12 Apr 11 Senior High Image – Discussion

Please respond to the following questions:

What applications do you currently need to support your curriculum?

What software are you currently using?

What are the top 5 applications school-wide that you need and how do they support education? (Aside from Microsoft Office)

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23 Apr 10 Social networking winner Facebook changes Google dominance

Facebook is building toward a web where the default is social.
This is a April 22, 2010 BBC news web story.
“Facebook has won the internet”.
Question: how does our scope of LwICT get included on this “winning” side of the internet with Facebook?
We touched on the new importance of the Web among our other discussions on software, maybe we should put the new ‘basic image’ of the web accessing alongside that of software.

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05 Mar 10 Lost Generation (You Tube)

Note: This assignment was presented to students using PBworks. This is the content:
Assignment:
1. view this video.
Lost Generation
Lost Generation

Think about these questions together before starting the work in Word.
1. What impact does this have on you for the issues mentioned?
2. Could a video with the second part only have the same impact on you?
3. How does this video help you learn about yourself and your generation?
4. How important is the readers voice in help you understand the message?
5. How important is the visual presentation in helping you understand the message?
6. What other ways would you use to present the message using You Tube?
7. How important is the media in delivering the message of the “Lost Generation” to yourself at this time?
8. Extra stuff you thought of for sharing about the learning activity.

2. Viewing and Comments
Use Word to prepare the comment on the above 7 inquiry items, then highlight, copy, paste and post you work for sharing.
The You Tube Video will be played in two parts. Press pause at 51 seconds and comment on the Initial Impact of the first part.
In Word, type the heading then make a comment
Initial Impact of first part
Initial Impact of the second part
Below these two comments, answer the other 8 items. The work in Word will be copy and pasted into the comment box after Word work is finished by everyone.

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01 Mar 10 March 3 a.m. Session Agenda

Senior Years LwICT Mentors Session
Wednesday, March 3
Admin # 2 , Room 106
9:00 – 11:45

Agenda

PD:

Monique Turcotte – x-mind portfolio
Lucy St. Lawrence – Science blog
Max Hegel – Dyknow

PD: hands-on activity

Log onto the School Division’s Education Research Complete database: (This is a fabulous Educator’s Resource subscription provided through WSD’s Library Support Services. Topics covered include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties, such as educational technology, health education, and assessment. Education Research Complete provides indexing and abstracts for more than 2,100 journals, as well as full text for more than 1,200 journals, and includes full text for nearly 500 books and monographs.)

http://search.ebscohost.com
username: wsdschools
password: winnipeg
Click on Education Research Complete

search for articles of interest on multitasking – explore what other professional information is available

Locate and open the .pdf of this article:

Gasser, Urs, and John Palfrey. “Mastering Multitasking.” Educational Leadership 66.6 (2009): 14-19. Education Research Complete. EBSCO. Web. 20 Feb. 2010.

Read the section “Giving Students the Facts” on page 18
Information Overload experiment
Explore: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/resources/

Discussion Question:

Responsible and ethical use of technology

Business Info.

A Common Image for senior highs

Next Sessions:

Mentors:
April 21 a.m.
May 18 a.m.

Year Two – Professional Learning Series :
March 10 – all day
May 3 – all day

Year One – Professional Learning Series:
April 9 – all day
May 10 – all day

Tags: agenda

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16 Feb 10

Senior Years LwICT Mentor’s Session

February 12, 2010

Computer Lab, Admin #2

Minutes

Present: MaryLouise Lisi, Patrick Logan, Lori Armstrong, Alice Osborne, Monique Turcotte, Max Hegel, Bob Rymer, Ron Lambert, Lea Mansell, Rui Carvalho, Jay Willman, Jamie Leduc, Dominic Zagari, Marshall Mayes, Rhonda Morrissette

Welcome & Sharing – Introductions – name, school and new approach, project or teaching idea . . . committee members shared events from their schools.
Upcoming Dates:

Professional Learning Series – March 10 – Year 2,
Professional Learning Series – April 9 – Year 1
Math Workshop using the SMART Board for Grade 9 teachers with Catherine Kaye – register through Mala Carriere at PCERC

Taking it global – Keith Strachan

http://www.tigweb.org – TakingITGlobal.org is an online community that connects youth to find inspiration, access information, get involved, and take action in their local and global communities. Participants had an opportunity to explore this site and note the activities – worth sharing with Social Studies Team!

