Currituck County Schools Media and Tech

I’m sitting in an NCWISE scheduling workshop with elementary principals and data managers.  We are learning how to schedule students in NCWISE.  Take a look at the pics to see how hard they are working!

This week we are also working on the following: Supporting summer school at CCHS, Installing new computers in the drafting lab at CCHS, preparing to inventory and image the new computers at Jarvisburg, addressing workorders.

We are happy to have Donna McCloud join us today to help with the summer work.

Want to help write the county technology plan?  Does that sound like fun to you?  It may not be the most fun thing to do but it is very important.

Every few years we are required to write a technology plan and submit it to DPI for approval.  DPI has very specific criteria for the content of the plan.

We have begun work on a new plan that will be submitted to the state school board this fall for approval.  You can follow the progress online.  I would love to hear your comments and suggestions.  If you really want to be involved I’ll give you an account to edit the plan online.

See the announcement below from Atomic Learning. This site just keeps getting better and better!

Free PC Maintenance and Security - Share it with a Friend

Atomic Learning recently announced a complimentary workshop on PC Maintenance and Security.

It’s a well-known fact that PC’s are wonderful tools. They can be fun, educational, a way to communicate, and much more. But in order to keep them running properly and to protect the valuable data we store on them, we need to follow some simple precautions. This workshop takes an in-depth look at some cost-effective ways to keep your internet-connected PC running smoothly!

The FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center recently released a report entitled 2007 IC3 Annual Report that $240 million dollars were lost by United States citizens in 2007. IC3 is Internet Crime Complaint Center.

The most common crime was auction fraud. Second was non-delivery of purchased goods or services. Approximately 1/3 of the crimes reported resulted in losses of between $1000 and $5000.

This statement was particularly disturbing to me. “The report also shows the amounts lost increased with age. Victims in their 20s lost $385 on average, while people over 60 reported they lost an average $760 per scam.”

We often associate Internet safety issues only with children and youth, but this demonstrates a need to educate adults and older adults on Internet safety issues also.

The Technology Department has been very busy with several projects lately.

Andy Broome, the newest member of our staff, worked this week to get the CCMS weather station live on the web.  You can view it here or follow the link from the CCMS home page.

We have been making preparations for our library software transition.  We are moving to Destiny, which is a centralized database of all our library books.  This new system will be easier to maintain and will have improved functionality.  The media specialists will be in training all day 4/7 and 4/8 and the new system will be live later that week.  Your media specialist may need a hug because change is always stressful.

We have also been working with a consultant to improve the security of our network.  You might think no one would ever want to hack into a school but stranger things have happened!

The Interactive Classroom Project (aka Smart Board installs) is moving along. With the exception of the audio enhancement, the project is complete at Central. Installation will begin at Moyock next week. I shared this information with the BOE at their meeting Monday night.

This is a Microsoft Movie Maker production that I uploaded to Teacher Tube. The photos were taken with a standard digital camera. The audio was recorded with a small mp3 player/recorder. This is the same device the Tech Academy participants will receive. The audio is not great on this production. I think I needed to boost up the signal some when I edited it. Oh well, not a bad first try.

Download Video: Posted by pobriant at TeacherTube.com.

CES Video Announcements 005, originally uploaded by pgobriant.

Under the leadership and guidance of Ms. Becky Leousis, Media Specialist, fifth grade students at Central Elementary School have begun broadcasting live video announcements each morning. The students make general announcements, recognize birthdays, report the weather, and lead the school in the Pledge of Allegiance.

On the day I visited, Courtney, Carrie, Nicole, and Tigh, were the news team. The anchors interviewed Constance about her art entry for the school calendar contest.

I was very impressed with the students and the great job they are doing.

I ran across a very interesting report this week on Internet safety. The report is a transcription of Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee Forum called “Just the Facts about Online Youth Victimization.” The Congressional Internet Caucus brought together several experts on issues of Internet safety. They discuss some recent research that calls into question many of the thoughts and ideas we have been teaching for years. This quote summarizes one of the studies.

“Our research, actually looking at what puts kids at risk for receiving the most serious kinds of sexual solicitation online, suggests that it’s not giving out personal information that puts kid at risk. It’s not having a blog or a personal website that does that either. What puts kids in danger is being willing to talk about sex online with strangers or having a pattern of multiple risky activities on the web like going to sex sites and chat rooms, meeting lots of people there, kind of behaving in what we call like an internet daredevil.”

This research has much to inform our discussions of Internet safety. I encourage you to read the transcript.

Our Technology Academy participants have been very busy putting their new knowledge to work.  Below I’ve highlighted a few of the blogs and wikis our folks have put together.  Maybe these will spark some new ideas!  Did I miss some?  Post a comment and let me know.

Sandy (CO) created a wiki to advertise the Timberlake prints for sale at KIES.

Candy (Griggs) created at wiki to help coordinate the Elementary Battle of the Books.

She also plans to introduce this blog to the students participating in Battle of the Books to give them a place to discuss the books.

Candy’s WannaGottaHafta Read It! blog will be for Griggs students and teachers.  She will promote it during library class time or will schedule time to introduce it to 3-5 graders.Beth (CCHS) has created her English Knights wiki to share resources associated with supplemental reading texts.

Judy (MES) has created a blog for the Moyock Author’s Club.  Check out all the comments!  There is come great student writing here.

Becky (Central) has created a wiki to use with the 5th grade classes when they learn about the Big 6 research method.

Donna (Knotts Island) is using a wiki with her 6th grade students in science.

Congratulations to all who have taken the plunge and are experimenting with these new technologies.  Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect to get started.  Hopefully we are all lifelong learners and will continuously refine our practices to best meet the needs of the students.

(This entry is cross-posted on the Tech Academy blog.)

We have been hearing about NCWISE for years. The time is here for us to move from our old student information management system, SIMS, to NCWISE which is much more powerful and easier to use.

The SIMS data managers have been receiving training over the last month. Everyone else will receive training beginning in January. The actual transition will take place in February. At that time classroom teachers will begin taking attendance on NCWISE.

There is an NCWISE quick start guide available on our website.

This will be a big transition. I am confident that working together, we will be successful.