly) to see the new option (illustrated above)! From the Blogger Help page, "What are Pages?":

Blogger pages let you to publish static information on stand-alone pages linked from your blog. For example, you can use pages to create an About This Blog page that discusses the evolution of your blog, or a Contact Me page that provides directions, a phone number, and a map to your location.

Once your page is published, you can link to it from the new Pages widget. The Pages widget lets you add links to your pages as tabs at the top of your blog, or as links in your blog's sidebar. (Note: existing third party templates may not support pages as tabs, but pages can still be added as links in your blog's sidebar)

In the Pages widget, you can decide which pages will have links, and in what order they will appear. You can also choose whether or not you want links automatically created for pages when you create them by checking or unchecking the box to the left of Add New Pages by Default.

I'll be exploring this for sure! Have you used Pages yet in Blogger/Blogspot?

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DiigoNotes - The Best Tools To Make Simple Graphs Online

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for making this short list of graph makers. David McGeary had introduced me to GraphJam, and I've had a lot of fun using it with my Graphs series of blog posts. It really makes a difference having the graphs in presentations.

Last week, I had the chance to see one of the graphs I made with GraphJam in a Sexting presentation to staff. Immediately afterwards, there was a presentation by law enforcement...the exact same data was presented, but the graph had such an effect on the audience that the police skipped over the bulleted data on their slide. Before they moved on, I had the thought, "Too bad the police didn't ask for help in designing their CyberSafety/Sexting presentation!"

Anyways, using one of the simple graph tools below, they would have been able to have an engaging graph for data about such a critical subject without having to start up MS Excel, figure out where the numbers and headings should go.

• The Best Tools To Make Simple Graphs Online | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

  • Crappy Graph.
  • Graph Jam
  • Online Chart Tool
  • Chart Go
  • Embedit.in

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

No Response Yet - FERPA and GoogleApps for Education

Since the last time I raised the FERPA and GoogleApps for Education question, I've seen a lot of commentary and issues. If you are a large district, please share your feedback in this survey (view results)!

The responses have ranged from....

1. This isn't a GoogleApps problem but rather a training issue with staff.
2. Talk to your lawyer about what to do and get them to let districts off the hook.

In his response, Justin points out that we should just contact the Department of Education since asking a district lawyer may result in them choosing the path of least resistance. Since contacting TEA seemed a straightforward act, I decided to do just that and send them an email with Robert Alford's question and example embedded in it:

Howdy! As you may know, Google offers school districts free email, calendaring, document management via their "GoogleApps for Education" program. While school districts in Texas and around the Nation are embracing GoogleApps for Education as a low-cost way to achieve email for staff and students, a question remains about FERPA.

Here's the question and an illustration:

Would signing up for a Google Apps for Education account and activating the Secure Socket Layer (SSL)--that encrypts web traffic--capabilities meet with FERPA laws?

An example: A teacher using Google forms/spreadsheet to keep track of parent contacts made and items discussed. Using GoogleDocs, the school's administrative staff could have access to the information as the teacher complies the data. Would this violate FERPA law?

I would, of course, encourage Texas school districts to make contact with the Texas Education Agency or whatever state education agency is appropriate for their locale. For Texas, it is:

Texas Education Agency
Robert Scott, Commissioner of Education
William B. Travis Building
1701 North Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78701-1494

Phone: (512) 463-9734
Fax: (512) 463-9838
TTY: (512) 475-3540
Email: teainfo@tea.state.tx.us or commissioner@tea.state.tx.us
Website: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/

Justin Bathon's (The Edjurist) response to Doug Johnson (BlueSkunkBlog) follows below:

...if you just send it to your district attorney ... they'll say not to use it because that is the easy legal way out and ensures that they keep their job too! (even if that's not the best educational option). Also, FERPA can not be so easily broken down into "permanent v. desk drawer" - it's more complex and some Google Docs would assuredly be educational records.

The issue here is bigger than Google, it is the cloud in general (i.e. any storage of educational materials on servers not owned and controlled by the school). Google is just the biggest cloud purveyor, but all the other cloud tools would have a similar issue so we need to get this figured out (I probably need to write an article on it - Miguel, want to help with that?).

However, I'm not convinced there is a FERPA issue yet (this is not legal advice, even though I am a lawyer). FERPA is not a law that was really built for this purpose. It was built for paper records and most of the cases that are out there are paper in nature. Also, FERPA doesn't seem as concerned about e-discovery access as it does non-parental access in real time - and the cloud would seem to me to have more issues with the former than the latter.

On top of all that, FERPA doesn't really carry a big stick. Worst case it would seem to me is that a parent files a complaint with the DOE, the DOE could investigate, and the DOE could tell you to stop using it. But, as of now, the DOE has NEVER pulled the funding (their only remedy) because of school FERPA violations. If they haven't pulled the funding even in extreme cases where the intent of FERPA was clearly being violated, I highly doubt they would pull the funding on this very complex and legally gray issue.

But, let's say you are a big district that wants to make the switch and is worried about it ... just ask the DOE for an opinion on the matter! They will provide guidance on the matter and if they don't, at least you can say you asked them first but didn't get a response. The wrong reaction is to stop implementation of a tool that could help kids because you THINK there might be a legal issue, but really don't know. Don't let the law get in the way of learning! If your lawyers don't want to help you build for learning, get new lawyers.

Ask - if no one answers - implement - if someone raises concerns - apologize. There is enough administrative discretion built into the law that it is only the rare circumstance where the Courts or the Fed slap people's hand enough for them to be fired.

And, yes, Justin, I'd love to help with that article!

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DiigoNotes - Get Ready To Be a Changemaker

Why do closed products--like the iPod Touch, Windows with Active Directory--fit so well in schools? For the simple reason that a small elite runs everything. The vision of command and control in school districts has to change. We need to enable people to be changemakers....

Great article to read in its entirety!

• Get Ready To Be a Changemaker - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review

  • Get Ready To Be a Changemaker

    2:41 PM Tuesday February 2, 2010
    by Bill Drayton and Valeria Budinich

  • a huge productivity gap opened between the private sector and the public sector, with the latter characterized by low performance, dismal pay, and low self-esteem.

  • We are transitioning from a world in which a small elite runs everything to a world in which everyone needs to be a player. Don't take our word for it. Look around you. Which organizations, cities, and institutions are leading the pack? Where are the smart and capable people migrating?

    Fifty years ago, Detroit was the symbol of American ingenuity and prosperity. Henry Ford and his small group of managers did all the thinking and told everyone else what to do. This command-and-control approach works in a relatively static world where most tasks are repetitive — such as building cars on an assembly line. It does not work in today's fast-paced, change-is-the-name-of-the-game world; and it will not work tomorrow.

  • Compare once-powerful Detroit to Silicon Valley. There, people recognize that the most powerful thing in this new world is a good idea in the hands of a capable entrepreneur. Companies like Google and Apple are attracting great thinkers and doers — not because they promise to tell their employees what to do but precisely because they pledge to give them the autonomy to do what they are best at and to act as critical players no matter their position in the organizational structure. There, anyone and everyone can be a changemaker.
  • To be effective in this new world, you will need to master the skills of empathy and teamwork, as well as leadership and driving change. You will need to know how to function in a world that is not a hierarchy but a kaleidoscopic global team of teams, with no boundaries between sectors and change that happens at an escalating pace.
  • Bill Drayton is the founder, chairman and CEO of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. Since 1980, Ashoka has helped social entrepreneurs develop, share, and scale their ideas. Valeria Budinich leads Ashoka's worldwide efforts to forge profitable alliances between private companies and citizen-sector organizations.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

DiigoNotes - ICT Skills Curriculum Based on Big6

Below are my notes--copied and pasted--from the Information, Communications, and Technology (ICT) Skills Curriculum Based on the Big6 Skills Approach to Information Problem-Solving by Mike Eisenberg, Doug Johnson and Bob Berkowitz (Revised January 2010).

When I first read this article many years ago, it served as one of my texts for Big6 and what information problem-solving. In fact, sharing and discussing portions of this text at workshops endeared me to librarians (smile).

Here are some of the points that jumped out at me:

1. Can the student who uses technology well enough to play a game, send e-mail or browse the Web be considered technology literate? Will a student who uses technology in school only for running tutorials or an integrated learning system have the skills necessary to survive in our society? Is the ability to do basic word processing sufficient for students entering the workplace or post-secondary education? Certainly not.
2. Educational technologists...advocate integrating technology skills into the content areas, recognize that technology skills should not be taught in isolation, and affirm that separate "computer classes" do not allow students to apply technology skills in meaningful ways. There is increasing recognition that the end result of technology literacy is not knowing how to operate technology, but rather to use technology as a tool for organization, communication, research, and problem solving.
3. information skills can be integrated effectively when the skills (1) directly relate to the content area curriculum and to classroom assignments, and (2) are tied together in a logical and systematic information process model.
4. Teacher-librarians, technology teachers, and classroom teachers need to work together to develop units and lessons that will include technology skills, information skills, and content-area curriculum outcomes.
5. Students need to be able use technology tools with flexibility, creativity and a genuine purpose. All learners should be able to recognize what goa they need to accomplish, determine whether technology will help them to do so, and then be able to use the technology as part of the process to accomplish their task. Individual technology skills take on a new meaning when they are integrated within this type of information problem-solving process, and students develop true "information technology literacy" because they have genuinely applied various information technology skills as part of the learning process.
6. This curriculum requires more than teaching computer skills, technology hardware, and software programs in an isolated approach. An effective technology curriculum must be integrated across content areas and grade levels to improve the learning process. Technology is successfully integrated when it seamlessly supports curricular goals. Students learn and refine their technology skills when they work on projects that require them to solve problems and make decisions.