Learning Centers for loan – ETSS

ETSS is working on pictures for each learning centre. These will be posted on the blog. The pictures will include individual components of the centre as well as the whole centre. The centres are now available for booking through Library Support Services (LSS) as part of the automated library system. To book any learning centre, access the LSS site and bookings – then search for the item you wish to book. You will need a user id and password and this can be obtained from LSS.

SMART Board Math Tools – ETSS

SMART Technologies have released a new version of the SMART Notebook software that comes with a trial version of a math component called Math Tools. There is a cost to this math component and it is designed for middle and senior years students. Currently ETSS is testing a trial version of the software to see if it will meet the needs of our students and teachers. A demonstration of the new tools can be viewed at http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Notebook+Math+software/default.htm

iTunes for educational podcasts – Rhonda

Participants explored the ITunes site and searched for educational podcasts. Access was slow due to internet problems outside of the division control. Suggested podcasts include TED Talks, EdTalks, EdTechTalk, k-12online . . and more

BREAK (snack courtesy of Lea and Rhonda)

Discussion Question – What new technology is being purchased at your schools?

Max – SMART Boards and projectors for every teacher who wished to use this technology, HP Grant that included two banner printers of high quality, two pods of 20 netbooks, charging cart as well. Eight classes using as part of the grant, taking out every morning and returning at end of day. Pods never leave the classroom. One pod on each floor to work with.

Jay – Plasma Cutter

Beehsham – four Dell Vostros – about $900 (like an IMac) 4 GB RAM, built in microphone, 500 GB hard drive

Patrick is trying to get some iPads – low end models

Business/Info. Sharing (ETSS):

ETAC

i. Mounting whiteboards & projectors

The Building Department is working with ETSS, AV/Computer Repair and ETAC to develop standards for installation of Smart Boards and ceiling mounted projectors to ensure that we have solutions that meet the needs of students and educators as well as provide long term performance. Currently no custom installations of interactive whiteboards are being done until these standards are determined.

Please remember to register your technology devices as warranties cannot be honored if there is a problem.

ii. WSD web site

The Division is looking to create a standardized divisional website with school portals that are a splash page for a school. A school may chose to just have this component. However schools are welcome to continue their blogs showcasing student learning. The portal will be a doorway into this.

iii. Software bulk purchases

Comic Life and SMART Ideas – letters about this bulk purchase will be sent to all administrators and mentors.

iv. Professional Development registration – Employee Connect

In the fall, ETSS shared about on-line registration through the blog. Now the Division is migrating to using CIMS. It is anticipated that as of September 2010, all division professional development will be entered through CIMS. ETSS will work with the mentors to start this process in the spring. All users will access the registration component through Employee Connect and will see only the professional development that is applicable to them.

Administrators will be able to see all professional development and will also have access to approving the sessions all of their staff register for.

v. Educational Technology Survey

ETSS had an opportunity to review the survey data with Brent Guinn. The anecdotal part is still being collated, with the people in Research classifying all the responses. We have the results from the rest of survey. There are a few common patterns – such as respondents want more professional development in terms of some components of LwICT, inquiry, using SMART Boards and any new technology available. The most requested types of professional development were to continue with what we are doing, going into schools to do on-going professional development sessions and multiple day workshops rather than one day sessions.

Individual schools will be able to get their own results once the data is collated and information has gone to the Educational Technology Administrative Committee.

Filtering

This item was discussed at the Educational Technology Advisory Committee. It was shared that information had been sent to all administrators in October indicating that varied filtering levels were available to schools. Administrators need to discuss this with their technicians. Filtering can be on a logon basis but we have no schools doing this at the current time. Usually a school allows a bypass of the filter for one hour.

If there is an interest at the school level, administrators should contact Information Services (either Marcia Martino or Kevin Druet) to discuss what the process would be to implement a custom filtering. District and high school technicians are aware of the features available and need to be communicating this information to the administrators.

