Networking 101

It was great to finally be able to get a hold of my local IT guy. Chet always has his hands full. So, I was really excited when he got back to me so soon to help with this assignment. Chet's to do list just got a lot bigger when a bond passed allowing our school a remodel. Virtually everything will be brand new in this remodel as far as technology goes. So, essentially during this interview, Chet was able to do a little show and tell. However, some of the questions I asked had answers with some grey area. This is mostly due to the fact that some decisions are still being made based our budget.

Like I mentioned earlier, our school has finally caught up with the times of technology. With every classroom equipped with a brand new laptop, SMART Board and document camera, staff members can't help when being excited about the upgrade. Unless of course you're the tech guy who is only supplemented with 2 tenths of a paycheck to make sure the new server and endless amounts of equipment is running up to speed. Strangely enough, Chet seems to have a great attitude about this paradigm shift, no matter what the cost is.

I feel like my learning curve shortened immensely after my conversation with Chet about our school's network. Chet really did an excellent job making our new network make sense to me. The first thing we talked about was the addition of a new data room in our downstairs. Chet explained to me that our main data room was not fast enough, especially with our new portable lap top labs. With the addition of an IDF the classrooms downstairs will be running just as fast as the ones upstairs. Then Chet went on to mention that our category 5 wiring will be upgraded to a category 6 to insure the network is running at full speed. This will be great, especially since our school will now have full wireless capabilities. One thing that will still have some continuity is our server. Our school decided to stay with Novell for our server. We will also still be using Microsoft exchange in addition to Novell. This will allow us to operate Microsoft Outlook for our e-mail accounts. With Microsoft Outlook, all of us will still be asked to sign a user’s agreement. With 8 people losing their jobs 2 years ago, many of us Jeffco employees take this agreement very seriously. In fact, when any staff member goes to sign on to a our tutorial wiki space they will be asked to sign into Novell because we have used Youtube as a resource. Hopefully we can find a better way to work around this problem.


One thing that I wish I could illustrate is our network layout. With our school still being under construction, it is impossible to get a diagram of this. Needless to say, I am extremely excited about actually seeing our network in action this fall. It will be very rewarding to understand the entire system now that I comprehend how most of it works.

Podcasting Is Easier Than I Thought!

I can't believe how easy it is to play and record podcasts. This is a very good feeling, considering I had no idea how to manage a podcast until a week ago. In my opinion, which could very well change by tomorrow, I believe that podcasting can be one of the most important tools in the classroom.

I really appreciate the introduction to Podomatic.com as I had a lot of fun setting up an account and perusing the site. I have spent an excessive amount of time in the last week becoming more familiar with the capabilities of this site. In fact I have figured out how I'm going to incorporate this site into several lesson that I already teach. For instance I have a social studies piece surrounding culture where my students are asked to create media presentations. I found an absorbent amount of podcasts that my students could use to pep up their presentations. Through Podomatic.com my students could also create their own podcast for their presentation.
Another thought for this website would being able to post students giving each other mini lessons in math through the use of a document camera. I have found that my kids enjoy teaching each other multiple strategies that their group has identified through inquiry based lessons. If I were able to post these mini lessons to my class blog, students would be able to view these tutorials from home while doing homework. I know that those select students who listen and trust their peers more than their teachers' opinion would really benefit from this type of media.

With practically 90% of every kid owning an I pod in my school, I feel like podcasting during instruction could really grab a lot of these kids attention. I know that I am a complete amateur when dealing with most of this tech stuff right now. However, my learning curve in the last 3 months has grown exponentially. I feel very fortunate to be able have the resources and time right now to be able to become technologically literate before next school year. So in closing, I have the sneaking suspicion that podcasting will become a regular thing in my classroom this upcoming year.

IT 5710

I'm excited to report in my first post that there is a whole new meaning of free. This past week has provided me with a plethora of free resources that are incredibly applicable to my classroom instruction. I have really enjoyed being able to converse with my classmates and colleagues about all of the amazing web applications out there. It was great to initially watch you introduce and guide us through some of the apps in class last Tuesday. I really have to admit that I felt like a giant sponge trying to absorb all of the information. After only being in this program for one semester so far, I really feel your class is doing a great job making information easily transferable to my classroom.

After reflecting upon all of the web applications that were introduced to me in the past week I realized that there were 3 of these that really stood out to me. Dipity, Zoho, and Gliffy seem like they will be the most helpful web apps to me this Fall. I mostly appreciate these sites because of their high level of user friendliness to both the teacher and the student. All three of these web apps are really going to spice up lessons that need more interaction. I'm finally to the point in my career where I can reach into the filing cabinet and grab a lesson that I know is solid. However, there are so many lessons that I have that need to be updated with the ever growing pace of technology. With the easy management of these applications, making stagnant lessons exciting with interaction will be a breeze.