The article then divides up into the 6 parts of the Big6. Definitely worth reading in its entirety and reflecting on.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Unequipped for Global Competition or Collaboration

AMEN! As much as I agree with the sentiment of this, I would also remind readers that it's not so much as competition as COLLABORATION that we need in a global connected environment.

Friday, February 5, 2010

CoSN Members,

Earlier this week, the White House released the President’s budget for FY11. CoSN immediately released the following statement.

CoSN also issued a joint statement with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA).


Technology Investments Critical for 21st Century Education:
Response to President's 2011 Budget

Honored for Effective Leadership and Innovative Use of Technology

Washington, DC (February 3, 2010) - The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) released the following statement in response to the Administration's FY2011 budget proposal.

"We are deeply concerned about the President's proposal to consolidate the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program, which would leave our nation with no dedicated federal education technology funding. For our children to succeed in today's global economy and beyond, it is critical that they be equipped with the skills necessary to become lifelong learners and compete with their peers around the globe. For our educators to succeed, they need technology professional development to understand how to powerfully use technology for learning. Eliminating EETT – a program that is essential to making our students’ college and career ready and our teachers the best they can be – would be devastating at every level of our education system.

"We are heartened that the Administration's proposed budget indicates that it values technology, and we support wholeheartedly its concept of infusing technology throughout a new Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). However, we urge the Administration and Congress to make that infusion meaningful, and to continue to support a separate, directed educational technology program that would help coordinate, integrate and evaluate all of the technology initiatives that will flow from this infusion. For those reasons, we also encourage the Administration and Congress to pass the ATTAIN Act, EETT's proposed successor, which would further improve this critical program as part of the reauthorization of ESEA.

"CoSN looks forward to partnering with the Administration and Congress in efforts to make our shared vision of infusing technology throughout education a reality. But we continue to believe that dedicated education technology funding through EETT is absolutely essential to continue our progress toward transforming education."
More information regarding how Congress reacts to this budget will be forthcoming in CoSN member-only Bulletins.

Keith Krueger
CEO
CoSN

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

DiigoNotes - INFOLIT EXPERTS MERGE K-12 TECHNOLOGY LITERACY AND INFORMATION LITERACY INTO ONE CURRICULUM

• Big6 » Blog Archive » INFOLIT EXPERTS MERGE K-12 TECHNOLOGY LITERACY AND INFORMATION LITERACY INTO ONE CURRICULUM

  • INFOLIT EXPERTS MERGE K-12 TECHNOLOGY LITERACY AND INFORMATION LITERACY INTO ONE CURRICULUM
  • Expert authors and advocates for information and technology literacy, Michael B. Eisenberg, Doug Johnson, and Robert E. Berkowitz announce their revised Information, Communications, and Technology (ICT) curriculum for K-12 education.
  • ICT-Big6 Curriculum-Eisenberg-Johnson-Berkowitz-2010 (download.pdf)

  • Authors blend baseline information literacy contexts from Big6 Skills (Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 1988) with technology standards developed by International Society for Technology in Education’s National Educational Technology Standards for Students (ISTE NETS-S, 2007). The result is a guideline for relevant technology skills all K-12 students could reasonably be expected to demonstrate before they graduate.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here. Thanks to Doug Johnson (Blue Skunk Blog) for sharing this. In fact, this is one of the first articles that introduced me to Doug!

DiigoNotes- Microsoft Exchange or Google Apps? One government agency goes Google

• • Microsoft Exchange or Google Apps? One government agency goes Google

    Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 12:59 PM

  • ames Ferreira, Chief Information Officer for the Office of the New Mexico Attorney General. He provides IT services to the largest law office in the state. James Ferreira has the privilege of serving the New Mexico public as Attorney General Gary King's CIO. Mr. Ferreira is tasked with the responsibility of facilitating the communication between the public and nearly 200 office staff, including attorneys. Additionally, Mr. Ferreira has served as a member on many committees including the NM Information and Technology committee, NM Technical Counsel, Department of Information and Technology Project Review Committee and the Conference of Western Attorneys General WAGGY committee.
  • Attorneys rely heavily on documents like pleadings, deposition transcripts, exhibits, briefs and other legal materials. In the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, we have 120 attorneys and 200 full-time employees whose jobs revolve around documents. And it's not just the attorneys. Imagine the news releases, media advisories, scripts and other materials that our communications department has to produce.

    We essentially use email as our day-to-day file and case management system, so it is mission-critical. Our previous Microsoft Exchange email solution was falling short – especially regarding the need to safeguard and backup sensitive emails. We looked at moving to a clustered system of in-house email servers for failovers, but we calculated the cost at $300,000, not including continual upgrades.

  • We began searching for something with ample inbox storage, easy backup and data redundancy and perhaps most importantly, a system that offered high security and reliability. Google Apps Premier Edition emerged as the clear alternative. To put it in perspective, Google Apps and Gmail can support any attorney over the course of a whole career, storing and backing up every email he or she ever sends. Google Apps Premier Edition also passed muster with well-known third-party security auditing organizations.
  • The move to Google Apps took minimal time and effort, and our users now appreciate the reliability and large storage quotas of their new email system. We have realized many additional cost savings. For instance, we have created a prototype Google Docs archiving solution, using the Documents API. In addition, a few years ago, the department paid more than $50,000 for replication software to store data from a SAN to a disaster recovery site. It didn't work very well – but is no longer required with Google Apps. We also spend less time and money on licensing.
  • Google Apps Premier Edition was a good fit for the Attorney General's Office. It provides secure, available, and searchable access to documents and emails, while reducing costs and lessening workloads for our busy IT staff. It has reduced the "paper chase" across the board, from attorneys to our busy communications staff.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

TCEA 2010 - Lonestar Edubloggercon

At the behest of Tim Holt and on behalf of TCEA 2010 State Conference, I invite all edubloggers to attend the LoneStar Edubloggercon to take place at the TCEA 2010 Conference!

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to have transformative experiences that made a difference in my career, and yes, my life. One of the most significant experiences is that of joining a worldwide community of education bloggers. These "edubloggers" have influenced me in many ways, impossible to recount but so significant as to be profoundly transformative in who I am and my behaviors.

That's why I'm thrilled to encourage you to attend the LoneStar Edubloggercon at TCEA 2010 State Conference in Austin. Due to family and work requirements, I can't be at TCEA 2010 on Tuesday. However, please know that Texas edubloggers will be in my thoughts on that day. I look forward to learning from you throughout the conference, and will visit the area as soon as I can get there!

Here are some of the details, with more appearing in various places, including Tim Holt's Intended Consequences blog.

This is the first attempt at a blogger "unconvention" at the convention.

Blogging, podcasting and more.

All day Tuesday at the Bloggers area, in the mezzanine above the entrance to the Exhibit hall.

Stay for an hour, or stay for the day.

Hope to see you there.

Please pass the word to anyone you might think would be interested in attending.

It is free for any convention attendee, so the price is right.

A note from Tim Holt...

Howdy everyone! If you have a blog, or Twit, or Facebook, or Myspace or Plurk...well you get the idea, please take a few minutes to inform your followers about the LoneStar EdubloggerCon 2010 at TCEA. Here is my entry from my blog, Miguel Guhlin has done so, and the more we get out there the better! Thank you in advance for getting the word out! If you are attending to TCEA and are there on Tuesday, February 9, you are invited to join in on the first Lonestar EduBlogger Con. The un-Convention before the convention is our first experiment with this type of learning tool, and you are invited to attend to help kick off the event. The LSEBC is free to anyone attending TCEA and will be held in the Mezzanine above the entrance to the exhibition hall. Please spread the word to help make this event a success. Come on, the fun stuff on Sixth Street doesn’t start until after dark anyway. See ya there! Here is the TCEA 2010 Blogroll so far: Tim Holt Intended Consequences http://snipurl.com/ic Kim Caise - Kim's Ventures in Educational Technology http://kcaise.wordpress.com Miguel Guhlin - Around the Corner-mGuhlin.org - http://mguhlin.org Scott Powers Navasota ISD Technology Blog Lamar ISD The INTERACT Cafe http://icafe.lcisd.org Paul Alex Briseno In The Cloud http://paulalexbriseno.edublogs.org/ Kelly Kronfeld - Education & Technology - What's Up? http://kakronfeld.blogspot.com/ Joy Rousseau Technology Integration Tips & Tools by Dr. Joy http://podcast.arpisd.org/users/joy Randy Rodgers The Moss-Free Stone Mary Woodard Top Shelf - http://topshelf.edublogs.org/ Sandra McCubbin - http://aggregateimpact.blogspot.com/ Rob Miller- Latest Thoughts http://www.magnoliaisd.org/ltblog Steve Young TechNotes - https://share.judsonisd.org/users/syoung/ Dwight Goodwin Classroomnext Scott Floyd A Piece of My Mind - http://scottsfloyd.com Karen Fasimpaur K12 Open Ed and Edutopia edutopia.org/blogs Janice Freisen Malahini Texas http://malahinitx.blogspot.com Kimberly Munoz http://techmunoz.edublogs.org/ Joel Adkins TWAIN Blog http://techxas.edublogs.com

Visit TCEA 2.0 at: http://tcea20.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

DiigoNotes - Interview with Stephen Downes

Stephen Downes has been around a long time, and I remember him when I started blogging. With one mention of his Old Daily, I'd get hundreds of visitors to my blog. Since that time years ago, Twitter has proved a great equalizer. That said, I learn so much when I listen to Stephen or read what he writes (when I can understand the concepts he explains quite directly).