Common image – tabled to next meeting

Next Meeting – March 3, 2010 – a.m. – Room 106 Admin bldg. #2

Tags: notes

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28 Jan 10 Minutes from Mentors’ Session – 12 November 2009

Senior Years – Mentor Session

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Admin 2 – Room 106

Minutes

Present: Lois Friesen, Bheesham Dabie, Bob Rymer, Monique Turcotte, Max Hegel, Paulo Queijo, Alice Osborne, Jay Willman, David Styles, Rebeca Decter, Ron Lambert, Jamie Leduc, Marshall Mayes, Merie Ann Delima, Lea Mansell, Rhonda Morrissette

Regrets: Dominic Zagari, John Howden

Sometimes less is more, unless. . .

More is better! (Frank Lloyd Wright)

Reports and Business
- Structure for this year’s sessions, – Business Portion & PD Portion
- Meeting dates :
  - Nov. 12 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
  - Monday, February 8, 2010 (since postponed to Feb. 12, 2010 – comp. lab –Admin#2)
  - Wed. March 3, 2010
  - Wednesday, April 21, 2010
  - Tues May 18, 2010
- Report – Manitoba Education Citizenship and Youth MECY
  - K-8 Continuum and 9-12 Framework
  - Patrick spoke with director Cheryl Prokopanko and every budget has been slashed – $ for PLSeries for senior years not available at the moment. As far as they’re concerned they’re presenting LwICT as K-12 as specified in the Senior Years ICT common SLO’s
- Update on Professional Learning Series and other Professional Development
  - New Year One PLS Session available, a limited number of subs are covered (3/school)
    - Year 1:
      - Wed. Dec. 9, 2009
      - Thurs., Jan 28, 2010 (since postponed)
      - Friday, April 9, 2010
      - Year 2:
      - November 25
      - Jan 26 (since postponed)
      - March 10
- Adding technology to the network
  - Directives – any computer purchased for the school through school funds can be put onto the network (in principal’s handbook)
  - Current status of wireless – Arnell verified the only box available is the $1000 box B/G/N, $560 box B/G speeds.
  - If there is a problem on the network, one does not have to remove the Lynksys box. If the original Linksys boxes were purchased through AV repair, and they were installed with the security package from A/V, they are grandfathered and do not have to be removed. The onus is on the technician to ensure they have the secure division application.
- Bulk Purchase of Software– check out the blog to find out who is interested:
  - Final Cut Express $179 (Mac)
  - Final Cut Studio/Motion/Sound/DVD Encoder $1099
  - Elements Package (PC)
  - Catia (Math, Science – costs thousands – Tec Voc looking to bulk purchase)
  - 3D Studio Max
  - Animation Academy Package ($160 seat, 18 seats – $120/seat)
  - French Software
  - Fruity Loops, DJ Acid (R.B. Russell)
  - CS4 suite $6000/site upgrade licence
  - Others
  - Mentor steering committee will discuss coordination of bulk purchases
- Blogging Items – Schools with blogs set up
  - Official report – statistics: Oct. 2008-Oct 2009 – Total number of unique visitors =551,000 from around the world, and 18 million hits. Examples:
    - Kelvin High School – 60,000 unique visitors
    - Interactive White Board – numerous unique visitors
  - Dufferin – 12,000+ unique visitors
  - Patrick will send out the stats
  - Ensure blogs have operational RSS – real simple syndication – if I have a RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed to have notification of new entries sent to you . If you manage a blog, Check widgits and make sure the Meta tags are added. Outlook will allow subscriptions to RSS feeds.
  - Security update – WSD Blogs – There is an upcoming SLOW DOWN while difficulties are being fixed: Lots of options available within 350+ blogs at WSD – this is causing difficulties as plugins are interacting.
Pierre Dufoe popped in to respond to a question about keeping computer labs clean.
- – WSD intends to keep schools open as long as possible.
- Dynakill – toilets etc., not keyboards. Three other products in schools are acceptable for keyboards. Light fixtures, door knobs, etc will be cleaned at least 2x per day.
- Hand sanitizers must be used for quick fix but not long-term (soap and water first choice). Due to alcohol flamability cannot have this in schools.
- Sanitizing wipes (ZEP, and Full Spectrum – like Lysol). To disinfect ICT, keyboards, allow wipes to air-dry, needs time to work.
- Bleach not acceptable, however, Sodium Hyperchloride is acceptable for cleaning in schools (diluted 5:1). EP66 – food safe sanitizer. All available to division. Wipe on only, do not spray on keyboards.
Professional Development
- PBWorks and ICT Framework – Ron Lambert
  - Ron did a presentation on PBWorks with Rennie Redekopp for SAG
  - Setting up PBWorks – could set students, mid-term, onto learning activities.
  - Go to www.pbworks.com, give self login account
  - Allows access to own and students accounts
  - Sample lesson plans can be uploaded
  - Front page – has templates, files, settings
  - Account – can set up rooms with own system of naming
  - Set number of users, give permissions, type in names, passwords are automatic, printout for teacher and handout for user available – like a Wiki
  - Ron demonstrated how students were led to make predictions, report on reading work, submit reflections and self-evaluations
  - There is no moderation. Inappropriate comments must be deleted by teacher. Students cannot comment to specific comments. Can be accessed from home.
  - Pages can easily be moved around, new pages can be added.
  - Summaries of users are available. Everything done within the PBWorks is emailed to administrator (Ron) and he then categorizes.

