October 26, 2006
Table of Contents:
1) Welcome!
2) Technology Links from your BOCES Technology Coordinator
3) MCS Frequently Asked Question
4) Technology Tutorials/Cheat Sheets for Integrade Pro and Skill Manager
1) Welcome!
We are off to another great school year here at the WSWHE BOCES! This has been an exciting time for us within BOCES Technology. We have spent a great deal of our summer and early Fall ensuring that your hardware and software needs are where they need to be for you to thrive and invigorate with technology in your classrooms. We have many ideas and plans in the hopper, yet we are willing and interested in changing our plans based on what you perceive is most beneficial and is engaging for your students, etc. If at anytime you would like to explore ways to utilize the technology in your classroom, whether it involves “how to’s” for your software and hardware, integration into curriculum, etc., please don’t hesitate to call or email our help desk at 3598 and helpdesk@wswheboces.org
We have an impressive array of talent who will promptly investigate your interests with you to hone in on the solutions that are right for you to create the best learning experiences for your students as possible. One avenue that we will use to facilitate this is via a continuously updated web page of Technology News, similar to a “newsletter” on the BOCES Technology webpage: http://www.wswheboces.org/tech/technews.html
You will find information here relative to web resources and interesting uses of technology inside and outside the classroom, seful tips based on frequently asked help desk requests, interesting op ed. pieces about technology to encourage healthy debate and thought about a number of technology related issues that are relevant to our world, spotlight pieces to let you get to know the technology talent better here at BOCES (the backgrounds, interests and expertise of our tech folks is invaluable) and much more. Thanks everyone, our BOCES Technology “electronic” door is always open for you…Nick : )
2) Technology Links from your BOCES Technology Coordinator
http://www.kathyschrock.net/navigating/
Kathy Schrock’s super collection of teacher technology links goes above and beyond. What a great resource this is that far too many people are familiar with. If you were going to check out just one link or are looking for a great place to start, this is the resource for you!
http://del.icio.us/gcps
This webpage has some really interesting links that are well organized and cover a variety of curricula and technology uses for instructional purposes. Aside from the subject matter specific links, check out the “education” one.
http://eservices.nysed.gov/vls/welcome.do
The New York State Education Department maintains a collection of discipline specific resources for educators called the “Virtual Learning System.” A real strength of this website is that it organizes information by New York State learning standard.
http://www.whatworks.ed.gov/
The U.S. Department of Education maintains a website for educators called the “What Works Clearinghouse” that evaluates research in Education that you might find interesting.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/12/ringtone_adults_cannot_hear/
File this under “a really neat/clever use of technology that you wouldn’t foresee!” Did you know that there is a ring tone on cell phones that students can hear that adults cannot? Click the link above to learn how clever students are using technology to communicate in innovative ways.
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson346.shtml
When I teach in the classroom, whether it is for a regular class or for a workshop, I like to have ice breaker ideas at the ready to use with my students; I recently found an article online that has some best practices that are relative to this that you might like (click the link above). My all time favorite ice breaker: a light hearted and self deprecating joke.
3) MCS Frequently Asked Question
“How do I tell if my files are being backed up?”
Anything kept on your desktop is not being backed up, but everything in your “H:\” drive is. There is an “H:\” drive folder for each WSWHE BOCES employee to save his or her files; this is a virtual folder on our network that is associated with each employee to ensure that none of your files get lost and are backed up regularly. You should associate yourself with this virtual space and not the local computer. The computers you work on are likely to change regularly as we upgrade, move equipment, etc., but your virtual “H:\” drive space will not change and is accessible to you at all times, so it is important that you get used to storing your files in the safe way. Saving files only to your desktop or locally on the computer is not an efficient way to save your files because this information is not backed up and is likely to get lost. For some of you, your My Documents folder may be getting backed up already; to check, follow these steps:
- Right click on the My Documents folder (either on your desktop or in your start menu)
- Choose the properties menu from the bottom of the list.
- If the “Target folder location” starts with “H:\” then your My Documents folder is being backed up. If not please call or email our help desk at 3598 or helpdesk@wswheboces.org and one of the MCS’s will be happy to assist you to get your computer setup so that you can be assured that your files will be stored safely.
4) Technology Tutorials/Cheat Sheets for Integrade Pro and Skill Manager
For those of you using Integrade Pro, here is the cheat sheet we are handing out (please note that this is a Word document):
http://www.wswheboces.org/tech/Integradecheatsheet.doc
For those of you using Skill Manager, here is the cheat sheet we are handing out (please note that this is a PDF file):
http://www.wswheboces.org/tech/SkillManagerCheatSheet.pdf
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