I love what Stephen has to say about information control, how the Apple iPhone is an example of that control...in particular, this section of a great interview:

All societies have forces which are working towards this and others working against it. It is difficult to pinpoint, but the fact is that the internet and its technologies are making education available to many more people these days. However, publishers want to control information, governments, their policies… There are many ways in which external forces limit the individual’s autonomy and personal freedom. Sometimes they believe that they are doing this for good reasons (and they sometimes are) but, as a rule, controlling information is not a good thing.

I encourage you to read the whole thing, not just the parts that appealed to me below.

• Interview with Stephen Downes - Press Room - Open University of Catalonia (UOC)

  • "Internet is making education available to many more people these days"

    January 2010 / By Eva Millet
  • Stephen Downes was recently in Barcelona, taking part in the 6th UOC UNESCO Chair in E-Learning Conference. Downes is senior researcher with the New Brunswick Institute for Information Technology in Canada. Specialising in e-learning and new communication media, his greatest ambition is to achieve barrier-free transmission of knowledge over the internet.
  • Online teaching first came into being in the late 1980s, with the use of computers in conferences. But the system really took off in the mid-nineties when the internet appeared.
  • Shortly afterwards, developers began producing programs for this kind of content, such as Web Course Tools (WebCT), Blackboard (www.blackboard.com) and Moodle (http://docs.moodle.org/es).
  • Now we have gone one step further, using social networking technologies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to help transmit knowledge.
  • All societies have forces which are working towards this and others working against it. It is difficult to pinpoint, but the fact is that the internet and its technologies are making education available to many more people these days. However, publishers want to control information, governments, their policies… There are many ways in which external forces limit the individual’s autonomy and personal freedom. Sometimes they believe that they are doing this for good reasons (and they sometimes are) but, as a rule, controlling information is not a good thing.

  • I get the feeling that information can no longer be controlled, that there is no way back. The “revolution” began a long time ago…

  • The launch of devices like the iPhone is a step backwards because all the applications that this product has are controlled by Apple. Not only does Apple manufacture the applications, but it controls the ones that are used and the content or information that is being distributed. The iPhone user can only access information via Apple-approved servers… This is a step backwards because we can upload/create any content we like on our computers. And when this kind of control exists there is also a tendency to exercise greater control over the commercial aspect; for example, you have to pay to update the iPhone operating system. And for the content, for access… And people don’t always have the money to do so!
  • es, that’s true, but there is always a counter-revolution.
  • How can we make the internet more democratic?
  • There are two ways: one is to improve people’s ability to work with the technologies and the other is to make the technology simpler (which is happening all the time). But we need both aspects because it is not only a question of dealing with the technological tools but also of concepts and information. That is why people need to have semantic skills: an education which provides them with the ability to manage the language of new technologies. If they can’t create, speak and send messages, if they are passive receivers, it’s as if they were illiterate… Another key point is easy internet access and lower prices.
  • what other advantages do social networks have for teaching over the internet?
  • The main one is that it places the students in an environment in which something is being created. They are not passive receivers of information: they are involved in the process of searching for, creating and producing information. And that’s the way to learn. We don’t learn because people explain things to us. We learn from doing them. Why do we take notes in a traditional class? Because it is a way of working with the subject that they are teaching you: you are making it your own. And that’s what produces knowledge. It’s what moulds your brain.
  • on the internet we can write, draw, create images… However, we have to be careful because the tendency in e-learning technologies is to look for applications which will do the work for you (like take notes, search for information, etc.), but when the machine does it for you, you don’t learn anything. The tools that help you to do things but don’t do the work for you are the ones which help you learn.
  • In any case, I don’t think it is a good idea for any one language to dominate because each language implies a different way of seeing the world, of representing all the possibilities. That is why these languages need to be preserved. Translation is one way out, because nobody can learn that many languages. But it is hard to get a good translation because that implies a cognitive process that a machine cannot provide.
  • I remember one key moment, which was when I was told about a programme called MUD (Multi-User Dungeon): a role-play video game. They told me I could access it from my home computer. So I used my modem, connected to the university server and registered with this MUD. The game gave you a description of a situation (like “you are standing in front of a castle, the gate is shut”) and you would type in an order (“open the door”, “kill the monster”, etc.). It was a typical game but the interesting thing was that there were other people who were also at home, on the internet, sitting at their computers, playing the same game at the same time as me… And I could talk to them. That was when I realised that this was not just a game, but something infinitely better.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Unintended Consequences

Image Source: http://www.developingsecurity.com/.a/6a011279135bcf28a40120a69b356d970c-300wi

"You can raise the bar or you can wait for others to raise it, but it's getting raised regardless."
--Seth Godin

One of the benefits of being a writer is the people you reach. One of my bosses told a colleague, "Miguel doesn't know the positive change he's brought to the District...he only sees what remains to be done."

I shrugged off the remark knowing that it was both true, that the change was inadequate, and that so much remains to be done. Yet, in every position I've held, I encounter the same obstacles that make me want to quit and give up. The obstacles are human, not technological to paraphrase some wiser person who said it already (I know I blogged it somewhere).

Still, I can seldom hold others to a higher standard. I fall too easily myself. That's why I was pleasantly surprised by a tweet earlier tonight:

1. Read ur blog post re: ur app-u said how could u not since it was in SA; just figured I had to be brave & put it out there, esp since in tx!
2. Read it on the due date, ended up submitting mine right at midnight :)
3. Well--I often get inspired by ur writing--so here's to u!!

The unintended consequences of when we try, even when we might fail, can positively impact others. I had no idea my self-deprecating blog entry sharing my effort to apply for something others applied for would have an effect...but it did. Radical transparency can have unintended consequences...why not try it?

The promise of transparency is a new relationship...and isn't that what PLNs enable us to do? Build relationships?

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Android AntiSpyware Destroyer

Image Source: http://igargoyle.com/archives/frankensteins%20cyber%20ninja%20destroyer.jpg

"Dad," my daughter asked me quite calmly one morning on the way to school, "what did you put on your Android phone last night?"

"Uh," I stuttered, "I put my antivirus and anti spyware software." Then, realizing I'd said too much, I pressed on. "You see, sometimes when I'm chatting with folks, they share with me that they have all these windows popping up on their MS Windows installation. They need help, and I'm stuck on a social call having to help them with their infested Windows computer. Now, I can hook up my Android phone either via USB cable or via FTP (as a server or via FTP client)."

Silence.

Now you know why I have to share this here. Below are 3 free Android apps I use to access my Android phone's SD Card, where I've conveniently stored my favorite anti-malware and Windows recovery software.

1. MountUSB - If I have my power cable for my Android (A Motorola Cliq), I can just plug the USB end of it--which detaches from the power plug unit, which is cool--into a USB port, then be given the choice of either Charging the phone or mounting the SD Card. I choose the latter and I can move content on and off of the phone's SD Card. Works awesomely.
2. FTP Server - If I have access to a wireless Internet connection, I'm able to setup my Android phone as an FTP server that I can connect to using any FTP client, including just plain old Internet Explorer. This allows me to FTP files straight from my phone without the need of a cable.
3. EStrong's File Manager - This is an awesome app that includes a built-in FTP client you can easily transfer files from your phone to an FTP server. You can setup an FTP server on a computer using the free Filezilla Server (free open source software).

These 3 apps are terrific, and I use them every day when I have my phone.

My favorite recovery tools for anti-malware? I usually rotate these when cleaning out a machine to get maximum cleaning effect.

• Avast Free Home Edition - great antivirus software
• Comodo Antivirus and Firewall - works great
• Malware Bytes
• Spybot Search and Destroy
• Spybot S&D with definitions (it's great you can download these so you're not having to download them on an infested machine)
• Firefox and Chrome browser
• RevoUninstaller to really uninstall applications completely
• CCleaner - clean and fix that registry, remove start up junk
  
• MyDefrag (when it's all over, you can optimize/defrag the hard drive)

Could I do this with another flash drive? Well yeah. But I could also carry a camera, a video camera, a phone, a pager....ok, I'll pass and go for one device.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Haloscan Shuts Its Virtual Doors- Thanks!

Haloscan is being shut down on: Feb 19, 2010

The Haloscan hardware and software is physically failing and we have no choice but to discontinue the service.

Although we can't rescue Haloscan, we are trying our best to limit the negative impact on users. To do this, we have worked hard to provide 2 options for Haloscan sites.

I read this announcement--sent via email--with some disappointment and sense of loss. For over 7000 blog entries (http://www.edsupport.cc/mguhlin/blog), Haloscan served Around the Corner readers faithfully, blocking spam when possible and making it easy for me to manage.

Thank you, Haloscan, for your hard work and service on my behalf as well as that of ATC readers. I'll remember you.

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Embracing Free Software

eSchoolNews' print newspaper came to me yesterday, and I was captivated by the headlines:

• Learning-Style research under fire
• Economy continues to batter schools
• Open Courseware gains steam

Of course, it was the economy article that caught me. While some are arguing about what cars to buy, the rest of us are just happy to have transportation. Some of the key points are as follows:

• The state's fiscal problems are so great that states might have to make additional deep budget cuts and tax increases in 2010.
• States will take steps to eliminate deficits for the 2011 fiscal year that, according to the report, "will likely take nearly a full percentage point off the GDP. That, in turn, could cost the economy 900,000 jobs next year." (I'm trembling in my chair...I hate to think of myself, my team being unemployed in these hard times).
• ARRA helped states close to 30 to 40 percent of budget gaps this year. But that funding is expected to be depleted by December 31, 2010 and market analysts anticipate large state deficits to persist for another 2-3 years.
• The current recesssion, in which there have been unprecedented drops in state revenue, could have an even longer recovery period.
• Typically, public education has been more or less protected during a recession, because government leaders have been loathe to make cuts to education budgets. Now, however, most states have had to cut public education funding, and some have made very deep cuts.
• Reductions in general investments, teacher layoffs--all the things you need to really grow the economy, we've cut and thats not going to come back any time soon.