- Online registration – through blog – http://blogs.wsd1.org/etsspdreg All Professional Learning sessions are online @ HTTP://blogs.wsd1.org/etsspdreg/ – please check for number of registrants, many have spaces, telephone to book if you are able to attend at the last minute, a limited number of subs are covered (3/school).

- WSD ETSS Survey – support staff in doing this survey. It has not been accessable at home due to the private IP number, but there is someone working on making this available.

PicoBoards, scratch.mit.edu – Patrick Logan
- Supports math, science, and 21^st Century Skills, Assessment for Learning. Address teamwork skills, collaborative learning, networking. PicoBoards work with Scratch – Patrick Logan acquired 10 PicoBoards (for loaning)
  - PicoBoards part of MIT Lifelong Kindergarten program: view details at the Scratch blogsite http://scratch.mit.edu/forums/viewtopic.php?id=6281. Board has 4 sensors, button, slider (variable resistor), light sensor, sound sensor, alligator clips. Board comes with USB cable to hook up and alligator clips, and is very resilient (have been dropped without issues). Cost: $50.00
  - Employers who rate creativity, teamwork skills, etc. competency “very important” for new entrants
  - Encourages: Ability to adapt to changing circumstances, Thinking skills, can be used to create.
  - Robomind – Patrick Logan demonstrated
    - From Denmark – opensource software similar to Logo – but lists programming language based on Java – making it accessable to very young/beginning learners as well as experienced users. Shows the syntax of the language.
    - Students learn logic, e.g. build pictoral robot to navagate a maze. Can be as sophisticated as necessary, recommended for K-12.

Logger and Labquest – Bheesham Dabie
- Simple to use for applied math and science. E.g. Plug in light or temperature sensor, it immediately gives responses. Measures lux (light intensity). Measures temperatures. Data can be saved and tracked over time. Data can be saved, downloaded to USB pro, put into the computer and analyse it in greater detail. Also has a calculator and allows note taking (with stylus). There is a manual on DVD with all the labs which allow document changes in Word.
- Labquest can be purchased or borrowed from division. Purchase Lapquest Pro with three sensors in package (under $400).
- License for logger is division wide (nominal $5.00 to join).
- 10 hour battery life.
- Contact Bheesham to arrange to visit Argyle and see these sensors in use.

Planning for Future 9-12 Sessions – Rhonda Morrissette
- Mentor Meetings
  - Jot down ideas for future meetings – categorize based on concept map or create new category to add to concept map
  - Do you want to spend more time on things addressed in past? should we slow down?
  - Xmind (free concept mapping software online: www.xmind.net): Rhonda created framework with Xmind (see below).
  - Recommended for students – creates concept map and outline
  - Ideas New Technology Purchases in Schools – Alice OsborneLimited funds – maintenance and ICT spending – E.g. Science Labpress – iTouches (can borrow from division). What should we be doing with limited money? Although comments were handed in, please also post them on the blog!