You can find more funding info from eSchoolNews at http://www.eschoolnews.com/Funding

Now, let's consider this information. Sure, it's not the best of news and there are hopeful signs. But the question remains, why do school districts continue to continue to buy, buy, buy like there's a rich zillionaire uncle slipping them cash? Isn't it time we took a long hard look at the software we're spending money on, and switched to free software?

Let's consider the approach of this school...let's not wait for economic intervention to make the changes we should have made previously:

Greater Houlton Christian Academy (www.ghca.com) is a private school in Maine, and thus d'es not have access to state or federal funding. This meant that financing a new computer lab would be an incredible challenge. As the system administrator, I not only had to consider the cost of upgrading our hardware, but the cost of upgrading our software as well. It soon became obvious that the price of new software was just as much as, if not more than, hardware products.....

As our school boldly embraces technology, we're transitioning to more modern ways of collecting and grading work. For example, many teachers are allowing, even encouraging, students to email them their reports or other work that would normally be printed on paper. This greatly reduces waste, ink and toner expenses, and clutter.

To ensure our teachers can read these reports, they need to be sent in a format that is widely accepted. Microsoft Office documents (.doc,.xls,.ppt) are all readable here, as are OpenOffice (.odt,.ods,.odc) files. More obscure formats, like those created by Microsoft Works and WordPerfect are not. However, even this products allow you to Save As and select a compatible format. You should also avoid zipping (.zip) these files unless otherwise instructed.

For those lacking a solid office suit (word processor, spreadsheet, etc.), please consider OpenOffice.org which is a free download at that web address. Also consider Google Docs, which is a free online office suit that allows you to share your work directly with your teacher!
Source: Making the Switch to Open Source Apps (2003) and Greater Houlton Christian Academy (2010)

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

DiigoNotes - Social Media and Young Adults (02/04/10)

• Overview | Pew Internet & American Life Project

  • Since 2006, blogging has dropped among teens and young adults while simultaneously rising among older adults. As the tools and technology embedded in social networking sites change, and use of the sites continues to grow, youth may be exchanging ‘macro-blogging’ for microblogging with status updates
  • • 14% of online teens now say they blog, down from 28% of teen internet users in 2006.
    • This decline is also reflected in the lower incidence of teen commenting on blogs within social networking websites; 52% of teen social network users report commenting on friends’ blogs, down from the 76% who did so in 2006.
    • By comparison, the prevalence of blogging within the overall adult internet population has remained steady in recent years. Pew Internet surveys since 2005 have consistently found that roughly one in ten online adults maintain a personal online journal or blog.
  • a sharp decline in blogging by young adults has been tempered by a corresponding increase in blogging among older adults.
  • • In December 2007, 24% of online 18-29 year olds reported blogging, compared with 7% of those thirty and older.
    • By 2009, just 15% of internet users ages 18-29 maintain a blog—a nine percentage point drop in two years. However, 11% of internet users ages thirty and older now maintain a personal blog.
  • 73% of wired American teens now use social networking websites, a significant increase from previous surveys. Just over half of online teens (55%) used social networking sites in November 2006 and 65% did so in February 2008.
  • • 47% of online adults use social networking sites, up from 37% in November 2008.
    • Young adults act much like teens in their tendency to use these sites. Fully 72% of online 18-29 year olds use social networking websites, nearly identical to the rate among teens, and significantly higher than the 40% of internet users ages 30 and up who use these sites.
  • Facebook is currently the most commonly-used online social network among adults. Among adult profile owners 73% have a profile on Facebook, 48% have a profile on MySpace and 14% have a LinkedIn profile.¹
  • Young profile owners are much more likely to maintain a profile on MySpace (66% of young profile owners do so, compared with just 36% of those thirty and older) but less likely to have a profile on the professionally-oriented LinkedIn (7% vs. 19%). In contrast, adult profile owners under thirty and those thirty and older are equally likely to maintain a profile on Facebook (71% of young profile owners do so, compared with 75% of older profile owners).
  • Teens are not using Twitter in large numbers.
  • 8% of internet users ages 12-17 use Twitter.² This makes Twitter as common among teens as visiting a virtual world, and far less common than sending or receiving text messages as 66% of teens do, or going online for news and political information, done by 62% of online teens.
  • Older teens are more likely to use Twitter than their younger counterparts; 10% of online teens ages 14-17 do so, compared with 5% of those ages 12-13.
  • High school age girls are particularly likely to use Twitter. Thirteen percent of online girls ages 14-17 use Twitter, compared with 7% of boys that age.
  • • 19% of adult internet users use Twitter or similar services to post short status updates and view the updates of others online.
    • Young adults lead the way when it comes to using Twitter or status updating. One-third of online 18-29 year olds post or read status updates.
  • 81% of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 are wireless internet users. By comparison, 63% of 30-49 year olds and 34% of those ages 50 and up access the internet wirelessly.
  • Roughly half of 18-29 year olds have accessed the internet wirelessly on a laptop (55%) or on a cell phone (55%), and about one quarter of 18-29 year-olds (28%) have accessed the internet wirelessly on another device such as an e-book reader or gaming device.
  • The impact of the mobile web can be seen in young adults’ computer choices. Two-thirds of 18-29 year olds (66%) own a laptop or netbook, while 53% own a desktop computer. Young adults are the only age cohort for which laptop computers are more popular than desktops.
  • African Americans adults are the most active users of the mobile web, and their use is growing at a faster pace than mobile internet use among white or Hispanic adults.
  • Cell phone ownership is nearly ubiquitous among teens and young adults, and much of the growth in teen cell phone ownership has been driven by adoption among the youngest teens.
  • Three-quarters (75%) of teens and 93% of adults ages 18-29 now have a cell phone.
  • In the past five years, cell phone ownership has become mainstream among even the youngest teens. Fully 58% of 12-year olds now own a cell phone, up from just 18% of such teens as recently as 2004.
  • 93% of teens ages 12-17 go online, as do 93% of young adults ages 18-29. One quarter (74%) of all adults ages 18 and older go online.

  • ages 12-17 and found:

    • 62% of online teens get news about current events and politics online.
    • 48% of wired teens have bought things online like books, clothing or music, up from 31% who had done so in 2000 when we first asked about this.
    • 31% of online teens get health, dieting or physical fitness information from the internet. And 17% of online teens report they use the internet to gather information about health topics that are hard to discuss with others such as drug use and sexual health topics.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

GTA for Admin Rejection Letter

One of the disappointments of events that are bound by time, space and money is that some people are rejected. That's what makes the Read/Write Web and new communication technologies so powerful--more of us can be engaged and participating than ever before.

When I facilitated Problem-based Learning Academies a few years ago--with Jennifer Faulkner, Lisa Ham and Dr. Alice Owen-Farsaii--I always wished we could pack more people in. Getting to know people was what made the experience exciting and engaging for me. When I consider the Google Teacher Academy for Administrators, I'm excited to have the opportunity to interact and build relationships with other folks, perhaps asking similar questions and facing ill-structured problems.

I'm grateful to be accepted to GTA for Admin being held in San Antonio, not because it's Google, but because of the opportunity to network with educators from around the Nation. It's those relationships that are more important than any one organization, right? Those are the learning connections. That said, I am thankful to Google for facilitating that connection, bringing in great speakers and planners (like Henry Thiele).

But what about those who didn't make it? It's a bit of a downer to not get accepted. While some are choosing to frame their rejection letter, what if you were to write them back? What might that look like?

Since I was curious, I decided to give it a shot...here's the letter I might have sent GTA for Admin if I'd been rejected:

Dear GTA for Admin Selection Committee:

Thank you for your prompt response to my application to the GTA for Administrators. I jumped out of bed every morning and stumbled groggily to my computer, hoping against hope that the acceptance letter would be there. This afternoon, I found to my dismay that I had not been selected. And, as I hear the notification bing for the tweets of those who were selected coming from my speakers, a part of me wants to "power down" and slip away...nurse my wounds in private. But I will not.

You see, I already am an avid, enthusiastic supporter of what it takes to be a Google Teacher teaching in an age of innovation. Somehow, my application didn't make that message clear. Even now, as I sit here mustering the intestinal fortitude to keep going in the face of disappointment that I won't be joining others as committed and excited about google-powered leadership and management, I am asking myself, "What can I do to help other educators understand the power of connected learning, creative collaboration, and innovative intelligence?"

This rejection letter, which I've framed and put on my wall next to me, will serve as a simple reminder that to succeed, one must experience failure. To yearn for freedom hard enough to fly, one must experience the gravity of being grounded. Next time, Google, it won't be you who lacks the space for just one more GTA candidate to fly high. It will be the organization I work in that tried to clip my wings, to prevent people from achieving the nascent power of personal learning networks.

Thank you for the rejection that grounds me and forces me to strain against the bonds that bind me.

I have an image or picture in my head. It's an angel struggling to break free from the ropes that bind it to the ground...it manages to get airborne, a few feet off the ground, the wings flapping heroically, its desire to be free and fly with the others in the clouds above palpable in its face. And, just as the final strain promises to drag the angel down to the ground, the ropes break, and the angel surges into the sky, the cool wind carrying it aloft, drying the beads of sweat, the freedom of the experience soothing away the creased brow and a song springs to its lips.

Weird, huh?

Image Source: http://www.jucoolimages.com/images/angel/angel_17.gif

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Standing at the Checkout Stand

Source: http://www.lcsystemcorp.com/images/pos/system1.jpg

Standing at the grocery store checkout stand in the early years of my marriage, I never quite knew if when I slid my card through the "swiper," if the message I wanted would come back. You know, "TRANSACTION APPROVED."

I always figured, hey, why wouldn't they approve my transaction? I'm a teacher making enough to get by but not enough to get ahead, and they've got me hooked eternally! Then, part of me says, "Hey, who the heck are they to approve of me?" Of course, it was just a credit card transaction. Now, like a speaker at a religious education retreat--I served as a Catholic School educator for a short time in my career, the most rewarding faculty meetings...I mean, where else at work can you start and end a faculty meeting with a prayer? Puts it all in perspective--I "approve" my own work, and my actions. Sometimes, I'm tougher on me that need be, but that's part of striving for balance.

Earlier today, in fact, while I was about to start the car before running an errand, I checked my email on my new Android phone (it's darn awesome). And read this email with a sense of disbelief, not unlike the "Transaction Approved" message at the checkout stand when I was a young married teacher with not much coming into my direct deposit (you know, $11K annually is what they paid me when I was teaching private school).

Congratulations!

You have been selected to participate in the Google Teacher Academy for Administrators. After reviewing your application, we believe that you have the experience and passion necessary to positively impact education in your region, and we are excited to have you join us on Friday, March 5th at the Marriott Plaza in San Antonio, TX.

So, what's next?

First, here are some important details to keep in mind:

Google Teacher Academy
Friday, March 5th, 2010
8:00am - 7:30pm
Marriott Plaza San Antonio Hotel
555 South Alamo Street
San Antonio, TX 78205
Yes, it's a FULL day. There's just so much to share that we need the full day to accomplish everything. This is especially important to our community-building efforts. Of course, you can't think on an empty stomach! So, we'll provide three great meals - breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all on us. Also, remember that you need to provide your own transportation to and from the event. We'll send you specific details on parking in our next email. We've created a Google doc with travel information; it can be found at:...AND... we are excited to announce that this Google Teacher Academy for Administrators includes a special OPTIONAL opportunity for you to network with colleagues, Googlers, and many of the educators who lead sessions at a reception on Saturday, March 6th. This networking time will run from 5:30pm to about 7:30pm, and will include light hors d'oeurvres and refreshments. We hope that you'll be able to take advantage of this opportunity to "sleep on" all that you've learned and to spend time digging deeper into a few things that interest you.

It's kinda funny, but they even sent a link to a "do it yourself" press release, shared below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Local Educator to Become ‘Google Certified’ at Google Teacher Academy for Administrators

Walnut Creek, CA, February XX, 2010 — Google ^tm has selected MIGUEL GUHLIN as an attendee at the next Google Teacher Academy for Administrators, to be held in San Antonio on March 5, 2010.

The Google Teacher Academy for Administrators is a free professional development experience designed to help K-12 educational leaders get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's products and technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, and receive resources to share with colleagues. Upon completion, Academy participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local regions and beyond.

MIGUEL GUHLIN is thrilled to be among those selected, stating "I'm profoundly grateful for the opportunity to learn from others participating in this event. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to interact with fascinating educators selected to participate and contribute a thread to the rich tapestry of colorful learning. It is my intent to share as much as I can about the GTA for Admins with others as I go through it."

Google Certified Teachers are exceptional K-12 educators with a passion for using innovative tools to improve teaching and learning, as well as creative leaders and ambassadors for change. They are recognized experts and widely admired for their commitment to high expectations for students, life-long learning and collaboration.

The Google Certified Teacher program was launched in 2006 with the first Academy held at Google headquarters in Mountain View. The program has since held several academies across the US, expanding the ranks of Google Certified Teachers. This is the first Google Teacher Academy focused exclusively on educational leaders. The Google Teacher Academy is produced by Google, in collaboration with CUE and WestEd, both educational non-profit organizations.

Contact Person: Dr. Mark Wagner Company Name: Computer-Using Educators (CUE, Inc.) Telephone Number: 949.639.9743 Email Address: mwagner@cue.org Web site address: www.google.com/educators/gtaforadmins.html

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Encouraging Agility in a Time of Fragility

A recent reflection via email about the cordial exchange my esteemed colleague, Tim Holt, and I have been having about free software in schools gave me the idea for this blog entry. One free software advocate pointed out the importance of being "agile" in light of the wide variety of technologies that are available in the real world compared to those in school districts. Focusing on ONE particular set of tools would result in narrow-thinking and inexperience.

This is not a new argument, as I'm sure none of mine are (smile). The truth is, we've all heard the importance of teaching strategies and skills, building capacity regardless of the technology. "Jack can't read," as opposed to Johnny, might be seen in a different way: Jack be nimble!

Being nimble and agile means an increasing flexibility of a variety of tools. As society pushes more technology "out there," the small world of basic standards in districts begins to feel the pressure. As technology becomes ubiquitous through mobile computers--such as iPhones, Androids--it becomes harder to justify ONE choice, especially one that is expensive.

Consider these points shared at TexasISD.com web site:

• Comptroller cautious about budget shortfall predictions
  AUSTIN – Comptroller Susan Combs said Wednesday that she's not buying into predictions of a state fiscal meltdown – yet. Forecasts by some that next session's budget shortfall could be as much as $20 billion are too gloomy, "way out there," she said. [ View Article ] Feb 4, 2010, 08:32
• FBISD: Focus Is On Reducing Budget, Not Jobs
  Despite a recent study by the Texas Association of School Boards that recommends the Fort Bend Independent School District eliminate more than 400 positions in an effort to save $23 million in the upcoming budget, district officials are stressing that the main focus right now is to ensure “quality instructional programs” and to do so without loss of jobs. The district is facing an $18 million deficit, the third deficit budget in a row.

And, the news isn't over about budgets. Read Education News publication and budgets are on the front page. Districts are facing financial exigency. At a time when science and technology are critical, you can define the experience of my 10 year old child in using technology as working on an Alphasmart in school.

Agility in a time of fragility. As we move into the future, agile school districts will be those able to rapidly adapt and use technologies that empower their users without adding on extra financial costs. The savings can be, of course, diverted to provide implementation support, but more importantly, increased access and professional learning for end users. Agility means expecting everyone to commit to learning something new.

But that doesn't mean that we forget the old stuff either. In free software, it does not mean we stop buying Apples and Dell Computers and instead focus on lower cost hardware. It does mean that we replace the software that costs licensing and more and use that funding to increase technology access to our under-served students.

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Export iCal to CSV

Source: Mozilla Sunbird

"Is there a good way to export all events in an iCal to a list or spreadsheet?" Chris Webb tweeted earlier tonight, clarifying with this follow up tweet, "I'd like to export an iCal as another format such as .csv, in order to be able to create a list of the events."

Remembering I'd done this once before when juggling a whole slew of dates for our Room Scheduler Calendar (from BrownBear Software), I set out to remember how.

While I stumbled upon some of the same solutions that Chris later re-tweeted, I found that you can use Mozilla Sunbird calendar program--available as a free software solution on all platforms--to blend the calendar (ics) files, whether they originated in GoogleCalendar, Mac's iCal program, or somewhere else.

Sure enough, Mozilla Sunbird not only allows you to easily import multiple calendar files (ics) no matter their source, but you can also export to comma-delimited format (CSV for easy entry into a spreadsheet or database program), as well as HTML web page.

Other solutions Chris encountered and retweeted from Mike Amante (neat name!):

• For .ics to .csv, I use iCalMaker: http://bit.ly/cWtP3k but I just found this may do what u need for free: http://bit.ly/bBwIMm

From the second web site:

iCal could be a great tool to keep track of the amount of time you put on a project, but it cannot do basic stats : For example, you cannot know how much time you worked on a specific project.

For this reason, I wrote a very basic program that converts the calendars from iCal to a CSV (comma-separated values) file, so it becomes possible to manipulate all the events from a calendar in your favorite spreadsheet.

Of course, it's not the only game in town. Sunbird does the job, too!

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No Fair Use Videos In Your Moodle Classroom

Copyright Fascism
Source: http://www.seoptimise.com/blog/2009/11/open-source-flv-player-embedding-videos-the-no-youtube-way-in-7-steps-tutorial.html

Want to post videos in your password-protected, walled garden of a Moodle virtual classroom? Well, forget it! That's right, the Association for Information and Media Equipmentis making the following assertion:

Copyright law does include exemptions for professors who wish to use audiovisual media “in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction” — so long as the professor is not showing media that he or she knows has been made illegally. The university said streaming the video on a password-protected Web site, where only students who are registered members of the class can access it, satisfies these criteria.

But the trade group is arguing that a password-protected space on the Web is not a classroom. “The face-to-face teaching exemption allows a video to be played in class, not streamed to the classroom from a remote location,” Dohra said in an e-mail. “As to the fair use claim, when videos are streamed to students outside the classroom, password protection may limit access to some degree. However, requiring a password doesn’t make an infringement fair use.”

Dohra added, “A password that allows access to videos that are illegally copied from DVDs and encoded into a school's platform is nothing but a password to ill-gotten gain.”
Source: Inside Higher Ed

As I read this, posting a copyrighted video within a Moodle is NO LONGER ALLOWABLE.

What do YOU think? Here's one perspective....

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Links to Segregate By

Source: http://www.bestweekever.tv/bwe/images/2008/01/MONKEY%20FACES%202.JPG

Received this email and since it says so eloquently what it wishes to convey, I'm just going to post it here. This posting, like all other Press Releases, does not constitute an endorsement of any sort...I just found it fun to poke at...ok, that's not an admission of guilt. I don't poke at animals in the zoo, but I confess to making faces at the monkeys to see if they recognize one of their brethren who has escaped.

Hi Miguel


I hope you’re well. I am just dropping you a line to let you know of a feature article we recently published over here at Sir Learnalot's Knowledge Blog titled, “Top 50 Global Education Blogs”. I thought you and your readers at Around the Corner might be interested in taking a look. Please let me know if you have any feedback. -- http://onlineuniversityrankings.org/2010/top-50-global-education-blogs/


Cheers!

James J Atkinson

Sir Learnalot's Knowledge Blog

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Peel and Orange - Put Your Money in Tech NOT Teachers...huh?

Source: Curt Bonk's and Ke Zhang's book, Empowering Online Learning

Tim Holt (Intended Consequences) leaves a long comment in response to a recent blog post entitled Think Different in Schools. Tim's objections boil down to the following:

1. Linux just isn't good enough for schools.
2. You need a geek to provide support.
3. Not all peripherals are supported so we should use more inclusive operating systems like Mac or Windows.
4. Will an iPod Touch work with Linux?
5. You get what you pay for...and with GNU/Linux, since it's free, you don't get value.

What a bunch of baloney. Let's take these points one at a time and I promise I'll be brief:

1) If GNU/Linux isn't good enough for schools, why are Indiana Schools, India, China, and many other organizations using GNU/Linux distributions to meet their educational needs? They use it because they realize significant cost savings and, more importantly, discover a freedom about free software that isn't possible with proprietary solutions. Furthermore, use of GNU/Linux doesn't eliminate the use of other tools. But the vast majority of technology in schools SHOULD be the least expensive tool to get the job done, rather than the most expensive one that few learn how to use.

2) You can't advocate for social networking, connected learning, global communities, the power of connectivism and then dismiss free software by saying it lacks a 1-800 support line. Actually, you can take your considerable cost savings and put them into support. Anyone who works with free software knows that there are plenty of geeks you can hire--they even form companies!--to provide support. And, that support is LESS EXPENSIVE than the TOTAL COST of buying proprietary software AND the support provided. Simply, you buy what you need, not what the vendor thinks you need.

3) Peripheral device drivers are developed as demand increases. It's happened time and again...and, yes, Wacom tablets DO WORK on GNU/Linux, such as UbuntuLinux...and a 2 second Google search reveals that has been a fact since 2005.

4) Will an iPod Touch work with GNU/Linux? Uh, well, no but that's the point isn't it? Apple makes all their stuff as closed as possible to CONTROL use of devices. In fact, if we are about freedom, liberty, pursuit of happiness, Apple's approach is an indictment and seeks to limit your creativity to the bounds of their imagination. Ipod? What about Android? The more open your technology, the better.

5) I'm going to steal from another writer. You could get me for plagiarism but I'm going to cite the source and provide some linktribution. "Whoever pays the piper calls the tune." Ahh, yes, it's great to have vendors fighting over school districts, wining and dining Board members and superintendents.

In fact, allow me to share a real story from a colleague (from another district in Texas); note that the person was not in the target sales group. I've adjusted the names of the vendors to protect myself against slander or libel, I forget. It goes like this:

Peel and Orange--the names of two hardware vendors--were both competing for my district's business. The Peel rep came up to me and asked, "What do I need to do to get your district's business?" To this I replied, "You need to wine and dine the school board members, give them free laptops in tailored bags, and do the same for every superintendent's cabinet member." The Peel rep was crestfallen. Then, district staff member looked at us and asked us, "Do you know who got the contract?" Ruefully, we shook our heads afraid of what was coming. "Orange" We were surprised. Really? "Yes, they did exactly what I told the Peel rep needed to be done."

The above is a story relayed to me. Whether it's accurate, I encourage you to reflect on your experiences with vendors seeking your business.

So, "money talks" is clear. TCEA 2010 is next week and I'm so glad that I can toss the invitations to be wined and dined in the trash. I don't need an expensive steak dinner to find out whether a product will work or not.

As for graphic organizer software, who the heck uses a desktop based graphic organizer anymore? That's like using a database that only one person can access.

As a parent and educator, I've seen how public schools use technology in schools. For the most part, they run kids through drill-n-practice software, test them for high stakes data collection, and then, when that's over, they expect them to use technology as a reward.

I'm sure technology can be used for a lot more than that. Go read Bonk's R2D2. Is it OS specific? And, if not, why are you wasting taxpayer funds on fancy equipment and software only a small percentage of people bother to learn and use?

Go ahead, sprinkle a few Macs and Windows machines in for high end video editing work. But bring the workhorses in for the mass of students and educators who are just interested in R2D2.

Here is his comment:

It is interesting that your perspective is the only one "of reason." "What will it take to get superintendents to listen to reason?"

Really? Really?

There are a lot of reasons that open source is not used. Despite what you always write, the programs are NOT always as reliable, or as stable. Nor do these OS programs have any kind of support other than the obscure geeks that know each other. Where do I go for support for an OS program? There is no 1-800 number. I have to join a listserve or become part of the LInux Illuminati in order to get help.

I am sorry Miguel, but you are really off on this one. OS, FOR THE MOST PART, is imitative, not innovative.

For instance, is there, after all of these years, an OS program as GOOD as Kidspiration? No, There are imitators, there are online ones, but for little kids, there is NOTHING like Kidspiration. Sorry.

There is NOTHING like iMovie 09.
There is nothing like Garageband. (Audacity cannot do video and graphics, sorry.)
Yes, there are online versions, but they too, for the most part are imitative.
Lego Mindstorms? Pasco Probeware? Do they run on Linux? No, unless there is some hack somewhere that is not supported.

Do Wacom tablets work with Linux? No. So I guess graphic arts is out.

Will my iPod touch work with Linux? No, it is not designed to. So if it does, it is a hack job that is not supported by the vendor.

It isn't always about the Operating system either. It is about the ecosystems that goes with the operating system. Sometimes, things just run on Mac or Windows. Sorry. That is a good enough reason.

For someone that is always insisting that students be given the chance to show how innovative they can be, it pains me whenever you insist that OS is "just as good." It isn't.

It is "good enough," but it isn't just as good.

I think it is pretty amusing that the OS-ers in the world insist that everyone ELSE should use the cheapest programs they can find. Why stop there? Why not insist that we use the cheapest computers? The cheapest cars? Live in the cheapest houses? You know why they don't say that? Because they know, deep down, that you get what you pay for.

Next time you are with all of the OS dudes, ask them what kind of cars they drive? Then ask them why didn't they get a less expensive car? Why waste money on a car that drives better or has a nicer interior than a less expensive car.

The answer is in the experience. The more expensive cars give the drivers and passengers a better experience.

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Oklahoma Technology Association Conference

Consider attending if you're in the vicinity of Oklahoma! I had the opportunity to keynote at this event a short time ago, and can certainly recommend it to you!

Greetings Fellow Teachers, Counselors, Techs and Administrators

The Oklahoma Technology Association Conference is set for February 9th and 10th at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City.

The conference features more than 50 break-out sessions covering a wide range of topics including on-line learning, video production, Smartboards, Wiki’s and Moodle, Web 2.0 applications iPod Touch technology, national board certification, legal issues and various curriculum approaches.

New this year is a Counseling Strand with several sessions targeted for school counselors! These sessions can also be counted as CEU’s for LPC’s and LCSW’s.

Please log on to the OTA website at www.oktech.org and review the Conference Session list.

We already have several hundred participants registered. You may register for the conference at the conference. Just bring a check or a purchase order.

Please pass this information on to your district’s staff. We look forward to seeing you at the conference!

Think Different in Schools @neisd

"Why should our school systems be paying for proprietary software when teachers are being laid off?"
Source: Computer World Blog

Update: Follow-up rant here

It is a question I wish the Community would ask superintendents and school boards more...problem is, sometimes, that conversation sometimes only flows one way. Why should programs like the NorthEast School of the Arts in NorthEast ISD be trimmed down when the District continues to pay expensive fees for MS Windows, MS Office, and other expensive proprietary software?

Let's assume you have buy 2000 computers per year...multiply that by $40 licensing fee (approx) per machine for MS Windows, and you save $80,000, enough to pay for one teacher. Drop annual licensing fees for MS Office, and you save another "boatload" of money.

Financial exigency...it's a scary term, yet we continue to hear it about it. And, it's only going to get worse for the next budget year, not only in Texas but other states. We're seeing a drop in tax revenue for overall in Texas of 10%. Are we THINKing DIFFERENT or still trying to crawl along with old approaches that are ineffective and spending that put schools in the hole?

Regrettably, "THINK DIFFERENT" today means think within the boxes provided. At a time when the operating system--Apple, Mac or GNU/Linux--seems to matter even less, we continue to focus on the two most popular ones. Why not switch all your computers to GNU/Linux, leaving applications like OpenOffice on them, but move everything to cloud computing?

If you are a school or district using GNU/Linux, please complete this short survey!

View Results

Low-income families, like poor school districts, need to be willing to try new things. And, often, they are...just not in the land of plenty (USA). I'm inclined to agree with some of the points made in this blog entry:

1. Teachers Resistant to Change
2. Teachers are Not Accountable for Technology
3. School Boards are Technology Clueless
4. Change the Grant Process
5. Create a Technology Plan

Yet, some are brave enough to try:

• A few growing pains aside, a Linux deployment in a Santa Rosa, CA elementary school district is maturing robustly, letting teachers and students stand apart from their previous dependence on Microsoft Windows while they try on new open software attitudes.

  The transition in Santa Rosa from Windows NT 4 to Ubuntu Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) might not get an A+ mark based strictly on smoothness, suggested Jordan Erickson, who’s been overseeing the seven LTSP school networks ever since their launch about three years ago through his company, Silicon Valley-based Logical Networking Solutions (LNS). But overall, the Linux deployment is ranking highly with the seven schools involved, because it saves them money on Microsoft licenses, spares them from Windows upgrades, prevents computer viruses, and spurs greater collaboration, Erickson said.

  The school district in Santa Rosa decided to switch to LTSP following a pilot program at a Boys and Girls Club in Petaluma, CA. Initially used in an after-school program for six-to-14-year-olds, the implementation at the kids’ clubhouse is still up and running, along with a smaller deployment at LNS, for a grand total of nine managed LTSP networks, all in Sonoma County. LNS administers the whole configuration from its offices in Santa Rosa, using Virtual Network Computing (VNC) over Secure Shell for Workstations (SSH) tunnels.
  Source: Linux Makes the Grade in California Schools

A few Texas stars doing it (thanks to Don Davis and Ken Task)
(note: the inclusion of these folks and their districts does not constitute an endorsement of this blog entry...no, no one told me to put this disclaimer in, I just thought I would! (smile))

• Mark Cockrell - Honey Grove ISD - cockrell@honeygroveisd.net (thin client and more)
• Jeremy Fluhmann - Winters ISD - fluhmann@gmail.com (ubuntu/station and servers)
• Jimmy Blaschke - Woodsboro ISD - james_blaschke@wisd.net (internet servers - all in one)
• Sean Tynes - Calhoun County CISD - tyness@calcoisd.org (CMS's [joomla])
• Rusty Meyners - Eustace ISD - rmeyners@eustaceisd.net - (Moodle/other)
• Leslie Sessions - Austwell/Tivoli ISD - techleslie@gmail.com (internet servers/other)
• Kevin Bryan - New Sumerfield ISD - kbryan@nsisd.sprnet.org (CMS/Moodle)

What would it take to make your superintendent and school board listen to reason? How much long will we spend money on software/hardware rather than on people? Let's lower those class sizes, increase salaries, tighten operating budgets and get rid of every expense that takes money OUT of our District!

Simple process:

1. Purchase hardware
2. Install free, open source software
3. Move to cloud computing where available, use the desktop where one must
4. Stop paying for proprietary software like Windows, Mac OS, MS Office, iWork, iLife except in key multimedia stations.

How many teachers will we push out on the streets? How many classrooms will we pack with students? How many schools must close?

Think different...do it. NOW.

RESOURCES

For those interested in pursuing K-12 Linux Terminal Server Project in schools, check out Don Davis' resources for his upcoming TCEA 2010 Conference presentation. Thanks to Don for sharing!

• http://linuxltsptcea2010.pbworks.com/
  
• http://linuxltsptcea2010.pbworks.com/FAQs

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Images for Education Suggestions

Thanks to all who tweeted--@timstahmer, @mwacker, @technolibrary, @djakes, and @garystager--some alternatives to district-blocked (in some K-12 spaces, not all) Google Images and Flickr. Below is an excerpt of the information--I needed to compose a short missive about a variety of topics and this is what I came up with--I shared with folks who were interested, albeit edited for anonymity:

Finding a Google Images Alternative - There are several alternative image web sites, few that offer Google Images search capability. One suggestion made was to use Texas Online Library Resources. You can access these resources via your campus media specialist/teacher-librarian.

While free clip art and image search web sites abound, you'll want to pay close attention to copyright. You are encouraged to use only Creative Commons NC-SA-Attrib image sites, which are images meant for re-use given copyright holder's expectations.

Here are some possible Image search engines that may soon be blocked, so no guarantees! Be sure to take model appropriate citation strategies, as evidenced by this web site, The Citation Machine.

1. Pics4Learning
2. Pixsy.com
3. PicSearch.com
4. ExaLead Image Search

Of course, I couldn't share recommendations without mentioning my favorite CC search engine, Flickrcc.bluemountains.net as well as the up and coming Sprixi.com, which is down temporarily for updates.

The difference between Flickrcc and Pics4Learning, for example, is the difference between the image at the top of this blog post and the one below....

Image Source: Jones, Karen. umbrella.jpg. Feb. 20, 2009. Pics4Learning. 2 Feb 2010

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Registration Now Open - Texas Linus Fest!

Register online at http://register.texaslinuxfest.org

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Upgrade Problems Funding Isn't Available to Fix

While it's great to stay up to date with the latest and greatest, many schools are still using old, out of date software and hardware. I look to the announcement below from Google and wonder what impact there would be if districts with 50% or greater obsolete equipment--that can only run IE 6--were using Google Sites or GoogleApps for Education.

Consider that many school districts wait a few years before upgrading an operating system, an Office suite, or anything else. For example, one district I know never updated from Windows XP to Windows Vista, and continues to run Windows XP, although buying licenses for Windows 7. Why? The equipment is too old and to upgrade would cause problems funding isn't available to fix.

On the plus side, it's great that GoogleApps admins were notified of the change. Here's the email I received:

Dear Google Apps admin,​

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 ​as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Starting this week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.

In 2009, the Google Apps team delivered more than 100 improvements to enhance your product experience. We are aiming to beat that in 2010 and continue to deliver the best and most innovative collaboration products for businesses.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

The Google Apps team

Email preferences: You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Apps product or account.

As wonderful as any solution is when new, it's important to consider how to make the transition from an old system to a new one. How does YOUR district handle that transition and, for GoogleApps for Education users, do you anticipate a problem on March 2, 2010, the day after Google begins phasing these out?

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Quantify Tragic

Reviewing David Warlick's blog, which I enjoy tremendously, more so than reading the blogs and published writings of his detractors, I ran across this paragraph:

But I think that we need to acknowledge the tragic waste that is resulting from today’s system. We need to stop believing that we can bandaid the system into relevance. I think that we need to be willing to say, “It’s too late for her. Now, what can we do to make sure that we never have to say that again.”

And the question that popped into my head was, how do you quantify the "tragic waste that is resulting from today's system?" How bad is it really and where do I go to find that out? How do you quantify, tragic?

It's important to know how to quantify tragic when referring to schools because my gut reaction is that we too often criticize schools, teachers, administrators in the media, in the legislature, in books. Of course, I can cite the reports that call for dramatic change to our education system. I'm just not sure I believe them anymore. Is that an ostrich dropping its head into the sand, anomie, or just a realization that every constituent group has its own agenda and plan for achieving it, which may or may not cause considerable collateral damage to other stakeholder groups.

How do you quantify tragic in today's education system? Perhaps one should ask, how do you quantify learning in spite of all odds? How do you quantify a passionate desire to continue learning and doing when everyone, even your own mother, tells you it's impossible, you're not qualified, you can't do it, and should go find another way?

Now, that last paragraph would be so much better if I had links for each example. I don't.

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Job Posting - San Antonio Botanical Gardens

An announcement from the San Antonio Botanical Gardens:

Seasonal Interpreter Position (Contract)

• General Position Description: Under the direction of the Education Director at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, the Seasonal Interpreter is responsible for developing and implementing 6 monthly children’s programs (March, April, May, September, October, and November) and 5 summer camps (Little Sprouts, ages 3-5, June 7-11, Junior Naturalist, ages 6-8 June 14-18, Junior Gardener, ages 6-8, June 21-25, Junior Naturalists, ages 9-12, July 12-16, and Junior Gardener, ages 9-12, July 19-23). Researches, develops, implements, and evaluates interpretive programs, including but not limited to: exhibits, tours, school programs, guided walks, special events, training workshops and seminars based on the mission of the Botanical Garden. Assists with the volunteer program. Prepares reports, maintains administrative and interpretive files and assists with visitors service needs. Performs additional duties as assigned. Complies with all San Antonio Botanical Society and City of San Antonio rules, regulations, and procedures. This is a temporary seasonal at-will position which serves at the will of the employer and does not include recall rights or benefits (other than those mandated by governmental laws). This position will expire at the time employment is ended for the season and the employee does not have recall rights to this or any other position in the future. Specifically, the Society is under no obligation to hire the individual in subsequent seasons. The number of weeks and hours worked may vary as park needs dictate. Additional information will be provided upon employment.
• Working Conditions: (1) Flexible schedule, seasonal contract not to exceed $7,500 (500 hours at the rate of $15/hour). (2) Duties require outdoor work in all types of weather; (3) Non-smoking work environment in all buildings and vehicles.
• Physical Skills: Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds.
• Minimum Qualifications:
• Education: Graduation from an accredited four year college or university with a bachelor's degree. Acceptable Substitutions: One year of experience in interpretation or conducting educational programs may substitute for 30 hours of the required education, with a maximum substitution of 120 semester hours. (Bachelor's degree with no experience required; or 90 college credit hours with one year of experience in interpretation or conducting educational programs; or 60 college credit hours with two years of experience in interpretation or conducting educational programs; or 30 college credit hours with three years of experience in interpretation or conducting educational programs; or no college credit hours with four years of experience in interpretation or conducting educational programs). Preferred Qualifications: Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university in one of the following areas: Agriculture, Horticulture, Botany, Forestry, Biology, Education, Park Administration, Recreation & Parks, Wildlife/Fisheries Science, Natural and/or Cultural Resource Conservation, Range Management, Anthropology/Archeology, History, or closely related field.
• Experience: One year of experience in interpretation or conducting educational programs. Preferred Qualifications: (1) Experience working with the public; (2) Customer service experience;
• License/Certifications: Must possess or be able to obtain, within thirty days of employment, a valid class "C" Texas driver's license. NOTE: Retention of position contingent upon obtaining and maintaining required license.
• Selection Criteria:
• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: (1) Knowledge of natural and cultural resource management; (2) Knowledge of special event planning and implementation; (3) Knowledge of general maintenance techniques; (4) Skill in effective interpretive techniques, program preparation and presentations; (5) Skill in communicating effectively both verbally and in writing with the general public and co-workers; (6) Skill in planning, organizing and implementing public presentations and guided tours for all age groups; (7) Ability to train and serve as a team leader for volunteers; (8) Ability to provide quality customer service in a professional manner; (9) Ability to use a computer and related software such as Power Point, Word and Excel; (10) Ability to work as a member of a team; (11) Ability to conduct work activities in accordance with department's safety program, work rules and standards of behavior.

Please send resume and professional references to:

Sasha Kodet
San Antonio Botanical Garden
555 Funston
San Antonio, TX 78217

Resumes must be postmarked by February 24, 2010.

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Ed Tech Funding Eliminated in 2011 Obama Budget Proposal

A colleague pointed this out to me...maybe I should have voted McCain/Palin, even though it would have meant studying creationism in schools...

Human space flight wasn't the only casualty of the 2011 federal budget proposal issued by the Obama administration Monday. Despite an overall $3.5 billion increase in education spending, the proposed $3.8 trillion FY 2011 budget zeroed out the only federal source of funding specifically dedicated to education technology, while consolidating 38 education programs into 11 and shifting a total of $1.85 billion into the Race to the Top program and the Investing in Innovation Fund.

To read the complete article, please go to:

http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/02/01/ed-tech-funding-eliminated-in-2011-obama-budget-proposal.aspx

Some key points:

• "I cannot wait to hear more details about the proposed budget," Fletcher said. "When I interviewed Secretary Duncan and Jim Shelton this past summer, both were absolutely clear that without technology we cannot possibly be successful in the reforms the administration has outlined. We need technology for data systems to gauge how well students are doing; we need technology to engage students in learning; and we need technology to deliver professional development equitably and inexpensively to teachers so they can improve. Why go to the expense and effort to develop a plan if technology is so unimportant that it receives no dedicated funding?"

• The new budget also proposed funding for efforts to bolster education in science, technology, engineering, and math and to prepare children for entry into kindergarten.

  According to the budget document, "Our Nation's eighth graders are scoring below their peers from many Asian and European countries, and we are neither adequately closing the achievement gaps in math and science nor providing adequate opportunities for many students from diverse backgrounds. The Budget reflects the Administration's investment in improving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outcomes and creating the next generation of scientists and engineers who can help drive economic growth in the coming decades."

  A complete copy of the Obama administration's proposed 2011 budget, as well as related documents, can be found here.

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FERPA This, GoogleApps!

Doug Johnson (Blue Skunk Blog) wrote a wonderful article--Computing in the Clouds--using GoogleApps in Education, then followed up with a blog post about a reader comment in Learning and Leading with Technology magazine.

In that blog post, he makes the following point after responding specifically to some assertions in the reader's comment:

Unreasonable fears should not be an impediment to any technology adoption. Some risk, considered and acceptable, is a part of any change.

Deal with it.

But that's the problem, isn't it? These are not fears but the due diligence of a school district tasked with caring for children, as if they were the parent, during the time they have them available. As such, school districts have to ask questions that--to the best of my knowledge--GoogleApps for Education has FAILED to definitively answer in public.

You see, it doesn't matter that GoogleApps for Education says to those who ARE using it. We don't have access to that. Public school districts who are not shirking their duty--as perhaps those who run to embrace the elusive mist of the cloud without giving due diligence to these issues--will ask questions like this one. What am I referring to? The FERPA question I raised in an earlier blog entry on behalf of Robert Alford.

Robert Alford (blog) recently asked presented a fascinating question that gets at implementation issues that I suspect districts that just "jumped" into GoogleApps for Education haven't really thought through:

Question regarding staff members/school districts use of Google docs. What is your district's stance regarding teachers/schools use of Google docs? Would signing up for a Google Apps for Education account and activating the SSL capabilities meet with FERPA laws?

An example: A teacher using Google forms/spreadsheet to keep track of parent contacts made and items discussed. Using Google docs the school's administrative staff could have access to the information as the teacher complies the data. BUT because we are not in a contractual agreement with Google (as opposed to Fitness Gram or TMSDS) would this violate FERPA law?

So...until GoogleApps for Education comes out with an official policy statement for K-12 schools, a District's response should be, "What's out there just isn't substantial enough."


On a related note, some Googling of FERPA and GoogleApps for Education yielded the following inconclusive results:

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: By subscribing to a Gmail (SouthSeattle.edu Google Apps) account, you acknowledge that Google is not acting on behalf of South Seattle Community College and any e-mail transmission between you and College employees or others is subject to Google's Gmail privacy statement on the use and disclosure of e-mail.

Source: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Apps/thread?tid=758d3885214aecee&hl=en

Excluding students due to FERPA - Not possible

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Apps/thread?tid=4ce5d893154c3047&hl=en

Does Gmail meet FERPA guidelines?

Google is contractually and legally responsible to protect information. Google will not share e-mail contents or personal information to outside parties.
Source: http://www.csuchico.edu/google/facultystaff.shtml#ferpa

Discussion in Mark Wagner's blog about GoogleAPps and FERPA is mentioned in comments:
http://edtechlife.com/?p=2236

Fascinating reading...

The question of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) compliance was raised during

most sessions. Session attendees appeared to be comfortable with the typical subsequent discussion

pointing out that FERPA compliance is more a task of user behavior rather than infrastructure, and that

the features within Google Apps allow FERPA compliance.

The most significant issue may be with the ability of Google Apps to allow compliance with The Health

Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. Sessions were held at

Arizona Health Sciences Center (AHSC) as well as at the remote Phoenix Biomedical Campus (PBC).

The question of HIPAA compliance arose at both locations, although the most pointed comments were

made here in Tucson. Steven Wormsley, the head of college IT for the College of Medicine, was explicit

in expressing his doubts that Google would be HIPAA compliant, although without noting specific

issues. An attorney from the UA Office of General Counsel's (OGC) Comstock satellite office was

present at one of the AHSC sessions. She appeared less worried about present compliance, but

informed us that the HIPAA rules would be updated as of February 2010, and might contain certain

aspects of required encryption that is not presently mandated. GIT anticipates that we would purchase

an optional but standard add-on for Google Apps, if we were to move faculty and staff into the Google

structure, that allows much more control over staff and faculty email. This add on, the Postini service,

would allow encryption of email data, as well as requirements such as ediscovery, mail rollback,

archiving, record retention, etc.

There is some precedence in regards to education and healthcare institutions determining that Google

Apps does allow HIPAA compliance. St. Louis University (SLU), a private school of approximately

13,000 students, has moved their faculty and staff to Google Apps. SLU has a comprehensive

healthcare program, including a College granting medical degrees, and running a 365-bed academic

teaching hospital. Their Compliance Office has determined that Google Apps meets HIPAA

requirements. See more at http://www.slu.edu/x22574.xml .

FERPA Issues

Google is contractually and legally responsible to protect information. A note is made that they are not obligated to be FERPA compliant — since Google itself is not required to be — but that they work with the institution to ensure their privacy needs are met. Northwestern feels that Google security is a contractual requirement that the institution must agree to (so should support their needs) and is better than what many institutions can provide.
Source: http://blog.vibrantjourney.com/2008/05/27/google-apps-for-education/

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DiigoNotes - Phoebe Prince, 15, Commits Suicide After Onslaught of Cyber-Bullying From Fellow Students

• Phoebe Prince, 15, Commits Suicide After Onslaught of Cyber-Bullying From Fellow Students - True Crime Report

  • Phoebe Prince, 15, Commits Suicide After Onslaught of Cyber-Bullying From Fellow Students

    By Pete Kotz in classroom creepiness

    Thursday, Jan. 28 2010 @ 11:56AM
  • 
  • Her principal called her smart and charming. And a boy had just invited 15-year-old Irish immigrant Phoebe Prince to the winter cotillion, the height of the social season at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts. But then police received a call.
  • police say she was a victim of cyber-bullying from girls at the school who had an unspecified beef with her over who she was dating.
  • Phoebe apparently faced an onslaught of bullying via texts, Facebook messages, and in person at the school.
    
  • "Apparently the young woman had been subjected to taunting from her classmates, mostly through the Facebook and text messages, but also in person on at least a couple of occasions,'' school superintendent Gus Sayer told the Boston Globe.
  • Anne O'Brien Prince and Jeremy Prince had moved from County Clare to Massachusetts with their five kids last year. In Phoebe's death notice, they said they moved in part so "Phoebe could experience America.''
    
    America, it seems, did not give her a very kind welcome.

  • South Hadley officials faced a blistering attack last night for their failure to do anything about chronic bullying.

    Parents recounted numerous incidents of kids being hounded and harassed, sometimes over multiple-year periods. One man told of how his son was punched in the stomach for befriending another bullied kid. A mom spoke of how her son was punched and had his face written on with magic marker.

    Other parents talked about how they were beat up in school in the '90s. And most seemed to think administrators turned a blind eye to it all. Father Larry Bay said his daughter was bullied last year, but the school did nothing to stop it.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.